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fivearrowsnh
New Participant
January 1, 2025
Answered

LRC: random changes to capture date/time when updating multiple photos

  • January 1, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 890 views

This started happening recently. I use the functionality all the time when importing scanned negatives.

 

To recreate: select multiple images and click the button to Edit Capture Time. Choose the "Adjust to a specified date and time" option. Enter a time in the corrected time box. Click "Change All". I expect each image to have the same date and time, as specified. Intead, each picture is set to a different date and time. I've seen the range of dates in the set being a couple of years or more. If I set each individual image separately it does seem to work (so far). I usually scan 4-5 rolls of film at a time and it is a major pain to have to edit 100+ images one at a time.

 

LRC 14.1.1, Mac OSX 15.1.1

Correct answer JohanElzenga

Your expectation is wrong. If you change the capture date of multiple photos and use the option to set a specific date and/or time, then this will not set the exact same date/time to all photos, but shift the capture date/time by the same amount of time. This is not new, but how it has always been.

 

2 replies

johnrellis
johnrellis
Legend
January 2, 2025

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I just tested LR 14.1.1 with 6 photos missing capture dates in their metadata and invoked Metadata > Edit Capture Time with all 6 selected. It worked as it has always worked. 

 

 

Note in particular the caption at the top: "Modify the capture time stored in the selected photos by entering the correct time adjustment for the photo displayed to the left. Other photos (but not videos) will be adjusted by the same amount of time." [emphasis added] That wording has been there since before LR 6.

 

LR has never provided an option to set all the selected photos to the same capture date/time, though many have asked for such an obvious and trivial feature:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-edit-capture-time-issue-need-a-way-to-set-all-photos-selected-to-same-date-amp-time/idi-p/12249073

 

To do that, you'll need to use the Capture Time to Exif plugin.

 

It's certainly possible that Edit Capture Time isn't working the way it's designed with your catalog and photos. The only practical way to troubleshoot that and possibly submit an actionable bug report is to share a tiny catalog containing three or four problem photos:

 

1. Select the photos in Library.

 

2. Do File > Export As Catalog, with these options:

 

3. Compress the exported catalog folder and upload it to Wetransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.

 

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
January 1, 2025

Your expectation is wrong. If you change the capture date of multiple photos and use the option to set a specific date and/or time, then this will not set the exact same date/time to all photos, but shift the capture date/time by the same amount of time. This is not new, but how it has always been.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
    F
    fivearrowsnhAuthor
    New Participant
    January 1, 2025

    If that's true, then the description is inaccurate and misleading. It says "adjust to a specific date and time" -- it should set it to a specific date and time. It used to set all the pictures in a roll to the same date and just stopped doing it recently.

     

    Even if my understanding is wrong something is still broken. The date/time for one group of pictures, one roll scanned in one day, ranges from 2021 to 2028. There is no way I spent 7 years scanning in one roll of film.

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 1, 2025

    Yes, the description is indeed not very clear, but this is how it works. The problem with scanned images is that these images do not have a capture date, only a file creation date. The way Lightroom tries to interpret this may have changed, I don't know. There are lots of reports here that this leads to problems however, so it might be an idea to see if you could use a separate utility to add a capture date before you import these images into Lightroom. @johnrellis is the specialist, so I tag him and ask him to give you further advise.

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
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