Set correct TimeZone information in MOV videos (shot with Konica Minolta Z6)

[SamMat]

Hi,
Thank you again for this wonderful software!
I have a question, for which I searched for hours in the forum, did dozens of tests... but didn't found a solution. So I create this new post in the forum.

Here is my problem:
In 2007, I took videos during my holyday in Cuba with my Konica Minolta Dimage Z6. But the timezone information in the video files is wrong (or not even present). During summer, Cuba is in timezone GMT-4, while Brussels (where I live) is GMT+2.

Here is some more information about the file : "PICT5454.MOV" was taken at 2007-05-01 19:48:34 (local Cuban time).
When I check the date information with ExifTool like this :

Code Select Expand

exiftool -time:all -a -G1 -s -api quicktimeutc -charset FileName=UTF8 myFILE

I get this:

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[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2021:03:02 08:54:34+01:00
[System]        FileInodeChangeDate             : 2021:02:28 18:45:40+01:00
[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[QuickTime]     ModifyDate                      : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00

My question is: how can I set the correct timezone?

Thanks a lot for helping me!

[Phil Harvey]

Time zone information isn't stored in QuickTime date/time tags.  Just drop the -api quicktimeutc option and the times will be shown in local Cuban time.  Apparently your camera doesn't know about time zone either.

- Phil

[SamMat]

Thank you Phil for this answer.

But could we force the addition of the timezone metadata in the MOV file?

Why do I need this ? My objective is to make appear my photos and videos chronologically in macOS Photos app (which interprets the timezone).

To do that, I first changed the date metadata of my original video files to make these dates interpretable by the Photos app :

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exiftool -quicktime:createdate-=2 -execute "-alldates<quicktime:createdate" -execute "-quicktime:creationdate<quicktime:createdate" -execute "-FileModifyDate<quicktime:createdate" -common_args -api quicktimeutc -charset FileName=UTF8 FILE

The result (wich can be compared with the original metadata in my preview post) is:

Code Select Expand

[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2021:03:02 17:09:21+01:00
[System]        FileInodeChangeDate             : 2021:03:02 17:03:13+01:00
[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[QuickTime]     ModifyDate                      : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track1]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[Track2]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2007:05:01 21:48:34+02:00
[XMP-exif]      DateTimeOriginal                : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[XMP-xmp]       CreateDate                      : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[XMP-xmp]       ModifyDate                      : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[UserData]      DateTimeOriginal                : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00
[Keys]          CreationDate                    : 2007:05:01 19:48:34+02:00

Now, the CreatDate is correct (19:48:34) and it is read correctly in the macOS Photos app.

But the problem is that macOS Photos app assumes that this date and time information is in local system timezone (Brussels). So Photos app "understands" that the video was taken on "19:48:34 GMT+2" (Brussels) instead of "19:48:34 GMT-4" (Cuba). As a consequence, the chronology is not respected between my videos and my photos (which have a correct GMT-4 timezone).

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that adding a timezone tag in the video files could solve this problem... but how can I do that ?

Thanks!

[StarGeek]

The problem is that CreateDate and ModifyDate are supposed to be in UTC and do not have a place for the time zone.  There's no way to change that.

The UserData:DateTimeOriginal can include (for Apple Photos, must include) a time zone, so you could edit that and that might fix the problem.

[wywh]

In Photos.app Keys overrides other movie date tags so use it (and optionally set UserData, QuickTime, and file dates the same).

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002750