2024/04/05 - shootShifter 9.0
(macOS 11 Big Sur or later)
What's new ?
2024/02/06 - shootShifter 8.5.6
(macOS 10.14 Mojave or later)
Feedback please!
suggestions? bug reports? praise?
shootShifter@maczentrisch.de
NEW: Version 9
shootShifter can help:
Photo and video files are organized in chronological order. The timestamps of individual media, or entire folders at once, can be corrected in order to arrange them as desired.
Existing locations can be easily repositioned on the map, in case of inaccuracies. Additionally, it is possible to add new locations to photos.
Finally, all files can be renamed consistently and uniformly with customizable naming templates.
"This tool is amazing. The developer clearly knew what he and we needed and made this task of merging photos from different cameras easy. I really feel I know what is going to happen to all my different timestamps. No black magic that leaves me wondering which timestamps get updated and which don't."
"This program is reliable and works as described. Used it to fix time differences with camera A and camera B from a wedding."
"Works wonders! Two wedding shooters with multiple cameras - their clocks set different - this program made it possible to get the images back in exact sequence. You can't imagine how much time this saved me."
"Definitely one of my go to tools to help photo management. And do not forget to check out the preferences, there are lots of options to finetune the program to exactly what you need."
"But where I found it most useful, was in getting a bunch of photos from various devices (that were not time or date synchronised), into the correct chronological order. This app made that process an absolute breeze."
More detailed overview
- Chronological media view through a timeline or grid.
- Time adjustments for individual media or entire folders ("All: + 3 hours").
- Direct input of new times or drag-and-drop and keyboard shortcuts for shifting.
- Multi view (mirrored, or as a separate "shelf") for easy movement between different time periods.
- Quick selections, such as by media and file type, data source, camera or lens, etc. Location-based selections can be made using the map.
- Additional media list allows sorting and selection based on additional detailed metadata.
- Quick navigation through jump markers or time jumps (previous/next day, etc.)
- Assignment of different capture time zones through location search. By specifying source and target zones, correct times can be determined even without existing time zone information, or "local" timestamps can be retained.
- Alignment of file system timestamps with embedded metadata possible directly during import.
- For images without Exif/Tiff timestamps, these can be added.
- Location corrections by moving pins on the map. (Inaccuracy filter highlights worthwhile corrections if applicable.)
- Addition of photo locations through manual positioning or alignment with GPX tracks.
- File renaming using customizable templates based on old file or folder names, or newly entered names. Sequential numbering can be done within a folder or across folder boundaries.
- App status saveable as "Projects" allows quick switching between different tasks.
- Temporarily saved video positions can be exported as "chapter text", still images, or Live Photos.
- Slideshow with “fixed random order”: can be interrupted at any time with non-random navigation and then continued logically.
- Supported formats include JPG, TIFF, HEIC, PNG, many RAW files (utilizing EXIF, TIFF data), QT videos (and similar formats such as MOV, MP4, etc.), and some AVIs (utilizing MDTA, MVHD, or RIFF data from video headers). AVIF and WebP should also be recognized but have only been tested with a limited sample set.
- Other file types (GIF, unsupported RAWs and videos), or files without embedded metadata, are imported based on their file system data. At least these can be adjusted and the files can be renamed.
- RAW+JPGs and Live Photos can be grouped during import so that changes are applied simultaneously to both files. XMP and AAE sidecar files are also supported and will be moved or renamed along with the main file. Changes to date/time/location can be transferred to existing XMP data.
Quickstart: A workflow example
1.Another event passed by and several people took a lot of great photos. Unfortunately they did not think about synchronizing their cameras beforehand. Therefore the resulting folders of images cannot be presented in correct sequence based on either the embedded time information or the filenames.
A simple correction of exactly one hour (forgot daylight saving time?) can ususally be achieved quite easily. But all too often its more difficult than that. Most of the time the actual order depends on seconds. And to find out these precise values for multiple folders its very valuable to have a fast graphical preview:
2.To import the media you can drag the folders onto the app. (Or use the app icon or the "Add Folder" menu item.)
