rikscha

Q: Metadata in different time zones - nightmare

I am very annoyed about this very apparent bug in Photos.

 

On the Mac version, you click the Get info button to check the date and time of a particular photo and it will display the correct time of when the picture was taken. It might be the case though that you are consolidating pictures from a particular 'event' from different people/sources and this always worked very well for me in iPhoto - pictures would be sorted correctly by date. Please note, I am talking about pictures that have been taken outside your usual timezone (i.e. on holidays abroad)

 

Importing those very same pictures now into Photos, very often (not always) yields in pictures being sorted incorrectly. Although, pictures from different sources have the correct date, they are being sorted based on my home timezone. I then obviously checked under Image -> Adjust Time,Date the embedded timezone of those pictures. Again, both pictures have the same timezone selected. There is no fix to this. Doesn't matter if I am changing the timezone or manually change entries, it will simply not sort the pictures correctly.

 

Photos on iOS will always display the time of my own home zone above any picture I have taken and sort it based on that. This is consistent with the Mac version in terms of sorting but iOS actually does give a bit of insight of why it is sorting pictures incorrectly.

 

Photos on iCloud.com is another story and it very often displays in 'moments' very different metadata about time, date locations and gets it very wrong.

 

I think there is a inconsistency in the Photo app or in the Photo Cloud library in general that causes this problem. I know that while Photo was in beta on icloud.com many people reported that pictures would display Cupertinos time zone for any picture they have taken.

 

I am not sure this can be easily fixed because it doesn't seem to be just a case of how the different Photo app interpret metadata. It might already be the case that Photos have been damaged when I imported them manually into the Photos app. That would mean re-importing and adjusting of thousands of photos for me which were in perfect order beforehand.

 

What is your experience?

Posted on Apr 17, 2015 7:26 AM

Close

Q: Metadata in different time zones - nightmare

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 of 3 last Next
  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Apr 17, 2015 8:21 AM in response to rikscha
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Apr 17, 2015 8:21 AM in response to rikscha
    What is your experience?

    The same mess of inconsistent times.

    It is the same for libraries migrated from Aperture as for iPhoto.

    Photos, that have been imported to iPhoto and Aperture with the time zone setting UTC or GMT are now shown with the timezone CEST.

    Screen Shot 2015-04-17 at 17.14.20CEST.png

    The sample library above has been migrated from Aperture.  The photos have been taken at 8:42 UTC.

    Any photo transferred by My Photo Stream will also be time shifted to the current time zone.

  • by Apple Iceman,

    Apple Iceman Apple Iceman Aug 6, 2015 4:41 AM in response to rikscha
    ( points)
    Aug 6, 2015 4:41 AM in response to rikscha

    This is driving me nuts too.

     

    I occasionally collate images from a number of sources after a trip (timezones or not).

     

    • iPhone = Accurate local time (and position).
    • My cameras = Accurate local hour, but occasionally minutes out.
    • Colleagues/friends/family camera = Occasionally accurate local hour, definitely minutes out.

     

    So, I spent a lot of time in the Photos, using the image adjust tool to batch adjust hours and minutes so that photos appear correctly in the moments view. Finally all in order, with the time showing the local time of the event. However, sync to my iPhone (via iTunes) and the result is a complete mess.

     

    There even seems to be different ways in which adjusted iPhone pictures and adjusted regular camera pictures are handled by the iOS Photos App.

     

    Also, the iOS Photos App changes the displayed date/time as the phone's date and timezone change. The OS X Photos App does not.

     

    Edit : The timezone information shown above seems to only come from photos imported from Aperture. Nothing from photos imported from iPhone/iPhoto.

