Hello everyone,

(I tried searching for this in this forum and or Google but I couldn't find any mention of it. Please excuse me, if the issue has already come up.)

A few months ago I got an Osmo Action 3 camera that I updated to the latest available firmware. I've been making photos both with the camera and my phone and noticed that the chronological order of the photos is a bit off.

After digging a bit into it, I realized that the time on the Osmo Action 3 is correct but the time zone is set to GMT+00:00 which is incorrect, as I'm in Indonesia (GMT+08:00). So, if I make a photo or a video at, say, 3 pm local time, the recorded time is 15:00+00:00, rather than 15:00+08:00 or 07:00+00:00.

Unfortunately, in the menus and the app I can only find ways to change the time, not the time zone. Also, if the time is being sync'd with the phone, I expect the time zone to by sync'd too but it's not.

So, my question is: How can I set the proper time zone of an Osmo Action 3 camera?

Thank you!

Hi, vdachev. Thank you for reaching out. Please try the steps below:

1. Please connect the device to the DJI Mimo App of the mobile phone. The time of the device will be automatically calibrated with the mobile phone time.
2. Slide down the screen. Enter Settings > Date & Time to manually calibrate the time.

DJI Gamora Posted at 7-30 22:54
Hi, vdachev. Thank you for reaching out. Please try the steps below:

1. Please connect the device to the DJI Mimo App of the mobile phone. The time of the device will be automatically calibrated with the mobile phone time.

Hi Gamora and thank you for your prompt response!

I have already done that and the time is set correctly. However, any photos seem have a zero ("GMT+00:00") time zone in the EXIF, so does the video metadata.

Oops! Sorry for re-posting!

vdachev Posted at 7-30 22:59
Hi Gamora and thank you for your prompt response!

I have already done that and the time is set correctly. However, any photos seem have a zero ("GMT+00:00") time zone in the EXIF, so does the video metadata.

Hi, vdachev. There should be correct time recorded on the photos, see below via EXIF:

EXIF v2.3 (2012) does not have any timezone or offset specification in it:
https://www.cipa.jp/std/documents/e/DC-008-2012_E.pdf

Version 2.31 (2016) does. Just search for "UTC" in the PDF:
https://www.cipa.jp/std/document ... nslation-2016-E.pdf

However, not all manufacturers implement this tag, and as can you see in case of DJI, they don't. I believe you can use ExifTool (https://exiftool.org/) and possibly others to add the time zone offset yourself.

osmonauta Posted at 8-6 10:01
EXIF v2.3 (2012) does not have any timezone or offset specification in it:
https://www.cipa.jp/std/documents/e/DC-008-2012_E.pdf

Actually, I used Google Photos for that.

Curious thing is that it works for videos (it adds a proper time zone):



As you can see, the file name "DJI_20230805171312_0129_D.MP4" indicates the exact same time - "5:13 PM GMT+08:00", as the video metadata (it's not an EXIF).

However, for photos:



Here the file name "DJI_20230805151344_0060_D.JPG" indicates the proper time but with the time zone missing: "3:13 PM GMT+00:00".

If the EXIF does not support time zone, it would be best for the camera to set the proper time in GMT, in this case "7:13 AM GMT+00:00".

So.. to sum it up, the Dji Osmo Action 3 camera:
1. Doesn't show the time zone anywhere, even though it knows it (as it writes it correctly in video metadata).
2. Doesn't not provide means of adjusting the time zone, just the date/time.
3. It does not write the proper time zone in the EXIF of photos, neither it changes the time to GMT, resulting into incorrect timestamping of photos.

Makes sense. I just tried it with my 2018 iPad and when I take a photo, it does tag the correct GMT offset along with the time.

But not to worry. DJI will pass this along to the correct engineering team for evaluation and they might implement it in a future camera :-)

osmonauta Posted at 8-7 02:30
Makes sense. I just tried it with my 2018 iPad and when I take a photo, it does tag the correct GMT offset along with the time.

But not to worry. DJI will pass this along to the correct engineering team for evaluation and they might implement it in a future camera :-)

Hehe, I'm naive enough to hope it gets fixed in a later firmware update of Osmo Action 3. And it would be a shame if they don't do that for Osmo Action 4 they just released.

Hello everybody,

After some research on the same subject, I confirm that the problems remains on the Osmo Action 4 I just received, with the latest firmware.
The Creation date that I read using ffmpeg shows a timezone = GMT (+0), despite I'm in CET.
The filename is however correct.

Do you know how to raise this issue to DJI engineering?

Thanks