White Balance being nuked!

[RaNGeR.GaV]

Hey folks,  just started trialling PM and have had a nasty little problem come up.

I use CaptureOne Pro (new version 3.7.6), for my RAW conversions and the files are Nikon .NEFs.

It seems that when I add IPTC info to the RAW files in PM (using either the drop-down menu option to apply stationary, or pressing "i" and clicking "apply stationary" in the IPTC window), it is nuking the file's White Balance info. The files that I've added that info to (as opposed to only opening as a contact sheet), have had their WB set to 4250K Temp and -50 Tint! That's some seriously UGLY green muck!

I did a test with some files that CaptureOne had already viewed so I knew they were okay. I put them into a "test" folder and opened them in PM. Closed PM. Opened CaptureOne, no problems.
Next I re-opened them and viewed them in the "loupe" view in PM, no problem once I got back to C1.
Then I went through and did the IPTC info in PM (drop-down menu), on half the files. Closed PM and went to C1, those files I had changed were now green (WB had been set to what I said above). Went back to PM and tried the IPTC window (using "apply stationary" button), closed it, back to C1, the rest of the files had changed to green too! A couple of the files I'd checked first went from 5200K Temp & -14 Tint  to  4250K & -50.

I find that my D200's white balance is usually spot-on and I don't have to mess with it except if I've left it on the wrong setting or some other extreme circumstances. Because of this, the WB change is a real PITA! I have to go and manually set all the WB's! And I just can't be sure it's close enough to what I shot to make me happy about it! (I like to keep it as "out of the camera" as possible for WB and colour settings).

I've checked my colour settings and the PM one's are set to Adobe1998RGB which is what my camera is out-putting and C1 is set to. I can't think what else could be causing it but obviously the WB info is being over-written or just deleted somehow when the IPTC is saved.

Is this a known problem? Got a fix?

[Kirk Baker]

Hey folks,  just started trialling PM and have had a nasty little problem come up.

I use CaptureOne Pro (new version 3.7.6), for my RAW conversions and the files are Nikon .NEFs.

It seems that when I add IPTC info to the RAW files in PM (using either the drop-down menu option to apply stationary, or pressing "i" and clicking "apply stationary" in the IPTC window), it is nuking the file's White Balance info. The files that I've added that info to (as opposed to only opening as a contact sheet), have had their WB set to 4250K Temp and -50 Tint! That's some seriously UGLY green muck!

I did a test with some files that CaptureOne had already viewed so I knew they were okay. I put them into a "test" folder and opened them in PM. Closed PM. Opened CaptureOne, no problems.
Next I re-opened them and viewed them in the "loupe" view in PM, no problem once I got back to C1.
Then I went through and did the IPTC info in PM (drop-down menu), on half the files. Closed PM and went to C1, those files I had changed were now green (WB had been set to what I said above). Went back to PM and tried the IPTC window (using "apply stationary" button), closed it, back to C1, the rest of the files had changed to green too! A couple of the files I'd checked first went from 5200K Temp & -14 Tint  to  4250K & -50.

I find that my D200's white balance is usually spot-on and I don't have to mess with it except if I've left it on the wrong setting or some other extreme circumstances. Because of this, the WB change is a real PITA! I have to go and manually set all the WB's! And I just can't be sure it's close enough to what I shot to make me happy about it! (I like to keep it as "out of the camera" as possible for WB and colour settings).

I've checked my colour settings and the PM one's are set to Adobe1998RGB which is what my camera is out-putting and C1 is set to. I can't think what else could be causing it but obviously the WB info is being over-written or just deleted somehow when the IPTC is saved.

Is this a known problem? Got a fix?

Capture One "looks" for specific information at a hard-coded address within the file which is the wrong way to do it.  NEF files are based on the TIFF format which has a table that tells you where everything is.  When IPTC and/or XMP data is embedded into TIFF-based RAW files, the TIFF table has to be relocated.  Programs that properly follow the links in the relocated TIFF table are unaffected.  Capture One does not do this properly.

You can always use the "Revert TIFF-based RAW photos to original" tool on the Tools menu to return your files to their original state and transfer your captions to XMP sidecar files.  Unfortunately, to my current knowledge about Capture One, it does not pickup and use XMP sidecar data and thus does not include it in images that are output from Capture One JPEGs, TIFFs, etc.)  Hopefully they will either make their parser more sophisticated or they will adopt the use of the XMP sidecar file format.

HTH,

-Kirk

[RaNGeR.GaV]

Thanks for the prompt response Kirk.

I had just tried opening one of the offending files in Photoshop CS2 to check it there and was surprised when it showed up normally! 
Okay, well that makes two strikes for C1 because it IS useless at keeping metadata intact (sidecar or otherwise). Guess I'll continue on my search for the perfect RAW converter... 

Thanks again.

BTW, quite glad it wasn't PM's problem, I'm starting to like this program and think I'll continue with it. IVMP has just gone flatline on me for some unknown reason and I needed something else to help sort through my photos before conversion. Keep up the good work!

[Juerg]

Thanks for the prompt response Kirk.

I had just tried opening one of the offending files in Photoshop CS2 to check it there and was surprised when it showed up normally! 
Okay, well that makes two strikes for C1 because it IS useless at keeping metadata intact (sidecar or otherwise). Guess I'll continue on my search for the perfect RAW converter... 

Hi,

You use a Nikon D200, then I would strongly suggest to try Capture NX as your RAW converter. I bought it about 9 month ago and love the results (blows ACR, which I used before, out of the water). Don't expect anything else from NX as the interface of the browser etc. is about as bad as it gets (IMHO), but for converting NEF's and the availability of the U-point technologie for adjustments make it one of the easiest converters to use - with great results (unless you screw up, like I sometimes do, but that's not NX's fault). On top of it, all adjustments are looseless (saved as instructions in the file) and therefore always reversible to the original shot image.

It's sure worth a try...

Regards,
Archer

[RaNGeR.GaV]

Hey archer, 
Yeah I've tried NX. It's just waaaayyy tooo slow for me. Plus I've had a lot of crashing issues with it. I think I've tried just about everything once except DxO!