Sync Camera Time/Date from PC Time on connect

[pdenny1968]

Hi 

 

As suggested in another thread, I'll make this a new feature request here.

 

Please consider the ability to sync the camera Time/Date to the PC Time/Date on connect, selectable in the settings page via a check box (for those who don't want or need it).

 

My camera does not retain the time due to a bad capacitor if the battery is removed and is a real pain to reset the time and date every time.

 

Even though BYEOS  adds the time and date to the file name when saving the image to the PC, the file time/date stamp is whatever the camera time/date is.

 

Thanks.

 

Pete

[astroman133]

So you want to set the camera time from the PC time.  Correct? Not set the PC date/time from the camera date/time.

 

I am not seeing what you are seeing.  I purposely set the date/time to be incorrect.  The file date/time for the image file that is saved by BYE is based on the Windows date/time, not the camera date/time as you said.  The only place that I can see the camera date/time is in the EXIF data where the camera puts its date and time.

[pdenny1968]

Well see it or not, it is happening on my system.

 

Just re-checked my folders that BYEOS saved the images into and the file date in Win Explorer is 01/01/2000 (The default date that the camera resets to). All the RAW and JPG files have this date stamp. PC time is correct.

 

If I set the camera date/time manually, then the files date stamp is correct.

 

This happened in Win7 x64 and now Win10 x64 with v3.1.4 and a Canon 60D

 

And yes, the request is to just set the camera time form the PC time for my situation but I read in the other thread that Guylain has had many requests to do the opposite. I can see both ways being valid for people with different setups/issues; e.g no internet connection at a remote site with an old PC that doesn't keep time very well and a camera that does. Hence the suggestion for an option in settings that allows either way to sync the time/date.

 

Cheers.

[astroman133]

That is strange.  It seems to be camera-specific behavior, where I wouldn't expect to see it.  I don't see it with my T5i.

 

Guylain will have to chime in here, I guess.

[admin]

BYE/BYN does NOT read the date/time form the camera.  That is a fact.

 

All date/time used are those of the computer.  If this is not the case for you then the issue is somewhere else. but where

 

Regards,

[s3igell]

The Date/Time values displayed by any of various Image Catalog / Processing Programs (including Win Explorer) will be sourced from various sources within the File Directory Entry and/or the EXIF Data depending upon their individual implementations (use of Codecs, Utility Libraries, etc).

 

If BYE/BYN can offer the Feature of setting the Camera Realtime Clock from the PC Clock if that is the User's choice, it would solve certain problems for those Users.  And cause no issues for those who choose not to use it...

[pdenny1968]

Maybe Windows displays the Exif data then. I'll look into it.

However, this request still solves the issue for those who have time issues, particularly those who save files to the camera.

Even having the incorrect time/date stamp in the Exif data is just wrong and can so easily be prevented by having the software do the sync on connection if set by the user. Isn't this The whole point of automated software?

Surely this is a very easy feature to add. We know it's possible as EOS Utility does it. Note, I don't have that installed and don't want to have to use another piece of software to do something that BYEOS could do.

Why is there so much resistance to this? I'm clearly not the first to request it.

 

EDIT: it seems WIndows by default is displaying the Date from the Exif data. It can be changed by selecting date created/modified as the column and not just date. Incorrect Exif data is still an annoyance though.

 

Cheers.

[astroman133]

I don't think that there is resistance to adding functionality to BYE to sync the camera time with the PC time. I do have a bit of a problem with your use case (the camera is broken and will not retain the date and time when the battery is removed).  This does not seem to be a common problem.  However, I do see benefit to having the PC act as the time controller for my astro gear.

 

There is confusion about what you are seeing.  Hopefully i can clear that up.

 

I was able to duplicate what you are seeing. The reason why I was not able to duplicate it before was because I was shooting RAW images. With the RAW images Windows Explorer was displaying PC time. However for the JPG image files Windows is displaying the "Date Taken" from the image EXIF data in the image.

 

If you look at my screenshot, you can see that I customized the Detail view in Windows Explorer to display both the Date (Date Taken) and the Date Created columns in the display.  I intentionally set the camera date back by 2 years, as you can see.

 

The good news is that you can do something similar.  You could even choose to not display the Date Taken column at all. Or you could shoot RAW.