Date and Time Settings on Cameras / Dashcams

[fwydriver405]

Curious about this, but do you set your date and time on your dedicated cameras, camcorders, and/or dashcameras? If yes, to the local time or to UTC?

I've been setting all of my cameras (and especially on my mirrorless cameras) to UTC, especially with my R50 and R10 where it's been travelling to the Eastern, Central, and Pacific Time Zones, as I don't want to have deal with date/time conflicts when I import my photos and videos when I return home. On most cameras, there is an option to select a city when you travel, but I have a tendency to forget to set it when I arrive. So I just set the date and time based on UTC and set the city to London with DST turned off.

EDIT: added a 5th option for those who have their things auto-adjust.

[formulanone]

I set mine to Central but usually forget to reset it anyhow (like this week). There's software to batch change timestamps but I also can't stand having to later alternate the sorting between filename / date taken / save date, with no clear solution. If you have a lot of images, the edited time stamps create interspersed photos which are even trickier to re-order.

I'll usually only modify them if it's a an important event, or just wait until I've completed processing them.

Another first-world problem is that my camera and cellphone times don't quite sync up. The Canon's time tends to run about 1-2 minutes faster per month than my phone.

[wanderer2575]

I don't set mine.  I run almost all my photos through FastStone Image Viewer to sharpen the focus and maybe play with the colors a bit, so the save date doesn't reflect when I actually took them.

[vdeane]

Mine is set to local time, though I don't adjust for DST, so it's in daylight time year round.  I also haven't touched it in years, so it's currently running about 8 minutes fast on top of that.  While the date is critical for displaying the date on my website, I only really use the time for estimating distance between photos.

[fwydriver405]

There's software to batch change timestamps but I also can't stand having to later alternate the sorting between filename / date taken / save date, with no clear solution. If you have a lot of images, the edited time stamps create interspersed photos which are even trickier to re-order.

Yup, running into that issue with burst photography on some of my shoots... I haven't found much worth manually changing the time and date unless it's really needed once I process the photos.

Another first-world problem is that my camera and cellphone times don't quite sync up. The Canon's time tends to run about 1-2 minutes faster per month than my phone.

I also noticed that between photos taken from iPhone 16 Pro and my R10 on my recent trip to CA. Some of the iPhone's photos timewise were mixed into the photos I took with my R10 if you sorted by date (in an album I have), which would explain the time drift on the actual camera.

[ZLoth]

The date/time is set automatically by GPS satellite. I just have to switch the time zone twice a year.

[fwydriver405]

The date/time is set automatically by GPS satellite. I just have to switch the time zone twice a year.

None of my Canon cameras have that capability, at least to my knowledge or if you need an optional accessory.

As for my dashcams, my Aukey DRO2 D camera with the optional GPS sensor does do that too, but I have to change the UTC offset, same as you. I think my other camera, the KAWA D8 in my other car does do that automatically but we'll have to see come Sunday.

[dgolub]

Mine is set to local time, though I don't adjust for DST, so it's in daylight time year round.  I also haven't touched it in years, so it's currently running about 8 minutes fast on top of that.  While the date is critical for displaying the date on my website, I only really use the time for estimating distance between photos.

This.  Also, the one time that I took my action camera out of Eastern Time, it was for a brief trip to New Brunswick in Atlantic Time, and I didn't bother changing it for that.  I might change it if I went to somewhere like California where there's a bigger time difference.

[formulanone]

I played around with the Canon Camera Connect app and you can match up the times between your phone and camera (I'm using an EOS R, it's 2018-technology).

It insists on UTC time if using an Automatic feature, but it can be set manually or to synchronize with your phone as well.

As an aside, I can also get the GPS coordinates to save to the image data by keeping the app open while shooting. I had never tried that feature before.

[fwydriver405]

I played around with the Canon Camera Connect app and you can match up the times between your phone and camera (I'm using an EOS R, it's 2018-technology).

It insists on UTC time if using an Automatic feature, but it can be set manually or to synchronize with your phone as well.

As an aside, I can also get the GPS coordinates to save to the image data by keeping the app open while shooting. I had never tried that feature before.

I'm going to have to play around with that app when I get the chance on my newer Canon cameras. Last time I tried, it did require an account (as of the last few updates ago) to even use the app, so not sure if I'll give it a try. The geotagging feature also seems very convincing too which would save me time in trying to manually enter locations.

[formulanone]

I played around with the Canon Camera Connect app and you can match up the times between your phone and camera (I'm using an EOS R, it's 2018-technology).

It insists on UTC time if using an Automatic feature, but it can be set manually or to synchronize with your phone as well.

As an aside, I can also get the GPS coordinates to save to the image data by keeping the app open while shooting. I had never tried that feature before.

I'm going to have to play around with that app when I get the chance on my newer Canon cameras. Last time I tried, it did require an account (as of the last few updates ago) to even use the app, so not sure if I'll give it a try. The geotagging feature also seems very convincing too which would save me time in trying to manually enter locations.

I dragged my feet on updating the app because it required an account, but it's been unobtrusive...so far. It gave notifications of new products but those can be easily turned off. (As much as I'd like that new 45mm f/1.2 right now, I also don't need reminding you have a new camera model every few months.)

Unfortunately, the Canon app has been buggy for me for the two years I've used it, at least twice a year, I have to delete the app, delete the Wi-Fi settings on the camera, reinstall the app, then pair the camera, and set up the Wi-Fi all over again. It's a terrible app for a great product, and if it weren't so darn useful when it works at family gatherings (take photo, look at them, send to phone/printer, text/email it...easy!) I'd never use it again.