Transferring or copying metadata from custom fields to standard fields

[rob211]

Lightroom Version

10.1

Operating System

1. macOS 11.0 Big Sur

Plugins often have custom metadata fields.

I'd like to bulk copy metadata from such a plugin's fields to standard ones elsewhere in LrC. For example, I use the custom field in Negative Lap Pro to add lens info or film type; I'd like to append those to hierarchical keywords.

I looked at the Transfer function in J Beardsworth's Search, Replace, Transfer plugin, but it doesn't see to access any of the plugin fields as a source, only standard LrC fields.

Thanks for any help.

 

[johnbeardy]

Search & Replace's next version can use those custom fields as a source, not as targets though (one plugin cannot change another plugin's data).

 

[rob211]

Wow...my lucky day! Tried the new plugin and it works great. Had to nuke my older prefs though; no big deal. Perfect for my needs as I want to transfer FROM custom fields since if that plugin (Negative Lab Pro) goes away I want to be able to move the data somewhere logical. It's tough, because the digitized negatives I'm working with have TWO cameras each: the film camera AND the one that digitized it.

But thanks again.

 

[PhilBurton]

Wow...my lucky day! Tried the new plugin and it works great. Had to nuke my older prefs though; no big deal. Perfect for my needs as I want to transfer FROM custom fields since if that plugin (Negative Lab Pro) goes away I want to be able to move the data somewhere logical. It's tough, because the digitized negatives I'm working with have TWO cameras each: the film camera AND the one that digitized it.

But thanks again.

Rob211,

Are you discontinuing all use of NLP, or just its metadata functions?

 

[rob211]

Rob211,

Are you discontinuing all use of NLP, or just its metadata functions?

That's a good question.

I have been demo'ing it for a digitizing project, and since I rarely shoot film I figured I'd only need it for a while. But the more I use the more I like it, and the number of old negs and slides I now want to re-digitize seems to be growing. With DSLR scanning right into LrC and this plugin I might even shoot MORE film. It's an amazing piece of software.

I'm not sure about the status of custom metadata fields once one deactivates or deletes a plugin. The data stays, but for the life of me I can't remember if one can delete custom fields. I had some I created with Rob Cole's plugin that could create such fields, but those disappeared when I had to import my whole catalog into a new one. I would like to know how to remove them, if you do know.

But it's really useful I've found to have a separate field in LrC for all the manual lenses and filters I use. I was using exiftool to write the lens info in, but it's kind of a pain and writing exif is always more fraught than just to sidecars or just keeping the info in Lr. So I used keywords, which work fine, but they can get lost in all the others. So the fields for NLP have proven useful even aside from the negative processing parts of the software.

 

[johnbeardy]

If one deactivates a plugin, the data stays in the catalogue but you have no way of seeing it unless you reactivate it or mimic it (ie create your own plugin with the same ID and field definitions). The fields are defined by the plugin, so deleting the plugin deletes those definitions - "delete custom fields" isn't really what one does. Custom data should survive the built-in import from another catalogue, and I think it survives export as catalogue, though I'd have to check both to be certain. Completely purging the plugin data isn't something I have ever investigated since it doesn't usually do any harm.

With lens and camera info, I use Exiftool (via my Capture Time to EXIF) to update the EXIF. For scans I'd quite like to have fields for film stock and developer, but life's too short for that kind of detail.

 

[rob211]

That's why your Search Replace plugin is so wonderful. Indispensable really.

I have used your Capture Time to EXIF, but unfortunately it isn't working for me (I sent an email a few days ago. I was using either Lens Tagger or just exiftool externally instead until I get that sorted since it's a nicer choice. I do need to keep the film info since it affects "developing" the negatives in Lr. Ditto for filters for IR and UV photography. My biggest problem is keeping track of that info and lens changes in the field...I need a plug in for that too