pictures from DSLRs out of order when imported into Photos

Question

Level 1

7 points

pictures from DSLRs out of order when imported into Photos

Returning from a recent trip to another time zone, I imported photos from two DSLRs (both Nikon products) into Photos where there were already pictures from two iPhones. (The pictures from the 2nd iPhone were imported using Airdrop.)

(I imported the photos from the DSLRs onto an iPad initially using the SD cards via an Apple connector.)

Photos arranged the pictures chronologically from the phones correctly, but treated those from the cameras as if they were shot in my home time zone (thereby creating chaos.)

I double checked and verified that I had reset the time AND zone correctly on the trip.

Now I have laboriously changed the time and zone on all the photos and they are in the correct order.

My questions:

1) What went wrong?

2) How can I prevent a repeat?

NOTE: I have reviewed the photos on various Apple devices. The (dis)order was the same on all of them.

iPad, iPadOS 18

Posted on Sep 1, 2025 02:32 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Sep 1, 2025 10:04 PM in response to BRuke1

In addition to markwmsn great troubleshooting list you might check if all images have or do not have GPS location and whether it is correct because also that can cause incorrect sorting if the app thinks they were shot in a different time zone. Also some DSLR images might have EXIF Offset metadata tag while others do not. So there are many variables with those pesky time zones. 3rd party apps like exiftool and GraphicConverter are good for this kind of sleuthing.

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Answer 2

Sep 2, 2025 10:19 AM in response to BRuke1

BRuke1 wrote:

Using online tools, the EXIF data do not show time zone information (although that information was available on Photos.)

The XMP has “DateCreated 2025:08:24 16:29:08+01:00”, which I interpret as being Zulu plus one hour. This would be correct as I took the picture in Ireland in the summer.

Photos does not read XMP dates which are Adobe stuff. Instead, it prefers the old ExifIFD:DateTimeOriginal which does not contain time zone at all (common EXIF group tags ExifIFD:CreateDate and IFD0:ModifyDate behave the same) -- time zone is optionally included in the newer ExifIFD:OffsetTimeOriginal which many older cameras do not support. The file dates in FileCreateDate and FileModifyDate grab the time zone from whatever time zone the Mac's clock is set to use. For example:

exiftool -a -G1 -s -n -fileOrder5 FileName -FileCreateDate -FileModifyDate -GPSDateTime -ModifyDate -DateTimeDigitized -CreateDate -DateCreated -DateTimeOriginal -GPSPosition -OffsetTimeOriginal image.jpg

[MacOS]         FileCreateDate                  : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[XMP-exif]      GPSDateTime                     : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[XMP-xmp]       ModifyDate                      : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[IFD0]          ModifyDate                      : 2001:01:01 12:00:00
[XMP-exif]      DateTimeDigitized               : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[XMP-xmp]       CreateDate                      : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[ExifIFD]       CreateDate                      : 2001:01:01 12:00:00
[XMP-exif]      DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[XMP-photoshop] DateCreated                     : 2001:01:01 12:00:00-05:00
[ExifIFD]       DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:01:01 12:00:00
[Composite]     GPSPosition                     : 40.74842 -73.98561
[ExifIFD]       OffsetTimeOriginal              : -05:00

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Answer 3

markwmsn

Level 6

16,625 points

Sep 1, 2025 09:53 PM in response to BRuke1

Do you know whether your Nikon cameras record time zones and in what metadata fields?

If not, can you tell us what model(s) they are?

Did you do the imports while just starting to return home, while you were somewhere on the way home, or after you had returned home?

If your cameras do not record time zones (or do not use the same metadata fields that Photos expects), and if you were already back in your home time zone when you imported the photos, your iPad may have acted as Photos does on Macs and assumed the photos were taken in the current time zone.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

200,167 points

Sep 2, 2025 03:59 AM in response to BRuke1

BRuke1 wrote:

...

2) How can I prevent a repeat?

To avoid the problem, you could set the system time on your Mac temporarily to the same timezone as the camera has been set to when you have taken the photos.

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Answer 5

BRuke1 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 2, 2025 04:30 AM in response to markwmsn

Thanks to you and Matti Haveri for your help on this confusing issue.

I have not examined the metadata, but will get one of the apps suggested. In the interim, the Nikons were a Coolpix B500 and a D5600. Neither was linked to another device via Bluetooth or anything else. When I arrived in the other time zone, I manually synced the time setting with the time indicated on my iPhone (the cameras’ clocks tend to stray) and reset the time zone. Typically, but not always, I transferred the images to my iPad on a daily (or next day) basis. Obviously, while in the distant time zone.

Just for clarity: my trip was to just one time zone; all the pictures I took with the Nikons appeared in Apple Photos as if I had taken them in my home time zone; Photos information box for each indicated my home time zone by name; the time recorded was correct, but for the wrong (I.e. home) zone.

If I discover any clues in metadata, I will post.

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Answer 6

BRuke1 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 2, 2025 04:38 AM in response to léonie

Thanks. However, the shots were imported into Photos while I was in the distant time zone. The iPad and cameras were all set to that zone (obviously, the iPad set automatically, the cameras set manually) at the time of transfer.

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Answer 7

Sep 2, 2025 07:57 AM in response to BRuke1

I don't know about your cameras, but for mine I use Nikon's SnapBridge app which allows the camera to read the time and GPS location from my phone. They always agree.

Honestly, I gave up trying to remember which things did what with time zones. I just fix them when I get them all together. The Date/Time Adjust on the iPad and iPhone and Mac will adjust a whole batch of pictures by the same amount, so you only have to do it once for all the pictures from each camera.

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Answer 8

BRuke1 Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 2, 2025 09:38 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Using online tools, the EXIF data do not show time zone information (although that information was available on Photos.)

The XMP has “DateCreated 2025:08:24 16:29:08+01:00”, which I interpret as being Zulu plus one hour. This would be correct as I took the picture in Ireland in the summer.

But, even though the Nikon was set to the correct time zone, Photos treated the pictures as if taken in my home Pacific zone. Needless to say, the photos taken with my iPhone had accurate time and time zone information.

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Answer 9

Sep 2, 2025 10:32 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Matti Haveri wrote: … Photos does not read XMP dates which are Adobe stuff. Instead, it prefers the old ExifIFD:DateTimeOriginal which does not contain time zone at all (common EXIF group tags ExifIFD:CreateDate and IFD0:ModifyDate behave the same) -- time zone is optionally included in the newer ExifIFD:OffsetTimeOriginal which many older cameras do not support. The file dates in FileCreateDate and FileModifyDate grab the time zone from whatever time zone the Mac's clock is set to use. …

My point exactly-- there is no telling which standard each device will use this week.

Furthermore, do I want to use local time, or do I want all cameras to be represented by MY time? Or by THEIR time? If I'm taking pictures in Ireland, and my daughter is taking pictures in Texas, and I put them together, I want pictures taken first to appear first, but I don't want night pictures showing early afternoon, do I?

Really-- you just fix 'em up so they are consistent-- whatever you choose that to mean. If you're doing it in Photos, then you're not altering the original, anyway.

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Answer 10