Setting Date and Time

To help keep track the date and time an image is captured, 990 has a built in clock and timer. This clock and timer is run by a rechargeable battery in the camera which is different from the batteries for running the camera operations. This "hidden" rechargeable battery is charged when you have batteries in the battery bay. However, this "hidden" rechargeable batter has no power at all when (1) you receive the camera and (1) you store the camera for a long period without the batteries in the battery bay, for a long time (and hence the "hidden" rechargeable battery consumes all of its power). Should one of these two conditions happens, the camera does not have correct date and time. In this case, a blinking clock icon will be shown in the upper-right corner of the LCD monitor when the camera is in the A-REC mode or the M-REC mode. If you take a photo, the time stamp would be January 1, 2000, 0:00! So, when you see a blinking clock, it is the time to setup a correct date and time!

Each of the A-REC mode, M-REC mode and PLAY mode has an option for setting date and time. However, the easiest one is using the A-REC mode. In the following, the multi-selection button will be used to browse the menu system and to make a selection.

Use up and down to browse Use right to select

Here is the procedure:

  1. Turn the mode dial to A-REC.
  2. Press the MENU button to bring up the A-REC menu.
  3. Press the down arrow of the multi-selection button to move the highlighted item to Date:

  4. Once Date is highlighted, press the right arrow of the multi-selection button to make a selection (i.e., selecting Date). Then, the following screen appears.

  5. First of all, the top row shows the style of displaying date. The above figure shows Month/Day/Year (i.e., M-D-Y); Other options include D-M-Y and Y-M-D. The setting process starts with the second row. You can use the left and right arrows of the multi-selection button to move the highlighted item to the one you wish to make change. Once the item you want to change is highlighted, use the up and/or down arrows to change its value. Note that some items have many selectable values (e.g., 12 for the month field). Therefore, you perhaps have to use the up and down buttons to browse these values. Once the required value appears, you can use the left and/or right arrow to move to the next items.
  6. The order of setting date and time is (1) month, date and year depending on the style of displaying these items, (2) hour and minute in the form of hh.mm, and (3) the display style of month, day and year in the form of M-D-Y, D-M-Y or Y-M-D.
  7. Once all items are set, press the MENU to exit the menu system and return to the shooting mode.