Canon R 10 exports same image info with two different dates

[VictoriaJZ]

I have a new Canon R 10 and took some pictures today [4/10 roughly 10am-12pm] - I opened up the card on my computer to import the images and when I looked at the list view it says IMG_6551.CR3 yesterday at 10pm and then IMG_6551.xmp Today at 1:34pm - I checked the camera itself and its Date/Time is 04/10/23 and an accurate time [in other words I'm writing this at 2pm and camera has the same time].  First, do I need to import the sidecar items?  I'm using Lightroom Classic.  Second, why is the RAW image showing as being taken yesterday and the sidecar .xmp showing as today  - looking at the pics themselves, I took them at around 10am but the import says it was Yesterday at 10pm.  

[I did go in to check the camera itself = for some odd reason it said 4/9/23 and Samoa time, which I have never been at.  I have now changed the info to be correct - 4/10-220p in Chicago but I had already set the date time a week ago - ]

[rs-eos]

I'm in Central time zone myself.   I belive Samoa is 16 hours ahead of Central.   So 10 AM Samoa would end up being around 6 PM Central the prior day.

Now that you've correctly set the time zone on your camera, you may still observe timestamps to be different than Central.  I _think_ RAW files may store dates in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

[VictoriaJZ]

Thanks but I'm more concerned about the fact that the RAW image has date of 4/9 [incorrect] but sidecar file is correctly dated.

and secondly, can I just import the RAW without the sidecar?  I honestly don't know what it is anyway.

[rs-eos]

In Adobe Lightroom, as with other non-destructive RAW workflows, RAW files are never modified.  Instead, sidecar files are used to capture changes/edits you do to those RAW files.

I still believe that the RAW images would store times as set by the camera.  And that time could be in GMT (i.e. unless you are actually in that time zone, it would be different than your local time).  Whereas whatever software you're using to edit your images would be creating the sidecar files and thus that would show local times.

[Waddizzle]

“ I opened up the card on my computer to import the images and when I looked at the list view it says… “

Are you reading the EXIF data or the file directory folder?

[VictoriaJZ]

I have not yet imported them, just moved them off my Canon == I'm reading the info in List View but when I did Get Info it was the same == see att. - it appears to me that the xmp file may have been the time it was moved from the SD card to the drive [see 6551] and may have been 134 PM == but the image was taken actually today at about 10:00 AM -- I took the same image with my iPhone -- so on the Canon the CR3 was taken today at 1004am = and the xmp file imported probably as shown, today at 1:34p - do I need the xmp files at all?  These are unedited images just brought in from an SD card, no changes in t hem at all.

[FloridaDrafter]

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@VictoriaJZ wrote:

"and secondly, can I just import the RAW without the sidecar?  I honestly don't know what it is anyway."

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As for the XMP files, your camera is not creating these. Canon embeds its editing data in the Raw CR2/CR3 files so you should normally only be seeing a CR3 on your SD card. So whatever program you are using to download them with, I assume it is Adobe LR, is creating the XMP, for whatever reason. However, unless you are editing on the SD card with LR, which you shouldn't do, you do not need those XMP sidecar files. As mentioned, XMP files contain editing info so as not to disturb the original Raw file. Canons DPP imbeds editing recipes in its Raw files, when saved, so there will be no sidecar, but non Canon Raw editors make sidecars of various types.

Newton

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

The camera does not create .xmp (sidecar) files as mentioned previously.  There is software you have installed on your MAC that is set as the default file handler for .CR3 files.  When you..  Import, move, or copy them to your machine that default application is doing something with them.  Image Capture doesn't create them either.  

When you click on one of the .CR3 files, what application does it open in?

[VictoriaJZ]

Thank you = these files were shot with the R10 and then brought into my Photos app on the iPad by a card reader [was traveling and didn't have my MacBook Pro == then exported or transferred [it's been awhile so am not clear] - I would like to just trash the xmp files if they aren't needed == I'm really not yet working with them = will be using Lightroom Classic when I do.

I haven't yet tried to open a CR3 file - I have a Monterey MBP and will check into that today when time = right now I'm hoping to get some order in the pics before I import into LightroomClassic [trying to move from my first love, Aperture] = appreciate the help

[AtticusLake]

The timestamps on your XMP files are simply recording when they were created, which is whenever you loaded the pics into Lightroom, or Bridge, or whatever.  They're totally irrelevant.

As a matter of fact, the date/times on your CR3 files are also totally irrelevant.  That timestamp records when that physical file was created.  So for example, if you copied a pic from a memory card to your computer, it could be the date/time that the computer copy was created.  Or, it could be copied from the original file.  It could be either way, depending on exactly what software you use to do the copy.

I have tons of old media files on my computer whose timestamps are complete garbage.  It's the time the file was most recently copied, or restored from backup, or transferred form my previous computer, or whatever.  Bottom line, the operating system's meta-data for your files is for the operating system's benefit, not yours.

What you should be looking at is the meta-data inside the image file itself.  Because this data is inside the file, it gets copied intact along with the rest of the image; so this tells you about the content of the file -- i.e. the image -- as opposed to the physical manifestation of the file on a particular disk drive.

For example, in Bridge, you could look for "Date Created" under IPTC Core, or "Date Time Original" under Exif.  Those will tell you when the picture was actually taken.  Don't look under "File Properties", that's just the file timestamp again.