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Library module Edit EXIF camera model ?

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AlexBrandt

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Mar 19, 2018
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96
Location
Berlin, Germany
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
7.5
Operating System
Hello all,

I shoot 35mm film with a few different cameras. Obviously, the camera make and model is not recorded...
I use a software called AnalogExif which allows me to edit EXIF metadata of the scanned pictures prior importing in LR.
However, being a manual operation, it can be prone to mistakes or even forgetting, etc.

In LR, I see it is possible to filter pictures by date, camera, lens, label, and so one.
A few of my camera info metadata are wrong, they show for instance the scanner used.

For example, in the bellow example SP-1500 is a Fujifilm scanner.

Screen Shot 2019-01-20 at 18.26.20.jpg

Screen Shot 2019-01-20 at 18.19.34.jpg


If I want to correct that, can I so it within LR ?
If not, I'll have to save the metadata to the file, open that file in AnalogEXIF, make the change before syncing its metadata again in LR.

Thank you,
 

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  • Screen Shot 2019-01-20 at 18.26.20.jpg
    Screen Shot 2019-01-20 at 18.26.20.jpg
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Natively no. Saving the metadata to the file, editing and then reading metadata would work, or you could try this plug-in In-Lightroom interface for Exiftool

Hello Victoria,
Thanks for the tip.

I see there are two components to this. There seem to be the Exiftool which needs installing first and configuration via the terminal ? And then the Time to Exif plug in ads on the top of Exiftool to work ?
 
No, you don't need to install Exiftool - the plugin contains its own copy of Exiftool.
 
Uncheck the Automatically run LR's Save Metadata., and run a Metadata > Save Metadata manually. Does it happen even after restarting LR?
 
Uncheck the Automatically run LR's Save Metadata., and run a Metadata > Save Metadata manually. Does it happen even after restarting LR?

Hey there.
I'm not sure what you mean by "run a Metadata". You mean write a metadata entry ?
When I enter values for Camera make and Camera model, it's not enough to click OK at the bottom right for the info to be saved ?
When I apply a setting, and I try to manually save the metadata to the file, the option is grayed out.

It seems like if I uncheck "Automatically run LR's Save Metadata", nothing happens when I click ok.
 
No plugin can directly change EXIF values, so clicking OK tells the plugin to tell EXIFtool to update the file. But updating the file is no good if you can't see the new EXIF in LR. Adobe don't let plugins run Metadata > Read Metadata from File, so you have to remember to do this manually. Only then will EXIF data change in Metadata panel.

But imagine you have already added keywords or edited the images - doing Read Metadata From File would overwrite that work. To get around this, first one can save the work to the files using the menu command Metadata > Save Metadata to File or with or CmdS / CtrlS. Read Metadata can then work as expected, updating the EXIF and not overwriting your work on the images. Again, Save Metadata to File had to be done manually because of Adobe restrictions on plugins. You just had to remember to do so.

But then someone discovered Adobe had actually provided a way for plugins to do Save Metadata to File automatically. It's undocumented but it worked properly. So that's why I added "Automatically run LR's Save Metadata". No-one else has reported errors in this area, and I have tested with the latest versions of the plugin and LR on Mac and on PC.

Hope this explains the logic of these settings and the workflow.
 
Alex,
"Metadata > Save Metadata" is standard tech-speak for the menu item "Save Metadata" in the "Metadata" menu. That will save metadata from the catalogue into the selected actual files (or their XMP sidecars, if the files are raw).
 
Maybe this helps:

Métadonnées > Enregistrer les métadonnées dans le fichier
Métadonnées > Lire les métadonnées depuis le fichier
 
Alex,
"Metadata > Save Metadata" is standard tech-speak for the menu item "Save Metadata" in the "Metadata" menu. That will save metadata from the catalogue into the selected actual files (or their XMP sidecars, if the files are raw).

Ok, I get it we need to save the metadata to the file before changing it.
 
No plugin can directly change EXIF values, so clicking OK tells the plugin to tell EXIFtool to update the file. But updating the file is no good if you can't see the new EXIF in LR. Adobe don't let plugins run Metadata > Read Metadata from File, so you have to remember to do this manually. Only then will EXIF data change in Metadata panel.

But imagine you have already added keywords or edited the images - doing Read Metadata From File would overwrite that work. To get around this, first one can save the work to the files using the menu command Metadata > Save Metadata to File or with or CmdS / CtrlS. Read Metadata can then work as expected, updating the EXIF and not overwriting your work on the images. Again, Save Metadata to File had to be done manually because of Adobe restrictions on plugins. You just had to remember to do so.

But then someone discovered Adobe had actually provided a way for plugins to do Save Metadata to File automatically. It's undocumented but it worked properly. So that's why I added "Automatically run LR's Save Metadata". No-one else has reported errors in this area, and I have tested with the latest versions of the plugin and LR on Mac and on PC.

