shootShifter 2.0 ... redate and rename folders of images on a Mac.

shootShifter ... redate and rename folders of images.
Version 2.0

Until now I did not receive any reports about dataloss or otherwise corrupted images. And shootShifter works flawlessly for me for ages. BUT to be 100% save I suggest to use shootShifter on backed up images nonetheless.
I cannot be held responsible for any dataloss!

Quickstart: A workflow-example *updated for v2.0*

1.Two photographers made photos from the same event:
- P1: old camera with small memory cards -> three folders, each with imagenames "DSC00001 - DSC00xxx".
- P2: modern camera -> one folder with imagenames "P1010741 - P1010xxx".
Both camera-dates were not synchronized, so the images are in the wrong order when imported into iPhoto, for example.

2.So, let's fix this mess ... launch shootShifter and drag the folders onto the app.

3.Thumbnails for all images are created and displayed in chronological order.
You can click on individual images to view them in the more detailed preview-drawer.
Select one of the folders to make it the active one (the thumbnails are moved a few pixels up)

4.Now you can move this active folder in time: Either by modifying the changes-interface in the right-hand drawer, or by simply dragging around one of its thumbnails.

5.Alternatively you can also double-click one thumbnail and directly change the images date and time.

6.Its important to realise the difference between the two date-change-modes:

In the standard "Complete Folder"-mode ALL images of the selected folder are always changed at the same time by the amount visible in the right-hand drawer.

7.If, for whatever reason, you do not want to change every image of a folder you can use the second "Individual Images"-mode by clicking on the mode-icon or by using the contextual-menu.

(Shortcut: Holding down the alt-key during import changes the folders initial mode to "Individual Images")

8.In this second mode its possible to move one or more images around, totally independent from the other images of the same folder.

You can select several images simply by shift- or cmd-clicking their thumbs or by drag-selecting them using the mouse.

9.Normally, when moving around multiple images all their dates are modified by the same amount. Which means that the time lag between these images is unchanged.

If you want to "force" all selected images between two thumbs (changing their time lags in the process), you can hold the alt-key before dropping the images. Now their dates are changed in a way that makes sure that ALL the new positions are inside the targeted gap.

10.If everything is correct, you can save these datechanges.

Be sure to verify and adjust the renaming options and then press the "Continue" button.

11.You are done. All the the images are named in a way that you can store them easily in one folder ...

12.... and because you also saved the datechanges back to the EXIF-tag the images are in correct sequence when imported into iPhoto, for example.

How does shootShifter change the images ?
(This is the standard behaviour. You can now customize it in the preferences.)

For images with Exif-data: The ExifDateTimeOriginal and the ExifDateTimeDigitized are modified according to your changes. (Both are the same after saving) If the TIFFDateTime (modification date) is different to the ExifDateTimeOriginal it stays unchanged unless its chronologically before the new ExifDateTimeOriginal.

For ALL images: The (finder-)creationdate gets modified only if there is one. If the (finder-)modificationdate is different to the (finder-)creationdate it stays unchanged unless its chronologically before the new (finder-)creationdate.

History

Version 2.0 2009/10/28	[fix]	added support for another rare image-file special-case where the EXIF-date was not recognized
	[fix]	fixed a few minor ui-issues concerning images without or with empty EXIF-tag
	[fix]	fixed a bug that could prevent a multi-thumb drag-selection with the mouse
	[update]	a few drag-selection optimizations and performance improvements

Version 2.0 pb1 2009/09/24	[new]	added a second date-change-mode making it possible to change individual images and image groups instead of only changing all images inside a folder at the same time
	[new]	added option to transfer EXIF-changes to already existing XMP-data. when using shootShifter on images with included XMP-data (or with .xmp-sidecar-files) this option can be enabled in the preferences. this is a bit more time consuming and therefore optional.
	[new]	renaming images now searches for potential .xmp-sidecar-files and renames them, too.
	[update]	there are special situations when renaming can result in naming-conflicts (e.g. when images without EXIF-dates are ignored or when files cannot be renamed due to missing permissions). these situations are handled better with helpful error-messages. renaming again with updated options now behaves correctly in these cases, too.
	[workflow]	several UI-tweaks concerning keyboard-navigation and drag-scrolling in the timeline-view
	[workflow]	more UI-optimizations in the preferences to increase consistency and to further reduce the first-sight-intimidation :-)
	[fix]	changing the finder-dates is now reliable on Snow Leopard, too
	[fix]	thumb- and preview-images were sometimes very blurry on Snow Leopard
	[fix]	fixed very rare cases where a temporary preview was not updated correctly with the more detailed generated one
	[fix]	using the thumb-date-picker and canceling it could result in the changes-UI being reset
	[fix]	removing a folder during its import was not always successfully prevented. this could result in a crash or in weird behaviour
	[fix]	in some situations it was not possible to confirm the rename/save-sheet with the return-key
	[fix]	fixed another small oversight in the english localisation (checkboxes behaving like radiobuttons in the prefs)
	[fix]	fixed a few memory-leaks
	[fix]	a few other minor fixes and tweaks