Importing individual files is possible, too. But this has to be enabled in the Advanced Preferences.
3.Thumbnails for all photos are created and displayed in chronological order.
You can click on individual photos to view a more detailed preview.
Select one of the folders to make it the active one (the thumbnails are moved up).
4.Now you can move this active folder in time: Either by modifying the changes interface in the sidebar, or by simply dragging around one of its thumbnails.
5.Alternatively you can also double click one thumbnail and directly change the photos' date and time.
Its important to realize the difference between the two adjustment modes:
In the standard "Adjust altogether" mode ALL photos of the selected folder are always changed at the same time by the amount visible in the changes interface in the upper right corner.
6.If you do not want to change every photo of a folder you can select the second mode "Adjust separately" by clicking on the mode icon or by using the contextual menu.
Shortcut: Holding down the ctrl-key during import, changes the folders initial mode (depending on the default settings).
7.In this second mode it is possible to move one or more photos around, totally independent from the other photos of the same folder.
You can select several photos by shift or cmd clicking their thumbs or by drag selecting them using the mouse.
8.Normally, when moving around multiple thumbnails all their dates are modified by the same amount. Which means that the time lag between these photos is unchanged.
If you want to "force" all selected photos between two thumbs (changing their time lags in the process), you can hold the cmd-key before dropping the photos. Now their date/times are changed in a way that makes sure that ALL the new positions are inside the targeted gap.
9.The different ways to change date and time using the timeline are summarized again in this "How-to slideshow".
10.With the Info Popover (cmd-i) it is possible to preview all date and time changes as configured in the preferences.
11.The slideshow view can be used to quickly get rid of the least successful images even before renaming them.
12.If everything is correct, you can save the date and time changes and rename the files in the process.
13.You are done. All the the files are named in a way that you can store them easily in one folder ...
14.... and because you also saved the date and time changes back to the EXIF data the photos are in correct sequence when imported into the Photos.app, for example.
(Depending on media types and other circumstances when taking the photos, it might also be necessary to first set the correct time zone and to readjust possible gps timestamps, too, using the "advanced" saving options.)
15.TIP: To later present such a correctly renamed folder as a quick slideshow, its possible to speed up the import with some shortcuts (Look at the table below). In these cases the slightly time consuming date parsing or thumbnail generation can be skipped.
>>> More features: "Geotagging Quickstart"
Reminder: The "hidden" Shortcuts
| On Import | |
| hold opt | Shows the "temporary import modifiers". This allows to quickly customize the current import operation. |
| hold ctrl | Change Adjustment Mode from the default "Adjust altogether" to "Adjust separately". |
| hold cmd | Speed up import by not generating thumbnail images. |
| hold shift (last three: these are the defaults and can change depending on preferences.) | Slideshow-only express import: no thumbnail creation and no date parsing and thus VERY fast. |
| Timeline Navigation | |
| hold ctrl + shift (or fn + shift, more alternatives via Settings) | "Live-target" mode: shows previews for the thumbnails that are near the mouse pointer. |
| cmd + left/right ("Adjust separately" only) | Multi-select previous/next thumb. |
| cmd + ctrl + left/right ("Adjust separately" only) | Multi-select previous/next thumb, but deselecting the current one. |
| ctrl + opt + left/right | "Keyboard-drag" the (multi-)selection. |
| ctrl + opt + cmd + left/right | "Keyboard-alternate-drag", fits the (multi-)selection between two thumbs. |
| opt + left/right | Quick navigate the selected folder: skips adjacent photos from the same folder and all photos from other folders. |
| opt + left/right (with multi-selection) | Quick navigate the multi-selection: selects only multi-selected photos, skips adjacent ones. |
