Metadata in different time zones - nightmare

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)?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 :

2= after export of 1, reimport on other MAC

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

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.

Oh well the pics from the Canon Camera were in GMT-7 while my Mac was in GMT+2 when I imported the pics, and the time zone depicted was LA, not Brussels where my Mac was, after hollidays

Dear,

there are apparently programs to change "Time Stamps", Exif, Creation Date, Modification Date etc, but is there also a program (or way) to change the "time zone" of a file? If I can do that, my problem is solved (I hope)

Have a nice weekend,

Erik.

The timezone setting for the camera can be written to the Exif.Image.TimeZoneOffset tag.

http://www.exiv2.org/tags.html

You can probably use exiftool from the Terminal to change this tag before you import the photo to Photos, if your camera does not set this tag. ExifTool by Phil Harvey

I have used exiftool to change the lens tags for older cameras, but not yet to change timezone tags.

thanks again Leonie,

it will probably work, but looks quite complex 😕

any more user friendly programs - or better something like "exiv for dummies"? That would better suit me.

Greetings,

Erik.

Dear Léonie,

I did some more investigation and you are right, the time zone of the photos is the time zone your computer is in when importing the photos, except for some pictures.

I found out that :

1. You get the adaption of time zone also for pictures you import from a folder (e.g. pictures that were exported before), which almost solves the complete circus. Only problem : if you travelled trough more than 1 time zone when you took pictures.

2. I have in my holiday 2015 album, 3 different kind of photos :

- taken with Canon camera - while under GPS coverage

- taken with the same Canon camera - while NOT under GPS coverage (poor or no signal at time of photo)

- taken with iPhone6 camera

The pictures which were under GPS coverage, do not have the phenomena of adapting the time zone to the time zone of your computer during import. These pictures have the correct time zone.

3. I thought to have found a solution, and in Photos 1.3, I added a GeoTag to all my pictures without GPS info. Then I exported the pictures and I checked the Metadata : The GPS info was still there (good news - it means that Photos adds these changes to the Metadata of the Photo - which it does not with the time zone you change manually). I imported the pictures again in another Mac and, the GeoTag still showed California, but the timezone changed again to Brussels = My Time zone.

For info : Result of my test : I will add here info from 3 files (2 pictures) :

- 2074.jpg : with GPS coverage

- 2075.jpg : without GPS coverage with manual added Geotag

- 2075 original.jpg : without GPS coverage and no added GEOtag

In Green you find what the 2 first have in common but not the 3rd / in Yellow you find the info only the first one has (especially altitude and gps time)

When importing these files, the 2074 results in an automatic Time Zone to California, while the 2075 (with added GeoTag) results in time zone of computer while importing. Although on all pictures you find "time zone not specified". So what could result in a time zone for the first picture? The GPS time??

So I have a 3 new questions :

1. On which parameters does PHOTOS decide to put the Time Zone?

2. What about the daylight saving time? Most time zones in the world have 2 time zones : e.g. Brussels : Summer = GMT+2 / Winter = GMT + 1

3. Can an iPhone not add a Geotag? They claim it has a GPS, but I find no GPS info on any iPhone picture - or do I have wrong settings?

Thanks,

Erik.

A great summary, Erik, thank you. The GPS effect must be new in El Capitan. I have not seen this in Photos on Yosemite.

The pictures which were under GPS coverage, do not have the phenomena of adapting the time zone to the time zone of your computer during import. These pictures have the correct time zone.

When I import pictures taken with GPS it is even worse for me. Photos treats these pictures like the camera had been set to the time zone of the place where the photo has been taken. Which is worse.

Most of the iPhone imports are incorrect, because I never enable the cellular network for the iPhone when traveling abroad. So the photos have GPS, but the time stamp may be from a different timezone, because the timezone will not be set automatically when crossing the border.

And all timestamps for photos from my digital cameras are always wrong, GPS assigned or not, because I never ever change the clock from UTC in the cameras. I want a continuous timebase for all photos, without a the added daylight saving time complication. So the times in Photos will only be correct, when I am visiting Great Britain in winter.

A few years ago, whenI visited Alaska and Yukon Territory, and crossed continually the border between Canada and Alaska, it was nearly impossible to keep the dates right after importing the photos. All this would be easier, if Photos were showing the dates with the timezone in the Info panel.

If I force the date to show the timezones by changing the date format in the System Preferences, Photos will ust append the current system timezone name to the time, without converting it. It will just allow for daylight saving time:

The Info panel in Photos with the System Time set to GMT+1 when browsing the photos: The Photo has been taken in Alaska, after crossing the border to Yukon, and the iPad was still set to Yukon time.v So the correct time was 16:51 Yukon time.

And with the system time set to Yukon time when browsing: Photos is changing the name of the timezone, but not converting the time.

Dear Léonie,

When I import pictures taken with GPS it is even worse for me. Photos treats these pictures like the camera had been set to the time zone of the place where the photo has been taken. Which is worse.

At least we should be able to use or not this option. Because for me this is an advantage, since these are my only pictures with the correct info (time/date/position/ time zone etc.) + Photos puts them in the right order : e.g. a picture in Brussels at 11AM comes before a picture in New York at 6AM, which is correct, though 11>6.

I just found out why my iphone pics didn't have gps position (http://osxdaily.com/2010/07/06/get-iphone-photo-gps-geolocation-data/), though same problem as with the Canon camera, the GPS is not always available. And so when not available it takes the time zone of the computer + the time of the camera, but then 2 pictures in the same time zone, one with and one without GPSinfo, downloaded to the computer in a different time zone results in a time difference of "time zone 1 - time zone 2", which is wrong,

I really would like to know in which cases MAC PHOTOS uses the GPS info as time zone and when not. I wonder if it is not the fact of having a GPS Time or not.

Greetings,

Erik