Sorting image files shot on Multi Cams - same event.

Art Scott · December 5, 2011

I can sort files in LR but that only sorts the LR catalog...changes nothing on the original file on HD....
Is there any software (preferabley free) that can sort (quickly hopefully) Multi cam shots by capture time to get the original folder in order of capture time???

T.I.A.

jww · December 5, 2011

Not sure what all you are wanting to do, but if your times are correct on your two cameras, you can sort by capture time in LR. At the bottom of the Library, look for the az Sort: and select Capture. Though to get it in folder order, you will probably have to use the rename feature on Export to make it tidy.

True, that won't cure the original folder. If you want that, you can go to View, select details and then sort on Date Picture Taken.

Hope that helps!

Icebear · December 5, 2011

Just curious, Art. Why would you particularly care how they're displayed in the folder, since you can always sort them in the folder or catalog. What am I missing. I know you know your stuff, so I'm not asking just to be a smart-ass.

Art Scott · December 5, 2011

jww wrote: »

Not sure what all you are wanting to do, but if your times are correct on your two cameras, you can sort by capture time in LR. At the bottom of the Library, look for the az Sort: and select Capture. Though to get it in folder order, you will probably have to use the rename feature on Export to make it tidy.

True, that won't cure the original folder. If you want that, you can go to View, select details and then sort on Date Picture Taken.

Hope that helps!

As I said in the OP I know I can do this this in LR...but I want to sort outside of LR...sort and renumber so that my folder(s) match my catalog.....the lower tool bar in LR gets a lot of work from me and always has....

Icebear wrote: »

Just curious, Art. Why would you particularly care how they're displayed in the folder, since you can always sort them in the folder or catalog. What am I missing. I know you know your stuff, so I'm not asking just to be a smart-ass.

I know you're not being a smart ass and you're probably not missing anything....but I really want my HD folders to match my LR catalog....why....well so that in say a tidbit of time down the road and I want to rework a certain file in another software or just want to re work the file I can find it on the HD and start from scratch ... ... I have friends that I do allow to use some files from time to time, for teaching purposes, and they see image 203 and they want to play with it..so I can easily send them that file if I know which it actually is... it is just an ART thing

Dan7312 · December 6, 2011

This may work for you. You can set the file explorer to sort on the date the picture was taken, which should be in the image metadata, instead of its default sort which is name or date when the file was last modified.

Do a right mouse button on the bar with the file attributes on it. Choose more...

Scroll down into more until you see "Date Taken" and check that. Click OK

Go back an click on the Date Taken heading. Each time you click on it, it will toggle between up and down sort order.

This depends on the file explorer being able to find that metadata and on the metadata reflecting that actual times the pictures were taken.

If this doesn't work there are some more drastic things you can do, but try this first.

Art Scott wrote: »

As I said in the OP I know I can do this this in LR...but I want to sort outside of LR...sort and renumber so that my folder(s) match my catalog.....the lower tool bar in LR gets a lot of work from me and always has....

ziggy53 · December 6, 2011

Picasa allows you to sort by date and time. Then it allows you to rename the images, based on the previous sort sequence. If I remember correctly Picasa had a kind of odd renaming convention, so I also had to add a filename prefix later in order to get proper sorting in the operating system and ProShow, for instance. (I used a small batch file automation to add the filename prefix.)

I think that IrfanView has some similar capabilities.

Do be sure to only work on copies of the files, just in case. Start with a small subset until you have the exact procedure worked out.

ziggy53 · December 6, 2011

Also this system. (Link loads a video utorial.):

http://www.geeksontour.com/showme/picasa/pica23_organize-date.cfm

Art Scott · December 6, 2011

Dan7312 wrote: »

This may work for you. You can set the file explorer to sort on the date the picture was taken, which should be in the image metadata, instead of its default sort which is name or date when the file was last modified.

<snip>

Dan......all images are taken on the same date...so what explorer offers is of no use...explorer does not offer CAPTURE TIME as an option for sorting...I need capture time sorting outside of LR... ... and GOOGLING anything with "sort and Time " in the search box brings back tons of crap on time scheduling software ... ... ... sometimes I really hate GOOGLE :~]

Thanks for trying tho.

Art Scott · December 6, 2011

ziggy53 wrote: »

Picasa allows you to sort by date and time. Then it allows you to rename the images, based on the previous sort sequence. If I remember correctly Picasa had a kind of odd renaming convention, so I also had to add a filename prefix later in order to get proper sorting in the operating system and ProShow, for instance. (I used a small batch file automation to add the filename prefix.)

I think that IrfanView has some similar capabilities.

Do be sure to only work on copies of the files, just in case. Start with a small subset until you have the exact procedure worked out.

ziggy53 wrote: »

Also this system. (Link loads a video utorial.):

http://www.geeksontour.com/showme/picasa/pica23_organize-date.cfm

Thanks ZIGGY I will look into these...COPIES...ARE THE ONLY WAY TO GO...I did not even open my first raw file in LR as the Original...I make and delete tons and tons and tons of copies every week......always good to be reminded of that tho. :~}}

threecubed · December 6, 2011

Date taken should be both a date and time field, if it is recorded for your files. My D90 seems to record the capture date/time as Date Taken only on JPG's, not RAW files (that field is blank for my RAW files). The "Date Modified" field may actually work better. As long as you aren't modifying the originals, that should be the date/time the picture was captured (at least it is on my D90, for both JPG and RAW files).

