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Daylight Savings Time - I dun goof'd! #1
Simon Abrams's picture
by Simon Abrams
April 5, 2011 - 9:24am

So I forgot to change the date and time of both my 7D and G10 when we sprang forward back on March 9th (d'oh!). Then I remembered… but then I forgot again (double-d'oh!).

I've shot just under 400 pictures with those cameras in the intervening time, and am trying to figure out how I can change the time forward by one hour.

Sounds like it should be easy, but I'm coming up empty. Any ideas?

Simon Abrams's picture
by Simon Abrams
April 5, 2011 - 9:52am

Well, I may have solved this, using the following trickery:

1. I made a smart album of all photos taken with either my G10 or 7D after March 9th.
2. I batch changed the time zone of the photos, telling Aperture that the camera’s time zone was GMT -6. NYC’s time zone happens to be GMT -5, so that switched the time zone of the photos one hour forward.

The only problem now is that I have Aperture rename my photos to the image time and date on import, so those images are all named incorrectly. It’s kind of a minor issue (for the moment), but maybe I can figure out a way to fix it – without messing with the several images that I gave creative names to on export (which I do sometimes).

Dr.Bob's picture
by Dr.Bob
April 5, 2011 - 5:46pm

Why don’t you just use the adjust date and time in the Metadata menu? I assume your pictures where actually taken in the GMT-5 time-zone, right? So that makes it rather awkward to change the time zone, which implies the were taken on a different location…

To name them correctly now, you could use the ‘batch change’ and select your naming scheme that you usually apply in import. Furthermore, there is a special metadata field for ‘creative’ names’ which is the IPTC headline field. You shouldn’t use the version name field for that.

Simon Abrams's picture
by Simon Abrams
April 5, 2011 - 8:49pm

Sonofa… well, I feel kind of silly now. Nou know, I never saw that menu option - that certainly makes things easier than my roundabout way of doing it… thanks!

And I got in the habit of using the Version name field out of sheer laziness, because that was the default option in Flickr Export (although I know I can change that in the prefs).

Anyway, thanks for your help!

PhotoJoseph's picture
by PhotoJoseph
April 6, 2011 - 12:42am

Simon,

Glad you’re getting sorted. As far as the mismatched name, considering it’s only off by an hour, I wouldn’t worry about it. In the future (or if you just enjoy pain), here’s a way to fix it. But again… this kinda hurts.

1. Move all photos to referenced if they aren’t already (Relocate Masters command). Move them to a flat structure (all in one folder), not a nested structure (i.e. yyyy/mm/dd).

2. Use a tool like NameChanger to eliminate everything in the file name except the original IMG1234 data (basically getting them back to how they came off the camera).

3. Aperture will likely lose its connection now but possibly not realize it until you try to edit one. Select the photos and open the referenced file manager, and reconnect them all. You may have to hold down the option key to force a reconnect.

4. If you haven’t already, fix the dates using the “Adjust Date and Time” tool and be sure to enable “Also change master file”.

5. At this point you have properly dated files. Yeah! Have a beer, you’re nearly there.

6. Rename all the files again using your naming scheme. Be sure to rename master files, too. I would recommend that you do this as a move (relocate masters, and rename) instead of just renaming. Not sure why, but I’ve found this to be much more reliable. Besides, if you put your photos in a yyyy/mm/dd folder scheme, this will put them in the correct place.

I feel like I’m missing something; I’m writing this from memory… if you’re going to do this, please test a small batch first. In fact, export a project with consolidated masters, and do the entire process on that to test it. If it works, repeat on the real library. If not, let me know what’s missing if you can’t figure it out and I’ll revisit it.

-Joseph @ApertureExpert

@PhotoJoseph
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Simon Abrams's picture
by Simon Abrams
April 6, 2011 - 6:57am

Thanks for that write-up, Joseph - that method makes total sense, and I’m going to keep it in Evernote for future reference. As you said, though, I think it’s a minor enough issue that I’m going to leave the version names as is for now, and going forward, as Rutger says, I’m going to use the IPTC headline field for creative naming.

Man, did I over-complicate my life with that little adventure - what a doofus. :)

PhotoJoseph's picture
by PhotoJoseph
April 6, 2011 - 4:29pm

Simon,

Not a doofus move at all. I’ve forgotten to change the timezone on my cameras more times than I care to admit. Try driving cross country, across time zones, and then trying to figure out what’s what later. ugh.

-Joseph @ApertureExpert

@PhotoJoseph
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