How to sync up time between cameras?

[Satyaa]

The way I do it is to sync the clocks according to the GMT time shown on my laptop or phone. After I have finished shooting I take a reference shot on each camera by looking at the clock and pressing the shutter at a reference time. So I might take a picture at 11:00PM on one camera, and another reference shot at 11:05PM on the other camera. That gives me enough of an idea to see if those shots were indeed 300 seconds apart, or whether one camera is out of sync by x amount of seconds. I then match the sequences of the shots by the time stamp of each picture on each SD card based on any error reading.

But i also use a quicker system, especially at weddings when things are very fluid. I take a picture of the time on my watch from time to time. I can then match up sequences based on double checking the time shown by the camera and the time of my watch.

I like this approach, especially on a long day when the two Panasonic cameras go out of sync even though they start with the same time before the event

 

[Satyaa]

I shall syn the clock right before the shooting session. Usually either a day easier (for travelling and I have to pack my gear) or for other local event, syn before leaving home.

This saves me a lot of work on modifying the time stamp in post. Therefore I won't use your method of taking pictures on every camera before the shooting.

I shall usually have to deal with outputs from 3 cameras or plus 2 phones. My 2 weeks' trip to China 3 weeks ago had carried G85, GX9, GX850 & 2 phones. I had merged total 3.6K of keepers from them by their times stamp without problem.

I agree this is the best for short events (half day or less)

am just looking for an automated way to do this instead of manually

on a long day my two cameras are off by seconds

 

[Satyaa]

When I sort the photos at the end of the events, there is difference in seconds and they are not in the same order as the event.

If you shoot long sequences of frames and the camera needs multiple seconds to clear its buffer, I can see how with some images, their file time will be off by several seconds from their EXIF time.

So, by which time do you sort your images? If it's true that the file time is your problem, you may want to set the file time to the EXIF time first.

The last 4 digits are the photo counter for that directory/folder.

I usually rename my images xxxxx-yymmdd-the-counter.orf

So it will always be in the proper order, ascending or descending

Remember, I am shooting from three cameras and the naming or sequence is different between the three.

1. Set the clock are correct as possible on the 3 cameras, press the OK when the second hand on your watch = 0
2. Reset the counter on all 3 cameras, so it starts with 0001 before the event.

The more tricky portion. I hope that the 3 cameras are not used at the same time, ie: 3 people or timers. I assume, you use 1 camera takes some photos, switch to the next...

correct, I am the only one shooting and not multiple cameras at once

I will assume that the 1st camera is the base time

use exiftool to assign the date/time as best as possible from the 1st camera:

exiftool -SubSecDateTimeOriginal="2024:08:09 12:00:00.00-08:00" /path/to/files/

this will update the EXIF:CreateDate

The 4 digits counter will guarantee that the images are in the correct order per camera.

Sounds like this is a useful trick but I am not clear

I need to read a couple of times and try it

thanks

 

[alcelc]

There could be some differences, but not material so far.

My last 2 weeks' trip showed a different of within 1~2 seconds only .

 

[Mark Ransom]

I can synch my O. E-M5 II's clock and my E-M1 III's clock to my PC's clock by using the OM Capture program. Because my E-M5 III is [intentionally?] incompatible with OM Capture, it cannot.

IDK which other models can or cannot

In this day and age, there's no excuse why every camera can't sync time through the USB interface. Wifi or bluetooth would be even better. Of course it would be best if every camera used some kind of standard so you didn't need 20 pieces of software to do it, but you've got to start somewhere.

While we're at it, use bluetooth to connect to a GPS module so you can get location tracking too. GPS can give you the time accurate to 40ns.

 

[Guy Parsons]

Is there a better way to keep camera times in sync?

The last few trips (a few cameras between my wife and myself) I adopted the habit of displaying https://time.is/ each morning and shooting the screen with each camera.

Then later the difference between the real time and the camera time can be used to correct the camera jpegs (or raw converted jpegs) using a program like jpgtime, free for Windows from http://www.muralpix.com/jpgtime/

The interesting part about using https://time.is/ for time is that I get to see how inaccurate my PC or tablet or phone happens to be at the time, such as now I see this on my laptop....



Windows is meant to re-sync the clock maybe weekly but it fails often so the time accuracy gets worse and today my laptop is 9.7 seconds fast. A deliberate clock re-sync (Sync Now) doesn't want to work as it can't reach the time server, so I'll have to stay 9.7 seconds or worse fast.

 

[Jaded Snapper]

When I realised that I only had to sync one camera to another, not both to a clock, my life was made slightly easier…

I don't need to worry about actual clock. I am just struggling to keep the time on three cameras in sync, even if it's off from the internet clock.

