NEF GPS importing, 4.6.1 vs 4.6.3

[devenh]

Was there any change in the way GPS data was stored in NEF files between 4.6.1 and 4.6.3?  I am trying to diagnose a problem NX 2.2.4 is having with opening D300 NEF files.

Deven

[Kirk Baker]

Deven,

Was there any change in the way GPS data was stored in NEF files between 4.6.1 and 4.6.3?  I am trying to diagnose a problem NX 2.2.4 is having with opening D300 NEF files.

To my knowledge the only thing that was changed was a fix to a buffer overrun issue that caused crashing.  The data itself is written out the same way.

Can you give me any further details about the issue you're troubleshooting?

Thanks,

-Kirk

[Jerry H]

Hi Deven,

Was there any change in the way GPS data was stored in NEF files between 4.6.1 and 4.6.3?  I am trying to diagnose a problem NX 2.2.4 is having with opening D300 NEF files.

I tried to recreate the problem on my end with no success.

Would it be possible for you to upload one of these files for us?

If so, please click on my name to the left of this message, and then click the 'personal message' link to send me an email. I'll reply to your message with FTP instructions.

Regards,
Jerry

[devenh]

I will send the files.  I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.  I've had a history of problems running NX2 on my desktop Windows 7 64 bit.  The main problem is that opening a NEF file results in an windows dialog box popping up stating "Capture NX has stopped working."  I could sometimes solve this problem by completely uninstalling NX2 and reinstalling.  Nikon said in December that NX2 at that time did not officially support Win7 (the version then was NX 2.2.3).  With the January release of NX 2.2.4 and official Win7 support, the problem did seem to go away, but is now back.

On examining my pattern of usage, it occurred to me that whenever I ran into the problem I was working with NEF files (D300, D3, D3x) that have GPS data imported by PM 4.6.1.  A quick test with 4.6.3 does not cause the problem.  I have reproduced the problem on two systems running NX 2.2.4.  Given this, I am now not so sure that the problem was related to NX2 Win 7 support and that NX 2.2.4 only seemed to solve the problem because at the time I was not working on files with GPS data.

I'll send you three versions of the same D300 nef file:

NoGPS - file as ingested by PM 4.6.1 with IPTC info added
461GPS - NoGPS file with GPS added by PM 4.6.1
463GPS - NoGPS file with GPS added by PM 4.6.3

461GPS is the file that causes NX 2.2.4 to crash.  See if you can reproduce this.

The only programs I edit my NEF files with are PM and NX2.

Deven

[devenh]

Some further info:

If I extract the jpg from the problem D300 nef file (461GPS) using PM 4.6.3 and then try to open the jpg with NX 2.2.4, NX crashes.

If I extract the jpg from the problem D300 nef file (461GPS) using PM 4.6.3, uncheck the "Preserve Exif" option, and then try to open the jpg with NX 2.2.4, NX opens the file.

I thought that I might be able to "recover" the 461GPS nef and jpg files if I re-imported the GPS data with PM 4.6.3.  This did not work.  In fact PM 4.6.3 did not appear to modify the files based on the dates displayed in Windows Explorer.  However, using the Command Prompt and DIR, the dates did change.  Curious why the dates are different.  Using File Compare (FC), the files were identical.

Not wanting to leave any stone unturned  ,  I repeated the above but changed the GMT offset in order to force new coordinates to be written.  Same results as above except the the files were no longer identical.

Is there a way to clear the GPS coordinates in the nef file?

Deven

[devenh]

Were you able to recreate the issue with the files I sent?

[Jerry H]

Hi Deven,

Were you able to recreate the issue with the files I sent?

I was able to recreate the problem with the 461GPS file you sent. However, it was only reproducible on the Windows version of Capture NX 2.2.4, on both Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Is there a way to clear the GPS coordinates in the nef file?

You can use the Revert TIFF-based RAW to original command located in PM's Tools menu, and check the box to backup the metadata to a sidecar file so you won't loose your captions. This will make it so the file will open in NX 2.

Regards,
Jerry

[devenh]

This has been a difficult problem for me to diagnose, but I am beginning to think it is PM related -- definitely could be wrong on this as the problem is so squirrelly.  I have an XP system with NX 2.2.0 have the same problems, so this seems to eliminate my earlier suspicion that is was Win7 64 bit related.  OTOH, sometimes NX won't even start properly (it will immediately shut down), so my faith in NX is extremely low.

As an example of how up to date Nikon software is, ViewNX 1.5.2 was just released in the past few days that now supports Win7 -- guess that Win7 launch caught them by surprise 

Deven

[Jerry H]

Hi Deven,

I'm having trouble with this as well. While in the process of trying to pinpoint the cause of the crash, Capture NX 2.2.4 stopped opening altogether. I'm going to try reinstalling NX 2, so I can continue diagnosing.

-Jerry

[devenh]

Welcome to my world 

Seriously, I am "glad" you have run into the same problems because I was beginning to wonder whether these issues were unique to my systems -- now I am off the hook ...

Thanks for mentioning the Revert TIFF-based RAW to original command.  That allows me to regain access to my files.

Regarding NX2 not starting, I find that it requires a complete uninstall and reinstall -- you'll get real good at typing in the registration key.  Even then, NX may become unstable and quit working after editing a number of files.  Very frustrating on many levels.

Maybe I need to switch to Apple???

Deven

[Hayo Baan]

Welcome to my world 

Seriously, I am "glad" you have run into the same problems because I was beginning to wonder whether these issues were unique to my systems -- now I am off the hook ...

Hopefully this also means it can be fixed, without a need to alter Capture NX2.

Thanks for mentioning the Revert TIFF-based RAW to original command.  That allows me to regain access to my files.

Regarding NX2 not starting, I find that it requires a complete uninstall and reinstall -- you'll get real good at typing in the registration key.  Even then, NX may become unstable and quit working after editing a number of files.  Very frustrating on many levels.

This is bad!

Maybe I need to switch to Apple???

There are lots of valid reasons to switch, this shouldn't be one of them though, but then again, perhaps it is 

Cheers,
    Hayo

[Jerry H]

Hi Deven,

In the file you sent us, there's a problem with how the Exif date was formatted. I don't believe that version 4.6.3 had written this data, so it could have been 4.6.2.1. We've put some additional checks in place to make sure this doesn't happen, it should also fix any problems with the Exif date if one is found. This will be in the next release of PM.

For now, you can use the Revert TIFF-based RAW command for any files that need to be repaired.

Regards,
Jerry

[devenh]

I don't have the files with me right now, but I will try it later.

As I recall, the revert to tiff option saves the IPTC info to xmp.  So after I have removed the IPTC info, how do I get it back?

Deven

[Kirk Baker]

Deven,

I don't have the files with me right now, but I will try it later.

As I recall, the revert to tiff option saves the IPTC info to xmp.  So after I have removed the IPTC info, how do I get it back?

If you open the IPTC Info for the photo and make any small change and save the IPTC Info, the IPTC and/or XMP data should be added back into your photo.

-Kirk