Unable to control format creating IPTC:Time Created & Digital Creation Time

[jmappus]

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I'd like to be able to populate IPTC:Time Created and Digital Creation Time as 13:22:09 and not 13:22:09-05:00.

Background
When adding the values to IPTC time fields it does not seem to respect the -n or trailing"#" to control the format. Instead, of the values being 13:22:09 they are 13:22:09-05:00.

And, the format 13:22:09-05:00 doesn't display properly when looking at the file metadata of the image of the file (not via exiftool). It displays as... "Time Created: 132209-0". Yet when the value is 13:22:09 it displays correctly as "Time Created: 13:22:09".

1) Your system type (Windows XP, Linux, Mac, etc).
MacOS Caalina v .10.15.7
1.6 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

2) The ExifTool version you are using (the output of the "exiftool -ver" command).
12.12

3) The specific command line you are using (or a sample script if having problems with the API).
exiftool -iptc:timecreated="13:22:09" -n lasttry.jpg
exiftool -iptc:timecreated#="13:22:09" lasttry.jpg

4) The console output from the command.
1 image files updated

5) Images attached

I've been a good boy this year although maybe not a good exiftool-er. I suspect it may be a user error but my extensive searching turned up nothing. Perhaps I'm using -n and # incorrectly. It drove me to naughty words.

[Phil Harvey]

the format 13:22:09-05:00 doesn't display properly when looking at the file metadata of the image of the file (not via exiftool). It displays as... "Time Created: 132209-0". Yet when the value is 13:22:09 it displays correctly as "Time Created: 13:22:09".

This is an issue with the software you are using for display.  I suggest you send them a bug report.

According to the IPTC IIM specification, the time zone is mandatory:

2:60 Time Created
  Not repeatable, 11 octets, consisting of graphic characters.
  Represented in the form HHMMSS±HHMM to designate the time the intellectual content
  of the objectdata current source material was created rather than the creation of the
  physical representation. Follows ISO 8601 standard.

- The Grinch

[jmappus]

Thank you for the fast reply. I saw it within 30 min of your posting but just now got around to responding.  Apple won't be as fast. Ho hum, coal for Christmas.

[Phil Harvey]

For what it's worth, Apple Photos displays garbage for some QuickTime tags if there is no timezone (see this recent thread).  But here it's the reverse.  Go figure.

Fragile software breaks easily.  Good thing Apple doesn't produce any critical software like operating systems and such...  Doh.

- Phil