My biggest driver for this need is to be able to sort all photos on time shot and they come out in the true order of the event.

That is my need to, with two cameras, Oly and Nikon. I think the difference I have is relatively short events, so not noticable drift at the end of the event.

 

[SonyX]

Hi. I primarily use a GH6 and a GH5 II. Occasionally I use a D7200 (this and older Tamron 70-200/2.8 came back when I sold all my DSLR gear).

The D7200 seems most accurate with its internal clock. One of my GH bodies goes slightly off, and the other goes off about 3 minutes in a month.

Because I use multiple cameras, I try to sort my photos by time and the sequence is messed up.

Currently what I am trying is to take a baseline shot with each camera at the start of an event. When editing photos later, I do a batch edit on the timestamp to sync up between the three cameras.

I have tried the Panasonic app. It doesn't connect to one of my cameras and there is no easy way to sync up times. But then, it also leaves out the D7200.

Is there a better way to keep camera times in sync?

Thanks.

I always shoot events with 2 cameras, sometimes 3-4. If I shoot with 2nd photographer - it could be up to 6 cameras in editing timeline + drone
I use Lightroom for RAW conversion, it has option to adjust time for each camera or group of photos (f.ex. if you want to separate groom and bride photos)







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[Danielvr]

Windows is meant to re-sync the clock maybe weekly but it fails often so the time accuracy gets worse and today my laptop is 9.7 seconds fast. A deliberate clock re-sync (Sync Now) doesn't want to work as it can't reach the time server, so I'll have to stay 9.7 seconds or worse fast.

It works fine for me, my PC doesn't ever seem to get more than ~1 second ahead or behind. I've set the time server address to time.nist.gov instead of time.windows.com -- maybe that is what makes the difference. Btw, are you sure that your firewall doesn't block the time server, or the sync process?

In Windows 11, you can change the time server through Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time > Additional Clocks > Tab: Internet Time > Change Settings > (choose sync server).

 

[Guy Parsons]

Windows is meant to re-sync the clock maybe weekly but it fails often so the time accuracy gets worse and today my laptop is 9.7 seconds fast. A deliberate clock re-sync (Sync Now) doesn't want to work as it can't reach the time server, so I'll have to stay 9.7 seconds or worse fast.

It works fine for me, my PC doesn't ever seem to get more than ~1 second ahead or behind. I've set the time server address to time.nist.gov instead of time.windows.com -- maybe that is what makes the difference. Btw, are you sure that your firewall doesn't block the time server, or the sync process?

In Windows 11, you can change the time server through Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time > Additional Clocks > Tab: Internet Time > Change Settings > (choose sync server).

Thanks for the info, but time.nist.gov fails as well.

From the panel I do see that the usual sync does work..... eventually..... where I was 9.7 sec fast, now only 3 sec fast(?) after one sync that happened yesterday...



Here in a remote suburb of Sydney Oz, my Internet seems to be on the end of a very long bit of wet string so is very unreliable at times.

I have never ever trusted PC clocks as my 1980's programming efforts (compiled Basic) were car club race timing using Commodore 64, they could be tuned to yield accurate timing due to their 1MHz clock. Meanwhile PC clocks seemed to tick over at 1/7 second intervals and were very unreliable so I never bothered to do the same suite of race timing programs with PCs.

 

[Safib]

I can synch my O. E-M5 II's clock and my E-M1 III's clock to my PC's clock by using the OM Capture program. Because my E-M5 III is [intentionally?] incompatible with OM Capture, it cannot.

IDK which other models can or cannot

In this day and age, there's no excuse why every camera can't sync time through the USB interface. Wifi or bluetooth would be even better. Of course it would be best if every camera used some kind of standard so you didn't need 20 pieces of software to do it, but you've got to start somewhere.

While we're at it, use bluetooth to connect to a GPS module so you can get location tracking too. GPS can give you the time accurate to 40ns.

Every Olympus/OM System camera with WiFi can sync time over WiFi using the phone app.

 

[Satyaa]

Thank you all for the responses and tips.

Panasonic GH6 and GH5M2 do have time in hh:mm:ss format. I felt syncing them manually across three cameras is a hassle and was looking for an easier way. I saw couple of YT videos on using the Lumix app but that didn't work on my phone(s).

In my OP I was asking for alternatives, or simpler ways to manage this.

I had an event yesterday (only a couple of hours long). I used the suggestion given in couple of responses above. I opened time.gov on my phone and took a photo with each camera just before the event. When I started editing the photos, I updated all photos EXIF with the difference. It was easy.

The GH6 had drifted almost 2 minutes forward, while GH5M2 had shifted about half minute, since I synced them up manually about three months ago. I didn't check recently but my FZ2500 doesn't seem to drift as much.

