It’s spring, even if the snow didn’t get the memo! Did you change the time in your camera settings today? If you live in the United States, your time changed last night, whether you were ready for it or not! Honestly, is anyone ever ready to lose an hour???
Of course, depending on where you live in the world, you may have a few weeks left before the time change happens. Lucky you!
There’s an expression to help you remember whether you’ve lost or gained an hour. In the fall, our time “falls back” and in the spring, we “spring forward.” Either way, be prepared for a few jet-lagged days ahead. 🤪
Is your camera the only place you need to change the time?
In these techy times, you’ll probably be surprised by how many devices take care of this job for you! My iPhone changes automatically. Even better, so does my Apple watch! Even our thermostat for cooling and heating our house makes the change itself. If your camera includes GPS and the GPS is turned on, it will probably set the new time for you, too. My Canon 5D Mark IV will.
Some appliances still need a manual update, though, like our coffee pot and our microwave. We have a wall clock in our kitchen that takes the most work since we have to get out a ladder to reach it. Then, it takes two people to make the change.
One person corrects the time while the other person critiques the first person’s work. That’s what we get for having a round clock! It’s really a judgment call. Is the Roman numeral for 12 perfectly aligned above the Roman numeral for six? Aargh!
How to change the time on your camera
The clock that gives me the most trouble is my camera clock. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten to reset it while traveling! There always seems to be a little jetlag involved! And, even if I haven’t left home, my body clock is always a bit off on the two days of the year when we change time. So, here are some simple instructions and examples to get you started.
Step One:
First, in the menu on your camera, select the correct page for changing time. This depends on your camera make and model. You may have to do some hunting to find it. Here are some examples.
On the Canon T5i, it’s in one of the Wrench menus and is called Date/Time, on the Sony A6000, it’s in the Toolkit menu and is called Date/Time Setup, and on the Nikon D3200, it’s in the Wrench menu and is called Time Zone and Date. When you find it, click on it.
Step Two:
You don’t need to know the correct time, since you haven’t changed time zones, so the next steps are easy. On the Nikon and Sony cameras I mentioned, I’ll just select Daylight Savings to turn it on. The camera will change the time for me.
The Canon is a little different. In this case, I just need to know if the time has changed backward or forward. Today, it has sprung forward, so I click on the symbol that looks like a sunburst. It has the word “Off” on it. Then, I click on the up arrow for “springing forward.” The sun symbol will change and the “Off” wording will disappear.
Step Three:
Once you have Daylight Savings chosen, be sure to click on OK or whatever your camera model expects to finalize the setting process.
Done! Now, you’re good to go until next fall… November 6th, to be exact. How do I know? My Mac Calendar tells me! I just wish it would set my camera time for me!
How to change the time in post-processing
Oh, no! You were having so much fun capturing photos of spring flowers that you totally forgot to change the time! What can you do to fix this problem when you have already downloaded your photos to your computer?
Photos app on Mac
In the Photos app on your Mac, select the photos with the incorrect time. Then, under the Image tab at the top, choose Adjust Date and Time. Place your cursor on the Hour and tap the up button to increase the time.
Lightroom Classic
In Lightroom Classic on your computer, open the Library Module and select the photos with the incorrect time. Now, under the Metadata tab at the top, choose Edit Capture Time. You can set the time exactly or you can click on the “Shift by set number of hours (time zone adjust)” where you’ll click the upward arrow once to adjust the time forward by an hour.
By the way, I do love Lightroom Classic. It understands busy traveling photographers. Just look at the choice of words: “time zone adjust.” It knows we forget every now and then!
Now it’s your turn.
Grab your camera and change the time. Then, if you’re doing this a bit late and you’ve already downloaded some photos to your computer, use the Photos app or Lightroom Classic to update those as well.
Finally, head out and capture some spring shots to print and hang in your house!
Do you wonder why we change time in the first place? This article will explain it all.
This is also a good time to check out your backup strategy for your photos. I wrote about it here.
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