Bulk time change

[MB17]

After a trip, I forgot to change back the time so my photo were taken in the wrong time zone. I know the difference is 3 hours. Is there a way to bulk change just the hour of the photos?

Thanks

[Hert]

1. Select the photos
2. Right click on a selected photo
3. Select Operations -> Redate

[tstoddard]

MB17,

I did something similar earlier this year but I was off by 6 hours. Changing the times in PSU was very easy but I will mention one note of caution. I had already imported and renamed my files before I made the change and it caused some inconsistent file and folder names. I use the date in both sub-folder names and file names. Depending on your specific situation, the date the pictures were taken could change as well as the times. It's not a big deal but I thought you might want to be aware of the possibility.

[MB17]

1. Select the photos
2. Right click on a selected photo
3. Select Operations -> Redate

Hi,

Thanks. But then this will not be a bulk solution, right? I'll have to do one picture at a time at the risk of putting the same hour to several pictures at the same time...?

[MB17]

MB17,

I did something similar earlier this year but I was off by 6 hours. Changing the times in PSU was very easy but I will mention one note of caution. I had already imported and renamed my files before I made the change and it caused some inconsistent file and folder names. I use the date in both sub-folder names and file names. Depending on your specific situation, the date the pictures were taken could change as well as the times. It's not a big deal but I thought you might want to be aware of the possibility.

Thanks!!! This is true and I haven't thought about folder structure! There aren't so many picture, so I can do a closer check!

[tstoddard]

Thanks. But then this will not be a bulk solution, right? I'll have to do one picture at a time at the risk of putting the same hour to several pictures at the same time...?

You should be able to do them all at once. Just select all of the files that you want to adjust and use the Redate panel to "Shift dates" by 3 hours (can be a positive or negative number depending on which way you want to shift them). All selected files will be adjusted. I think you could also do this from the Batch panel but it's easier just to do it the way Hert suggested.

[MB17]

Thanks. But then this will not be a bulk solution, right? I'll have to do one picture at a time at the risk of putting the same hour to several pictures at the same time...?

You should be able to do them all at once. Just select all of the files that you want to adjust and use the Redate panel to "Shift dates" by 3 hours (can be a positive or negative number depending on which way you want to shift them). All selected files will be adjusted. I think you could also do this from the Batch panel but it's easier just to do it the way Hert suggested.

Thanks! Now I get it, I'll try that: change from "hand entered" to "shift date"! Cool.

[HaraldE]

Tom is correct

And it is easy and powerfull. Date management is a gold nugget with PSU.

Regards, Harald

[MB17]

Sorry for not answering sooner, I went on a trip the day after. But, hey, it worked! Thanks!!! Then...

I've just came back from the trip and of course forgot to set a time zone change in one of the cameras. Now I am trying to change the other new files and its dates likewise ("shift dates" minus 3 hours - the time zone difference), but something odd is happening: the raw file is change minus 6h and the JPG minus 3! Any idea what's going on?! I happens either if I change RAW and JPEG at the same time, or one after another. Might this be happening due to "versioning"?

I tried changing time zone but it seems to change the day as well, I don't know why. Also tried checking the "cumulative", although not sure what it is. But it also did not work correctly. I would be thankful for any help.

[tstoddard]

I'm not sure why that is happening to you but I can think of two things to try to fix it. If all of your raw and jpegs are in version sets, you could try cascading metadata from whichever one has the correct time to the other. Just select all of the version sets, use the version menu (the little triangle that appears when you hover over the selected version tab) and cascade metadata from that version to the version set. I believe the dates are part of the metadata that will be cascaded.

My other thought is to do it in Folder view so that the raw and jpeg files are all visible separately.

I don't think you want to use "cumulative". I'm not sure how that is supposed to work either but it sounds like it might result in what you are describing. If you've already redated all of your files, then this will be a little more complicated. You might want to start from scratch if you still have the original files and re-import them.

Also, make sure when you change the time zone that you are just entering the amount of the shift you want and not the new time zone. In other words, if you were three time zones different, then enter 3 or -3. Depending on the times your photos were taken and the day could change based on the time zone difference.