| opt + up/down | Previous/next photo with highlight dot (date change in "Adjust separately", import change, or possible save/rename error) or "Keeper" marker. |
| double click thumb of unselected folder (or press return/enter) | Select that folder. |
| ditto + also hold cmd | Add folder to folder selection. |
| opt + page-up/down (fn + cmd + up/down) | Scroll to previous/next date/time "chapter" shown by the labels. |
| space (or double/triple click a preview or force click a thumb) | Enter slideshow mode (The space shortcut can be changed in the preferences). |
| opt + space | Enter slideshow mode, jumping to the beginning. |
| ctrl + space | Enter time grid. |
| Time Grid Navigation | |
| Most of these timeline shortcuts work on the grid, too, with added up/down variants. (Because of that the aforementioned opt + up/down does NOT work on the grid.) | |
| Previews Bar Navigation | |
| ctrl + scrolling | Change the selection forward or backward. |
| combined with opt / opt+cmd (timeline or grid) | Move selection, identical to the same modifiers with arrow keys. |
| Dragging Thumbnails | |
| cmd (or opt or force click) | Toggle „drop mode”. (More details) |
| opt + cmd (with open shelf) | Move the selection into (or out of) the shelf, i.e. WITHOUT changing the times. |
| Map Navigation | |
| hold ctrl + shift (or fn + shift, more alternatives via Settings) | "Live-target" mode: shows preview for the pin near the mouse pointer, or a track in the track list. |
| hold ctrl + opt | Enable drag selection: drag a rectangle around (multiple) pins to select them. |
| hold opt + cmd (if possible, limited support) | Enable location movement: drag main pin to the new position. Other selected pins are moved accordingly. (Quick alternative: Right-click or ctrl-click on the new position and select "Move to Click Position" in the context menu. With an additional opt key, all selected pins end up at the same position.) |
| Folder Table | |
| double click folder | Select the first photo from that folder and scroll it in sight. |
| opt + double click folder (that has a saved custom quick selection) | Restore the custom quick selection. |
| triple click folder ("Adjust separately" only) | Select all photos from that folder. |
| opt + triple click folder | If necessary and possible change mode to "Adjust separately" then select all photos from that folder. |
| shift + triple click folder ("Adjust separately" only) | Select all "keepers" from that folder. |
| opt + shift + triple click folder | If necessary and possible change mode to "Adjust separately" then select all "keepers" from that folder. |
| Folder Selection Via Menu | |
| cmd | Add or remove folders from the selection. |
| opt (both can be combined) | Select the first photo from that folder and scroll it in sight. |
| Slideshow | |
| hold i | Display quick info layer. |
| 1-9 | Change slide duration, in seconds. |
| cmd + up/down | Increase/decrease slide duration. |
| left/right | Previous/next image or video. |
| up/down (in random mode) | Previous/next image or video in NON-random order. |
| opt + "play" (videos) | Playback video from the beginning. |
| shift + left/right (videos) | Inner-video navigation: +/- about 10 sec. |
| shift + up/down (videos) | Inner-video navigation: +/- smallest possible step. |
| shift + cmd + left/right (videos with bookmarks) | Jump to previous/next bookmark. (Use context menu to see previews and, while holding alt, to remove bookmarks again.) |
| shift (+ cmd) + swipe gesture (videos, IF system page swipe gesture is enabled) | The navigation types mentioned above. |
| hold opt (when changing video position) | More precise but usually slower scrubbing. |
| ctrl (+ opt) + swipe gestures (videos, IF system page swipe gesture is enabled) | Video scrubbing. |
| scroll up/down, magnifying gesture or +/- keys (with loupe active) | Resize loupe. |
| dito + opt (with loupe active) | Change loupe magnification. |
| hold cmd (with loupe active) | Fix loupe position, only the crosshair remains movable. |
| esc | Close loupe / exit slideshow. |
| Misc. | |
| ctrl + left-click / right-click (on thumbnails, folders, timeline, grid, map, and slideshow background, etc.) | Important: Do not forget to use the context menus! Many options can be quickly reached this way. |
| opt + cmd + up/down (when search field is active) | Change search category. |
