Batch Change Dates in Aperture

I want to batch change hundreds of images in 1 event (or project) in Aperture 3 to be timed apart by the time designation I set forth on the batch process. I have easily done this in iPhoto 8 by selecting all the photos, ctrl-clicking "batch change" and changing the date to be set for a given time, and adding 1 minute to each photo.
I'm building a book by interleaving 2 events of scanned images by their times. It works great in iPhoto, but I can't process the images like I can in Aperture.
If anyone knows how to batch change dates as in the above procedure, let me know. Thanks.

I've been using ABFR and ABFA from http://www.publicspace.net/index.html to change thousands of images in the Finder that had incorrect time/date stamps and used ABFR to pre-fix the file names with the correct date stamp. You can also setup a batch droplet based on your settings.
It was able to grab the camera date, even though the created/modified dates were wrong and correct things.
May or may not be what you are after, but for batch renaming/adjusting attributes I haven't found anything better.

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Batch Change Date/Time - same time to full batch, not offset timing?

Is there a way to force Aperture to change the date/time on a batch of photos with ALL images to the same exact date/time?
Right now, I have a bunch of scanned images with the wrong date/time, but of course, scanned at different times (embedded image date/time). When using Aperture 2.1's "Metadata", "Adjust Date and Time..." function, I only have one image with the input desired date/time, then all the other scans have a different date/time based on the timing offset difference from the scanning, which over the course of several scans changes by several days quickly.
Does anyone know of a work around? I'd hate to manually adjust hundreds/thousands of image metadata by hand when Aperture should do this easily.
Thanks!!

Correct, I am referring to the EXIF data. Aperture can change this data using the aforementioned "Metadata", "Adjust Date and Time..." feature, it's only that Aperture can't (as far as I can tell) set a batch of photo to the exact date and time among the entire batch.
Perhaps I'll be able to find or create an Apple Script to do this outside of Aperture?
It's a shame though as I can't possibly be the only one with a large scanned collection from years ago I'm trying to archive in proper date order. This would be a great new added feature Apple, if you are also reading this! (I've already submitted the feature request some weeks ago)

Batch Change Date Only

I would like to change dates on a batch of photos, however when I go to do this, it prompts me to also change the time and gives me the option to add a certain number of minutes between each photo.
This is ridiculous. Very 'un-apple-esque'. I don't WANT to change the time, that is a seperate attribute. I want to change date, and that's it.
How can I do this?
It's as if I went into itunes and tried to change and artist name on a whole album and it also asked me to change the album name. Silly.
How can I change JUST the date of a batch of photos??
-Justin

Hi.
There's a plugin that may do what you want. Check out iPhoto Date Shifter from Joe's iPhoto Applescripts. I haven't used it myself but others here have reported that it works.
Regards.

Batch-change date (time)...

I know you can batch-change the date in iPhoto, and there's the option to add X seconds between each photo, but what I need to do is change the time by XX seconds/hours. Basically, this weekend we had two camera shooting a trip we were on. I thought both cameras were synched (clocks) but one camera was off by 12 hours (it was on AM when should have been PM). So, I need to add 12 hours to each photo for the 1 camera. Is there any way to do this via a batch (ie. not manually going through each of the 150+ photos and setting the time) so when I make an album of shots from both camera, sort by date/time, they synch up.
If there's no way to do this in iPhoto, could anyone suggest another application that could do this before importing into iPhoto?
Thanks,
Kristin.

Rather than start a new topic, I'm going to just refer to this one since it's recent and exactly the issue I was trying to solve. My situation is that I bought a new camera in January and still had 2006 on my mind, so all the pictures I've taken this year are off by a year. I used PhotoInfo to change the EXIF data folder by folder in my iPhoto Library folder (by this I mean I had to batch change every folder in Originals/2007 and Modified/2007). 2 folders didn't take the changes, but that's another issue for a different forum.
Most of my pictures now have the correct EXIF data, however iPhoto doesn't show the correct info when I select the menu item Photos>Get Iinfo. Doing some searches here says that the only way to update iPhoto is to reimport the photos with the new EXIF data. My question is how do I do that without screwing everything up? I have originals and modified versions of files that are affected. How do I bring them back in such that if I use the Revert to Original command in the contextual menu that the modified files are still correctly linked to the originals?
A secondary question is whether iPhoto is really the program I want to use. Most of my major changes I make using Photoshop. Recently after making changes in Photoshop as well as a few minor tweaks in iPhoto (I don't remember which order) when I tried to revert to the original it no longer existed. It reverted to a modified file (modified in PS or iPhoto, don't remember which). Since then I've been making a duplicate in iPhoto and then modify that one in PS as well as iPhoto. However, after making modifications in PS I have to save it as a JPG in order to keep it organized with all my photos in iPhoto. It would be nice to keep a PSD copy filed along side it. Should I be using something else besides iPhoto that handles EXIF information and changes seemlessly as well as JPG and PSD (and probably RAW in the future)?
Thanks in advance for any info/tips.

