I've imported my archive of images, which includes many scanned 35mm negatives, which are stored by number (IMG001.jpg, IMG002.jpg etc) in subdirectories which identify the order in which the films were processed (1960-01, 1960-02 etc).
Shotwell couldn't identify the dates for these images which it could use in attaching them to events, so they ended up in a poorly ordered jumble. I decided to adjust the EXIF data for the files in each directory by writing a shell script containing lines like: ... exiftool -DateTimeOriginal="1960:01:01 12:00:00" IMG000.jpg exiftool -DateTimeOriginal="1960:01:01 12:00:01" IMG001.jpg exiftool -DateTimeOriginal="1960:01:01 12:00:02" IMG002.jpg ... which is for the directory 1960-01, and makes it look as though the images were taken a second apart on the 1st Jan 1960, starting at noon. "1960:01:02" is used for directory 1960-2, and so on. Once I'd done this, all I had to do was Import the directories again? WRONG! Shotwell thinks the adjusted files are duplicates, and declines to import them, so it is necessary to identify the images in the general "Photos" view, and move them to the Wastebasket. All I had to do now was Import the directories again? WRONG AGAIN! All the images that I'd put in the Wastebasket were restored, and my images with the adjusted EXIF data were ignored again. To resolve this, it was necessary to find all the relevant images in the Photo view - which is not straightforward unless they happen to be contiguous - select them all, move them to the Wastebasket AND empty the Wastebasket before I could import the adjusted images and have them put together as events. There are a number of points here: 1. There are perfectly good reasons which I might like to have two or more absolutely identical images in different directories, and to be able to track them using Shotwell - for example I might have a working directory which starts off as an exact copy of an archive directory which I plan to leave untouched. Why doesn't Shotwell recognise this as an option? 2. In my view, a Wastebasket image has already been flagged as "unwanted", so when I choose to Import a duplicate (in Shotwell's terms) its information should overwrite the original. In any case, the original image file no longer exists once I've changed its EXIF data, so Shotwell should accept the changed image as the definitive one. 3. When an attempt is made to Import an image which appears to be identical to one already in Shotwell's database, the option of overwriting the original entry should be offered, as should the option of creating a new entry. 4. I'd like to be able to see that I have several versions of the same file in a directory, even though they might appear to be identical to Shotwell. I might, for example, keep 800x600 and 1024x768 versions of the same image and have them separately tagged for different export jobs. Now that I've slogged through the task of adding the dates and times to my old images, I'm finding the ease of browsing in Shotwell has allowed me to rediscover some buried treasures - please accept my comments as suggestions for making an already brilliant product even better! Michael _______________________________________________ Shotwell mailing list [email protected] http://lists.yorba.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/shotwell
