P: Stripping timezone information from the "Date Created" field

[kathrynf37147159]

Despite LightRoom's long term weakness with timezone handling, I've always been able to store a full timestamp with tz info in the "Date Created" field.  Recently (maybe since the LR 8.3 update), it has started stripping this out.  This appears to only affect RAWs with XMP sidecars, and does not affect JPEGs.  I think it happens when metadata is read from file.

I have a workflow where I save my metadata after import, process it in GeoSetter (I've been using it with LR since before the maps module was added, and frankly it's better for some things), and then re-import it.  GeoSetter has always insisted on choosing a timezone before saving, which I suppose is to comply with exif standards/conventions,

I copied the my files at each stage of this process, and you can see how LR saved without any tz info, GeoSetter added, and after import back in to LR and save again, LR has stripped it:

mymac:_compare myuser$ grep -r -e "DateTimeDigitized" -e "DateTimeOriginal" -e "DateCreated" -e "ModifyDate" --include "*.xmp" ../1-before/IMG_7341.xmp:   exif:DateTimeOriginal="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./1-before/IMG_7341.xmp:   photoshop:DateCreated="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./1-before/IMG_7341.xmp:   xmp:ModifyDate="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./3-afterlr/IMG_7341.xmp:   exif:DateTimeOriginal="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./3-afterlr/IMG_7341.xmp:   photoshop:DateCreated="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./3-afterlr/IMG_7341.xmp:   xmp:ModifyDate="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./2-aftergoe/IMG_7341.xmp:  2019-05-04T12:13:09+02:00
./2-aftergoe/IMG_7341.xmp:  2019-05-04T12:13:09+02:00
./2-aftergoe/IMG_7341.xmp:  2019-05-04T12:13:09+02:00
./2-aftergoe/IMG_7341.xmp:  2019-05-04T12:13:09+02:00
./3-afterlr/IMG_7341.xmp:   exif:DateTimeOriginal="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./3-afterlr/IMG_7341.xmp:   xmp:ModifyDate="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./3-afterlr/IMG_7341.xmp:   photoshop:DateCreated="2019-05-04T12:13:09"

This is a picture I imported and processed in May, with tz info for Melbourne:
RackMultipart20190629106195sa9-9b3812ac-7167-46cb-9e1c-f2af8c1eb2e1-1121187482.png

This is a picture I recently imported and processed in June, missing the CEST+DST tz info for Germany:
RackMultipart20190629620681wsp-25e1eab7-dd42-4646-9686-6201b6391bb7-404235796.png

At this point, if I manually add "+02:00 to the "Date Created" field in LR and then save, this shows up correctly in the XMP file.  Therefore I think it's a regression in LR's metadata reading function.  In this case, this what we get in the XML file (look at the value of "photoshop:DateCreated":

./4-aftermanuallrfix/IMG_7341.xmp:   exif:DateTimeOriginal="2019-05-04T12:13:09"
./4-aftermanuallrfix/IMG_7341.xmp:   photoshop:DateCreated="2019-05-04T12:13:09+02:00"
./4-aftermanuallrfix/IMG_7341.xmp:   xmp:ModifyDate="2019-05-04T12:13:09"

Other issues I've got used to over the years:

• Pictures/videos sorted by time taken are in the wrong order because there is tz isn't considered (see also: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/sorting-is-timezone-unaware-utc-for-videos-lo...)
• Map module shows the wrong time on track logs after adjusting them to the correct tz
• LR stores time adjustments as tz info for raws with sidecars, but not for jpegs.  Other tools like ExifTool and GeoSetter treat this (as expected) as timezone and thus lose the time adjustment.

[rubyk58010202]

Hi Kath,  Thanks for your analysis , we are looking into it. Will keep you posted if there is any update.

[Smit K]

Hi Kath,

We have been able to reproduce this issue and have logged the bug for the same

Thanks,
Smit
Lightroom Classic Team

[kathrynf37147159]

Thanks Smit.  I hope it's a quick fix that they can resolve in near term update.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

 Lightroom Classic 8.4 was released today and contained a fix for this issue. Please update to 8.4 and verify that you are no longer seeing the issue. Thank you!