New with questions

[mtpaper]

(argh - my post took so long to write that I timed out! hopefully I can remember most)

I'm not a photographer. I'm a mom who is committed to recording the who-what-when-where-why about the photos, via IPTC. I'm new to PM and Mac (Leopard 10.5.4) but not new to computer or metadata; I've been using iMatch. Many of my images are scanned from old family prints. I created EXIF fields to store dates (within iMatch, the only way I could get the IPTC.DateCreated to be accurate was to lift it from EXIF.DateTiimeOriginal).

1. PM's Variable IPTC.Date
Am I right that this is pulling from IPTC.DateCreated (ie, tag 2:055)

2. PM's Variable TIME.CaptureDate
Am I right that this is pulling from EXIF.DateTimeOriginal (ie, tag 9003)

3. Does PM use EXIF.DateTimeDigitized (ie, tag 9004) for anything?

4. Does PM use IPTC.DigitalCreationDate (ie, tag 2:062) for anything?

5. Does PM use EXIF.DateAndTime (ie, tag 0132) for anything?

6. According to a report dated 2007 from David Rieck's CV group, PM version 4.52 didn't recognize IPTC.FixtureIdentifier. Is that true? Since many of my dates are approximate, I've been using FixtureIdentifier as a place to store a text-based date (ie, about 1925, between 1920 and 1925, on July 1, 1940). If PM doesn't support the Fixture Identifier field, I'll transfer my data from Fixture Identifer to another IPTC field that I'm not using.

7. I know I can choose between 2 different IPTC Info dialog layout screens. Regular or Classic. But, is there a way to customize it? There are a number of fields that I'm not interested in including (such as urgency, copyright, writers). I do want Location, but it's not available on the Classic; but the non-classic has way more fields than I need because of all the XMP-dedicated fields....

8. This is about Ingesting.... I've read the info, but it seems to be addressing ingesting the images from SD cards. When I installed the evaluation copy of PM, as soon as I opened it - before I could blink - it already knew the images on my hard drive - as well as all the other hard drives on my network... I was amazed at the speed.  So what does that mean?  Do I need to INGEST the images anyway?  Or is ingesting really a way to copy new images from a card to a hardrive?

9. This is about PM's Structured Keyword Panel - which I think is super. The presentation totally clicks for me. Where can I read about how I should have IPTC.keywords written to my existing images, so that it will be easier to set up PM's structured Keyword Panel? (in other words, from within IMatch, I have categories; I'll be able to write the categories to IPTC.Keywords - I'm trying to find out what's the best format or structure for the keywords to appear, so that creating the Structured Keyword Panel will be easier rather than harder).


.... I had other questions, but I can't summon them up.  I love the speed of PM. I love the interface. Thanks for your assistance -

[Kirk Baker]

I don't want to keep you wondering when we'll answer your questions, but the person who would be best at answering your questions is currently on vacation.  I'll get him to reply when he gets back.

-Kirk

[dennis]

I've been using iMatch. Many of my images are scanned from old family prints. I created EXIF fields to store dates (within iMatch, the only way I could get the IPTC.DateCreated to be accurate was to lift it from EXIF.DateTiimeOriginal).

1. PM's Variable IPTC.Date
Am I right that this is pulling from IPTC.DateCreated (ie, tag 2:055)

Yes.

2. PM's Variable TIME.CaptureDate
Am I right that this is pulling from EXIF.DateTimeOriginal (ie, tag 9003)

PM initially uses the file's creation time but this is overridden by the Exif Capture Data/Time tag (0x9003) or TIFF Date/Time tag (0x0132) if present.

3. Does PM use EXIF.DateTimeDigitized (ie, tag 9004) for anything?

No.

4. Does PM use IPTC.DigitalCreationDate (ie, tag 2:062) for anything?

No.

5. Does PM use EXIF.DateAndTime (ie, tag 0132) for anything?

See above question #2.

6. According to a report dated 2007 from David Rieck's CV group, PM version 4.52 didn't recognize IPTC.FixtureIdentifier. Is that true? Since many of my dates are approximate, I've been using FixtureIdentifier as a place to store a text-based date (ie, about 1925, between 1920 and 1925, on July 1, 1940). If PM doesn't support the Fixture Identifier field, I'll transfer my data from Fixture Identifer to another IPTC field that I'm not using.

David is correct - PM doesn't use/recognize this IPTC field.

7. I know I can choose between 2 different IPTC Info dialog layout screens. Regular or Classic. But, is there a way to customize it? There are a number of fields that I'm not interested in including (such as urgency, copyright, writers). I do want Location, but it's not available on the Classic; but the non-classic has way more fields than I need because of all the XMP-dedicated fields....

This is on our wish list but no promises I can give you.

8. This is about Ingesting.... I've read the info, but it seems to be addressing ingesting the images from SD cards. When I installed the evaluation copy of PM, as soon as I opened it - before I could blink - it already knew the images on my hard drive - as well as all the other hard drives on my network... I was amazed at the speed.  So what does that mean?  Do I need to INGEST the images anyway?  Or is ingesting really a way to copy new images from a card to a hardrive?

Ingesting is an organized way to copy the photos from the flash card (e.g. CF or SD) to your hard drive (and backup drive).  You can also use Ingest to copy photos from another hard disk, but it will copy the entire disk (useful in some cases e.g. with a digital wallet).  PM is indeed fast but it only "knows" about photos if you open a contact sheet of a particular folder.  We recommend using Ingest to copy your photos because it can do a lot of things at once, and we don't recommend that you browse your photos directly on the flash card (especially applying metadata to the flash card - bad idea).  Get the photos copied to your (much faster) hard disk (and a backup drive if you have one) and do your work there.

9. This is about PM's Structured Keyword Panel - which I think is super. The presentation totally clicks for me. Where can I read about how I should have IPTC.keywords written to my existing images, so that it will be easier to set up PM's structured Keyword Panel? (in other words, from within IMatch, I have categories; I'll be able to write the categories to IPTC.Keywords - I'm trying to find out what's the best format or structure for the keywords to appear, so that creating the Structured Keyword Panel will be easier rather than harder).

See page 40 and 41 of the user guide (Vocabulary File Format) or the built-in help (Structured Keywords / Vocabulary File Format).  Essentially you can create a text file (must be UTF-8) that uses tabs to create the hierarchies with special chars to denote categories and synonyms and comments.  Then you can load this file into PM.  You can also Save out the built-in vocabulary to see the format.