PM 4.6.1 & Expression Media 2 SP2: Color Class

[mklein]

Hi there,

I just realised a strange behaviour of PM 4.6.1 in combination with Expression Media 2 SP2:

I imported a new DNG file containing no metadata in EM2, rated the file and assigned a color class (value "2"). After that I exported these data into the DNG file and opened the file in PM. All data were shown correctly.

After that I changed the star rating and the color class in PM, refreshed the file in EM2 and all data were shown correctly, too.

Last I changed the star rating and the color class again in EM2 and opened the file in PM again. Surprisingly the last change I made is not shown in PM. As I found out the reason for this is, that PM uses two XMP fields in order to save the color class: "Urgency" and "Label". EM only knows "Urgency" and uses this field in order to save the color class. In consequence if I change the color class in EM2 the field "Urgency" will be modified but "Label" still contains the old value. When opening the file in PM it seems that PM first reads the value of the "Label" field which is outdated in my case. If I clear tis field using Exif Tool PM reads the content of the "Urgency" field and shows the correct data as I entered in EM.

So it would be great if it one could customize the order in which the fields "Urgency" and "Label" are used resp. disable the "Label" field.

Best regards,
Michael

[Kirk Baker]

Michael,

I just realised a strange behaviour of PM 4.6.1 in combination with Expression Media 2 SP2:

I imported a new DNG file containing no metadata in EM2, rated the file and assigned a color class (value "2"). After that I exported these data into the DNG file and opened the file in PM. All data were shown correctly.

After that I changed the star rating and the color class in PM, refreshed the file in EM2 and all data were shown correctly, too.

Last I changed the star rating and the color class again in EM2 and opened the file in PM again. Surprisingly the last change I made is not shown in PM. As I found out the reason for this is, that PM uses two XMP fields in order to save the color class: "Urgency" and "Label". EM only knows "Urgency" and uses this field in order to save the color class. In consequence if I change the color class in EM2 the field "Urgency" will be modified but "Label" still contains the old value. When opening the file in PM it seems that PM first reads the value of the "Label" field which is outdated in my case. If I clear tis field using Exif Tool PM reads the content of the "Urgency" field and shows the correct data as I entered in EM.

So it would be great if it one could customize the order in which the fields "Urgency" and "Label" are used resp. disable the "Label" field.

Actually it would be even better if Expression Media 2 would just use the XMP Label field like everyone else does.

Seriously, I'd hope that the next major version of Expression Media (I heard last summer at the Microsoft Pro Photo Summit that it was to be out in May of 2009) would abandon such practices and just use the XMP Label field.  The Urgency field is only an index.  It doesn't tell anyone what the actual Label text is.  The Urgency field already has a purpose and it was odd that so many years ago it was decided by them that the IPTC Urgency field should be used for color labeling.

We'll consider your request.

-Kirk