Just starting out - IPTC , NEF question

[davidkl]

I am using a pc (not Mac) with NEF files. If I understand p.10 of the Quickstart guide correctly,  I can not  apply IPTC info to the files. I did try to but wasn't sucessful. Is my understanding correct?  How does a PC user with NEF files get the IPTC info into the file?

Thanks.
David

[Kirk Baker]

David,

I am using a pc (not Mac) with NEF files. If I understand p.10 of the Quickstart guide correctly,  I can not  apply IPTC info to the files. I did try to but wasn't sucessful. Is my understanding correct?  How does a PC user with NEF files get the IPTC info into the file?

Version 4.4 and higher can embed IPTC and XMP into most RAW formats, including NEFs.  What version are you using?

-Kirk

[davidkl]

Hi Kirk,
I downloaded the  trial version today from your main page (i'm not at that computer right now).

[davidkl]

just checked v 4.5

[RobertE]

Hi David,

Photo Mechanic offers many ways to caption your files including RAW images. PM can caption NEF files. That Quickstart Guide in the Programs folder is well out of date. Download and have a read of the manual:

http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=409.0

and/or the press release for PM4.4:

http://www.camerabits.com/pages/PM4.4Release.html

It's important to note that Camera Bits uses its own proprietary system to caption undocumented RAW files including Nikon NEFs. Some apps such as Phase One Capture One don't like PM captions (a bug in Capture One, not PM). PM does offer you an unique "undo" (revert) option called Caption Safe so if trouble occurs downstream you can remove the captions. Furthermore PM gives you the option to write Adobe XMP sidecar files and not alter the RAW file. Even better is if an app does choke on PM captioned RAW files you can make XMP sidecar files then undo the embedded caption thereby not losing your valuable metadata.

-- Robert.

[davidkl]

Ok simple question: I'm shooting NEF files with a D2X. I want to caption on the ingest with PM, process with Capture NX and generate .jpg and tiff files from NX that have the iptc and keywords embedded in them to send to some agencies.  Will this workflow work (I'm using Win XP) or are there incompatibilities?

[Kirk Baker]

Ok simple question: I'm shooting NEF files with a D2X. I want to caption on the ingest with PM, process with Capture NX and generate .jpg and tiff files from NX that have the iptc and keywords embedded in them to send to some agencies.  Will this workflow work (I'm using Win XP) or are there incompatibilities?

That should work fine, though make sure you have the very latest Capture NX.  You'll want to embed IPTC into your NEFs.  Embedding XMP is not necessary, though adding it won't hurt.

-Kirk

[davidkl]

I must be really thick today...
I created an itpc stationay pad and populated all the fields as a test.
Then I applied the iptc stationay pad to 2 selected nef photos.
went to look at the info on the pic (pressed I) only some info was there (caption ,keyword , catagory, city, state copyright) . No XMP - no conatac info...How do I get that info into the file?
Thanks again.
David

[dogear]

To my understanding, some fields (like contact info) are XMP-only, which means you would need to embed both IPTC and XMP to pass that data on when converting to JPEG, TIFF, etc., via Capture NX.

[Kirk Baker]

To my understanding, some fields (like contact info) are XMP-only, which means you would need to embed both IPTC and XMP to pass that data on when converting to JPEG, TIFF, etc., via Capture NX.

Unfortunately, Capture NX currently ignores XMP data, so when it creates the JPEG, TIFF, etc. the XMP data will not be present.  Only the IPTC data will be there.

Ask Nikon to support XMP, please!

-Kirk

[davidkl]

how do I embed xmp into a nef file?   I'm not even at the point where i'm opening the file in nx . I save the iptc in PM into the nef and then don't see it. How do I just get it into a nef or is that not possible?

Now once it's in a nef file, from what is written above, it seems that if I open the file in NX I will lose the iptc  / xmp info.  What if I was to open it in something light lightroom?

and I thought this was going to be easy...  Nikon users: how do you put the info in a nef file, which is your one true source file, then generate jpg files from the nef that have the iptc info in it without re-entering the iptc info into the jpg?  There must be a simple way...

[Kirk Baker]

how do I embed xmp into a nef file?   I'm not even at the point where i'm opening the file in nx . I save the iptc in PM into the nef and then don't see it. How do I just get it into a nef or is that not possible?

Now once it's in a nef file, from what is written above, it seems that if I open the file in NX I will lose the iptc  / xmp info.  What if I was to open it in something light lightroom?

and I thought this was going to be easy...  Nikon users: how do you put the info in a nef file, which is your one true source file, then generate jpg files from the nef that have the iptc info in it without re-entering the iptc info into the jpg?  There must be a simple way...

Below are the settings I recommend you use when working with Capture NX:



[attachment deleted by admin]

[davidkl]

Thanks, Kirk. So I see that there is a XMP file along with the .nef and .jpg files.   Now is there a process that I can put back the info in the xmp file (like a file sync) for the final step of generating the jpg? Also, how do you check if the iptc info is in the embedded file? I went to windows explorer and looked at the properties but I don't see the iptc or xmp data values. How can you check that the file really has the tags (other than going back into PM).

Thanks.

[Kirk Baker]

Thanks, Kirk. So I see that there is a XMP file along with the .nef and .jpg files.   Now is there a process that I can put back the info in the xmp file (like a file sync) for the final step of generating the jpg? Also, how do you check if the iptc info is in the embedded file? I went to windows explorer and looked at the properties but I don't see the iptc or xmp data values. How can you check that the file really has the tags (other than going back into PM).

You can use the "Update IPTC/XMP" tool in the Tools menu to sync metadata from the NEF to the JPEG, but the files need to have the same base name (filename.NEF and filename.JPG) and they have to be paired together.  So you can either save your generated JPEGs back to the source folder (where the NEFs are stored) or to a different folder (and open the two folders together in the same contact sheet) and then they'll join up if you are viewing in RAW+JPEG mode (View->Combined RAW+JPEG is checked.)

How to verify?  Use PM.  Use any other tool that knows about metadata in JPEGs, but the Properties dialog in Windows Explorer isn't going to know about that unless there is some add-in that adds the functionality to Windows Explorer.

-Kirk

[davidkl]

Kirk - I've done some testing with xmp files and nef files. My workflow is:
1. ingest the nefs with pm using the setting you gave me and create .xmp files in the same directory that the nef reside.
2. use nx to generate batches of jpgs fot a different directory.
3. use the update iptx/xmp tool to update the jpg from the nef/xmp file.

Question: now that I have the nef and jpg in seperate directories (my test had them in the same dir) how do you run the update if they are not in the same?

Thanks.