I frequently read your raves about ExifTool, so a couple of weeks ago I finally got around to downloading it...

I must be missing something crucial.
The only file I have is exiftool(-k).exe

When I run the file, the only window I get is a black screen with greyish text - almost reminiscent of the old DOS screens... before window. With a basic description perhaps of what the program does...

From the way you guys adore the utility, there's got to be more than this...

Suggestions?

EDIT: I went back to Harvey's site to re-read the instructions. I renamed the file to be: exiftool.exe

I still don't get much. I think I don't understand what he means by "drag and drop"

Am I supposed to download an interface separately?

I mean, I know how to drag and drop in applications, but I don't know how or what I'm supposed to drag - from where? What am I dragging? WHere am I dropping? Am I dragging an image from iMatch onto the Exiftool black screen?

you've done everything right so far.
The version of exiftool you downloaded is a commandline tool. When you run it (doubleclick it) it opens a DOS command window (the black box).
The program itself is completely driven by command line options. Very few people use it that way and type in all the options by hand.
That's why the various scripts exist, which provide a graphical user interface to control exiftool.

Check out these script on the scripting wiki:
http://wiki.photoolsweb.com/index.php?title=Category:Ext.Prg._ExifTool_Scripts

exiftool is so popular because it is a very solid implementation of all sorts of image meta data standards. it lets you read and manipulate EXIF, IPTC and XMP data. Additionally it understands a lot of manufacturer specific codes (so called maker-notes).
The command line nature of the tool makes it easy to integrate with other programs and the underlying code forms the basis for EXIF support in many other windows-based programs.

Hope that explains the hype!

Fred is completely correct. The reason that we write all these scripts is because ExifTool is not easy to use in its raw form. If you want to use it outside of iMatch, you can install ExifToolGUI for Windows, which will give you a user friendly interface to ExifTool for examining the internals of images. But if you want to copy EXIF from one file to another, one of the scripts is best. Fred's is way simpler than mine.

I'm sure that someone will chime in and mention PhotoME. This is an alternative to the combination of ExifTool and ExiftoolGUI. It also enables you to look inside files. But only ExifTool can be driven by iMatch scripts ATM.

F_P

Thanks guys -
I had a feeling that I needed the companion GUI download

In the meantime, I downloaded PhotoME, and am trying to get a handle (still!) on dates. Which still baffle me.

From a great descriptive pop-up at PhotoMe, it seems that the 'date' that I want to be concerned about is the following:

IPTC-NAA data IIM - date created
CCYYMMDD
It is the date of intellectual content
Follow ISO8601 standard

So, my next question is: which date in IMatch does that correspond to?


PS - I downloaded the GUI and now the program is MUCH MORE APPEALING! Sorry guys, but truthfully, I didn't know what GUI even stood for... I surfed and found out and then it made sense that I needed it.

That's the IPTC "Created Date" as shown in the IPTC editor (2nd tab) in IMatch.

thank you -
I'm off to play and learn

Hi folks -

Is there a way to enter dates into the field utilizing the structure that I read about for ISO 8601 standards?

From what I read at wikipedia etc, I could use this field to enter dates that don't always have a month or day, or to indicate a time span (such as 1920-1929)

Thank you!
Marion

IMatch does not support "uncertain/incomplete" dates. Since IMatch uses standard date and time controls in Windows, and these cannot display a date with a missing months or year or day, IMatch always requests full date and year. This also avoids nasty side effects with IPTC-processing backoffice systems used by many agencies and newspapers, problems while converting to XMP, problems while sorting using IPTC dates, ...

Quick response here. This is why I always make sure to mention it's a command line tool (and now that there is a friendly GUI available)--that black window with grey text IS a DOS window. But hey, now you don't need to worry about installing Perl and making the correct command-line calls to it first like we early adopters did (or build the thing from source like the Linux guys). It is good enough to deal with all that.

Hi Marion,

To get around the Windows/date problem that Mario mentioned, I created a system where 01/01/yyyy means the picture was taken before the year listed. 06/30/yyyy means the picture was taken sometime in that year. 12/30/yyyy means it came after the year shown. 12/31/yyyy was not used due to New Years Eve parties. These three dates allow automatic sorting to an approximate time frame. In addition I use the "Fixture Identifier" field to enter something like: Before 1904, Circa 1904, After 1904, Summer 1904, 1897 - 1907 or, if it ever happens, 01/01/1904 because the picture was actually taken on that date.