Nikon D7200 was synced up more than a year ago and it had drifted 9 seconds.

I will use this method as it's easy to control. I will also look at the Panasonic Lumic app again on different devices to see if I can get it to work.

Thanks.

PS: As a sidenote, I learned that the automatic time setting using WiFi and app on Olympus cameras works better. That is good. I also learned about benefit of GPS in maintaining accurate time, though none of my camera models have built in GPS.

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[Bassam Guy]

Windows is meant to re-sync the clock maybe weekly but it fails often so the time accuracy gets worse and today my laptop is 9.7 seconds fast. A deliberate clock re-sync (Sync Now) doesn't want to work as it can't reach the time server, so I'll have to stay 9.7 seconds or worse fast.

It works fine for me, my PC doesn't ever seem to get more than ~1 second ahead or behind. I've set the time server address to time.nist.gov instead of time.windows.com -- maybe that is what makes the difference. Btw, are you sure that your firewall doesn't block the time server, or the sync process?

In Windows 11, you can change the time server through Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time > Additional Clocks > Tab: Internet Time > Change Settings > (choose sync server).

Thanks for the info, but time.nist.gov fails as well.

From the panel I do see that the usual sync does work..... eventually..... where I was 9.7 sec fast, now only 3 sec fast(?) after one sync that happened yesterday...



Here in a remote suburb of Sydney Oz, my Internet seems to be on the end of a very long bit of wet string so is very unreliable at times.

I have never ever trusted PC clocks as my 1980's programming efforts (compiled Basic) were car club race timing using Commodore 64, they could be tuned to yield accurate timing due to their 1MHz clock. Meanwhile PC clocks seemed to tick over at 1/7 second intervals and were very unreliable so I never bothered to do the same suite of race timing programs with PCs.

Look for a time server near your neck of the outback. As a software/firmware developer, I have implemented Network Time Protocol (NTP) and its baby brother Simple network Time Protocol (SNTP) a few times. The delay in how long it takes for point A takes to reach point B is significant and Windows, in its infinite wisdom, has probably decided that the lag is unbearable.

However, the OP is looking for agreement within his set of cameras, so it is okay even if they are all behind by 34.9876 seconds from true time.

 

[Photongraphy]

Thank you all for the responses and tips.

Panasonic GH6 and GH5M2 do have time in hh:mm:ss format. I felt syncing them manually across three cameras is a hassle and was looking for an easier way. I saw couple of YT videos on using the Lumix app but that didn't work on my phone(s).

In my OP I was asking for alternatives, or simpler ways to manage this.

I had an event yesterday (only a couple of hours long). I used the suggestion given in couple of responses above. I opened time.gov on my phone and took a photo with each camera just before the event. When I started editing the photos, I updated all photos EXIF with the difference. It was easy.

The GH6 had drifted almost 2 minutes forward, while GH5M2 had shifted about half minute, since I synced them up manually about three months ago. I didn't check recently but my FZ2500 doesn't seem to drift as much.

Nikon D7200 was synced up more than a year ago and it had drifted 9 seconds.

I will use this method as it's easy to control. I will also look at the Panasonic Lumic app again on different devices to see if I can get it to work.

Thanks.

PS: As a sidenote, I learned that the automatic time setting using WiFi and app on Olympus cameras works better. That is good. I also learned about benefit of GPS in maintaining accurate time, though none of my camera models have built in GPS.

 

[Bassam Guy]

Thank you all for the responses and tips.

Panasonic GH6 and GH5M2 do have time in hh:mm:ss format. I felt syncing them manually across three cameras is a hassle and was looking for an easier way. I saw couple of YT videos on using the Lumix app but that didn't work on my phone(s).

In my OP I was asking for alternatives, or simpler ways to manage this.

I had an event yesterday (only a couple of hours long). I used the suggestion given in couple of responses above. I opened time.gov on my phone and took a photo with each camera just before the event. When I started editing the photos, I updated all photos EXIF with the difference. It was easy.

The GH6 had drifted almost 2 minutes forward, while GH5M2 had shifted about half minute, since I synced them up manually about three months ago. I didn't check recently but my FZ2500 doesn't seem to drift as much.

Nikon D7200 was synced up more than a year ago and it had drifted 9 seconds.

I will use this method as it's easy to control. I will also look at the Panasonic Lumic app again on different devices to see if I can get it to work.

Thanks.

PS: As a sidenote, I learned that the automatic time setting using WiFi and app on Olympus cameras works better. That is good. I also learned about benefit of GPS in maintaining accurate time, though none of my camera models have built in GPS.

Can you explain how to do this?

Thanks!

See my "How to sync up time between cameras?" (PC) reply above, and Safib's following reply (smartphone).

