1-Hour Timestamp Discrepancy on Photo Files Created During Eastern Standard Time

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Level 1

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1-Hour Timestamp Discrepancy on Photo Files Created During Eastern Standard Time

Hi. Wondering if someone can help clarify why I am seeing a discrepancy on the timestamps for all my photos taken during the Eastern Standard Time (EST) period. Note that none of my photos taken during the Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) period show a discrepancy.

More specifically, when I GET INFO (Command I) for photos taken with a 3rd party camera (Nikon D5300), on a date that falls within EST, the timestamp listed under the GENERAL INFO tab (icon = page with folded corner) shows as one hour earlier than that listed under the EXIF tab, which can be found under the MORE INFO tab (icon = letter "i" inside circle).

Attached are screen captures for photos taken on March 12, 2022, the last day of EST, and March 13th, the very next day and the beginning of EDT.

The EXIF time on both files is accurate. That showing under the GENERAL INFO tab is an hour early for the photo taken during EST and matches the EXIF time for that taken during EDT.

I should note that I have observed this across multiple lap/desktops running everything from Mavericks 10.95 to Sonoma 14.5.

I see it whether reading the file from a locally stored download, from an SD card, or through an app, such as Image Capture, Photos, or iPhoto.

I have confirmed that date, time, and time-zone settings on all devices are correct.

It's worth noting that the camera has a Daylight Saving Time "toggle switch" that allows the user to easily change the camera's time by an hour. Activating this feature indeed changes all timestamps on photos taken after the change is made by one hour. But it does nothing to correct the 1-hour difference between general and EXIF info observed in photo files created during EST.

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Aug 8, 2024 10:09 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 8, 2024 11:48 PM in response to res259

File system Creation and Modification times are UTC so they change depending on the computer's time zone location and the DST setting for that location.

So if you switch the computer clock between standard "winter" and DST "summer" time, file Creation and Modification times change ±1 hour, but EXIF time remain the same.

EXIF DateTimeOriginal is local time, EXIF has also OffsetTimeOriginal for the time zone.

Confused? If you want to be more confused check "The Problem with Time & Timezones":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,519 points

Aug 9, 2024 1:52 AM in response to Matti Haveri

I am still missing the pane in the System Settings, where we could ensure, that each and every date and time will be displayed with a time zone suffix. It is horrible to have to guess, which timezone is being used to display a date and time.

To deal with this mess, I am keeping all cameras set to UTC and never ever change the date in my cameras, I only adjust the time, when the clock is drifting. This way I will know, which timezone the camera has used to assign the capture time to the photos. Unfortunately, it is not possible to keep the iPhone set to UTC; I would have to purchase a second iPhone just to use as a camera. Getting the photos taken with my iPhone sorted properly has been. a nightmare, when I have been traveling in Alaska and Yukon Territories and been crossing the border several times a day and the iPhone decided on its own, if it has been in Canada or Alaska.

To be able to see the time zone with every date and time in the info in Photos I have changed the system defaults in the Terminal to ensure that the time zone suffix will be shown, as recommended in this discussion: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254316210

This makes it easier to compare the times of photos taken with different cameras and to get them sorted properly.

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1-Hour Timestamp Discrepancy on Photo Files Created During Eastern Standard Time

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