P: Edit/Sync Photo changes the Capture Time.

[Cameron Braun]

I use Lightroom for culling through wedding photos, and as of yesterday's update, any time I increase or decrease the rating of an image (or apply any other kind of edit) it will add 4 hours to the capture time, therefore sending that photo to a random place later in the collection, only for me to find it again as I'm moving through. In fact, it just happened twice, as I edited a photo that had already been changed, and it added 4 more. What in the world??? This could prove to be exceptionally annoying.

Photos are syncing.

LR version 14.1

MacOS 14.7.1

M1 Max

[EvaBac]

The date and time displayed at the top correspond to the original RAW file, while the date and time below are for the TIF file that was returned after editing in Photoshop. This behavior seems to occur exclusively during the synchronization process with Lightroom. I have ensured that Lightroom Classic is updated to the latest version.

[Admirable_Wizard157F]

Having the same problem - changing develop settings or flags seems to trigger the change for individual files.

New info: Globally pausing syncing stops it, but turning off sync for the only collection containing the files I'm working on DOES NOT stop it. When I look at sync status, it periodically shows that a dozen or so files from the collection are being synced with metadata or data upload, despite the fact that the only collection containing those files is marked as "don't sync".  

New info: I uninstalled the 14.1 and re-installed 14.0.1 (preserving preferences). As soon as I un-paused syncing in 14.0.1, it showed "migrating sync data" for a minute or two, then resumed the behavior - it started syncing the problem files even though the only collection they're in is marked "not synced", and changing the capture time as it did so.

[Oliver Andrews]

@Admirable_Wizard157F when you unsync a collection it leaves the synced photos in All Synced Photographs, so they're still being synced unless you also go there and remove them manually.

[joep67994378]

It looks like LrC  14.1 has changed the Date Time Original and Date Created metadata on one of my HEIC images.   The Library>Metadata panel now shows Date Created as 2025-07-30T07:42:33-07:00 and Date Time Original as the same date.   Looking at the image file with exiftool, I see this:

Date Created : 2025:07:30 07:42:33-07:00

Date/Time Original : 2025:07:30 07:42:33

Looking at a Time Machine backup of the image file with exiftool, I see this:

Date Created : 2024:11:23 09:42:33-07:00

Date/Time Original : 2024:11:23 09:42:33

The corruption happened while I was browsing the image folder in LrC, with Sort Order set to Capture Time.  The image changed position in Grid View, probably after I briefly switched to the Develop module to look at the Before/After state of the image.

I tried renaming the file in LrC, then restoring the image from backup as its original filename , and syncing the folder.  The restored file now shows this in exiftool:

Date Created : 2025:08:05 17:42:33-07:00

Date/Time Original : 2025:08:05 17:42:33

i.e. a different wrong date, several months in the future.

Has anyone else seen this problem?

[emilz45253183]

I have a similar problem with 14.1 and frankly I am fed up with Adobe and their lack of QA. 

[Primalisten]

I have the same problem as well. 
Every time I make an edit in the develope module, or change the photos location in the map module, the timestamp is moved back exactly 1 hour (after the photo has been synced). 

I'm using both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic and syncing every single photo between those apps. However, this issue seem to arise only when I change something in Classic. 

[Mau Camargo]

Hello! I am having a bit of an issue here that is worth reproting.

I updated to the latest Lr Classic 14.1 a few days ago and just today tried to follow my usual workflow:

1. Import new photos, moving them to a common location sorted by date
2. Add those photos to a new collection synced to Lightroom Cloud

The workflow is super simple and it's worked flawlessly ever since I started using it a few months ago. I have had zero problems with it until now.

This time, for some reason, after adding the photos to the synced collection, Lightroom seems to modify their capture date and time, rendering them all wrong. I was adding photos from a single day, and somehow they ended up getting dates a few days before, on the same day, a few days after and even December 20th, which hasn't even happened yet. Same goes for the capture time, all over the place.

