Skip to main content
J
Jonah31092838dqm0
Participant
August 31, 2014
Question

P: Lightroom should preserve OffsetTime attribute in DNG files

  • August 31, 2014
  • 2 replies
  • 6639 views

 

Posting a new request since the feature request link at :

https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-preserve-new-exif-231-tags-... 

 

referenced in this discussion :

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/how-to-change-the-timezone-in-photo-metadata/td-p/6429833

 

appears to be broken at this point.

 

Per the discussion, Lightroom's behavior is to write OffsetTime in DNG files based on the local time zone of the PC.  As a workaround, I've used exiftool to overwrite the DNG file's OffsetTime with the correct timezone that the photo was taken in.  however, when I "update metadata" in lightroom, it ignores the offsettime that I set in the DNG file and writes it back to the PC's time zone, so I have to do it all over again.

 

If lightroom doesn't have a well defined way to set time zones, can it at least assume that the OffsetTime in the DNG file is correct and not change it?  Then fixing OffsetTime can be a one-time manual thing.  Not sure if this was the feature request referenced above.

 

 

    2 replies

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    July 15, 2024

    @aks100 points out that LR 13.4 preserves EXIF:OffsetTime, OffsetTimeOriginal, and OffsetTimeDigitized in exported files and preserves the time zone offset in the corresponding fields in XMP sidecars. This was apparently added in the last year.

    M
    magical_operator2097
    Participant
    November 16, 2024

    This is not correct. Even LR 13.5 Lightroom still sets OffsetTime based on the time zone the computer it runs on is set to, even overwriting the original (correct) value. This is definitely a bug, as the value cannot be manipulated in LR, the software should also simply not touch it. The time zone of my computer has no relation to the pictures I am exporting!

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    November 16, 2024

    @magical_operator2097, "Even LR 13.5 Lightroom still sets OffsetTime based on the time zone the computer it runs on is set to...This is definitely a bug."

     

    My LR 14.0.1 is obeying the standard. EXIF:OffsetTime is the time-zone offset for EXIF:DateTime, which is when a conforming app last modified the photo or its metadata. (The name "DateTime" misleads many into thinking it's the capture date.) When LR exports a photo, it correctly sets EXIF:DateTime and EXIF:OffsetTime to when the photo was exported. But LR preserves EXIF:DateTimeOriginal / OffsetTimeOriginal (capture date) and EXIF:DateTimeDigitized / OffsetTimeDigitized (when the image was converted to digital form).  

     

    I've attached an original photo APC_1614.dng and an exported JPEG, APC_1614.jpg. Here's the output from Exiftool, showing the correct field values. Note that Exitool renames EXIF:DateTime to be EXIF:ModifyDate:

     

    $ exiftool -a -G -modifydate -offsettime -offsettimeoriginal -offsettimedigitized /Users/john/Pictures/2024/2024-11-07/APC_1614.dng 
[EXIF]          Modify Date                     : 2024:11:08 21:35:14
[EXIF]          Offset Time                     : -05:00
[EXIF]          Offset Time Original            : -05:00
[EXIF]          Offset Time Digitized           : -05:00

     

     

     

    $ exiftool -a -G -modifydate -offsettime -offsettimeoriginal -offsettimedigitized APC_1614.jpg
[EXIF]          Modify Date                     : 2024:11:16 13:57:34
[EXIF]          Offset Time                     : -08:00
[EXIF]          Offset Time Original            : -05:00
[EXIF]          Offset Time Digitized           : -05:00

     

     

     

     

    D
    davidkotz
    Inspiring
    August 31, 2014

    After returning from a recent trip out west, I forgot to change my camera's timezone to the local time.  As a result, hundreds of photos from a long weekend trip were recorded with the wrong timezone.  I imported them to Lightroom 5 and discovered the problem.  Of course, I used the Edit Capture Time feature as described in the online help: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/metadata-basics-actions.html#change_the_photo_capture_time

    But that changes the time of each photo's metadata, rather than the timezone.  There's a subtle difference; the better solution would be to change the timezone so that all future interpretations and exported times would be correct.  For example, here's the original metadata from a RAW image:

    DateTimeOriginal                : 2014:08:23 09:13:45

    Timezone                        : -07:00

    and here's what appears on an exported JPG file, after the capture time was edited:

    DateTimeOriginal                : 2014:08:23 11:13:45

    TimeCreated                     : 11:13:45

    DigitalCreationTime             : 09:13:45

    DateTimeCreated                 : 2014:08:23 11:13:45

    DigitalCreationDateTime         : 2014:08:23 09:13:45

    [These metadata reports were produced by exiftool.]  Notice how the RAW image includes Timezone (though sadly the JPG export does not).  More to the point, look at the variety of timestamps produced for the JPG file, none of which mention the timezone and two of which have the wrong time (9:13am instead of 11:13am).  Without the timezone information the latter is hard to interpret and looks inconsistent.  Is this a bug in LR5?  or is it a missing feature (to not record the timezone on export)?

      johnrellis
      johnrellis
      Legend
      March 2, 2021

      "But this is really a pity that LR doesn't handle this value correctly in exported jpg files."

       

      I think it's unlikely Adobe will ever change LR to recognize the EXIF:TimeZoneOffset tag -- it was never part of the EXIF industry standard, only a few cameras generated it, and it's poorly defined (it only allows offsets in units of hours, while over a billion people live in a time zone that's +5:30).   

       

      The EXIF 2.31 revision (2016) finally added the OffsetTime* tags for correctly recording time zones, but unfortunately LR doesn't preserve it on export. See this feature request:

      https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-preserve-new-exif-231-tags-on-export/5f5f45bf4b561a3d425dab02?commentId=5f5f48304b561a3d420f8b1d 

       

      Please add your constructive opinion to the feature request and be sure to click Like and Follow at the bottom of the first post. That will make it a little more likely that Adobe will consider implementing the feature and you'll be notified when they do.

       

      [Use the blue reply button under the first post to ensure replies sort properly.]

       

       

        aks100
        aks100
        Known Participant
        July 15, 2024

        The link to the feedback/idea no longer works, however, it appears that LrC v13.4 does appear to recognise the 'OffsetTime' tag. It then adds that offset to 'exif:DateTimeOriginal' in XMP files.

        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices