Mark (identify) edited raw images

[devenh]

Is there any way that PM can mark/flag/identify raw images that have had image edits (not IPTC or rating edits)?

Nikon View is able to do this and I find it a great way to identify which file have had image (not IPTC) edits and which haven't.  If this could be implemented, then one could sort or select the images by this attribute and then -- for instance -- continue to work on unedited photos.

BTW, at first I thought this would be easy to implement by simply comparing the capture and file date/times, but IPTC and rating edits update the file date/time, so that won't work. 

Deven

[Kirk Baker]

Deven,

Is there any way that PM can mark/flag/identify raw images that have had image edits (not IPTC or rating edits)?

Nikon View is able to do this and I find it a great way to identify which file have had image (not IPTC) edits and which haven't.  If this could be implemented, then one could sort or select the images by this attribute and then -- for instance -- continue to work on unedited photos.

BTW, at first I thought this would be easy to implement by simply comparing the capture and file date/times, but IPTC and rating edits update the file date/time, so that won't work. 

I suppose it would be possible, but we would have to analyze proprietary data to determine if changes were made.  I don't know how difficult this would be in practice.

-Kirk

[Johnny Johansson]

I can tell which of my Nikon NEF files have been edited by looking at the "Firmware" info in PM. For unedited images (straight from the camera), this will say something like "Ver 2.0", but for edited images, it will say something like "Capture NX 1.1.0".

This is very practical for me, and it would be even better if there was a quick visual way to see this in the ligt table view.

[Kirk Baker]

I can tell which of my Nikon NEF files have been edited by looking at the "Firmware" info in PM. For unedited images (straight from the camera), this will say something like "Ver 2.0", but for edited images, it will say something like "Capture NX 1.1.0".

This is very practical for me, and it would be even better if there was a quick visual way to see this in the ligt table view.

That's pretty easy.  So what kind of indicator would you all like to let you know that it has been modified and is no longer straight out of the camera?

-Kirk

[Juerg]

Kirk,

That's pretty easy.  So what kind of indicator would you all like to let you know that it has been modified and is no longer straight out of the camera?

-Kirk

I like the idea to mark edited pictures for easy identification too. Here some proposals how to mark them:

1. Create another little box to the left of the color label/rating (like the tagged/untagged box to the right, but perhaps round, not square) and have PM automatically check it if a firmware change is dedected.

2. Have an additional overlay ikon (like the info, loupe, rotation buttons) that says 'Edited' or something like that as soon as you mover the mouse cursor over a picture.

The problem with both solutions is that if you shoot RAW & JPG and have them diplayed as pairs, your will not see that mark if you change (edit) to the RAW file, as by default the paired JPG file is used for preview.

That would bring up another request: having a preference in PM to select whether the preview of the JPG or the embedded preview of the RAW file is used for display of RAW&JPG pairs.

Regards,
Archer

[devenh]

Any visual cue to identify an edited photo would be fine.  Along with what others have suggested I might add displaying the filename in a different color.

While you are at it , adding an {edited} variable would allow custom sorts.

Agree with Archer that when the raw image has been edited that the thumbnail and preview should be based on the raw file when viewing raw+jpg.  But a good alternative would be to have an extract jpg previews from raw and replace jpgs for edited raw files only.

Deven

[Juerg]

But a good alternative would be to have an extract jpg previews from raw and replace jpgs for edited raw files only.

Deven

I acutally want to keep the original JPG file so I have the opportunity to compare original (out of camera) with edited version right in PM side by side all the time. That will not be possible if PM automatically extracts embedded JPG from edited RAW files, as this would overwrite the original camera JPG.

I know that PM can display embedded JPG of modified RAW without extraction (it does it if you don't display as pair). It's just a matter to tell PM to always use the embedded JPG during JPG/RAW pair display.

Regards,
Archer

[devenh]

With unedited NEF files the embedded jpg preview is not always full resolution.  If you shoot NEF+JPG, Nikon View can embed the jpg into the nef when transferring from the card.  Can PM do this?

If I could set my cameras to embed a full resolution preview, then I would just shoot raw.

Deven

[Johnny Johansson]

I guess that people who find this information useful probably wouldnt mind an extra overlay icon which could be used to edit the image. That icon could be different (color, image, font, etc) if the icon has already been edited. The disadvantage of this though is that it is only visible when the mouse is over the image icon. A small "E" to the left of the rating beneath the image icon for edited images would be visible all the time.

[Kirk Baker]

Deven,

With unedited NEF files the embedded jpg preview is not always full resolution.  If you shoot NEF+JPG, Nikon View can embed the jpg into the nef when transferring from the card.  Can PM do this?

If I could set my cameras to embed a full resolution preview, then I would just shoot raw.

No, PM cannot insert higher-resolution previews into your NEF files.

-Kirk

[Kirk Baker]

I guess that people who find this information useful probably wouldnt mind an extra overlay icon which could be used to edit the image. That icon could be different (color, image, font, etc) if the icon has already been edited. The disadvantage of this though is that it is only visible when the mouse is over the image icon. A small "E" to the left of the rating beneath the image icon for edited images would be visible all the time.

If I add such a feature it will be similar to the soft-rotation indicator in the upper-left corner of the thumbnail, but in the upper-right corner instead.

-Kirk

[Johnny Johansson]

If I could set my cameras to embed a full resolution preview, then I would just shoot raw.

I'm curious about what cameras you have. I am fairly certain that all reasonably new Nikons (D70 and later) do embed full resolution previews, but perhaps you have older models which don't? Also, Nikon Capture (before NX) would embed a lower resolution preview.

[devenh]

If I could set my cameras to embed a full resolution preview, then I would just shoot raw.

I'm curious about what cameras you have. I am fairly certain that all reasonably new Nikons (D70 and later) do embed full resolution previews, but perhaps you have older models which don't? Also, Nikon Capture (before NX) would embed a lower resolution preview.

Well I can't seem to reproduce this problem.  When I re-tested with some recent NEF files all the extracted JPGs were full size, but I could have sworn this was not the case earlier ...

Deven

[Johnny Johansson]

I found a way to get this already today (in 4.5.1.1): In Preferences->Contact Sheet->Thumbnails, I set "Labels" to "Name + 1 Label" and "Label 1" to "{firm}". That way, below the file name for each image, I get the Firmware info which will tell me if the image has been edited or not.

Not as elegant as an icon to indicate edited images, but a lot better that nothing if you ask me!

[IanGoldstein]

I found a way to get this already today (in 4.5.1.1): In Preferences->Contact Sheet->Thumbnails, I set "Labels" to "Name + 1 Label" and "Label 1" to "{firm}". That way, below the file name for each image, I get the Firmware info which will tell me if the image has been edited or not.

Not as elegant as an icon to indicate edited images, but a lot better that nothing if you ask me!

You can use code replacements along with the {firm} variable to get even closer to an EDIT icon...

First, change the text for "Label 1" from "{firm}" to "\{firm}\"
Next, create a Code Replacement File with entries such as:
    Ver.1.00
    Capture NX 1.0.1 W       EDITED
Now, it should show "EDITED" only with photos that have been edited.

Important notes:
  1 - You'll need to make sure the code replacement text exactly matches the values from your camera and your Capture NX version.
  2 - In the code replacment file, after the "Ver.1.00" you must include a tab and then a space. There must be a tab before the "EDITED" text.
  3 - You should include additional code replacement entries for any other text you have in your {firm} variables
  4 - Any {firm} without code replacements will not be "translated". For example, if {firm} is "Ver.1.01" it would show as \Ver.1.01\

I hope this helps.

-Ian