How can I Permanently Rid my Photos of all Time Zone Information?

[moviemaker445]

Having time zone information in my file metadata has caused me no end of headaches over the years and would like to be rid of this recurring problem.

I have never needed and will never need Time Zone information.

I thought I had finally found the answer to my prayers with the ability of Time Whizz to 'Remove existing time zone'.
This works beautifully but when I subsequently edit other metadata in the files, the (local) Time Zone is reinserted into the files.

I have been unable to find a setting to prevent this happening.
Is there a setting I am unaware of?

[Mario]

A timestamp like 12:40:50 could be anything and is not well-defined.
It could be 12:40:50 in Hong Kong or 12:40:50 in Ontario. And whatever in the time-zone you are currently in.
Time-zones make sense, because they allow to define precisely that the timestamp 12:40:50 is in, say, the east coast time-zone or the time-zone at your place.

IMatch 2023 has some changes regarding time management and time-zones, see this thread https://www.photools.com/community/index.php/topic,12932.0 for more information.

But I don't think IMatch 2021 adds time-zones when there is none. Under which conditions does this happen? When you enter a date and time in the Metadata Panel? During write-back? The Metadata Panel should also hide the time-zone offset when it is in your local time zone.

[moviemaker445]

Thanks Mario,
I can understand a large organisation with many photographers all over the world needing Time Zone info in their media.

I only manage my own photos/videos and I always set the camera clock to local time when I travel so have no need of this information. I can't understand why anyone would need to know that it was 2AM at home (Australia) when they took a photo at 4PM on holiday (in Germany say)

I had a look at the thread you suggested and this simply reinforced my view that having Time Zone info in my photo files just adds unnecessary complication to an already difficult job of managing metadata.

It has taken some time and experimentation to understand what is going on (even more reason to rid my photos of Time Zone info altogether).

The metadata fields I am referring to are:
XMP::xmp\Create Date\Created Date\0, and
XMP::photoshop\Date Created\Date Created\0

Running Time Whiz with the 'Remove Time Zone' option selected does remove the Time Zone info from these fields.

But - it reappears after using the 'Rescan now' command with either the 'Force Update' or 'Reload Metadata' option selected'.
'Rescan now' with the 'Normal' option does not cause the Time Zone info to reappear.

Is there a way to prevent this from happening for all 'Rescan now' options?

Cheers
Peter

[Mario]

But - it reappears after using the 'Rescan now' command with either the 'Force Update' or 'Reload Metadata' option selected'.
'Rescan now' with the 'Normal' option does not cause the Time Zone info to reappear.

These operations force IMatch to remove all metadata stored in the database and re-create it from the metadata in the file. Overwriting your changes. ExifTool may deliver timestamps with time-zone info when it finds time-zone data in EXIF.

Note that IMatch 2023 will always use the local time-zone when you add new date and time information. It will use the time-zone data optionally recorded in EXIF (if available and as before) and if no time-zone information is available (older images/cameras, mostly) it uses a time-zone based on the time-zone mode selected by the user. The default is "use local time-zone", which makes this compatible to what IMatch 2021 does.

This change will not affect most users, the dates and times they see for their files will be the same as before.
It's just a more consistent way to deal with times, able to adapt to things like DST changing, users taking images in different time-zones and consolidating them in IMatch etc. It has several modes that control how IMatch determines the global File.DateTime value, covering the wide area of time-zone problems users are facing.
And IMatch 2023 stores timestamps internally in UTC, which offers more options for displaying date and time in local time, with offsets, in UTC or whatever is needed.

[moviemaker445]

Is there a way to have the 'Date & Time' attribute (in file window thumbnail footers) displayed in 24HR format instead of the default AM & PM?

[JohnZeman]

Is there a way to have the 'Date & Time' attribute (in file window thumbnail footers) displayed in 24HR format instead of the default AM & PM?

In the Layout editor you can show 24 hour time by creating a Custom Template like the attached screenshot shows.

See https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/var_basics.htm

for more information

[JohnZeman]

Forgot to attach the screenshot.

[moviemaker445]

Thankyou John - your technique to see the time in 24hr format worked a treat :-)
Is there a way to add to the Template you have suggested so it displays date and time with the following layout:
"Year-Month-Date @ hour;minute;second"  eg 2022-12-16 @ 15;32;46  ?

[JohnZeman]

Sure.  Something like the attached  screenshots should do it.

[moviemaker445]

I can't thank you enough John - your help is much appreciated
Cheers

(P.S. I've just been reading some books by Bill Bryson who grew up in the wide open spaces of Iowa. Perhaps you have heard of him?)

[sinus]

I can't thank you enough John - your help is much appreciated
Cheers

(P.S. I've just been reading some books by Bill Bryson who grew up in the wide open spaces of Iowa. Perhaps you have heard of him?)

I have read two books of Bryson. Reading them is VERY interesting, a cool man.

[JohnZeman]

I can't thank you enough John - your help is much appreciated
Cheers
(P.S. I've just been reading some books by Bill Bryson who grew up in the wide open spaces of Iowa. Perhaps you have heard of him?)

Glad my suggestions helped you MM, but I can't say that I've heard of Bill Bryson before.

[jch2103]

I can't thank you enough John - your help is much appreciated
Cheers
(P.S. I've just been reading some books by Bill Bryson who grew up in the wide open spaces of Iowa. Perhaps you have heard of him?)

Glad my suggestions helped you MM, but I can't say that I've heard of Bill Bryson before.

Bryson is definitely worth a read.