IPTC Comment Field

[neil@dg28.com]

Canon cameras have the option to FTP upload with a caption. Rather annoyingly the field that they use is called 'comment'. I can auto add this using Photo Mechanic variables but I would prefer to have the option to just see a specific field in the PM caption called comment or Canon caption or something that I can see without having to save an image and activate the variable. Canon's pre-saved captions are far too short for many things that I have to caption and so I end up using it as a prompt rather than as an actual item. I have also used the prompt as a code replacement with a variable but that gets complicated to explain to editors working with me.

So, my feature request is an optional field within the standard Photo Mechanic Metadata IPTC info and Metadata IPTC template that displays the information that is referred to as comment in the list of PM variables.

[Mick O (Camera Bits)]

In the meantime, as a workaround, you could use an unused field, for example: Supplemental Category 1, edit your Metadata (IPTC) Info and Metadata (IPTC) Template UI to display that field right under the caption, and then put the {comment} variable in the Supp Cat 1 field in your Metadata (IPTC) Template that you apply on ingest. That way you would see the contents of the comments field right below the caption field during editing.

You can customize what fields are shown and rearrange them by going to Settings > Accessibility > Customize    Note that you can click and drag the fields in the customization dialog. You can even rename the label on the field, to "Comment."  There is also a video that demonstrates that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2mXTeueni0

I hope this is somewhat useful for now.

Mick

 

[neil@dg28.com]

Thanks Mick - I do something not that different now. All I actually do is add the variable in one of the existing fields that I don't use. I have edited the way that the various fields show up for quite a few years now and so this is nothing new. I have also added the variable to one of the lines under the thumbnail in the contact sheet. It's fine when I'm doing my own edits but if I use an editor it's quite a bit harder to explain the whole thing to them if I don't work with them very often. This is specifically for images sent live from the camera rather than ingesting anything.

[Mick O (Camera Bits)]

Got it. You've got a good handle on it then.  Perhaps Live Ingest could help with images coming in this way (basically, that's why that feature exists), but maybe not. Also, I will note that you can send Settings and Template files to editors for them to swap out different setups so that they can match yours for certain projects and then quickly revert back for others.  Just a thought.

Mick

[neil@dg28.com]

Thanks - have tried sending the settings files and one or two get it and others don't. Live ingest is a good idea though.