Difficulty importing ratings, labels into LR 2

[likes2hike]

I'm running Mac OS 10.5.6 and PM 4.6.1.  I'm loading a folder of NEF images successfully into PM.  I want to tag photos with gps  data  from a Wintec WBT-201, rate them, label them, add captions and keywords then transfer to LR 2.   After playing with the images a bit, I was able to successfully load the gpx file and add GPS tags to the photos.  ( If I understand correctly, rather than overwrite the EXIF file with the GPS coordinates, PM puts this info in the XMP sidecar file for use.  Correct?)

After I rate the photos, and add color labels (matching those in LR 2), I add captions and keywords.  I then copy the images into a folder.  Next I import the folder into LR 2.  The images transfer (with the correct new names given in PM), LR shows that a sidecar file is present, and the gps data shows up as do the keywords.  HOWEVER, the star ratings, color labels and captions do NOT appear in LR 2.  I've tried this several times in various orders but no luck.  I've read through the manual and the forums but don't seem to be able to get this to work.  Am I doing something wrong?

Finally, I most frequently use LR 2 and PS for cataloging and editing but occasionally use NX2.  In the XMP preferences window should I check "Add embedded IPTC" and "Add embedded IPTC4XMP" along with "Always create and/or update XMP..." or is that not advised?

Thanks.  The speed and ease in viewing hundreds of images in PM is fabulous.  If I can just get this last problem resolved.











[attachment deleted by admin]

[Kirk Baker]

I'm running Mac OS 10.5.6 and PM 4.6.1.  I'm loading a folder of NEF images successfully into PM.  I want to tag photos with gps  data  from a Wintec WBT-201, rate them, label them, add captions and keywords then transfer to LR 2.   After playing with the images a bit, I was able to successfully load the gpx file and add GPS tags to the photos.  ( If I understand correctly, rather than overwrite the EXIF file with the GPS coordinates, PM puts this info in the XMP sidecar file for use.  Correct?)

Mostly correct.  If your EXIF data already has GPS coordinates in it, PM will update them with the coordinates you set in PM.  If your RAW files do not already have GPS coordinates in EXIF then they'll only be found in the XMP data.

After I rate the photos, and add color labels (matching those in LR 2), I add captions and keywords.  I then copy the images into a folder.  Next I import the folder into LR 2.  The images transfer (with the correct new names given in PM), LR shows that a sidecar file is present, and the gps data shows up as do the keywords.  HOWEVER, the star ratings, color labels and captions do NOT appear in LR 2.  I've tried this several times in various orders but no luck.  I've read through the manual and the forums but don't seem to be able to get this to work.  Am I doing something wrong?

I don't see how it is possible that if the keywords show up that the captions do not.  They're stored in the same places.  Can you post screenshots of the following Preferences panes in Photo Mechanic (as JPEGs please, not PDFs): General, Files, and IPTC/XMP.

Finally, I most frequently use LR 2 and PS for cataloging and editing but occasionally use NX2.  In the XMP preferences window should I check "Add embedded IPTC" and "Add embedded IPTC4XMP" along with "Always create and/or update XMP..." or is that not advised?

That's not advised: Capture NX2 wants its XMP data embedded into the NEF file (and it will do this itself when you add captions within NX2) but Lightroom and Photoshop really have serious problems with embedded XMP data.  They have a bug where they find and use embedded XMP data and actually prefer reading it from the embedded XMP over the data that exists in the XMP sidecar, but (and here is where the bug is) they only update the XMP sidecar file and do not update the embedded XMP data.  This causes the two pieces of XMP data to get out of sync.  For instance if you made adjustments to the visual quality of your NEFs that had embedded XMP data, the adjustments would only be written to the XMP sidecar file.  Later when you view the NEF file again, the Adobe apps will see that the file has no adjustments even though they're right in the XMP sidecar file, because the embedded XMP doesn't contain the adjustments settings.

There is no set of IPTC/XMP settings that will make both Adobe apps and Capture NX2 happy.  It is very unfortunate but there is nothing we can do about it.

-Kirk

[Hayo Baan]

Likes2hike,

As Kirk said, there is no way to have both Adobe applications and NX2 work nicely together, automatically. With some precaution, however, you can make it work.

Have PM set up to read in the following order: Sidecar, XMP, IPTC
Have PM set up to write: embedded IPTC, embedded IPTC4XMP, update sidecar if it exists

Predominantly make all your changes to IPTC/XMP with PM as this makes your life easier; PM will take care of synchronising the IPTC/XMP for the various sources.

Now whenever you have changed the IPTC/XMP with an Adobe application, simply have PM update it by using e.g., an empty IPTC Stationary (this should work, but if this doesn't, perhaps setting a bogus field or setting and resetting the colour class will do as well). The IPTC/XMP read/write preferences will ensure that the data is updated with the changes you just made in an Adobe program.

If you ever change some XMP/IPTC data of a RAW file in NX2, temporarily change PM's read preference to read the embedded XMP before the sidecar and perform the same update as described in the Adobe case, then reset the PM read preference and you'll be fine.

Hope this helps,
    Hayo

P.S. Kirk, perhaps a tool to "synchronise" the various IPTC/XMP sources from within a single file is in order here?

[likes2hike]

Problem solved.  As it turns out, when I selected the image folder to import into LR, a window comes up for import (in LR 2).  I did NOT have the metadata option set to "none", but rather, to another preset.  I have tried this a few different ways now, and what happens is that if the metadata selection is set to "none", then the star ratings, color labels, captions, keywords, and gps settings all come through as they should from PM.  If a preset is selected, all the correct keywords come through, but not the caption, star rating , or color label.

Obviously, I'm not  familiar enough with either program.  Although this is clearly NOT an issue with PM, for those of us who aren't as experienced, perhaps a note somewhere in the PM manual would be helpful to point this out; similar to the note you have for suggested settings for Adobe users  for the IPTC/XMP prefs.

Thanks for your comments Kirk.   Hayo, I will try to work with your suggestions and see what happens.

Great product.  Keep up the excellent work.  One request would be for an option to ingest a group of selected photos, rather than a whole disk or even a whole folder.  It seems this can not be done presently.




[attachment deleted by admin]