diff --git a/lib/date.js b/lib/date.js
index fb72673..c62fba1 100644
--- a/lib/date.js
+++ b/lib/date.js
@@ -1,84 +1,18 @@
-function parseNumber(s) {
-	return parseInt(s, 10);
-}
-
-//in seconds
-var hours = 3600;
-var minutes = 60;
-
-//take date (year, month, day) and time (hour, minutes, seconds) digits in UTC
-//and return a timestamp in seconds
-function parseDateTimeParts(dateParts, timeParts) {
-	dateParts = dateParts.map(parseNumber);
-	timeParts = timeParts.map(parseNumber);
-	var year = dateParts[0];
-	var month = dateParts[1] - 1;
-	var day = dateParts[2];
-	var hours = timeParts[0];
-	var minutes = timeParts[1];
-	var seconds = timeParts[2];
-	var date = Date.UTC(year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, 0);
-	var timestamp = date / 1000;
-	return timestamp;
-}
-
-//parse date with "2004-09-04T23:39:06-08:00" format,
-//one of the formats supported by ISO 8601, and
-//convert to utc timestamp in seconds
-function parseDateWithTimezoneFormat(dateTimeStr) {
-
-	var dateParts = dateTimeStr.substr(0, 10).split('-');
-	var timeParts = dateTimeStr.substr(11, 8).split(':');
-	var timezoneStr = dateTimeStr.substr(19, 6);
-	var timezoneParts = timezoneStr.split(':').map(parseNumber);
-	var timezoneOffset = (timezoneParts[0] * hours) +
-		(timezoneParts[1] * minutes);
-
-	var timestamp = parseDateTimeParts(dateParts, timeParts);
-	//minus because the timezoneOffset describes
-	//how much the described time is ahead of UTC
-	timestamp -= timezoneOffset;
-
-	if(typeof timestamp === 'number' && !isNaN(timestamp)) {
-		return timestamp;
-	}
-}
-
-//parse date with "YYYY:MM:DD hh:mm:ss" format, convert to utc timestamp in seconds
-function parseDateWithSpecFormat(dateTimeStr) {
-	var parts = dateTimeStr.split(' '),
-		dateParts = parts[0].split(':'),
-		timeParts = parts[1].split(':');
-
-	var timestamp = parseDateTimeParts(dateParts, timeParts);
-
-	if(typeof timestamp === 'number' && !isNaN(timestamp)) {
-		return timestamp;
-	}
-}
-
 function parseExifDate(dateTimeStr) {
-	//some easy checks to determine two common date formats
+	//some easy checks to determine common date formats
 
 	//is the date in the standard "YYYY:MM:DD hh:mm:ss" format?
-	var isSpecFormat = dateTimeStr.length === 19 &&
-		dateTimeStr.charAt(4) === ':';
-	//is the date in the non-standard format,
-	//"2004-09-04T23:39:06-08:00" to include a timezone?
-	var isTimezoneFormat = dateTimeStr.length === 25 &&
-		dateTimeStr.charAt(10) === 'T';
-	var timestamp;
-
-	if(isTimezoneFormat) {
-		return parseDateWithTimezoneFormat(dateTimeStr);
-	}
-	else if(isSpecFormat) {
-		return parseDateWithSpecFormat(dateTimeStr);
-	}
+	//if so, convert to ISO 8601 by replacing first two ':'s with '-'s
+	if (dateTimeStr.length === 19 &&
+		dateTimeStr.charAt(4) === ':' &&
+		dateTimeStr.charAt(7) === ':' &&) {
+		dateTimeStr = dateTimeStr.slice(0, 4) + '-' +
+			dateTimeStr.slice(5, 7) + '-' + dateTimeStr.slice(8);
+    }
+
+    return dateTimeStr;
 }
 
 module.exports = {
-	parseDateWithSpecFormat: parseDateWithSpecFormat,
-	parseDateWithTimezoneFormat: parseDateWithTimezoneFormat,
 	parseExifDate: parseExifDate
 };