Pics in photos are out of time order even though sort order is by oldest date capture.

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Level 1

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Pics in photos are out of time order even though sort order is by oldest date capture.

I returned from a trip. I have pics from 3 cameras, iPhones download. I had all their date, times set the same.

Downloaded them in Photos and they are not in time order. They are all in the right day, but not in time order.

It makes it hard to keep the best pics from one event when you have scroll back and forth from different cameras to see the same pic, taken at the same time from different camera.

Keep in mind, the data in the photo have the correct date and time, but it is sorting it by day and time and by camera.

Sort is greyed out and set to oldest date capture.

Can you tell me how to get them all in time order no matter what camera?

iMac, Catalina.

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 2, 2019 5:34 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

197,751 points

Nov 2, 2019 8:16 AM in response to bmiller1097

I had all their date, times set the same.

Have the photos been taken in a different Time Zone? And did you import them at home, in a different timezone from where you took them? Have all photos been tagged with GPS before you imported them to photos, or do some photos not have GPS tags? Photos may be using wrong timezones to interpret the date and time for some photos, and then they will be sorted incorrectly, when you sort them by the time.

See: How Photos Handles Time Zones when Importing

For example, you take a picture at 9am in San Francisco and import to Photo after returning to New York. If the photo is tagged with GPS, Photos will treat the 9am a Pacific Time, using the time zone of San Francisco, but if there is no GPS tag, Photos will read the 9am Eastern Time, using the current timezone of system time on your Mac when you import the photos.

Check the timezones assigned by Photos for the photos that are sorted incorrectly. I would create a smart album for each camera model ans split the sets of photos by cameras, then then separate the smat albums further by "Photo is tagged with GPS" or not.

You can see the timezone for the date and time, if you select a photo and open the panel "Image > Adjust Date & Time". Look for the timezone strip and the "Closest City". Are there photos with a wrong timezone?

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,751 points

Nov 2, 2019 8:40 AM in response to léonie

You can make the time zone visible in the Info for a photo - this is new in Photos 5.0 on Catalina.

Photos is using the medium format for the date and time as specified in the System Preferences > Language & Region > Advanced. If you change the medium formate for the time to include a time zone suffix, you will see all times with a time zone name in the Info for a photo (after restarting Photos and the System Preferences).

For example: I have set the time format like this:

And now I can see the time zone with the date and time in the Info in Photos.

If a photo is sorted incorrectly, I am using "Image > Adjust Date & Time" to change the time zone, but not the "Time Adjusted".

See this user tip: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250001802

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