Time and dating in the early 1970's?

[zseriesrob]

Hello, I couldn't seem to find a better place for this question, if there is a better one, please feel free to shift it there.
I have 4 photos from 1971, and if I hover the computer mouse over them, a date of 3/6/1971 comes up as well as a time for each. My question, can these be correct shooting times? I Googled all this sort of thing, trying to find when this information was first available, but I guess since my knowledge of these things is limited, I found nothing. Any information on this would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Rob.

 

[Prof_Pixel]

There were no cameras or computers at that time that would support such date input. Someone at a later date may have scanned some prints and added that date when the images were scanned (or it might have been the default date for the scanning software).

What is the source of the images?

 

[zseriesrob]

Thank you for your reply. I have just heard that the photos were taken from slides, and they were posted on the internet about 5 years ago. The date information is what I would expect for these photos within a month.

 

[Prof_Pixel]

Thank you for your reply. I have just heard that the photos were taken from slides, and they were posted on the internet about 5 years ago. The date information is what I would expect for these photos within a month.

... so that means whoever scanned them, knew and entered that data.

 

[AgX]

That Person must have had good knowledge to even state the day-time. Maybe though just a day-time...

 

[zseriesrob]

Thanks again guys, I guess if the slides were catalogued well in the day, as from what I am told they were professionally taken, whoever transferred them added the dating information?

 

[Bill Burk]

Yes, there are ways to enter that information into a computer and have it display when you hover your mouse over it. While it is rare for even professional photographers to have recorded time information, I sometimes do have written notes with time. So it's not entirely out of realm of possibility. Forensics? Maybe more likely to have time data.

 

[bdial]

Some labs printed a date on the slide mounts, I have several boxes of them.
So if these are scanned slides, someone may have copied that date (which would have been the processing date).

 

[zseriesrob]

Very interesting information guys, it is a great help
Thank you very much for your valued input.
Rob.

 

[Bill Burk]

Some labs printed a date on the slide mounts, I have several boxes of them.
So if these are scanned slides, someone may have copied that date (which would have been the processing date).

I have to laugh because I put together a small slide show for New Year's Eve and I noticed that on one roll, the stamped date was a couple years past the actual date. There was an obvious color shift too.

I have a date code on all my slides, every slide is catalogued as to Year, Quarter, Roll and Slide number. So I can assure you of a date within 3 months on every slide, but the actual month, day, time of day might be hard to tell (unless I can piece it together from old calendars, notes or an obvious dated event like waiting in line at a concert).