 

[Photongraphy]

Thank you all for the responses and tips.

Panasonic GH6 and GH5M2 do have time in hh:mm:ss format. I felt syncing them manually across three cameras is a hassle and was looking for an easier way. I saw couple of YT videos on using the Lumix app but that didn't work on my phone(s).

In my OP I was asking for alternatives, or simpler ways to manage this.

I had an event yesterday (only a couple of hours long). I used the suggestion given in couple of responses above. I opened time.gov on my phone and took a photo with each camera just before the event. When I started editing the photos, I updated all photos EXIF with the difference. It was easy.

The GH6 had drifted almost 2 minutes forward, while GH5M2 had shifted about half minute, since I synced them up manually about three months ago. I didn't check recently but my FZ2500 doesn't seem to drift as much.

Nikon D7200 was synced up more than a year ago and it had drifted 9 seconds.

I will use this method as it's easy to control. I will also look at the Panasonic Lumic app again on different devices to see if I can get it to work.

Thanks.

PS: As a sidenote, I learned that the automatic time setting using WiFi and app on Olympus cameras works better. That is good. I also learned about benefit of GPS in maintaining accurate time, though none of my camera models have built in GPS.

Can you explain how to do this?

Thanks!

See my "How to sync up time between cameras?" (PC) reply above, and Safib's following reply (smartphone).

Maybe I misunderstood: that post seems to discribe how to sync the clock, but it doesn't change the recorded exif time stamps of the photos, does it?

 

[Skeeterbytes]

Maybe I misunderstood: that post seems to discribe how to sync the clock, but it doesn't change the recorded exif time stamps of the photos, does it?

Do you mean of images already taken, prior to the clock reset? No. Recording time can be changed after the fact in Lightroom and perhaps other programs.

 

[Bassam Guy]

Thank you all for the responses and tips.

Panasonic GH6 and GH5M2 do have time in hh:mm:ss format. I felt syncing them manually across three cameras is a hassle and was looking for an easier way. I saw couple of YT videos on using the Lumix app but that didn't work on my phone(s).

In my OP I was asking for alternatives, or simpler ways to manage this.

I had an event yesterday (only a couple of hours long). I used the suggestion given in couple of responses above. I opened time.gov on my phone and took a photo with each camera just before the event. When I started editing the photos, I updated all photos EXIF with the difference. It was easy.

The GH6 had drifted almost 2 minutes forward, while GH5M2 had shifted about half minute, since I synced them up manually about three months ago. I didn't check recently but my FZ2500 doesn't seem to drift as much.

Nikon D7200 was synced up more than a year ago and it had drifted 9 seconds.

I will use this method as it's easy to control. I will also look at the Panasonic Lumic app again on different devices to see if I can get it to work.

Thanks.

PS: As a sidenote, I learned that the automatic time setting using WiFi and app on Olympus cameras works better. That is good. I also learned about benefit of GPS in maintaining accurate time, though none of my camera models have built in GPS.

Can you explain how to do this?

Thanks!

See my "How to sync up time between cameras?" (PC) reply above, and Safib's following reply (smartphone).

Maybe I misunderstood: that post seems to discribe how to sync the clock, but it doesn't change the recorded exif time stamps of the photos, does it?

Probably have to use a 3rd party EXIF app. I know there are some but I've never done that.

 

[Photongraphy]

Maybe I misunderstood: that post seems to discribe how to sync the clock, but it doesn't change the recorded exif time stamps of the photos, does it?

Do you mean of images already taken, prior to the clock reset? No. Recording time can be changed after the fact in Lightroom and perhaps other programs.

Yes, see my reply to Satyaas post.

Thanks for trying to help.

 

[Satyaa]

Maybe I misunderstood: that post seems to discribe how to sync the clock, but it doesn't change the recorded exif time stamps of the photos, does it?

Do you mean of images already taken, prior to the clock reset? No. Recording time can be changed after the fact in Lightroom and perhaps other programs.

Yes, see my reply to Satyaa's post.

Thanks for trying to help.

I use a s/w called Zoner Photo Studio X. My primary use for this was to export final results to HEIC. I have been doing this since 2018. No other editor like DxO exports edited results to HEIC.

Anyway, ZPS-X has a batch EXIF edit feature. I can select all photos in the folder, bring up batch EXIF edit, unselect all tabs except date/time, then adjust only time and shift it forward or backward by desired minutes/seconds.

As others have pointed out, Lightroom appears to do it but I don't use Lightroom.

Another post above suggested a command line method to update EXIF. I have not tried that yet.

In the past I updated EXIF via DxO PhotoLab but IIRC, it allows updating only one image at a time. Can't remember a batch option.

Thanks.