Faeture Request: EXIF compare

[cstern]

When comparing two directories of images, sometimes the filenames have been changed but the images are exactly the same.

If the images are produced with a camera or camera aware software from after 1990 there is a good chance that the pictures contain extended image information, EXIF data.

EXIF data works a bit like TIFF tags, and one of the tags is the capture date (EXIF tag &9003) which can be used in a compare session.

My suggestion is that for images it should be possible to compare by EXIF data rather than file name. (In addition to the usual compare options, of course)

The current EXIF standard:
http://www.cipa.jp/english/hyoujunka...008-2012_E.pdf

[Aaron]

Hello,

We currently have an additional download for the Windows version which does allow the conversion and comparison of the EXIF data in the Text Compare:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/downl...oreformats_win

This conversion relies on an .exe and .bat file, however, and cannot be used on OSX or Linux.

If you are familiar with any command line utility/script on OSX that can perform a similar conversion from TIFF to a plain .txt file of EXIF data, a custom File Format can be created that uses that conversion on the fly each time TIFF files are viewed in the Text Compare.

I'll also add your PDF attachment to our Customer Wishlist, as reference material for if we are able to tackle this down the road.

[cstern]

I check out your utility for the win version to see if it does what I am looking for.

You may want to take a look at http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ which is a platform independent utility (at least it works for mac, pc and unix) package for exif manipulation

[nikolaus]

Personally I already have exiftool installed and would be excited to be able to use it with BC4.

[cstern]

Hello,

We currently have an additional download for the Windows version which does allow the conversion and comparison of the EXIF data in the Text Compare:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/downl...oreformats_win

This conversion relies on an .exe and .bat file, however, and cannot be used on OSX or Linux.

If you are familiar with any command line utility/script on OSX that can perform a similar conversion from TIFF to a plain .txt file of EXIF data, a custom File Format can be created that uses that conversion on the fly each time TIFF files are viewed in the Text Compare.

I'll also add your PDF attachment to our Customer Wishlist, as reference material for if we are able to tackle this down the road.

I didn't have a chance to test this yet, but from what I read above, this is not what I was looking for. If I understand correctly the plugin will produce an exif summary (basically a text file in memory) and then two pictures can be compared pair wise (pretty much like mp3 files etc).

What I was looking for was a way to use e.g. the EXIF capture date and approximate file size for a direct directory compare (i.e. instead of the file date) in the main folder compare window. In this compare it should be possible to ignore the file names.

[Aaron]

The Folder Compare will not ignore file names. Adding the ability to align based on other criteria (such as a Rules-based comparison) is something on our Wishlist, but will likely not be supported in the initial release.

[cstern]

I didn't expect such functionality to be implemented, but since we have the chance of wishing I guess this is the time to do so.

One thing which (maybe) is easier would be to be able to align the two sides by file size or file time stamp.

Of course there will then be some issues if more than one file have the same property as a file on the other side... (perhaps a built-in rule: first selected property (e.g. file size), then name) (not trivial, I guess)