CodedColor PhotoStudio manual - digital photo software, picture viewer & image editor, photo album printing (compares to ACDSee, IrfanView)

What's the difference between file date and photo date?

The following topic tries to throw some light on the general confusion of date values (The EXIF strategists added to the chaos by creating even more confusing names).

The following date values are used in Windows (1-2), CodedColor (1-7) and in the EXIF standard (5-7):

Location	Name	Synonyms	Description	Notes
Explorer: File Properties	Created	CreationDate	Storage of image file on disk	= date in Windows Explorer
Explorer: File Properties	Modified	ModificationDate, FileDate	Last change of image file in image editor	= date in Windows Explorer
Explorer: Database Panel	*CreationDate*	OrgDate (database)	File storage or time of photo	= *DateTimePhoto*
Explorer: Info Panel	Filedate	ModificationDate	Last change of image file in image editor	= Modified
Explorer: EXIF Panel	DateTimeFile	$132, DateTime	Storage of image file on camera chip	editable in annotation EXIF editor
Explorer: EXIF Panel	*DateTimePhoto*	$9003, DateTimeOriginal	The time, the picture was taken with the camera	not editable! if empty, *CreationDate* is copied
Explorer: EXIF Panel	DateTimeDigitized	$9004	Digital conversion of the photo by the camera	editable in annotation EXIF editor

CodedColor improvement

Since the CreationDate in Windows is actually the birthdate of the file on the disk, and not the time when the picture was taken, CodedColor replaces it with the EXIF DateTimePhoto. This is done when the user first edits the image annotations.

So from that moment on, you see the actual shooting time of the picture, and not the time the file was created on the disk, i.e. moved from your camera storage to your PC.

This improvement can be done for all records at once by calling Cleanup Database.

More Infos

Usually, all 3 EXIF date fields are identical, and the difference only applies to older cameras.

During Image Annotation and Database Cleanup, CreationDate and DateTimePhoto are set to equal, if one of the values is empty. That is why you cannot edit this field in the EXIF editor. Even in EXIF Batch Conversion you can only change the fields DateTimeFile and DateTimeDigitized.

In Windows it is possible, that the ModificationDate of a file is jounger than the CreationDate. This can happen, if you move a file to another disk. For Windows, this file is "newly created" on the disk.

CodedColor PhotoStudio by 1STEIN is a powerful and versatile photo organizer and image editing software for digital camera users. Features include photo editing & printing, web album galleries, slide shows, photo management & cataloging, custom sorting, IPTC & EXIF display, thumbnail generation, resize & resample images, jp2000, batch conversion, database keyword searching, red eye removal, color / sharpness / brightness & contrast correction, artefacts removal, clone brush, scanner & TWAIN import, screen capture, lossless JPEG rotation, gamma correction and screenshows with transition effects, panorama stitch, RAW, photo books and layouts, collages, histograms, white balance, PDF export, watermarks, etc. Please visit the CodedColor FotoStudio homepage to learn more or download a free copy!