Batch Change "Date Modified" to match Exif Data After iPhoto Export

Among several other posts about similar situations, I have found none that directly and simply resolve this issue.
My wife imported a bunch of photos into iPhoto directly, but I wanted them in a folder on the hard drive.
I pulled them out of iPhoto into a folder, then deleted the ones in iPhoto so that I could sort them and reimport.
I then realized that the photos all now showed the date they were imported into iPhoto as their created/modified dates, which makes it impossible to easily sort them by the date of the pictures.
I checked the Exif data, and it has preserved the correct creation date event though checking "info" on the pictures shows create date the same as modified the same as iPhoto import.
Is there an easy way to batch change an entire folder of pictures to change the Created/Modified dates to match the Created date from the Exif data?
The only other similar posts had answers that reccomend a piece of software that does not seem to actually do this, and one that suggests some sort of confusing script that I don't really understand.
Please help - I have a bunch of family photos that I really need to fix.

shootShifter helps to redate and rename complete folders of images based on the EXIF data or Finder dates.
So it will do batches.
I also believe that exporting the Original (File -> Export: Kind Original) will make all of this unnecessary.
I don't like having them only in iPhoto so I organize the originals into folders by choronological event then import them so I have copies outside the iPhoto library to put elsewhere.
You understand that you're using twice the disk space there, right? And that it's quite unnecessary. All iPhoto does is to put them in folders too. Have you looked inside the iPhoto Library ever?
Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed. Your photos are in the Masters folder.
Standard warning: Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things,, deleting them or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
Regards
TD

Batch change dates

Hi,
I have some 1000 pictures imported into the Aperture library with the wrong date (year), while taking them my camera was accidentally on 2006.
Suggested by this forum I have tried to use Timeature, however I keep getting an AplleScript error:
SQL error: near "105186533464E+8": syntax error (1)
Any suggestion would be appreciated
Many thanks
Pim

Instead of "Change group... shift-command-B" or whatever it is in English (using iPhoto in Dutch here), use "Change date and time...", also under the "Photos" menu item.
It will show the date and time of the first selected photo, which you can change - by three hours for example. The other selected photo's will change the same amount of time.

Batch change dates by 3 hours

I have an album with pictures from 2 cameras. One camera's date is off by 3 hours. I would like to add 3 hours to their times and get all the pictures in sync.
When I Select All, and then Batch Change, the option is to add 3 hours between each picture, not add 3 hours to the time on each picture.
I thought that I had done something similar in the past and was able to increment each pictures time.

Instead of "Change group... shift-command-B" or whatever it is in English (using iPhoto in Dutch here), use "Change date and time...", also under the "Photos" menu item.
It will show the date and time of the first selected photo, which you can change - by three hours for example. The other selected photo's will change the same amount of time.

Batch change dates - question?

Can batch change (or some other app) change the date of the first pic in an event and then simply adjust ALL other pic dates by the 'change delta' you adjusted the first pic by? I just did a batch change and every pic in the event now has same date/time although the event spans several days. Seems like a 'no brainer' to me for a computer to apply this same delta to all pics - but I'm not a computer guy. Thanks in advance!

Can batch change (or some other app) change the date of the first pic in an event and then simply adjust ALL other pic dates by the 'change delta' you adjusted the first pic by? I just did a batch change and every pic in the event now has same date/time although the event spans several days. Seems like a 'no brainer' to me for a computer to apply this same delta to all pics - but I'm not a computer guy. Thanks in advance!
Yes what you want is adjust date and time - just above batch change in the photos menu -- select a group of photos and the entire group will be adjusted by the delta of the first one
You have the option of modifying the original which I usually recommend
Since you have already changed the dates and times on some of the photos you want to adjust you may need to go back to a backup of them prior to having their information changed - depends on if you modified the originals or not
LN

How to Batch change dates?

I have a cannon rebel t1i and am using the latest version of iPhoto ( as of 7/10/10 ). I went to China recently and use two cameras. I changed the date and time settings on the other camera, but not on this one. When importing, in my China event, these show up at the top and in the wrong places and times. I still have the pictures on my camera and deleted them off my computer. I want to add 15 hours to every photo. I have around 500 photos and do not want to go through them all to change them. Is there a way I can say "Add _ time to all the photo's in this batch"?

