Q&A: Date Stamps on Digital Pictures

I'm almost ready to give up my digital camera. I liked the way my old point-and-shoot film camera would put the date at the bottom of each picture. Is there a digital camera or any software that will add dates to the picture for me?

--Roger Edwards, Fort Collins, Colorado

Don't do it, Roger! Sure, it's nice to have a date stamped directly on a picture sometimes--especially if it's evidence in a court case. But don't you agree that posting the date right on the picture is kind of ugly?

I think I have some good news for you. You may not be aware that all of the pictures captured by your digital camera include something called EXIF data. EXIF stores all sorts of stuff about the picture (the date and time it was taken, exposure information, and more) right along with the picture.

That data is visible in almost any image editor. In Paint Shop Pro, for example, you'd choose Image, Image Information. You can also find it in Windows: Right-click on a picture icon and choose Properties from the menu, then click the Summary tab and choose Advanced.