Author Topic: Convert IPTC text encodings....  (Read 3906 times)

Offline paule

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Convert IPTC text encodings....
« on: November 27, 2012, 09:17:21 AM »
Hello,

i think there is a problem with the tool: Convert IPTC text encodings.... in PM5

I normally use Default IPTC Encoding: Mac Roman without "write IPTC as Unicode"
For some clients and databases I convert the pictures to: Latin1 Western European
This works fine for many years with PM4.
With the new PM5 it did not work.

Best regards
Paule



Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: Convert IPTC text encodings....
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2012, 09:21:02 AM »
Paule,

i think there is a problem with the tool: Convert IPTC text encodings.... in PM5

I normally use Default IPTC Encoding: Mac Roman without "write IPTC as Unicode"
For some clients and databases I convert the pictures to: Latin1 Western European
This works fine for many years with PM4.
With the new PM5 it did not work.

What characters are you trying to convert?  And once converted, are you viewing the characters with the Latin1 Western European character set?

-Kirk

Offline paule

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Re: Convert IPTC text encodings....
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2012, 10:02:17 AM »
Kirk,

i am from Germany.
I convert: Ä, Ö, ü, ß and so on.
The result in some databases is : Österreich=  Österreich, Füße = Füße

I dont know what to do....

paule

Offline Hayo Baan

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Re: Convert IPTC text encodings....
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2012, 11:04:43 PM »
Could you provide sample files that exhibit this behaviour? The image itself can be blank, it's the metadata I'm after.
Hayo Baan - Photography
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Offline paule

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Re: Convert IPTC text encodings....
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2012, 09:09:38 AM »
Hi,

here are 2 examples.
1 picture and one shows how this pic looks in the database.

best regards

paule

[attachment deleted by admin]

Offline Hayo Baan

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Re: Convert IPTC text encodings....
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2012, 09:40:57 AM »
I analysed your images and this is what I see:
Coded Character Set             : UTF8
Keywords                        : Luge, Rodeln, Sport, Welt Cup, Welt-Cup, Weltcup, Wintersport, World Cup, Worldcup
Caption-Abstract                : in Igls, Österreich am 25.11.2012...Test Words: Österreich Köln Füße ändern
Image Description               : in Igls, Österreich am 25.11.2012...Test Words: Österreich Köln Füße ändern

The text is therefore correct. However, the encoding of the IPTC is UTF-8, not the Latin-1 you wanted. My guess is (Kirk, please correct me if I'm wrong), that as soon as the encoding is UTF-8, it stays UTF-8; there's no way “back” (at least not with PM)

I noticed you used Photoshop CS4 to edit your images, my guess is that turned-on the UTF-8 encoding of the IPTC data (you wrote you hadn't). Quick testing with CS6 shows it converts the IPTC encoding to UTF-8 (I think when there are “special” characters present).

Please note that your database software is quite archaic and is in need of an update: IPTC (while still supported by PM) is the old standard. These days everyone standardises on the much more versatile xmp (which does not have your character encoding problem as it is always UTF-8). I can see this is no immediate solution to your problem, though  >:(
Hayo Baan - Photography
Web: www.hayobaan.nl

Offline paule

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Re: Convert IPTC text encodings....
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2012, 10:03:01 AM »
Hello,

first of all thank you for the help and the detailed notes.
I will make my thoughts about the necessary changes.

Best Regards

paule