P: Wrong folder names organizing by date when using camera USB

Report · Jul 22, 2011

When importing from a camera connected to USB (at least for a Canon EOS 40D Firmware 1.1.1 in my case), lightroom generates wrong folder names when organizing folders by date, at least for the "2011/2011-07-22" format (I guess it's the same for the other formats).

I use Lightroom 3.4.1 on Windows XP 32 Bit SP 3 and my time zone is CET+DST (Paris, Berlin). I shot six photos an hour apart around midnight CET+DST from 21:30 on Thursday to 02:30 on friday (I changed the camera's time for that) and got the following folder/file structure using a USB connection to the camera:

2011\2011-07-21\20110721-213022-IMG_0314.CR2
2011\2011-07-22\20110721-223033-IMG_0315.CR2 <<< wrong folder
2011\2011-07-22\20110721-233041-IMG_0316.CR2 <<< wrong folder
2011\2011-07-22\20110722-003049-IMG_0317.CR2
2011\2011-07-22\20110722-013055-IMG_0318.CR2
2011\2011-07-22\20110722-023102-IMG_0319.CR2

Clearly, the two marked files are in the wrong folder. Note that the file naming itself (date and time) is absolutely correct!

When I import the same six photos using a card reader from the CF card, I get the correct structure:

2011\2011-07-21\20110721-213022-IMG_0314.CR2
2011\2011-07-21\20110721-223033-IMG_0315.CR2 <<< now correct folder
2011\2011-07-21\20110721-233041-IMG_0316.CR2 <<< now correct folder
2011\2011-07-22\20110722-003049-IMG_0317.CR2
2011\2011-07-22\20110722-013055-IMG_0318.CR2
2011\2011-07-22\20110722-023102-IMG_0319.CR2

This seems to be some "time zone / daylight savings time bug" affecting all photos made from two hours before midnight until just before midnight (my local time is UTC plus two hours) - but why only for camera USB and not for card reader? I didn't test it for a date that has no DST, but I would bet that it would affect photos from *one* hour before midnight, then.

P.S. The wrong folder structure also already shows in the folder preview in the import dialog. Here is the wrong structure using USB to camera:

Image is not available

...and the correct one using a card reader:

Image is not available

Report · Jul 22, 2011

Quoting LrUser24: "Note that the file naming itself (date and time) is absolutely correct! "

Seems safe to say Lightroom is using a different source for time when naming the files versus the folders.

My WAG: Lightroom uses file-created date for folders and exif info for file-naming, and when camera is emulating disk via USB it reports a different file-created date.

I think Lightroom's handling of date-time needs to be "robustified" in this case, and a few others... More specifically to this case: use date-time-original in exif metadata for both folder name and file-name.

Report · Jul 22, 2011

Seems safe to say Lightroom is using a different source for time when naming the files versus the folders.

My WAG: Lightroom uses file-created date for folders and exif info for file-naming, and when camera is emulating disk via USB it reports a different file-created date. This is just a guess...

I think Lightroom's handling of date-time needs to be "robustified" in this case, and a few others... More specifically to this case: use date-time-original in exif metadata for both folder name and file-name.

But also, I've seen Lightroom name the same files differently upon import too. Once with local time and another with UTC, so my WAG may be completely bogus...

Report · Jul 23, 2011

This particular issue appears to be a variation of the original 'time-zone' bug which occurred in 3.0, but now it only affects date-based folder names when importing directly from camera. File naming is not affected.

Caveat: on Win7 64bit, LR3.4.1, Canon 5D MkII, USB2 connection. Other combinations may produce different results, I have not tested, though I think Geoff Walker was going to try with a Nikon/MAC combination.

The problem is that in this specific import scenario, Lightroom will ADD the system time-zone UTC offset to the DTO of the files being imported when it determines the destination folder name for the date-based schemes that include DD. For example, if you live in a UTC+12 time-zone, ALL shots taken after mid-day local time with camera also set to local time will produce a folder date of the following day, as +12 is added to the local hour value in the DTO.

Apologies, meant to report it when we first came across it a month or so ago.

Report · Jul 23, 2011

BTW, thought it'd be a good idea to check what happens in a negative UTC zone and found consistent behaviour, i.e. set UTC to -12, local time in camera to before midday, take a picture, and subsequent import folder name shows previous day.

Report · Aug 16, 2011

I am able to reproduce this problem, and have entered the issue in our bug database.

Incidentally, time zone and DST settings on the camera don't seem to make a difference. I also tested with Nikon and had the same problem, so it doesn't seem to be specific to any particular camera. Appears to be a Windows-only bug, I cannot reproduce on Mac.

Thanks,
Ben

Report · Feb 14, 2012

Was this ever fixed? I'm seeing the same behaviour in LR 3.6 (PC / Nikon).

Report · Feb 14, 2012

Hi Timothy,

Nope, unfortunately not yet. Some day, I hope? In the meantime, you can work around this issue by importing from a card reader, or the hard drive, rather than from the camera directly.

Thanks,
Ben

Report · Feb 14, 2012

Thanks Ben.

Report · Mar 30, 2012

Hello.

It seems that LR4 don't take into account user's time zone when creating folders and sorting pictures during import.

For example:
My Time Zone is GMT+4.
Pictures with DateTime = 28/03 20:07 were placed into 2012-03-29 folder (folder with wrong date).
At the same time pictures with Date=28/03 but time before 20:00 were placed into folder 2012-03-28 (no error here)

Please see enclosed screenshot.

Image is not available

Report · Apr 08, 2012

Looks like this bug remains in LR4. It's a big annoyance having to move files after doing an import organized by date.

I'm sure it does not take 9 moths to fix. Probably it's sitting at the bottom of the bug tracker. Is anyone actually looking into solving this?

