No readable date/time information from camera trap videos
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Bazilah Razali
Jun 4, 2021, 10:44:31 AM6/4/21
to camtrapR
Hi Juergen,
This is my first time generate a species record table from camera trap videos through the drag and drop method. I followed the code from the manual and countered a warning of no readable date/time information.
So, here is the code that I used:
> library(camtrapR)
This is camtrapR 2.0.3 (CURRENT)
> Sys.which("exiftool") # this should return some path, e.g. "C:\\windows\\exiftool.exe"
exiftool
"C:\\WINDOWS\\exiftool.exe"
> wd <- "D:/video kuala lompat"
> setwd(wd)
> wd_rawVideos <- "D:/video kuala lompat/videoRAW"
> wd_identified_videos <- "D:/video kuala lompat/videoRAW"
> rec.table60_videos <- recordTable(inDir = wd_identified_videos,
+ IDfrom = "directory",
+ minDeltaTime = 60,
+ deltaTimeComparedTo = "lastRecord",
+ timeZone = "Asia/Kuala_Lumpur",
+ video = list(file_formats = c("jpg","avi"),
+ dateTimeTag = "QuickTime:CreateDate"))
Warning: Beberas : omitting 216 images because of missing/unreadable date/time information.
Beberas : 52 images 0 duplicates removed |==== | 20%
Warning: Khamis : no readable date/time information. Skipping
Warning: Kongsi : no readable date/time information. Skipping
Warning: KPI : omitting 372 images because of missing/unreadable date/time information.
KPI : 16 images 0 duplicates removed |================ | 80%
Warning: Padang Dusun : no readable date/time information. Skipping
Is there something I am missing?
Thank you.
Regards,
Bazilah
Juergen Niedballa
Jun 12, 2021, 4:53:32 AM6/12/21
to camtrapR
Hi,
did you check the name of the date/time tag in your videos with exifTagNames()? Maybe it's not "QuickTime:CreateDate", but something else. It depends on the manufacturer, there are no fixed standards unfortunately.
If you're uncertains feel free to share the output of exifTagNames().
Best,
Jürgen
Raquel Bone
Jun 12, 2021, 11:53:11 PM6/12/21
to Juergen Niedballa, camtrapR
Hello,
For AVI files this code has worked for me:
video = list(file_formats = c("jpg", "mov", "avi", "mp4"),
dateTimeTag = "FileModifyDate",
db_directory = "C:/Users/raque/Pictures",
db_filename = "digikam4.db"))
For MOV and mp4: dateTimeTag = "QuickTime:CreateDate"
I hope it helps,
Raquel
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Juergen Niedballa
Jun 13, 2021, 5:47:55 AM6/13/21
to camtrapR
Hi Raquel,
thank you for the information. For which camera models was that?
I believe the date/time tag in videos also depends on the specific manufacturer and camera model, since there seem to be no fixed standards (in contrast to jpg images).
The best way to check video and image metadata with camtrapR is the exifTagNames() function. Using the fileName argument one can return the metadata of a specific video file and find the suitable tag. Note that there is guarantee that date/time the video was taken is saved in the metadata at all. I've seen cases where no usable date/time was present in the metadata, which is very problematic
Best regards,
Jürgen
Raquel Bone
Jun 14, 2021, 12:53:03 AM6/14/21
to Juergen Niedballa, camtrapR
Hi Juergen,
I had the problem with an old Bushnell, Trophy Cam Essential, and a Browning Strike Force Pro, both of them with .avi video files. You suggested "FileModifyDate" and it worked.
Now always checking this exifTagNames()
Best regards,
Raquel
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Juergen Niedballa
Jun 18, 2021, 11:15:58 AM6/18/21
to camtrapR
Thank you
Raquel.
You are right, it is best to always check first with exifTagNames(), since different camera model use different metadata for videos, and unfortunately there are no standards.
Normally I'd think that FileModifyDate is very fragile (may easily be overwritten when copying / modifying the file) and shouldn't be the first choice, but I'm glad it worked for you.
