Legend

P: Can't clear caption in JPEG exported from master imported with a caption

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
June 17, 2011
22 replies
863 views

You can't clear a caption in a JPEG exported from a master that was imported with a pre-existing caption (e.g. from an annoying Olympus camera). Even after clearing the caption in the Metadata panel, the exported JPEG will still contain the pre-existing caption.

For JPEG masters, the workaround is to do Metadata > Save Metadata To File after clearing the caption, but this doesn't work for raws. For raws, you must set the caption to a non-blank value, e.g. "-".

This bug was reported at least as far back as LR 3, and it continues to annoy users with Olympus cameras. (Up until recently, Olympus insisted on setting EXIF:ImageDescription to "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA".)

See here for recent complaints:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/lightroom-cc-fills-in-description-field-on-export/m-p/11987182#M229579

To reproduce:

1. Download an Olympus raw and JPEG from here:

https://www.dpreview.com/sample-galleries/3959253679/olympus-e-pl9-sample-gallery/5069314962

2. Use Exiftool to observe that the raw and JPEG have EXIF:ImageDescription set to "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA":

exiftool -a -G -imagedescription -caption-abstract -description P3010036.ORF 5069314962.jpg

3. Import the raw and JPEG into LR.

4. Observe that the Metadata panel shows the non-blank captions for both.

5. Uncheck the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.

6. In the Metadata panel, clear the Caption field of the raw and JPEG.

7. Export the raw and JPEG as JPEGs, with the options Include: All Metadata and Remove Person Info and Remove Location Info unchecked, Write Keywords As Lightroom Hierarchy checked.

8. Use Exiftool to observe that EXIF:ImageDescription, IPTC:Caption-Abstract, and XMP:Description are all set to the original caption, "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" (bug).

9. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File for the raw and JPEG.

10. Re-export the raw and JPEG.

11. Use Exiftool to observe that the JPEG exported from the raw still has the original caption in EXIF:ImageDescription, IPTC:Caption-Abstract, and XMP:Description (bug), while those fields are blank in the exported JPEG (correct).

Test in LR 10.2 / Mac OS 11.2.3.

macOS

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F

FeedbackCommunityMember

Inspiring

I post to confirm that the caption issue starts at least from 3.4.1.

F

FeedbackCommunityMember

Inspiring

Thanks. It is good to know.

johnrellisAuthor

Legend

In general, Adobe employees frequently participate here (and many bugs get fixed as a result). Since you marked this as a problem, I think it's very likely they'll at least read this.

F

FeedbackCommunityMember

Inspiring

Oh, thanks, John. That serves as a good workaround.

Since 3.3 works well, can some Adobe LTR developers look at this and solve it from the root? :-)

(Are there any Adobe employees looking at this?)

johnrellisAuthor

Legend

I have a bunch of those annoying Olympus-captioned images, and I was able to reproduce the problem in LR 3.6 (released). Note that "OLYMPUS" shows in both the LR Title and LR Caption fields in the metadata pane.

If you clear both title and caption and export to a file, the exported file still has "OLYMPUS" in the fields.

But if you do Metadata > Save Metadata To File after clearing, then it's properly removed from the exported file.

F

FeedbackCommunityMember

Inspiring

I used LTR 3.3 on a Mac. OLYMPUS E-P1 photos by default have an "OLYMPUS ..." caption, but I can delete the caption in LTR, and the exported JPEGs will not have the annoying caption (EXIF ImageDescription and IPTC Caption). I recently try the 3.6 RC on a new Mac, and found that the caption existed in the exported JPEGs in this case. The caption can only be replaced if I put a new caption in LTR, but it cannot be removed.

I consider this a regression bug.

M

Mark Sirota

Known Participant

Thanks for the play-by-play! Good to hear you've reproduced it, and the differing behavior between LR and CR clearly indicates it's a bug (in one place or the other, probably in LR).

dfranzen_camera_raw

Adobe Employee

Correction: I don't think I can reliably reproduce the bug if I ask Lr to save metadata to the file before export. It does appear to happen consistently if I do the export while the unsaved metadat badge is visible. Do you see the same, Mark?

dfranzen_camera_raw

Adobe Employee

Hi Mark,

Ok, in Lightroom 3.4.1 I was able to reproduce the bug. It happend for a JPEG or an ORF and whether or not I asked Lr to write back the change to the file or not before Export. I only tried the default settings for metadata export. We'll continue to investigate this Monday.

Thanks,
David

dfranzen_camera_raw

Adobe Employee

Hi Mark,

OK, I've tried this with both JPEG and ORF files from an Olympus camera that produces files with "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" set in Exif tag #270, "ImageDescription", and I don't see the bug there.

1. Copied JPEG and ORF file from memory card to hard drive.
2. Browsed, in Bridge, selected file(s)
3. Selected "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" in the Bridge metadata panel, IPTC Core section, hit delete key.
4. Applied metadata change (check mark button in Metadata panel).
5. w/ file(s) selected, cmd+R to open Camera Raw, Save Imge button and save a JPEG.
6. Check the metadata in the JPEGs produced.

Result: no bug, the deleted metadata does not appear in the files ACR created.

Also, the ImageDescriptin was removed at step 4.

I will try in Lr 3.4.1.

Thanks,
David

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