At first I thought it was a glitch since Lightroom did crash when it was generating the standard previews, so I removed them from the library and reimported the originals which I still had on me. The dates seemed to be correct this time around, but they got all messed up again as soon as I added them to a synced collection (I even tried creating a new one).

At this point I figured it was an issue with Lightroom sync so I gave up and decided to no longer add these photos to a new collection (after having reimported them once more), but then I wondered if it was an issue with the latest 14.1 update, since it was not happening before it. I downgraded to 14.0.1, tried synchronising the same photos and now I am not having any issues. Dates and times remain correct.

I would normally continue troubleshooting to see what the exact issue is, but I have no time and it's really painful to reimport the same photos everytime (I need them synced ASAP at the moment). I noticed the following, in case it's useful:

• JPEG and HEIC files, which Lightroom writes to when making edits, are permanently modified with the incorrect dates, so I had to reimport the originals back.
• Propietary RAW files (I used CR3), which Lightroom doesn't write to (at least according to my configuration), aren't modified and thus I was able to reimport the same ones. I write all edits to sidecar XMP files and upon inspecting them manually with a text editor, they seemed to show the correct dates (attributes xmp:ModifyDate and xmp:CreateDate). Still, to err on the side of caution, whenever I reimported them, I made sure to delete the old XMP files, importing just the photos.

Not sure if it's an issue on my side, but I guess you could try to reproduce the issue by just following steps 1 and 2 I detailed earlier.

I am on Windows 11 24H2 (build 26.100.2605).

[TheEugeneKam]

Okay glad to see im not crazy. I had literally the same thing happen and wasted 4 hours trrying to figure out why the photos are all out of order, great timing when client quotes photo numbers of what they want for the album.

[VGFHH]

Same here since upgrading to LR Classic. Took me quite some time to understand the bug:

- Only happens on my jpgs, not on my RAW files

- Each cloud sync changes the metadata "original time" by -1 hour 

- Only found out about this bug due to a sync loop / infinite syncing of the most recent files 

- Manuall fixing works (and takes time) but cloud sync needs to stay off now as it again destroys the meta data

- Older files / already synces files (before upgrading) are not affected 

[BruceForstall]

I've also experienced this "time shift" bug, noticed after installing LRC 14.1, working through photos editing/rating. For me, times shift forward 7 hrs. (fyi, I'm in Pacific Time.). I did have all the photos in a collection being cloud sync'ed.

Now I have to go figure out all the ones that got broken and need fixing 😞

macOS 15.2.

[DaBrownCO]

I have strange things happening and I think the cause may be LR, which I rarely use. 

• If I manually change the capture time of an image in LRClassic, shortly after I make the change, it will revert to some random time.
• When reviewing and rating images in a folder, something happens where the images get all out of order. So maybe if I'm on image 50 in the folder, I hit '1' to rate this one star and then the order of the images changes such that that image is now 150 and the later images have been moved toward the top.

This just started happening. I am running LrC 14.1 on a Mac, Mac OS 13.7.1.

[johnrellis]

Are you syncing these imags with the Lightroom Cloud? LR 14.1 introduced a nasty bug where syncing will change the capture date/time:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-edit-sync-photo-changes-the-capture-time/idi...

If you do have Sync enabled, I recommend pausing it until Adobe fixes this bug -- otherwise many of your capture date/times will be corrupted.

[Omer5FB7]

As you can see in the examples, after applying a (red) color label, the photo's 'Date Time Original' was changed from 11:38 to 9:38.

Since the photos are ordered by capture time, it messes up the timeline order and is annoying.

It happens with files from different cameras.

Maybe it's also related to LR Sync which is turned on, or to other edit/flag settings.

Before applying a color label:

After applying a color label:

[moved from bugs to discussion according to the community rules - Mod.]

[Percy Bottle]

Yep, I'm also experiencing the problem on LrC 14.1 on MacOS 15.2. I added a keyword to a couple of hundred photos yesterday, which caused them to all start syncing. Since then, I've noticed that the modified photos all have their capture dates incorrect, by up to 19 days earlier than they should be. One thing that I haven't seen anybody else report is that my syncing never finishes. The number of photos in the sync queue varies between 1 and about 20. It just continuously keeps trying to sync and the queue waxes and wanes forever. I suspect that on each pass, some of the capture dates get changed again.