Hope this explains the logic of these settings and the workflow.

John, are you the one who developed this software ? You write as if you are the developer.

I understand your technical explanations - I come from a video production background and have done lots of video editing professionnally - What I'm trying to communicated is that on my end it’s not working like it was intended.

1. If I use the software and write a camera brand and model and then save - with Automatically run Lightroom's Save Metadata on - I get this
Screen Shot 2019-02-01 at 18.03.46.jpg


2. If I do the same operation checking off the automatically run Lightroom's Save Metadata
I see at the top left of the LR interface that LR is writing metadata.
Screen Shot 2019-02-01 at 18.06.23 (2).jpg

but when I look at the EXIF for the picture.
Nothing has changed
Screen Shot 2019-02-01 at 18.08.19.jpg


So it seems that the plug-in has done nothing...
 
I thought I had already answered this in an email?

Ahh nope, I have no email from you.

I investigated further.
The issue seems to be touching more particularly images that are Virtual Copies in LR.

For example, I've got this image. I just wrote EXIF data on it with my other software AnalogExif.

Here is the Virtual Copy metadata
Screen Shot 2019-02-01 at 18.46.21.jpg


But here is the original file metadata

Screen Shot 2019-02-01 at 18.47.13.jpg


As you can see, the main file contains all the information about the camera brand, make, film type, etc.

This means that when writing EXIF data on image files, it doesn't work on virtual copies created in LR.
 
A virtual copy is not a copy of the physical file. A virtual copy exists only as a database entry in the Lightroom catalog. This virtual data includes some EIXF data and a different set of Lightroom develop instructions from the master file. When you export the virtual file it will apply the virtual copy develop instructions to the original file images date and should take the Exif data from the original file and merge it with the Exif data in the LR catalog for the virtual copy.

If you export a file using the virtual copy in the database, doesn't the new file show the changed EXIF data from original file ?
 
A virtual copy is not a copy of the physical file. A virtual copy exists only as a database entry in the Lightroom catalog. This virtual data includes some EIXF data and a different set of Lightroom develop instructions from the master file. When you export the virtual file it will apply the virtual copy develop instructions to the original file images date and should take the Exif data from the original file and merge it with the Exif data in the LR catalog for the virtual copy.

If you export a file using the virtual copy in the database, doesn't the new file show the changed EXIF data from original file ?

Hey there.
Yep, I know a Virtual Copy is not a actual file on the hard drive.

So I just made a test exporting a Virtual Copy to see what happens with the EXIF data.
And the answer is no, the new exported file does not show the Exif data from the original file.

You can see on the screenshot bellow it's laking Camera info, film info and developer.

Screen Shot 2019-02-01 at 19.40.27.jpg
 
When did you create the virtual copy? it will only contain the metadata from the original image at the time it was created. So if you added to the original AFTER the VC was created you'll have to copy it from the original to the VC. As in Metadata>Copy Metadata... then use the paste command.
 
When did you create the virtual copy? it will only contain the metadata from the original image at the time it was created. So if you added to the original AFTER the VC was created you'll have to copy it from the original to the VC. As in Metadata>Copy Metadata... then use the paste command.

Hey there.
I created the virtual copy way before changing the metadata the other day.
I use VC's when I want to try alternative color grading or cropping. If I copy the Metadata to the VC, won't that mess up my color work on the VC ?

Thanks,
 
Hey there.
I created the virtual copy way before changing the metadata the other day.
I use VC's when I want to try alternative color grading or cropping. If I copy the Metadata to the VC, won't that mess up my color work on the VC ?

Thanks,
No, you’d paste metadata only, not edit settings.
 
No, you’d paste metadata only, not edit settings.

Hey John,

So I tried but unfortunately it doesn't copy all the EXIF metadata.

In the copy metadata window, I get the "Camera info" section was shown in the screenshot.
In the User Comment filed, there is all the info about Film stock name, IS0 and processing lab.

Screen Shot 2019-02-04 at 14.12.09.jpg


In the screenshot, the User Comment field only write, "Photo information."
but the text is inside is

"Photo information:
Film type: .
Film manufacturer: Kodak.
Film name: Porta 160.
Developer: .
Developer maker: .
Process: .
Developer dilution: .
Developing time: .
Processing laboratory: Photo pour Tous.
Laboratory address: Rue du Cendrier 4, 1201 Genève. "


That is correct, it matches the User Comment in the metadata panel

Screen Shot 2019-02-04 at 14.14.42.jpg


However, the "Make" and "Model" field cannot be copied as you see in the copy metadata window, it doesn’t show up to be checked. And that is exactly what I need to use the Library camera filtering.

Perhaps it's a loophole in LR ?
 
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