Version 1.1.1 2009/07/20	[fix]	fixed a STUPID bug introduced in the last version that could result in very slow scrolling performance in the timeline-view
	[fix]	removed a possible display-glitch in the timeline-view
	[fix]	fixed a possible crash when quick-navigating the selected folder with "alt + cursor-left/right"

Version 1.1 2009/07/02	[new]	added option to set a startvalue for the rename-counter (just once, or every time)
	[new]	added option to directly set the new date for an image in the selected folder (double-click its thumb). all other images in the same folder are changed accordingly
	[workflow]	optimized the UI to better distinguish between renaming and saving datechanges. i hope its more clear now, right from the beginning, whats going on
	[update]	EXIF-data-reading optimized to support some more rare .jpeg-variants
	[update]	improved error-handling for protected files: smooth import, meaningful error-messages and no more crashes
	[fix]	the small "cancel datechanges"-button now works in the english localisation, too
	[fix]	when removing an imagefolder from the app it was possible that wrong previews were displayed temporarily
	[fix]	previewing images that were deleted in the finder after import resulted in a crash
	[fix]	a few other minor fixes and ui-tweaks

Version 1.0.3 2008/10/23	[fix]	worked around some silly display problems:
	>	the shadows of the drawers are now correctly updated EVERY time the app changes the active/inactive-state
	>	in some situations the selected image was not highlighted correctly in the preview-drawer
	>	in some situations the textfields in the preview-drawer had the wrong background-color

Version 1.0.2 2008/09/25	[fix]	Sony DSC-R1-raw-files are now fully supported: there were problems modifying the EXIF-creationdate
	[fix]	rearranging images in the timeline resulted in several unnecessary redraws in the preview-drawer

Version 1.0.1 2008/07/24	[fix]	in some situations some images were left unmodified in larger folders
	[fix]	slightly improved the rename-template interface: it was difficult to place the cursor between two template-elements using the mouse

Version 1.0 2008/02/29		first non-beta-release: removed the expiration-date
	[fix]	raw-support is a little bit less system-dependent: a few raws were recognized in tiger but not in leopard anymore
	[fix]	removed a few small inconsistencies in the UI

Version 1.0b9 2007/12/18	[workflow]	importoptions for images without EXIF-tag (or with empty EXIF-tag) can be adjusted during import. no need to use the preferences before the import
	[workflow]	optional renameoption-prompt when saving/renaming. no need to adjust these settings in the preferences every time
	[new]	its now possible to configure how the dates are changed
	[new]	cosmetical changes for leopard like 512 pixel icon, new droptarget-icon etc.
	[new]	added "ugly but fast" display-option for the large previews
	[fix]	zooming the main window now resizes as expected and correctly redraws the preview drawer content
	[fix]	no more messages in the console when there are non-image-files or folders in a dropped folder
	[fix]	better support for images with just the EXIF-modificationdate
	[fix]	some images with included XMP-data could not be saved on Leopard. (For the time being XMP-data is completely ignored, again!)
	[fix]	fixed a crash that could occur when changing the image selection very fast
	[fix]	fixed annoying memory leak when saving datechanges
	[fix]	a few more small bugs removed

Version 1.0b8 2007/10/26	[fix]	leopard-fix: shootShifter actually launches now! :-)

Version 1.0b7 2007/10/18	[new]	improved rename interface for more ease of use and more flexibility at the same time
	[new]	added fast(er)-import-option: hold down cmd-key to suppress thumbnail-creation during import. This helps if you just want to rename pics.
	[fix]	fixed a few small bugs

Version 1.0b6 2007/08/31	[new]	initial public release