dj_paige
July 27th, 2008, 08:09 PM
Back in April, we had a long thread (http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36285) about the deficiencies in the way PSE5 handles metadata from Nikon D80 .NEF files.
Specifically, back in April, two problems were identified.
If you applied a caption or GPS location to the .NEF file, then later saved the file as a .jpg, the caption or GPS location was not transferred to the the .jpg file.
If you exported the .NEF files to .jpg files, much of the EXIF information (things like shutter speed, aperture, ISO, maker notes) were not transferred to the .jpg file.
Since proper metadata handling was very important to me, I stopped using RAW. These problems didn't exist from .jpg originals from the camera. (These problems also apparently did not exist for Canon RAW files).
I am happy to report that I have a work-around that is almost as nice as using Organizer (but not quite), and certainly not as messy as John Kruk hitting a grapefruit, if you know what I mean. The work-around requires two freeware applications, GeoSetter (http://www.geosetter.de/en/) and Exiftool (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/%7Ephil/exiftool/).
Here is my workflow to import the .NEF files into the computer, and apply metadata. This is really only slightly more work than if I were to do everything in Organizer and it worked properly.
Download the photos from the camera, but do not import them into Organizer just yet. There is a check box in the Downloader that enables you to download but not import into Organizer.
I use GeoSetter to apply GPS and captions to each photo. The interface is almost as nice as the one in Organizer, and GeoSetter writes the metadata directly to the .NEF files (which is something PSE5 should do, but doesn't do apparently because of a bug)
Import into the PSE5 organizer and add tags and notes. (You could also add tags in step 2 above). PSE5 recognizes the captions and GPS information that are now in the .NEF files, and handles them properly. (In case you are curious, it seems that if the metadata is in the .NEF file before import, things are handled properly. If PSE5 creates the metadata, captions and GPS are not handled properly).
Create .jpg files via the Editor and all metadata is properly moved to the .jpg.
If you do a File->Export of your .NEF files and output them as .jpg files, I have an Exiftool script (actually a .bat file) that fixes all of the EXIF problems caused by the PSE5 bugs in the Export routine. The script is shown below and I should point out that I was helped getting this to work by the author of Exiftool, Phil Harvey. Here is the .bat file (to run it, just double-click on it after you edit it to point to your directories)
set jpgdir="k:\photos"
set nefdir="d:\nikon pictures\2008 07 27"
"c:\program files\exiftool\exiftool.exe" -all= -tagsfromfile %nefdir%/%%f.nef -all:all -tagsfromfile @ -gps:all -iptc:all -overwrite_original %jpgdir%
Note: nefdir must point to the directory where your .NEF files are located. jpgdir must point to the directory where File->Export wrote your .jpgs. The last two lines (beginning with c:\program files... and ending with %jpgdir%) are really one line, but the editor here at ElementsVillage wants to split it (but don't you split it)
Specifically, back in April, two problems were identified.
If you applied a caption or GPS location to the .NEF file, then later saved the file as a .jpg, the caption or GPS location was not transferred to the the .jpg file.
If you exported the .NEF files to .jpg files, much of the EXIF information (things like shutter speed, aperture, ISO, maker notes) were not transferred to the .jpg file.
Since proper metadata handling was very important to me, I stopped using RAW. These problems didn't exist from .jpg originals from the camera. (These problems also apparently did not exist for Canon RAW files).
I am happy to report that I have a work-around that is almost as nice as using Organizer (but not quite), and certainly not as messy as John Kruk hitting a grapefruit, if you know what I mean. The work-around requires two freeware applications, GeoSetter (http://www.geosetter.de/en/) and Exiftool (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/%7Ephil/exiftool/).
Here is my workflow to import the .NEF files into the computer, and apply metadata. This is really only slightly more work than if I were to do everything in Organizer and it worked properly.
Download the photos from the camera, but do not import them into Organizer just yet. There is a check box in the Downloader that enables you to download but not import into Organizer.
I use GeoSetter to apply GPS and captions to each photo. The interface is almost as nice as the one in Organizer, and GeoSetter writes the metadata directly to the .NEF files (which is something PSE5 should do, but doesn't do apparently because of a bug)
Import into the PSE5 organizer and add tags and notes. (You could also add tags in step 2 above). PSE5 recognizes the captions and GPS information that are now in the .NEF files, and handles them properly. (In case you are curious, it seems that if the metadata is in the .NEF file before import, things are handled properly. If PSE5 creates the metadata, captions and GPS are not handled properly).
Create .jpg files via the Editor and all metadata is properly moved to the .jpg.
If you do a File->Export of your .NEF files and output them as .jpg files, I have an Exiftool script (actually a .bat file) that fixes all of the EXIF problems caused by the PSE5 bugs in the Export routine. The script is shown below and I should point out that I was helped getting this to work by the author of Exiftool, Phil Harvey. Here is the .bat file (to run it, just double-click on it after you edit it to point to your directories)
set jpgdir="k:\photos"
set nefdir="d:\nikon pictures\2008 07 27"
"c:\program files\exiftool\exiftool.exe" -all= -tagsfromfile %nefdir%/%%f.nef -all:all -tagsfromfile @ -gps:all -iptc:all -overwrite_original %jpgdir%
Note: nefdir must point to the directory where your .NEF files are located. jpgdir must point to the directory where File->Export wrote your .jpgs. The last two lines (beginning with c:\program files... and ending with %jpgdir%) are really one line, but the editor here at ElementsVillage wants to split it (but don't you split it)