Synchronizing creation times between files from 2 cameras

[db7178]

I sent a message to Kirk today, thinking at the outset that I was the only one who could be having this problem. While writing it I realized that couldn't be true but for whatever reason I didn't move the question here -- and he reminded me that I could have! So I am -- hope it helps someone. I was starting to look for ways to run some kind of shell-based script or something to solve this issue.

Quote from: db7178 on Today at 09:04:24 AM

I shot an event in 2017 with 2 cameras whose clock settings were an hour or two apart. So to see all shots of a subject shot at 2 p.m., I have to look at the first ones and then wade down 2,000 files in search of the rest. What a pain! I want to view the whole event in chronological order and because of this there's no way. (Actually, if I don't set my clocks at the outset of an event, I have this problem at darn-near every event. Nikon timekeeping just isn't that precise camera to camera, so you'd have to think this is a problem for a lot of photographers.) But let's say you find the asynchrony is exactly 93 minutes and 12 seconds. Would you know of a way to shift the "time taken" by that exact amount? I had wondered if maybe the new PM Plus would have that feature?

The Adjust Capture Dates and Times tool in PM (it's in the base PM and PM Plus) will allow you to modify the times as needed to correct this error.

See: https://docs.camerabits.com/support/solutions/articles/48001200335-adjust-capture-dates-and-times

BTW, this feature has been in Photo Mechanic for a number of years.

HTH,

-Kirk

P.S. While I don't mind answering questions directly, had you posted this question on the public message board, others would benefit from the solution.

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Comment: The trick then becomes figuring out how far out of sync the times are. I determined one camera was taking shots 89 seconds "too fast," so I sorted by lens to select all of that camera's shots and made the time adjustment.

[Odd Skjaeveland]

I shot an event in 2017 with 2 cameras whose clock settings were an hour or two apart.
[...]
Comment: The trick then becomes figuring out how far out of sync the times are.

Make it a habit to take a picture of one common clock display showing seconds with each camera. If image sequencing is the only problem, the common clock does not have to be correct, any reasonable running clock will do. Less the clock image itself, adjust camera event images time using the time difference (offset) between time displayed in the clock image and the Exif timestamp in that clock image.