option to never modify raw files in any way?

[ramblinwreck]

Is there any option to tell PM to 'never modify' raw files in any way, i.e. no changing of EXIF information upon ingest?

I have seen a few requests on this board for this feature, but I'm not clear if this was ever implemented, and I don't see anything about this in the 4.6.2 manual (though I may be overlooking something).

For background, what I'd like to be able to do is this:

Ingest 2 copies of my files - one should be "untouched" (i.e. no modification in any way by PM) and will serve as an archive of the original "out of camera" file. The other copy will be edited (e.g. by NX2). Call me paranoid, but I do prefer having a copy of the completely unaltered original. On occasion NX2 seems to corrupt a NEF file I'm working on, so I always like to keep an untouched backup. I'd prefer that that backup has not been 'touched' by any other software, no matter how small the change, as there is a very small (but non-zero) risk this modification could cause problems.

Is this possible with PM?

If not, it seems I have to use alternative means of transfer (e.g. Image Capture) to get the unmodified files onto my machine, which is of course something I'd prefer PM to do for me.

[Kirk Baker]

Is there any option to tell PM to 'never modify' raw files in any way, i.e. no changing of EXIF information upon ingest?

I have seen a few requests on this board for this feature, but I'm not clear if this was ever implemented, and I don't see anything about this in the 4.6.2 manual (though I may be overlooking something).

For background, what I'd like to be able to do is this:

Ingest 2 copies of my files - one should be "untouched" (i.e. no modification in any way by PM) and will serve as an archive of the original "out of camera" file. The other copy will be edited (e.g. by NX2). Call me paranoid, but I do prefer having a copy of the completely unaltered original. On occasion NX2 seems to corrupt a NEF file I'm working on, so I always like to keep an untouched backup. I'd prefer that that backup has not been 'touched' by any other software, no matter how small the change, as there is a very small (but non-zero) risk this modification could cause problems.

Is this possible with PM?

If not, it seems I have to use alternative means of transfer (e.g. Image Capture) to get the unmodified files onto my machine, which is of course something I'd prefer PM to do for me.

We added an option in the Files tab of the Preferences dialog to allow metadata changes to modify RAW files. The new check box is on by default but can be turned off.  This new check box, when unchecked, causes PM to write metadata changes only to XMP sidecar files.  But some operations like soft rotation, adding GPS coordinates, and deleting metadata (like EXIF) will still write to RAW files.  These operations cannot be done any other way such that all applications will see these changes.

-Kirk

[ramblinwreck]

Thanks for the reply, Kirk. Perhaps I am not understanding you correctly, but I'm still unsure if what I'd like to do is possible, or not.

Specifically, can I set up PM so that when I ingest (assuming I don't apply any metadata changes during inject) that *nothing* at all is changed (by PM) in my NEF files? That is, the file on my machine (after ingesting) would be *exactly* the same as the one on my card?

I've seen reports of PM updating the modification date during ingest, and also adding other information to the end of file upon ingest (e.g. to preserve frame number in case of renaming on ingest, or something like that).

I understand that operations like soft rotation, GPS coordinate adding, etc will result in writes to the NEFs, I'm just asking more from the perspective of a straight ingest. I'd like the ingest to work like (or to have an option to work like) Aperture/ImageCapture, which does not touch my files in any way.

[Kirk Baker]

Thanks for the reply, Kirk. Perhaps I am not understanding you correctly, but I'm still unsure if what I'd like to do is possible, or not.

Specifically, can I set up PM so that when I ingest (assuming I don't apply any metadata changes during inject) that *nothing* at all is changed (by PM) in my NEF files? That is, the file on my machine (after ingesting) would be *exactly* the same as the one on my card?

I've seen reports of PM updating the modification date during ingest, and also adding other information to the end of file upon ingest (e.g. to preserve frame number in case of renaming on ingest, or something like that).

I understand that operations like soft rotation, GPS coordinate adding, etc will result in writes to the NEFs, I'm just asking more from the perspective of a straight ingest. I'd like the ingest to work like (or to have an option to work like) Aperture/ImageCapture, which does not touch my files in any way.

It should no longer modify your files unless you do things like adjust capture time, soft rotate, etc. if you do not allow PM to modify your RAW files.  If it does indeed modify your files during Ingest then I would consider that to be a bug in Photo Mechanic.

-Kirk