1DMk2 Time stamp problem, or is it the OS

Steve_Burns · #1 04-27-2005, 02:58 PM

Has anyonne come across this, know what is going, why and have a fix for it?

I have had one of my 1DMK2 do this strange behavior. The camera seames to change its time stamp from AM to PM without my intervention. Or it is my OS wich is WinXP service pack 1.

Last monday 04/18/05, I shot a corporate gig. This happened, files are indicating a time similar to 2005:04:18 18:53:29, then on the next frame it is 2005:04:18 18:53:32, then back to 2005:04:18 18:53:48. This is when viewed in BreezeBrowser. When the same files are viewed in Windows XP the indicate a time stamp of 4/18/2005 6:53PM, then 04/19/2005 11:54AM, then 04/18/2005 6:53PM.

When the files were processed out of Capture One 3.6, they have the time stamp of 04/18/05 6:53PM for all three sequencial files, which would be correct as "Date Picture Taken" when viewed in Windows XP.

All files are from the same camera, all files were downloaded to workstation via CF reader ZiO HighSpeed USB 2.0 card reader. CF cards were Ridata 1Gigs.

Steve Burns

TerryReis · #2 04-27-2005, 08:10 PM

I had a similar problem with a 1Dm2.
It would lose time (sometimes days, sometimes weeks) randomly.
Meant I had to check the date everytime I fired it up. Most times it would be ok but every now and again it would loose time.
Never got to the bottom of the problem, my dealer swopped it and have never had it happen with the new one.

Not much help I'm afraid.

Steve_Burns · #3 04-28-2005, 09:48 AM

Terry:

Thanks, will keep an eye on the camera clock, and what my downloads read from CF cards in the future.

Steve Burns

ThomasSapiano · #4 04-28-2005, 01:30 PM

Can't answer your question directly as I don't have a 1D Mk.II myself (came over through your post in the other forum), however the following information might be helpful in isolating the source of the problem:

[ QUOTE ]
Last monday 04/18/05, I shot a corporate gig. This happened, files are indicating a time similar to 2005:04:18 18:53:29, then on the next frame it is 2005:04:18 18:53:32, then back to 2005:04:18 18:53:48. This is when viewed in BreezeBrowser. When the same files are viewed in Windows XP the indicate a time stamp of 4/18/2005 6:53PM, then 04/19/2005 11:54AM, then 04/18/2005 6:53PM.

[/ QUOTE ]

The thing to remember is that there are two places where date and time are stored with most image files. Firstly, there is an entry in the EXIF header inside of the file itself - this is what BreezeBrowser and Capture One are reading the date from. Secondly, the filesystem has a date/time entry which records when the file was created - this is the value that the OS is looking at when you examine the files in Explorer (as it doesn't necessarilly know how to interpret the header of every file type).

The camera is supposed to set the filesystem date/time to the same value as the one stored inside of the file (as the image was created at the moment the picture was taken). Additionally, the OS is supposed to carry the file's creation date/time when copying the file over to your HDD. If either of those aren't opperating correctly, you may get disparities like you are describing. The easy way to identify the source is to periodically look at the date/time stamps on the files in exporer before copying the files to the HDD - if the error is present at that stage, then chances are it is the camera that is making the error. If the error only becomes an issue once the files are copied over, then chances are that it is the OS that is making the mistake.

[ QUOTE ]
When the files were processed out of Capture One 3.6, they have the time stamp of 04/18/05 6:53PM for all three sequencial files, which would be correct as "Date Picture Taken" when viewed in Windows XP.

[/ QUOTE ]

When most processing software saves files, it resets the filesystem creation date/time based on the EXIF headers to ensure that everything is correct. Capture One is likely fixing the issue because it extracts the data from the headers and updates the filesystem to correspond with the header information.

Steve_Burns · #5 04-29-2005, 11:28 AM

Thomas:

Thanks, I was not aware that there were several areas for time stamp info to come from. I certainly will keep an eye on the files prior to importing in my system for a while in the future in order to sort this out.

Steve Burns

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