Report · Apr 09, 2012

Yup, it's still on the list. 🙂 Sorry for the wait. In the meantime, if you'd like to work around the problem now, you can use a card reader when you import. Bug only happens when importing directly from a connected camera. (If your experience is different than that, please let me know.)

Thanks,
Ben

Report · May 23, 2012

In Lightroom 4, when importing photos directly from camera (USB), LR puts some images into wrong date folder. Seems it doesn't check cameras time settings (timezone and summer time settings).
For example, photo taken on 18th of May at 22.05 pm, LR puts it in 19-05 folder although it shows correct exif data (my time settings in nikon d90 are: gmt +2, and automatic daylight saving time option is "on")

Report · May 30, 2012

Just installed LR4.1 release, still seems to be there?

Report · Aug 16, 2012

When I import videos from my iPhone with Lightroom (even LR4) I choice to rename the file during import:
Format: "Date (YYYYMMDD)_HourMinuteSeconde_iPhone_OriginalFilename.
Wrong time in renamed filename after import captured video from an iPhone.
Unfortunately the filename is exactly 1hour later than the video is captured in meta data.
If I import it without rename the file during import and do the rename later (via library --> rename photo) the filename is correct.
These bug already exists a few versions earlier in LR3.
Now in LR4 it's back 😞

Report · Oct 21, 2012

I have Lightroom 4.1 64bit for Windows installed and experience following issue: When I import the exposures from my Nikon D7000 sometimes the importer splitts the files into two different folders, even though the exposure date is from the same day.
I presume that there is a problem with date comparison. I live in the timezone Berlin, Rome, Vienna; the camera shows the correct time (additional info is UTC+1; summertime) and my pc is synchrone. When I import the exposures, all files with time greater 22:00 are put into a folder with exposuredate + 1. It seems as if the importer treats the filedate as plain UTC, adds 1 hour (UTC+1) PLUS adds another hour for summertime.
Is this problem already known?

Report · Oct 21, 2012

I'm using a filename template that includes the photo/video hour, minutes, and seconds. When I import videos from my iPhone 4S running iOS 6.0 into Lightroom 3.6 the hour looks like it is GMT, whereas for pictures it is in timezone time. So, for example, I'm in the mountain timezone, so a video taken at 12:00:00 mountain time gets 18:00:00 in its filename. Photos get the 12:00:00.

I really don't care too much which way it goes (although for consistency it would be nice to be GMT so timezone doesn't play into it). I really just want them to be consistent so sorting works.

Here's the strange thing. If I batch rename the videos the filenames then reflect the timezone time! I'd use this as a workaround, but I also like to include the original camera filename in the final filename, and there's no way to get at that when renaming. (Maybe I need to move away from including the original filename...)

Any ideas? Or is this just a bug?

Report · Nov 30, 2012

When I import photos from my digital camera (Sony DSC-RX100) into Lightroom 4, the photos are placed into the wrong date folders.

Report · Dec 10, 2012

Is there any other workaround to this problem? It is causing hundreds of duplicates to be added to my collection. I use an iPhone so the workaround of using a card reader is not practical not is the directory as it would require me copying all the files from my camera and probably break duplicate detection.

Report · Dec 10, 2012

Hi Jeffrey,

As mentioned in the comments above, you can work around this issue by importing from a card reader, or the hard drive, rather than from the camera directly.

Thanks,
Ben

Report · Jan 25, 2013

Also experience this bug with LR 4.3 and a Nikon D7000 connected via USB. (Currently don't own a Card Reader)
Camera and computer are configured to Australian time zone.

Just posting because I would like to keep an eye on this thread.

Report · Jan 25, 2013

At the risk of stating the obvious: consider getting and using a card reader for the interim.

It may take Adobe a while to fix this ;-}

Cheers,
Rob

Report · Jan 25, 2013

At the risk of reiterating what's already been stated above: consider getting and using a card reader for the interim.

It may take Adobe a while to fix this ;-}

Cheers,
Rob

Report · Feb 14, 2013

I have seen quite few anomalies in LR4.3 and LR4.x with how time stamps are used. I live in Australia - this is important because the bugs are around time zone adjustment (I think)

Here is one specific problem: I have a Nikon D90, I attached the camera to my computer and select import using LR4.3. The photo to be imported is taken at (Time stamp on camera) 31 Jan 2013, 18:26:45. My camera is set to GMT +11 hrs which is the summer time for the area I'm in (ie the 11 hrs includes daylight saving). When the thumb nail is shown before I hit the import button , if I mouse over the thumbnail, the time is shown as 1 Feb 2013 05:26:46. So 11 hrs and 1 sec more. LR also tells me it will put the import into the 2013/2 folder which it needed to create (todate I only have 2013/1 folders) Then I import using LR to rename the filename using the date time. It does this using the correct date time ie 20130131_18-26-45 but puts the import into the 2013/2 folder.

The 11hrs and 1 sec suggests (ie the extra second suggests) it's getting a timestamp from somewhere else and then adding the GMT adjustment. All time fields in the metadata shown in LR4 are all 18:26:45.

BTW - other problems I have are the otherway around where LR4 is using GMT as my local time - to fix some of these i can go into Edit capture time (don't touch/change anything) which shows the correct time (ie GMT+11) and execute. It appears that LR4 is picking up different timestamps in different bits of code

Report · Feb 17, 2013

I can confirm that with LR4.3 this issue still occurs. My workaround is that I still import the photos straight from the camera, but without renaming them during the import. Once import is finished, I rename them via Library > Rename photo. UTC is disregarded, as it should and time shows up correctly.

Report · Feb 17, 2013

You can still import straight from your iPhone, just don't rename them during the import. Instead, rename them once the import has finished via Library > Rename photo.