I found the incorrect dates (before I found this community thread) and started fixing them, then discovered that while I was working on that, the grid view would suddenly re-order itself and some of the photos I had fixed had gone wrong again!

Thanks for submitting the ticket, @Rikk Flohr: Photography Looking forward to a quick response from Adob.

[chriswhite]

Same problem here. Using Lightroom Classic 14.1 on Macbook Pro 14 and Lightroom Mobile one iPhone. Time changed 1 hour at random files that I edited and that are syned. Hurry up Adobe. I expect there is a fix update coming on monday, 16th dec. This is crucial and not acceptable especially since it persists when i downgraded to Lightroom Classic Version 14.

[Primalisten]

Is it possible the bug is connected to GMT somehow? I'm in Sweden, which is +1 hour from GMT, and with every change I do to a photo one hour is removed. 
For people living elsewhere, like in the US or Pacific, the timestamp seem to shift even further. 

I'll just stop editing photos until the issue is solved. 

[Armand Jacobs Photo]

This might be worth to add:
On my side I experience a -2h problem on my synced pictures only since I updated to LRc 14.1 on Dec 11th. It never occured once before 14.1 even though I have been using LRc almost everyday for several weeks. Also the problem "stopped" as soon as I paused the cloud sync (but would start again whenever I resume the sync).
However, having always 12-13 files in the sync queue is not new to me: I noticed this behavior/problem since I installed LRc on the computer I am using right now several weeks ago. Thus, this behavior might not be related to the "time shift" issue.

[F. McLion]

Is that what you see? https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-edit-sync-photo-changes-the-capture-time/idi...

If yes, Adobe is investigating, and it's best to turn syncing off for the time being.

[Armand Jacobs Photo]

@chriswhite Could you provide more information on the problem persisting after downgrading:
Did you downgrade to 14.0.1 ?
The files that were impacted and had had their timestamp overwritten should still have the wrong time on them I guess but do you experience new pictures having their timestamp changed on 14.0.1 ? 

[Armand Jacobs Photo]

@Primalisten 
The GMT+0 was my guess but Johan W. Elzenga experienced time shifts that did not seem GMT+0 related (4h instead of 2h).
However I imagine it could be possible that the time shift occured 2 times on these pictures.
@JohanElzenga Do you reckon it could be possible?
Has anyone exeprience "time shifts" on the pictures that would *not* be a multiple of  the number of hours they have more or less on their time zone. For instance a 5 hours change on the picture for someone who is on a GMT+7 time zone would not be coherent whereas a 4h change on GMT+2 would still be possible if the problem occured twice.

[chriswhite]

@Armand Jacobs Photo : yes I downgraded to 14.0.1. I noticed the change of capture time and they were still wrong after downgrading. I don't touch any synchronized photos until this is fixed cause I dont wanna ruin my hole LR cataloge. Sort by capture time is one of the most importand functunalities (basic) when trying to organize more thank 100k photos.

[Peter van der Ploeg]

I have the same issue, when Cloud sync is on, it keeps on syncing and changes the sort order / capture time on newly imported photos that are in a synced collection. So I had to turn Cloud Sync off.

That is annoying, I really need the Cloud sync, but cannot have Adobe destroy the metadata of my photos.

[JohanElzenga]

@Armand Jacobs Photo I already mentioned in a later message that I also found a few photos with only two hour shifts, so that two times two hours could explain the four hours I initially only saw. On the other hand: I have not seen any six or eight hour shifts, and that I would expect too in that case.

[Omer5FB7]

Yes, I think it's the same issue.

Thank you!

[Primalisten]

@johanz Try making some kind of change with one of your photos (adjust a slider, move it on the map, etc) and let the photo sync. I'm fairly certain you will notice another 2 hour shift if you do.