It looks like Ziggy may have some other options for you that will actually rename the files if you want to go that route.

But I'm still not sure why it matters how the originals are sorted on the hard drive. In LR where everything is organized and sorted to your liking, you can just right-click the image you want to open from the hard drive and select, "Show in Explorer" and it will open Windows Explorer with the file you want pre-selected. That way you can send the original to someone else as you mentioned you like to do. Or if you want to edit the image in another application, there's an option for that in the right-click menu as well.

Art Scott · December 7, 2011

threecubed...It is really just an ART thing.... I do all of my culling of images outside of LR / PS
in windows photo viewer...larger image and I want to sort and renumber them before I get into
LR / PS ... just my way .... I use cue cards for a lot of events but if I had a software to do
the sorting & renaming outside of PS & LR then I can be sorting one job and actually working on another...
If I do it all inside of PS or LR then I can only do 1 thing at a time...import and sort...process...then export
and rename....with other software ...I can sort and rename and be processing at the same time...
2 different jobs ......

Also I could not find anything like this addressed anywhere on the forum...so I wanted to address
it for people that do not have LR and might also need to be able to sort by capture time ...

For this one event I took the route of doing it al l in LR 3....it was a waiting game for it to import / sort
and render my previews, process and export /rename .... waiting is wasted time for me ...

basflt · December 8, 2011

Faststone Image Viewer can do that
in right pane choose ; Report view ( the middle of the 3 view-icons )
next to that are 2 drop-boxes
in the right one choose ;Date

strange detail ;
in my PC , Faststone and LR differ 3 seconds from e.a , but basically they display same capture time

Art Scott · December 8, 2011

thanks everyone.....Faststone Image viewer, I like very well...
That is instanious the sorting is done as soon as it opens a folder...
wow... ... ... ... gonna be a real time saver

THANX AGAIN.

threecubed · December 8, 2011

Art Scott wrote: »

thanks everyone.....Faststone Image viewer, I like very well...
That is instanious the sorting is done as soon as it opens a folder...
wow... ... ... ... gonna be a real time saver

THANX AGAIN.

That looks like a nifty little app! So are you using it to rename the photos so that the names are in chronological order? Or did sorting in Windows Explorer not work for you for some reason?

basflt · December 8, 2011

threecubed wrote: »

That looks like a nifty little app! So are you using it to rename the photos so that the names are in chronological order? Or did sorting in Windows Explorer not work for you for some reason?

sorting in Windows dont work , because it cannot read RAW , Faststone does
its a nice viewer indeed , and free too
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

Art Scott · December 9, 2011

threecubed wrote: »

That looks like a nifty little app! So are you using it to rename the photos so that the names are in chronological order? Or did sorting in Windows Explorer not work for you for some reason?

I neded a stand alone software to quickly sort files from Multi Cameras events...they have to be sorted by CAPTURE TIME and FASTSTONE does this nicely

basflt wrote: »

sorting in Windows dont work , because it cannot read RAW , Faststone does
its a nice viewer indeed , and free too
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

There are a couple of plugins that allow viewing of DNG and Raw in windows but not actual sorting or arranging by CAPTURE DATE.....

But I can't see away to renumber / rename in faststone...but that can be done upon export from LR.

Thanx again.

Dan7312 · December 9, 2011

Windows Explorer will read/sort on data taken for raw, but you need to add raw support to explorer from Microsoft here http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26829

Then set the folder type to pictures and videos. Once you do that the images, including raw, are sorted by date/time taken, not the file date/time. You can also see a lot of the exif data, if you want, add the exif properties to the file properties shown by explorer

basflt wrote: »

sorting in Windows dont work , because it cannot read RAW , Faststone does
its a nice viewer indeed , and free too
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

basflt · December 9, 2011

ART , what you mean with : "But I can't see away to renumber / rename in faststone " ?

you can rename , batch-rename , convert

basflt · December 9, 2011

Dan7312 wrote: »

Windows Explorer will read/sort on data taken for raw, but you need to add raw support to explorer from Microsoft here http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26829

Then set the folder type to pictures and videos. Once you do that the images, including raw, are sorted by date/time taken, not the file date/time. You can also see a lot of the exif data, if you want, add the exif properties to the file properties shown by explorer

i know and you are right , i have them too , NEF and CR2
but i removed them as i dont like it , i prefer Faststone over Windows

Art Scott · December 9, 2011

basflt wrote: »

ART , what you mean with : "But I can't see away to renumber / rename in faststone " ?

you can rename , batch-rename , convert

Guess I had not found that yet in the instructions ... good thing I have a few RAW files copies to play with... unfortunately I am not as computer literate as I wish I was......wow just a bit of poking around and that is cool...one thing missing from the convert list ... DNG ... but I am begining to like this FastStone...

I have not remeoved the windows plugings for viewing DNG and RAWS but they are not reliable for me....by that I mean they only work intermittently I was very excited when I found them a few months back but then they started going wonky ...for going thru and culling images it was great as I was looking at images the size3 of my screen in win image viewer....but nowe FastStone seems to load much faster than LR and givng me the speed with which it sorts and all... FastStone wins...at least for now.

Thanks agan BASflt

basflt · December 9, 2011

select a pic
either right-click > rename , or hit F2 key
batch-renaming ; tools from menu , or F4 key

changes appear in LR too , after synchronize the folder

Art Scott · December 9, 2011

yeah...found what I needed under tools.....

THANX AGAIN!!

Sorting image files shot on Multi Cams - same event.

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