Ratings Not Synching Between PM and Capture NX2

[nickz]

For some reason, the star ratings I apply in PM are not showing up in Capture NX2 and vice-versa. It was working a while ago, but just stopped (don't think I changed settings or updated software). I tried setting up the preferences as discussed in this post:

http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=2154.0

It still does not work. Any help would be appreciated.

PM: 4.6.6
OS: Mac OS 10.6.6
CNX2: 2.2.6

Nick

[Kirk Baker]

Nick,

For some reason, the star ratings I apply in PM are not showing up in Capture NX2 and vice-versa. It was working a while ago, but just stopped (don't think I changed settings or updated software). I tried setting up the preferences as discussed in this post:

http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=2154.0

It still does not work. Any help would be appreciated.

Please post JPEG screen shots of your Files tab and IPTC/XMP tab of your Photo Mechanic Preferences dialog.  Use the 'Additional Options...' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your JPEG format screen shot.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[nickz]

Thanks for the quick reply, Kirk.
 Screen shots attached.


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[Hayo Baan]

I think you'll find it works again if you enable "Add embedded IPTC4XMP". NX2 uses XMP to store the information.

Oh, and you'll also want to change the read order to read embedded XMP first, then IPTC (for both RAW and non-RAW images)

Hope this helps,
    Hayo

[Kirk Baker]

I think you'll find it works again if you enable "Add embedded IPTC4XMP". NX2 uses XMP to store the information.

Oh, and you'll also want to change the read order to read embedded XMP first, then IPTC (for both RAW and non-RAW images)

Hayo is spot-on.

-Kirk

[nickz]

Hayo and Kirk - thanks - that did it, although I had to re-do the ratings on the one batch that gave me trouble (not a problem - small batch).

Could you take a look at my settings below and let me know if they look correct? I must admit, the IPTC/XMP protocols confuse me to no end. Is there a good resource that you could point me to that explains it clearly?

Again - thanks for your speedy help. First issue I have had with PM - love the software.

Nick



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[Kirk Baker]

Nick,

Hayo and Kirk - thanks - that did it, although I had to re-do the ratings on the one batch that gave me trouble (not a problem - small batch).

Could you take a look at my settings below and let me know if they look correct? I must admit, the IPTC/XMP protocols confuse me to no end. Is there a good resource that you could point me to that explains it clearly?

Again - thanks for your speedy help. First issue I have had with PM - love the software.

If you're purely working with NEFs and Capture NX2 then there is no need to also create XMP sidecar files.  That's all I suggest you change.

-Kirk

[Hayo Baan]

If you're purely working with NEFs and Capture NX2 then there is no need to also create XMP sidecar files.  That's all I suggest you change.

And if you also use e.g. Photoshop or Lightroom then I suggest to change two things:
• Raw read order to have sidecar first, then embedded xmp then iptc.
• Have PM only update sidecar when it exists already (there is no need to create one if it doesn't already exist)

Cheers,
    Hayo

[Kirk Baker]

If you're purely working with NEFs and Capture NX2 then there is no need to also create XMP sidecar files.  That's all I suggest you change.

And if you also use e.g. Photoshop or Lightroom then I suggest to change two things:
• Raw read order to have sidecar first, then embedded xmp then iptc.
• Have PM only update sidecar when it exists already (there is no need to create one if it doesn't already exist)

Though if you're using Adobe's products you shouldn't embed XMP and should only use XMP sidecars.  It's OK to embed IPTC however.  Now if you do this then you'll lose compatibility with Capture NX2.  It isn't possible to use Capture NX2 and Adobe's products both to adjust RAW images, whether or not PM is in the workflow at all.  Capture NX2 will embed XMP, and Adobe's products (Lightroom and Photoshop's ACR plugin) will have problems with showing your adjustments after you have closed the image and opened it again.  Adobe's products prefer to read embedded XMP over XMP sidecar files, but refuse to update embedded XMP if it exists.  So when you make an adjustment with ACR/Lightroom, the adjustments are written to an XMP sidecar file, but when you reopen the image, ACR/Lightroom only 'sees' the embedded XMP which does not contain the RAW adjustment data and the app/plugin doesn't fall back and read the XMP sidecar file when it sees no adjustment data thus it falls back instead on default settings.  Why they haven't fixed this, I do not know.  This bug has been in their products ever since ACR was produced so many years ago.

-Kirk

[Hayo Baan]

If you take care not to use adobes products to update the meta data, the settings I proposed work fine.

I predominantly use nx2 for raw editing my nef files (I've also used acr on one or two) but use acr for non-nef raw files (eg from a Canon body). When necessary I export my nefs to tiffs to work on them in photoshop.

The bug in adobes software Kirk mentioned is real but with the settings and precaution I suggested all my tools work nicely together and the various meta data sources are kept in sync.

Cheers,
    Hayo