🖼️ Sorting pictures by taken date instead of modification date

[tillwf]

For travel albums or for any event, pictures modification time does not reflect the event timeline.

It happens a lot that pictures are modify (cropping, enhancements, etc.), and changing their orders does not help readability.

Could the creation date be the default info used ?

[skjnldsv]

It would be a nice enhancement.
But we currently do not store the taken date

cc @rullzer

[skjnldsv]

cc @jancborchardt if it make sense

[jancborchardt]

Yep, very good point – for photos it absolutely makes sense to sort by taken date, exactly for the reasons @tillwf mentioned. :)

[tillwf]

Could it simply be sorted by the name as a start ? With current cameras naming convention, the filename reflects the creation date order.

[skjnldsv]

I'd rather have modification date (like all mobile galleries work) than name

[jancborchardt]

Could it simply be sorted by the name as a start ? With current cameras naming convention, the filename reflects the creation date order.

This would break down as soon as you get photos from a second camera or from friends, or the numbering of your own camera wraps – so the current way is better for now. :)

[tillwf]

@jancborchardt You're right. However, it is not better now, because currently the order is completely random as I transfer my picture using scp. That is why I was saying "as a start". I prefer to have 2 sets of photos ordered than nothing coherent.

[frieck]

Guys, can't we just change this line

photos/lib/Controller/AlbumsController.php

Line 102 in c993c63

'lastmod' => $node->getMTime(),

to use $node->getCreationTime()?
That makes picture be displayed in a more logical order....

[skjnldsv]

@frieck this suggest is about the taken date, not the creation date of the file.
So we'd need exif support

[frieck]

Hi @skjnldsv,
For me all photos are being displayed in an incorrect order as they all have been modified sometime.
So changing that line that I mentioned helped me to fix part of the problem, I understand that a File can have a creation date different from the photo that it represents, but that seems to be more uncommon than having a modification date and everything listed by that modification date.

[skjnldsv]

@frieck not arguing with your specific issue :)
It fits some people use, but also not for others. Just reminding that this issue is about the photo taken date, not creation date.

Could the creation date be the default info used ?

Nonetheless, I just notice this line on the main post, which make this confusing 😛
@jancborchardt shall we use creation date by default instead of last modified?

[jancborchardt]

@jancborchardt shall we use creation date by default instead of last modified?

Yep! :)

[da-anda]

creation date of the file is better than the mtime, but EXIF data would ofc be best. Unfortunately, creation date (filesystem level) is also of no use if you use the NC app to sync your pictures from the phone, since all files end up with a creation date of the time of the upload :(

[Zaijo]

BTW, there's this application https://github.com/gino0631/nextcloud-metadata which can already extract metadata of many formats. Is there a way to use that? @Mikescops @skjnldsv ?

[gipadm]

@Zaijo I am also interested in helping out with this one. Let me know.

[Zaijo]

I'm sorry guys but in between I found Photoprism https://docs.photoprism.org/ which I now use alongside with Nextcloud and this EXIF way for Nextcloud Photos seems to have a veeeery long path before it's usable for me.

[johannestophoj]

@Zaijo , did you use some guide to install photoprism and set it up with nextcloud? This sync-option looks like it duplicates the image data (?) https://docs.photoprism.org/user-guide/settings/sync/

[Zaijo]

Let's move to e.g. Twitter with that so we don't spam this thread. https://twitter.com/zaj0

[skjnldsv]

BTW, there's this application gino0631/nextcloud-metadata which can already extract metadata of many formats. Is there a way to use that? @Mikescops @skjnldsv ?

Like mentioned on this thread and others multiple time, this require metadata to be merged and shipper into nextcloud server, available through dav and have a dedicated API for other apps.
Then it would be a few lines of code for the Photos app.

[jcclerval]

I reckon it will take some time before it is properly managed server-side. How about some partial temporary feature using PHP built-in EXIF support ? Something similar at what I have written above, but better and at the right place ?

[skjnldsv]

No, it must be done right or none at all. Temporary hackish features are what got us in lots of trouble in lots of areas. And then no one maintains it, and it suddenly becomes the bottleneck for any desired changes. 😖

Locking this thread, nothing more productive seems to be added, you are all free to start working on this and I will help you implement it if you do. 👍

[jakobroehrl]

@marcelklehr
How hard is it to fix this issues when nextcloud/server#30366 will be merged?

[marcelklehr]

Shouldn't be too hard, IMHO. One problem is that file creation dates are a relatively recent addition to the linux family so may not always be available...

[jancborchardt]

@artonge what do you think about this one regarding feasibility? Would it need EXIF data to be saved or something else as prerequisite?

[artonge]

This would need the EXIF data to be saved in the oc_file_metadata table. Easy. But this would also need to be able to order files with on a metadata entry. Harder as there is no logic for that yet. I did not event looked at it, so not even sure that is possible, but I hope it is.

[jancborchardt]

What’s the current state or feasibility regarding this now that we have the data in the metadata table (right?) – @artonge?

[szaimen]

Looks like this would need to be first done by the desktop and other client apps?
See nextcloud/server#30366 (comment)

[jancborchardt]

cc @tobiasKaminsky also for the client part as mentioned by @szaimen.

[tobiasKaminsky]

This would need the EXIF data to be saved in the oc_file_metadata table.

This is only on server.
On clients there is no reliable way to check/send creation date.

[artonge]

What’s the current state or feasibility regarding this now that we have the data in the metadata table (right?) – @artonge?

I do not think that we have the data yet.

[szaimen]

So I guess we would need to extract the information on server and store it in the metadata table first?