  • by BRegan6,

    BRegan6 BRegan6 Aug 29, 2015 5:35 AM in response to rikscha
    ( points)
    Aug 29, 2015 5:35 AM in response to rikscha

    This is making me crazy too.  I took pictures on my phone which show the correct time that were taken (but when when I go under adjust time and date, it says the wrong time zone - it too is showing my local time zone which would then make the actual time showing wrong). This is a major issue as the photos I took on my camera (where the time zone was set properly) now do not match up.  For example:

     

    Nikon Camera Photo: Time 9:23 AM Time Zone Mountain Time

    iPhone 6 Photo: Time 9:24 AM Time Zone Eastern Standard Time (but it should say Mountain Time) as it new where the geotag was

     

    As a result, the Nikon photo is showing up 2 hours in the photo sort ahead of the iPhone photo which is a major issue when you're combining lots of photos from  different sources.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 29, 2015 7:45 AM in response to rikscha
    ( points)
    Aug 29, 2015 7:45 AM in response to rikscha

    this needs to be addressed by apple - tell them - https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

     

    LN

  • by Apple Iceman,

    Apple Iceman Apple Iceman Oct 5, 2015 1:56 AM in response to LarryHN
    ( points)
    Oct 5, 2015 1:56 AM in response to LarryHN

    I may have accidentally stumbled across the answer to this.

     

    When adjusting photos using "Adjust date and time", FIRST make sure that all the photos are in the correct time zone (using the map). THEN adjust by hour any photos that are incorrect.

     

    I'm not sure why this would make a difference, if any. Any thoughts?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 5, 2015 2:18 AM in response to rikscha
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 5, 2015 2:18 AM in response to rikscha
    Importing those very same pictures now into Photos, very often (not always) yields in pictures being sorted incorrectly. Although, pictures from different sources have the correct date, they are being sorted based on my home timezone.

    Photos will use the time zone of the current system time zone when you import your photos. I always try to import the photos while I am still in the timezone where I took the photos or I change the system time to the timezone set in the camera before importing.

     

    Another problem is that Photos is displaying the names of the timezones incorrectly, so we have no way to check the timezone associated with the capture time stamp. The photo below has been taken in Mexico with the iPhone, the iPhone's time was set to he timezone of Mexico City, the photo has been imported while in Mexico, but Photos is displaying the correct time for Mexico, but with the timezone offset of GMT+1, my home timezone I am currently in.

    Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 11.13.08GMT.png

  • by Apple Iceman,

    Apple Iceman Apple Iceman Oct 5, 2015 3:11 AM in response to léonie
    ( points)
    Oct 5, 2015 3:11 AM in response to léonie

    I don't see that timezone offset in my info window, for any of my photos.

     

    However, have you tried using the adjust date/time map and entering the timezone there first. Then going back and correcting the hour offset (if necessary)?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 5, 2015 3:19 AM in response to Apple Iceman
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 5, 2015 3:19 AM in response to Apple Iceman

    the time zones will show, if you use the system preference -  language and region to. Modify the date formats to include the time zone. 

     

    IT is independent of how I adjust he capture time Or where the photo has been taken.  When I display the capture time with a time zone suffix, photos will always use the name of the current system time zone

  • by Apple Iceman,

    Apple Iceman Apple Iceman Oct 5, 2015 6:54 AM in response to léonie
    ( points)
    Oct 5, 2015 6:54 AM in response to léonie

    léonie wrote:

     

    the time zones will show, if you use the system preference -  language and region to. Modify the date formats to include the time zone.

     

    IT is independent of how I adjust he capture time Or where the photo has been taken.  When I display the capture time with a time zone suffix, photos will always use the name of the current system time zone

     

    Ok, I used the system preference and found the oddity. The time zone suffix shows local time on my Mac. However, when selecting "Adjust Date and Time ..." the correct time zone shows on the map.

     

    On my Mac, the time shown on the photo is the time (local) at which the photo is taken. On my iDevice, it shows the time adjusted for location.

     

    So, photo taken on a compact camera, 9am, New York and imported to Mac in Central European Time. Use "Adjust Date and Time ..." to add EST to the photo using the map only.

     

    Mac (CET)

         CMD-I = 09:00 CET

         Adjust Date and Time shows 09:00 EST

     

    iPhone (CET)

         15:00

     

    My personal preference would be for all devices to display the time as the local time at which the photo was taken, but sorted by UTC. Makes the most sense. I've got a few photos crossing the date line which really gets entertaining.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Oct 5, 2015 7:48 AM in response to Apple Iceman
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 5, 2015 7:48 AM in response to Apple Iceman
    My personal preference would be for all devices to display the time as the local time at which the photo was taken, but sorted by UTC. Makes the most sense.