Import them into iPhoto and select them all (the last import window may be the easiest place) and use the adjust time and date command (photos menu ==> adjust time and date) - it will calculate the needed delta from the first photo and adjust all selected photos by that amount
LN
Message was edited by: LarryHN

Ay way to batch change date?

I just realized that all my photos since January say 2009. Not sure how this happened, camera must be set wrong. Is there any way I can select all this years photos and just change the year? The date and time otherwise is correct. Doesn't seem to allow you to change the date of multiple photos.

To help illustrate Larry's post:
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.

Batch change dates using filenames as source

Howdy all!
I take a lot of pictures with my cell phone, and the date and time of the jpegs usually are just close, but not exact. The file name however usually contains all the data I need. It is something like 1227091536.jpg, which would be a photo taken today at 3:36 pm. So I use that info to manually update the date and time of each photo.
However, it would be really neat if a plugin, or anything for that matter, existed that would take the filename in that format, and use that info to update the date and time of the photo.
Anybody know of anything like that out there? Or come up with some clever way to speed up the process of correcting dates and times for cell phone pics?
Thankee!
David

Update:
Upon further inspection of my files, the phone almost consistently always added 5 hours onto each image. So it was easy to fix those. But, there were still photos here and there, that the phone was off in the date and time by up to a month. Those photos were set aside for individual adjustment.
Still a pain to sift through and find the ones that are not off by the magical 5 hours, but it's a small percentage of the overall pictures.
Dave

Changing date and/or time of photos

I often change the time of individual iPhoto pictures to change their order in the photo Library.
I change the date and or time in the information section. I have iPhoto sort the photos by date.
I just imported about 1200 photos from a DVD and want to change the order of some of them, but when I change the time, the new time stays there, but the photo either does not move or moves to the incorrect place. I have closed and reopened iPhoto and even restarted the computer.
I would appreciate any help or suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

Try using the Photo menu ==> batch change date and time (if the photos either do not have a data and time or they are not in the date time sequence you want or the adjust date and time (if you want to add a constant amount to all photos selected keeping them in the same date/time sequence but with a different date and time - and select the change the original option
LN

How to batch change a date in aperture

Is it possible to batch change a date in aperture the way I do it in iphoto (command option B)? I dont want relative dates, I want a group of scanned pictures (negatives) to have the same date, but separated by one second.

Dale,
Aperture does not support this. I wrote a little Apple Script to adjust the data and time like iPhoto and posted it on my web page. You may have a look and take this as a starting point. I wrote the script last year; so it has only been tested with Aperture 3.2.4 and Lion, not with the current version: The script is here: Adjust Date and Time in fixed increments
But no guarantees given for the current Aperture version 3.4.3.
Regards
Léonie

I am trying to organize thousands of images in aperture. The dates on the old scanned images is all 2008, when I started importing them. When I change the date in aperture some of them hold the modified date and some revert to 2008. Any ideas?

I am trying to organize thousands of old images in aperture. Aperture dates them all in 2008, when I started this project. When I change the date in aperture some of them hold the modified date and some revert to 2008. Any ideas?

I just tried a test library, re-imported fresh images from a hard drive, and the date changes still revert.
So neither your external drive nor your Aperture library are to blame.
What do you mean test in a different user acct? Would it be a good idea to uninstall and re-download aperture 3?
Appreciate all your help.
I meant the trouble shooting procedure described here: Isolating an issue by using another user account
To test, if some settings in your user account are faulty or preferences files corrupted, it helps to create a new user account from the "Users&Groups" System preferences. With a brand new user account you can see, if something in your current account is causing this.
Should you see, that Aperture is not even working from a new and clean account, I'd reinstall Aperture, and if need be the Operating system. Are you using any plug-ins?

Custom batch rename files with Aperture 3 in the following format: IMG_0023.cr2 to Smith_YYMMDD_0023.cr2? I cannot find a way to structure the date in Aperture as such, as well as extract only the camera file

Please advise how to custom batch rename files with Aperture 3 in the following format: IMG_0023.cr2 to Smith_120816_0023.cr2? I cannot find a way to structure the date in Aperture as such (YYMMDD), as well as extract only the camera file (0023, for example). Adobe Bridge CS5 can do this, but NONE of the Adobe software is retina optimized, and is terrible to look at.

In Aperture you are limited to renaming files by the entries in the File Naming preset window.
At what point are you looking to rename, import or export? It might be possible to do what you are looking to do external to Aperture either via a script or other software.
regards

Batch Change Dates in Aperture

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