| hold shift + opt + cmd (or opt when using menus) | Enable the option to save "unchanged" photos. So its possible to use the automatic date adjustments (as configured in the preferences) on ALL images. |
History
| Version 9.0 2024/04/05 |
[new] | User interface of the main window revised and modernized: |
| - | Previous interface elements bundled in a new sidebar: folder selection, changes interface, location focus filter, GPX track selection, as well as search. | |
| - | Instead of the extended filter, a new context-sensitive filter (for unsaved changes, ratings, warnings, dates, in addition to other media and camera metadata) has been added. | |
| - | Horizontal split option added for most multi-view modes. (Toggle: Ctrl + R) | |
| - | Folder colors are now optional. By default, a new optimized "Mono" display mode is used. (Folder colors can be reactivated in the "Appearance" settings: "Differentiate Folders with Colors.") | |
| [new] | Various optimizations. E.g. Added snap to track points (location only or location and time), and track previews. (There are now more alternatives for the preview keys.) | |
| [fix] | Various smaller bug fixes. | |
| [info] | Version 9 requires macOS 11 Big Sur or later. | |
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| Version 8.5.6 2024/02/06 |
[fix] | Fixed possible crash on macOS Sonoma when exiting fullscreen mode with two visible timelines. |
| [fix] | Fixed issue with shift + drag selection on the grid that could result in selecting more thumbnails than anticipated. | |
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| Version 8.5.5 2024/01/05 |
[fix] | Bug fixes and optimizations. |
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| Version 8.5.4 2023/12/19 |
[fix] | Bug fixes and optimizations. |
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| Version 8.5.3 2023/10/23 |
[fix] | Fixed an issue on macOS Sonoma where certain alerts didn't correctly block actions anymore. For example, the app could still be closed by using Cmd + Q even when the "Unsaved changes in the current project" warning was displayed. |
| [fix] | Fixed major issues regarding media locations: Adding locations could result in wrong/incomplete meta data (resaving now should fix this), and some movie pins could appear in the wrong places. (Thank you for the feedback!) | |
| [fix] | Resolves additional potential minor display issues under Sonoma. | |
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| Version 8.5.2 2023/09/29 |
[fix] | Optimizations and bug fixes |
| - | Primarily: Fixed some display issues on macOS Sonoma. | |
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| Version 8.5.1 2023/08/16 |
[fix] | Optimizations and bug fixes, e.g.: |
| - | Media list: In v8.5, deselecting multiple items no longer worked by simply clicking on a row of the selection. Potential display issue resolved. | |
| - | Slideshow: For media that are not larger than the window and where at least one side EXACTLY matches the window, no loupe was provided. | |
| - | GPX: Potential issue fixed where after double-clicking on a track, pins might not be displayed. Switching folders did not end the currently active track time modification. | |
| - | When using "Add Missing EXIF/TIFF Timestamps", a corresponding warning in the toolbar (if enabled) was not updated. | |
| - | Search: Search highlighting was not updated correctly in all cases; for instance, when directly switching from folder to places search, folder highlighting was not removed. | |
| - | Map: Inconsistency with the "Realign Locations" option resolved. Activation and use are now only possible in the "Adjust Separately" edit mode. (Erroneous activation through keyboard shortcut is prevented.) | |
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| Version 8.5 2023/05/18 |
[new] | Added basic geotagging features: Move existing locations, manually add new photo locations, align photos along GPX-tracks. |
| [new] | For (non-RAW) photos without EXIF / TIFF timestamps, these can now be added. | |
| [fix] | Various optimizations and bug fixes, e.g.: | |
| - | Added "Places" option to the available search categories. | |
| - | Fixed possible display issues with the loupe background when using slideshow in NON full screen mode. | |
| - | Changing loupe magnification is now possible by holding an additional option key while using the familiar resizing capabilities (scrolling, +/- keys, resizing gesture). | |
| - | Improved support for .PNG files. | |
