Date & Time in Browse Window Different from date & time created

[Stefanjan]

Hi, I have read "How IMatch uses Date and Time Information" but still confused.

How can I change the browse window interface so the date time in the browse window matches the date subject created?

Back in the UK after a two week holiday in British Columbia. I set my Canon R7 to local time, 8 hours behind UK time.

The Imatch browse window shows date & time 8 hours later than local Canadian date created time. Presumably imatch adjusts the date / time to UK time using the GPS data  from the files and deciding to display in UK rather than local time.

I find this really confusing especially as I forgot to change the date on my Canon R7 till part way into the trip. And also took photos on my Panasonic compact and mobile phone. I have over 7,000 photos to cull but don't want to move from my import folder to dated folders until I align the dates to local time.

[Mario]

I assume you mean the File Window when say browser window.

The Default File Window layout uses the global File.DateTime value which is created from date subject created (if available) when a file is imported or re-imported. Depending on your local time-zone at that time and the (optional) time-zone offset available in EXIF or XMP metadata IMatch produces the global File.DateTime used in File Windows, for sorting, searching, the time line etc. IMatch does not re-map File.DateTime dynamically to convert it into your current time-zone, if this is what you expect.

You can see the original date subject created and create time in the Metadata Panel, with the time-zone recorded by the camera (if available).

None of these timestamps changes when you change the Windows clock or time-zone. They are persistent and Windows time-zone agnostic.

If you take images in EU time-zone but later look at them in AUS time-zone, the metadata timestamps will still be in EU time zone. If this causes an issue for you, use the Time Wiz to shift the date and time, or change the time-zone, to whatever date and time you consider correct.

[Stefanjan]

I've used TimeWiz to set the date / time created to the correct British Columbia, Canada, local time which is 8 hours behind UK time.

In preferences, I changed "Preserve date / time of original file" from No to Yes.

I still have a time difference between the file window time and the meta data time.

How do I align these times? I always want to see the created date time not a different time offset!

[Mario]

In preferences, I changed "Preserve date / time of original file" from No to Yes.

DON'T do this. If prevents Windows from updating the "last modified" timestamp on disk, which can confuse backup software and other tools. This setting is there for very specific reasons, and hidden in non-Expert mode for a reason.

I still have a time difference between the file window time and the meta data time.

If you are using the Default File Window layout, it will display the global File.DateTime.
This is crated from date subject created, applying the time-zone in the metadata and the local time-zone as explained in How IMatch uses Date and Time Information

It updates automatically when you change timestamps in the Time Wizard or Metadata Panel or elsewhere and takes the current local time-zone into account. File.DateTime uses no time-zone (it is considered to be in your local time-zone) for historical and backwards compatibility reason.

If it sees a date time 13.09.2022 14:00:00+03:00 and you are in my time-zone (GMT+01:00) and summer time is on (plus another hour), it will set File.DateTime to 13:00:00. My timezone is currently +02:00 and the timestamp has an offset of 03:00 so there is an one hour offset left that is considered when producing File.DateTime.
If there is no time-zone offset in the metadata timestamp IMatch assume it is in local time and sets 14:00:00. If there is a different time-zone offset in the file or a different time-zone in your location, adjust accordingly.

[Stefanjan]

So in the attached example, the date subject created is probably correct 08:28 and the -08:00 means that in the file window it displays 17:28.

I'd much rather the file window displays the create date. Is it possible for me to change the interface so the create date is displayed rather than the offset date?

And as a supplementary question, how does my camera know it is in a different time zone and deduct -8:00 is it because the camera is connected to my phone via bluetooth?

[Mario]

You can display any tag you want in File Window layouts. See The Full Layout Editor.
For a header or footer cell, set Attribute to Metadata Tag and select the tag you want to show:



You can also use the custom template option to display a free mix of Variables and text in each thumbnail panel.

And as a supplementary question, how does my camera know it is in a different time zone and deduct -8:00 is it because the camera is connected to my phone via bluetooth?

This depends on your camera. All vendors do their own thing, and often this even depends on the camera model and firmware. When IMatch displays a time-zone offset in the Metadata Panel for create date / date subject created, it comes from the image.

You can use the The ExifTool Command Processor in IMatch to see all the metadata in your file. Run the "list metadata" and then search for offset to find time-zone offsets contained in the EXIF data block. 

[Elinor Adman]

P.S. to my previous post- I have found that my newer iphone SE2 apparently records the UTC code in the time stamp whereas previous iphones I had did not. I think I will go ahead and modify the timestamp for my SE2 to conform to the earlier ones, as far as iMATCH is concerned. I am up to 30,000+ images in my data base- I learn much each time I use it... just not often enough!
Thanks- Stefanjan & Mario!!

[Stefanjan]

My brain fog is clearing slightly. Would appreciate feedback from other imatch users on what they consider best practise.

On my Canon R7 I now see that I set the local date while in Canada and also the region -08:00 but complicated things by not setting summer time and not changing the time on the camera until part way into the trip.

I'm wondering whether best practise is:

1. Change the time and time zone on my Canon R7
OR 2. Change local time but leave region as UK
OR 3. Leave camera on UTC or British Summer Time UTC and fix when I come back when imported into imatch?

What do you do when travelling?

I guess the answer would be the same for my compact camera Panasonic TZ200.

Photos taken on my mobile Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro appear to come in with the local time and no offset, I changed time and region to British Columbia local time so images appear in imatch in BC time with no offset. 

Thanks in advance for your experience and advice.

[sdb]

I know this thread is almost a month old, but I don't think this last post was answered and it is something I have spent a lot of time on.

The key I think is to change the Metadata2/XMP Import/Apply time-zone setting from "Yes" to "No" before importing (or before doing a Force Update if you have already imported).

Assuming you have taken a photo in Canada at 14:00, and assuming your camera was correctly set to Canadian time, this should result in the Default File Window layout showing 14:00.  It should not be affected by the location of your computer in the UK, or whether or not BST is in effect at the time of import.