Date and time problems with digital cameras
We previously date and time problem with Nikon digital cameras, that now appears to affect image capture devices from a variety of manufacturers:
MacFixIt reader Tom Burke writes "I have exactly the same problem with pictures transferred from my Canon EOS D30--the OS 10.2.8 Finder's file creation time is four hours early. I haven't yet tried it with OS 9 (or another version of OS X), nor have I tried it using a transfer program such as Canon's or iPhoto (which might make a difference). I'm simply copying the files using a card reader. Fortunately, the EXIF info remains correct after the transfer, so the times can be corrected."
Marie-Helene Robert suggests that the issue may be related to a time-scale difference: "I really think the problem here is only a time format sync problem. The camera "thinks" in 12 hours format (AM/PM) while the computer" "thinks" in 24 hours format.
"To correct the problem I changed the time in the camera making sure the AM/PM bit was set correctly and used iView to add 12 hours to every single shot I had made since I had bought the camera, adding a day change once in a while.
"The process is a drag, it is time consuming as you have to watch out for a day change where applicable, for instance if you add 12 hours to the incorrect time stamp of let's say 23:00 (on Monday) will change things to 11:00 on (Tuesday), while adding 12 hours to 11:00 (Monday AM) will give you 23:00 (Monday PM)."
As previously noted, the problem does not occur when a camera is connected to a Mac OS 9 or Windows system first. Jeff Fishbein writes "I have the same problem as Mike Florian, except with a Minolta camera (D'Image 5) and that the time difference is five hours (could be a location matter; I live in the Eastern time zone). Actually, I believe I sent you folks a note about this problem more than a year ago, when I first noticed it ... not complaining, mind you, in fact I'm glad it's finally being addressed.
"Anyway, the time issue occurs whether the camera is connected directly or the CF Card is put into a reader. If it is mounted in Mac OS X first, the time is off no matter what. If it's mounted first in Mac OS 9 -- or on a Windows system -- the time is accurate on either of those, but is still wrong in Mac OS X.
Resources
I used a Nikon 880 for a over 2 years with OS X with no problem...
Compact Flash card in either the camera or a SmartDisk reader.
Now I have this time/date issue with a new Sony DSC-T1 with a
memory stick.
- by 123 April 22, 2004 1:28 AM PDT
- It is most certainly not the camera thinking in 12 hour time, or half the times
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(3 Comments)would be correct and the other half would be off by 12 hours. Time is almost
always stored as seconds since 1900 (or 1904, or 1970, or 2000), especially
in filesystems.
It's because the DOS filesystem doesn't care what time zone you're in (this is
the same reason why filenames are limited to ugly 8.3). If you set the time in
the BIOS, you'll know that the system clock has no facility to store time zone.
Interpreting time as 'local time' is no more correct than interpreting time as
GMT. If anything, interpreting time as local time is less correct, because 'local'
is variable, and the only standard that isn't is GMT (after all, that's what we
measure time zones relative to).