| - | The information visible on the slideshow info layer can be exported via clipboard even if the slideshow is not visible, and with additional opton key (i.e. option+cmd+c) for all selected files at once. | |
| - | Attempting to restore a project with folders from an unreachable network share, blocked the app for an extended period of time, due to unrestricted time-consuming retries. | |
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| Version 8.1.4 2022/11/27 |
[fix] | Fixed another possible crash (Sorry!) |
| [fix] | Fixed possible issues with restarting app in slideshow overview (hidden mouse pointer and toolbar not appearing). | |
| [fix] | Minor tweak to the rename interface: "Rename selection only" in multi mode did not correctly reflect v8 changes. | |
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| Version 8.1.3 2022/11/19 |
[fix] | Fixed possible issue that could interfere with folder selections. |
| [fix] | Fixed possible grid scrolling issue where the selection could jump unexpectedly. | |
| [fix] | Fixed some minor display issues (e.g. broken slideshow status text using macOS Ventura). | |
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| Version 8.1.2 2022/11/08 |
[fix] | Fixed a possible crash. |
| [fix] | Fixed some regressions related to macOS Ventura (primarily performance issues and possibly misaligned rename interface). | |
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| Version 8.1.1 2022/10/25 |
[fix] | Bug fixes and optimizations. |
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| Version 8.1 2022/09/17 |
[new] | Added new slideshow display option "Auto Full Screen / Always" in addition to "On Playback". This corresponds more to the usual behavior from before version 8, and was missed by some. |
| [fix] | Bugfixes: | |
| - | List display settings were not always updated correctly if full screen state changed during slideshow. | |
| - | Info size was not always correctly updated during full screen toggles. | |
| - | Fixed possible loupe display issue. | |
| - | Fixed possible issue with the focus ring remaining visible after importing via drag and drop. | |
| - | Map: optimized zoom special cases and fixed some display issues. | |
| - | And several more smaller optimizations and fixes. | |
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| Version 8.0 2022/08/08 |
[new] | Major overhaul of the user interface: All important modes (timeline, grid, media list, locations, slideshow) are now displayed in one main window, in split view if desired. Quick mode change and full screen toggle are possible at any time, without the old limitations. |
| [new] | As well as various optimizations, e.g.: | |
| - | List: improved shift- and cmd-drag selections to be more consistent with the (also improved) selections in timeline and grid. | |
| - | List: click or drag in the # column (or in all others with the opt key held down) to change the main selection without canceling the multi selection. | |
| - | Added option to automatically adjust deviating times for RAW+JPGs. | |
| - | In addition, it is now possible to specify whether the RAW or the JPG is to be used for the thumbnail and preview of RAW+JPGs (per folder). | |
| - | Added option to sort Live Photos by video time. (Depending on the way these are transferred from the phone, the EXIF data may vary[!], and may make this necessary.) | |
| - | Improved support for files that only contain XMP data. | |
| - | Ctrl + scrolling on the previews bar changes the current selection. With additional opt/cmd keys, it shifts the selection. | |
| - | Date changes using the date picker are now also possible on the previews bar. The main view shows a live preview. | |
| - | (Custom) date picker: Holding the option key while changing a time unit also changes larger units when the limits are reached. | |
| - | Added lens information to the available data types for quick selections, extended filter, and list columns. Some cameras and lenses can be differentiated by serial number. | |
| - | Locations, details: Map-type "Satellite" is now selectable. Location accuracy is visualized on the map. | |
| [fix] | On Monterey, the slideshow loupe only showed the internal preview for some RAW files. | |
| [fix] | And other smaller bug fixes. | |
| [info] | Version 8 requires macOS 10.14 Mojave or later. | |
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| >>> Complete History (Loading failed, please try again.) |