[MB17]

I'm not sure why that is happening to you but I can think of two things to try to fix it. If all of your raw and jpegs are in version sets, you could try cascading metadata from whichever one has the correct time to the other. Just select all of the version sets, use the version menu (the little triangle that appears when you hover over the selected version tab) and cascade metadata from that version to the version set. I believe the dates are part of the metadata that will be cascaded.

My other thought is to do it in Folder view so that the raw and jpeg files are all visible separately.

I don't think you want to use "cumulative". I'm not sure how that is supposed to work either but it sounds like it might result in what you are describing. If you've already redated all of your files, then this will be a little more complicated. You might want to start from scratch if you still have the original files and re-import them.

Also, make sure when you change the time zone that you are just entering the amount of the shift you want and not the new time zone. In other words, if you were three time zones different, then enter 3 or -3. Depending on the times your photos were taken and the day could change based on the time zone difference.

Thanks.

I am doing all in FOLDER view, and am doing it from scratch (from the original files imported with no change). The weirdest thing are happening. I'm shifting minus 3h and the time on the JPEG diminishes 6h (from 23h to 17h) and the RAW from 23h to 08h!

First batch of files that worked correctly was done in previous version of PSE. These I ahev updated to the new version... There might be a bug?

[tstoddard]

That does sound like a bug. I'm not at my home PC right now so I can't test it but I will try to do it later tonight and I'll let you know if it works correctly for me or not. Maybe there is somebody else reading this who can try it sooner and let you know.

[tstoddard]

There is definitely something strange going on with the date panel. I've been experimenting with it and I can't seem to reproduce anything reliably. It seems like the date/time panel that opens when you click on the little arrow next to one of the dates in the details panel is not always displaying the correct information. In one instance I had different time zones in each date field. Another time, when I opened the panel on an image that showed a time of 12 something, the time in the panel was 13 something. I'm thinking that the panels might not be updating themselves so that they are not in sync with the thumbnails that are selected. Perhaps I'll try some more later to see if I can find a better way to document what is going on. Because of the panels being unreliable, I can't tell for sure if the adjustments I'm making are working correctly or not. When I open the Info panel and then go back to the details panel, the date panels seem to get corrected.

This definitely deserves a mantis issue. I don't have time just now to do it but I will get around to it.

[tstoddard]

I opened an issue in Mantis: Issue# 2762

This issue specifically addresses the behavior of the date/time panel that is used in the Details panel to adjust dates. Normally, when that panel opens as a drop down below one of the date fields, it is synchronized so that it displays the date and time that is in that field of the selected image. What I am finding on my machine is that the date displayed does not stay in sync as I move from one image to another within the existing collection. There are three dates in the Details panel, Description Date, Date Time Original, and Date Time Digitized. Each of those panels behaves independently. The reason I looked at these panels is that it is the only way I know to see the time zone information from within the Details panel.

As an exercise to test this I tried the following:

• Open a collection in any tab of the collection viewer
  Select only one image
  Display the details panel and open one of the date field adjustment panels
  Click on a different image in the current collection
  Open the date field adjustment panel for the same date field that you looked at previously

In my case, the date adjustment panel will display the date and time of the first image that was selected and will not be the same as the currently selected image. You can actually continue to do this using a different date field each time until you now have three different dates and times appearing in the date adjustment panels of the three different date fields and none of them agree with the actual dates that are in the currently selected image.

This issue corrects itself when you close and reopen the details panel or when you select multiple items simultaneously so that the date fields display is cleared.

Can anyone else reproduce this behavior?

The original issue of dates, times, and timezones being adjusted inconsistently or incorrectly is difficult to diagnose while this bug exists. I got distracted identifying this issue so I haven't had time to test the original issue brought up in this thread. Hopefully, Hert can shed some light on this and let us know if the adjustments are being affected by this bug as well.

[MB17]

Tom,

Thanks for looking into this, for doing your test, and for applying the issue. It might be the same bug. Looks like it. I'm traveling so can't check. Hopefully they will address it soon.