    That worked nicely in Aperture. Adjusting the date and time had two settings:  I could specify the the timezone the camera was set to, when I took the photos (camera time), and the timezone I want to display in Aperture (actual time).  And Aperture handled it even well, if I picked a different time from the timezone  of the location.  I mostly used UTC as the actual time to have a continuous timebase without daylight saving time changes.

     

    Most of the time settings in Aperture have been migrated incorrectly to Photos.  If I want to see the correct dates of my photos I have to launch Aperture.

     

     

    I've got a few photos crossing the date line which really gets entertaining.

    It was a mess last year when I continually crossed the border between Alaska and Yukon several times and the photos from different timezones were on the same card. It was not possible to adjust the camera time for each crossing of the border, but the iPhone kept changing the time and it was hard to keep track of the clock settings of the iPhone.

  • by Apple Iceman,

    Apple Iceman Apple Iceman Oct 5, 2015 7:57 AM in response to léonie
    ( points)
    Oct 5, 2015 7:57 AM in response to léonie

    It was a mess last year when I continually crossed the border between Alaska and Yukon several times and the photos from different timezones were on the same card. It was not possible to adjust the camera time for each crossing of the border, but the iPhone kept changing the time and it was hard to keep track of the clock settings of the iPhone.

     

    I find the iPhone makes for a good reference. I can then use it as the baseline to flag other photos and bring them into order. It's finally working ok. It makes sense on the Mac. But, not on the iPhone.

     

    As I have mentioned in other threads, the whole purpose of Moments (which is like) is time and location. The whole failure (which I don't like) is that Apple really haven't implemented it well.

     

    As an aside, if you look at the shocking implementation of timezones in Calendar, Reminders, etc, it will give you some idea as to why they can't be bothered to get it right in Photos.

  • by wizofoz244,

    wizofoz244 wizofoz244 Nov 21, 2015 8:42 PM in response to Apple Iceman
    ( points)
    Nov 21, 2015 8:42 PM in response to Apple Iceman

    I am having the same issue, I got a bunch of pictures from a friend I traveled with to Asia.  I am from Chicago and he is from Germany.  When import pictures from him into Photos, his pictures are in order, but in the place in the timeline when I merge them with mine.

     

    When I look at the date on his pictures, it is correct, but is not sorted correctly.  He took his on an iPhone 6s and me on an iPhone 5s and there was no need to manually adjust the date or time.

     

    There is no relation between time zone offset either, as it varies between photos.  It seems more related to the fact that the photos are in different moments.

     

    Very frustrating.

  • by Erik Coremans,

    Erik Coremans Erik Coremans Mar 12, 2016 2:18 AM in response to léonie
    ( points)
    Mar 12, 2016 2:18 AM in response to léonie

    Hi Leonie,

     

    in my case the time zones were imported correctly, although my Mac is in time zone Brussels.

     

    Though some were incorrect. And changing the time zone, and then exporting the photo, and importing it again results in some photos with the wrong time zone

     

    1= original after import : IMG_0805.jpg

     

    2= after export of 1, reimport on other MAC IMG_0806.jpg

     

    as you see the times are the same, but the time zone changed. And so the time is 9h difference in this case.
    Photos does the sorting well, and calculates which one comes first. The weird part is that not all the pictures behave like this after export/import. Some do stay in LA time, while other change to Brussels time

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Mar 12, 2016 2:18 AM in response to Erik Coremans
    Level 10 (107,891 points)
    iCloud
    Mar 12, 2016 2:18 AM in response to Erik Coremans
    in my case the time zones were imported correctly, although my Mac is in time zone Brussels.

    How are you checking this? 

     

    My camera is set to UTC, as all my cameras.  This way I will always know, how the camera has been set when importing from it.

     

    When I take a few photos in quick succession, and then set my system time for example to GMT-8, restart the Mac, import the first photo, then set the system time to GMT-6, then restart the Mac again and import the second, later photo, the two photos will appear in Photos sorted incorrectly; the second photo will be shown before the first one.

Page 1 of 3 last Next