Best,
Jürgen
Bazilah Razali
Jul 3, 2021, 10:26:17 AM7/3/21
to camtrapR
Hi all,
Apologies for the delayed response. The answer for the question Juergen asked is no, I did not check the time tag with exifTagNames() function as I usually used drag and drop method instead of metadata. So here is the output of the of exifTagNames():
> wd_rawVideos <- "D:/video kuala lompat/videoRAW"
> setwd(wd)
> exifTagNames(inDir = wd_rawVideos, returnMetadata = "DEPRECATED", returnTagGroup = "DEPRECATED")
Metadata of:
D:/video kuala lompat/videoRAW/Beberas/Unknown/PICT0001.JPG
tag_group tag_name
1 ExifTool ExifToolVersion
2 ExifTool Warning
3 File FileName
4 File Directory
5 File FileSize
6 File FileModifyDate
7 File FileAccessDate
8 File FileCreateDate
9 File FilePermissions
10 File FileType
11 File FileTypeExtension
12 File MIMEType
13 File ExifByteOrder
14 File CurrentIPTCDigest
15 File ImageWidth
16 File ImageHeight
17 File EncodingProcess
18 File BitsPerSample
19 File ColorComponents
20 File YCbCrSubSampling
21 EXIF ProcessingSoftware
22 EXIF ImageDescription
23 EXIF Make
24 EXIF Model
25 EXIF Orientation
26 EXIF XResolution
27 EXIF YResolution
28 EXIF ResolutionUnit
29 EXIF Software
30 EXIF ModifyDate
31 EXIF YCbCrPositioning
32 EXIF ExposureTime
33 EXIF FNumber
34 EXIF ExposureProgram
35 EXIF ISO
36 EXIF ExifVersion
37 EXIF DateTimeOriginal
38 EXIF CreateDate
39 EXIF ComponentsConfiguration
40 EXIF ShutterSpeedValue
41 EXIF ApertureValue
42 EXIF BrightnessValue
43 EXIF ExposureCompensation
44 EXIF MaxApertureValue
45 EXIF MeteringMode
46 EXIF LightSource
47 EXIF Flash
48 EXIF FocalLength
49 EXIF UserComment
50 EXIF FlashpixVersion
51 EXIF ColorSpace
52 EXIF ExifImageWidth
53 EXIF ExifImageHeight
54 EXIF InteropIndex
55 EXIF InteropVersion
56 EXIF SensingMethod
57 EXIF FileSource
58 EXIF CustomRendered
59 EXIF ExposureMode
60 EXIF WhiteBalance
61 EXIF SceneCaptureType
62 EXIF Sharpness
63 EXIF Compression
64 EXIF ThumbnailOffset
65 EXIF ThumbnailLength
66 EXIF ThumbnailImage
67 MakerNotes PreviewImage
68 XMP XMPToolkit
69 XMP CreatorTool
70 XMP Categories
71 XMP RegionList
72 XMP RegionInfoRegions
73 XMP TagsList
74 XMP LastKeywordXMP
75 XMP HierarchicalSubject
76 XMP CatalogSets
77 XMP Subject
78 IPTC CodedCharacterSet
79 IPTC OriginatingProgram
80 IPTC ProgramVersion
81 IPTC Keywords
82 Composite Aperture
83 Composite ImageSize
84 Composite Megapixels
85 Composite ShutterSpeed
86 Composite FocalLength35efl
87 Composite LightValue
value
1 11.24
2 [minor] Fixed incorrect URI for xmlns:MicrosoftPhoto
3 PICT0001.JPG
4 D:/video kuala lompat/videoRAW/Beberas/Unknown
5 1759 kB
6 2021:06:04 21:13:33+08:00
7 2021:07:03 21:33:10+08:00
8 2021:06:30 16:22:12+08:00
9 rw-rw-rw-
10 JPEG
11 jpg
12 image/jpeg
13 Little-endian (Intel, II)
14 b1e7accf9c0989e6e03a9f18cbf72511
15 2592
16 1944
17 Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
18 8
19 3
20 YCbCr4:2:2 (2 1)
21 digiKam-5.7.0
22
23 BESTOK
24 8310
25 Horizontal (normal)
26 180
27 180
28 inches
29 DSP.8310.20150914
30 2011:02:18 17:56:55
31 Co-sited
32 1/100
33 2.8
34 Program AE
35 100
36 0220
37 2011:02:18 17:56:55
38 2011:02:18 17:56:55
39 Y, Cb, Cr, -
40 1/97
41 2.6
42 1
43 0
44 2.6
45 Center-weighted average
46 Flash
47 Auto, Fired
48 8.5 mm
49
50 0100
51 sRGB
52 2592
53 1944
54 R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB)
55 0100
56 One-chip color area
57 Sigma Digital Camera
58 Normal
59 Auto
60 Auto
61 Standard
62 Normal
63 JPEG (old-style)
64 22186
65 10592
66 (Binary data 10592 bytes, use -b option to extract)
67 (Binary data 20090 bytes, use -b option to extract)
68 XMP Core 4.4.0-Exiv2
69 digiKam-5.7.0
70 <Categories><Category Assigned=0>Species<Category Assigned=1>Unknown</Category></Category></Categories>
71
72
73 Species/Unknown
74 Species/Unknown
75 Species|Unknown
76 Species|Unknown
77 Unknown
78 UTF8
79 digiKam
80 5.7.0
81 Unknown
82 2.8
83 2592x1944
84 5.0
85 1/100
86 8.5 mm
87 9.6
>
As this is my first time using this function, I am not sure where to look for name of date/time tag. To Raque, thank you for the information. I'll keep that in mind.
Regards,
Bazilah
Juergen Niedballa
Jul 7, 2021, 10:06:11 AM7/7/21
to camtrapR
Hi Bazilah,
the metadata you shared are for a jpg image, at the top it says:
Metadata of:
D:/video kuala lompat/videoRAW/Beberas/Unknown/PICT0001.JPG
I would suggest you use the fileName argument:
exifTagNames(fileName = "...")
Where you replace ... with the complete path of one of your video files, e.g.
exifTagNames(fileName = "D:/video kuala lompat/videoRAW/video1.avi")
Of course I'm making up the file name, so please adjust that. What you're looking for is an entry in the "value" column that contains the correct date of the video.
When you run recordTable, you can then use it in the video argument as shown above, e.g.
video = list(file_formats = c("jpg", "mov", "avi", "mp4"),
dateTimeTag = "FileModifyDate",
db_directory = "C:/Users/raque/Pictures",
db_filename = "digikam4.db"))
So in Raquel's example, the entry of tag_name was FileModifyDate.
Note that it is more reliable if you combine tag_group and tag_name (separated with a colon), as Raquel has shown above:
For MOV and mp4: dateTimeTag = "QuickTime:CreateDate"
This is because tags in different groups can have the same names. By specifying the tag_group we make sure R exiftool gets the right values.
Hope this helps. Let us know if it is unclear.
Best regards,
Jürgen
Bazilah Razali
Jul 27, 2021, 4:57:57 AM7/27/21
to camtrapR
Hi Juergen,
Apologized again for the delayed response. The suggestion you provided worked well for me and I found that the dateTimeTag was FileModifyDate, same as Raquel. Thank you so much for your clear explanations on this issue.
Regards,
Bazilah
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