P: Lens metadata field missing on import

[jonasflanken]

Since updating Photoshop and Lightroom, I've noticed that the aux:lens metadata field is being deleted from my images on import, such that there is no lens listed after import. I've determined that it's Camera Raw 9.5 that seems to be the culprit, as lens metadata is retained if I use an older version of the DNG Converter v8.8 to import the same images.

For example, I had an image shot on a Sony RX100 III at 8.8mm. If I import this image with the old version of DNG Converter, and then open the converted DNG in Photoshop, the lens is reported with the full-frame equivalent focal lengths, i.e., 24-70mm F1.8-2.8, and the raw metadata has the correct aux:Lens field (24-70mm F1.8-2.8).

Conversely, if I import the same image directly into Photoshop or Lightroom, the metadata will display the correct focal length, but will not display the lens information; Lightroom reports this only as "unknown lens," and in Photoshop the aux:Lens field is missing completely.

For now, I will use the old version of DNG Converter as a workaround, but this is inconvenient, and really should be fixed.

[gonzalu]

Yeah, I had done that already but it still is a bit hacky (word?) and does not allow me to decide if a photo is worthy of saving MetaData/Changes or not 😞 I want Adobe to simply fix it by just pulling Lens data on its own automatically and without user intervention... 🙂 

Thanks for your tips 🙂 

[johnrellis]

"decide if a photo is worthy of saving MetaData/Changes"

Manny, can you provide some more details about why it's important to decide whether the photo should have its metadata saved or not?  I'm not questioning your workflow, but it's not readily apparent what you mean by "worthy of saving metadata".   More details about why that matters could make it more likely you'll influence Adobe.   (I can make guesses, but that wouldn't be very productive.)  Thanks.

[gonzalu]

No worries... I basically have my photos in various stages of taste or desire when it comes to edits. Having to commit them blindly is not something that would work for me. I may go to an image and decide the settings are not worth it and want to go back to another state or reset completely. I know I can always reset completely but I want my settings to be untouched by the program until I want to change them. I feel that pulling Lens Data can be done automatically by Adobe without anything done by the user to the images or otherwise 😉 

[johnrellis]

Good, thanks.

[ssprengel]

John, is this something you can make a plug-in do?

[johnrellis]

"Is this something you can make a plug-in do?"

The only way a plugin could do it is by saving metadata, running Exiftool, then rereading metadata (i.e. automating the manual recipe).   A plugin can't avoid saving and re-reading metadata, since the LR SDK doesn't provide plugins with the ability to directly change EXIF fields.

[johnrellis]

"saving metadata, running Exiftool, then rereading metadata". 

Oops, running Exiftool isn't necessary in this case.  

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

> I basically have my photos in various stages of taste or desire when it comes to edits. Having to commit them blindly is not something that would work for me

You do realise that writing the metadata to the files isn't final?  It's not like exporting to a rendered file format.  If you wanted to edit the file, you'd just continue moving the sliders as normal.

[gonzalu]

No no, of course I get that. But sometimes I have edits from Photoshop or other tools that manage the sidecar files as well. Blindly doing anything isn't my favorite. Again, it should be "easy" and "simple" for adobe to simply pull the ExIF data at the time you touch the image... no need for workarounds IMO. Although it is nice to have a workaround, I want the bug fixed properly 🙂

Thanks

[dimtunai]

doing the process of saving the metadata to xmp file added 10000+ files on my computer.
Can I clean up those files after I read metadata from the file?

[johnrellis]

Yes, you can safely delete the XMP sidecar files.  The catalog file contains the "truth" for all the photo develop settings and metadata.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I'm confused. If this is the case what's the point of having the sidecar files? Can LR be setup not to create them in the first place? Thanks!

[johnrellis]

By default, LR does not create XMP sidecars.  They get created for raw files under two circumstances:

1. You do Metadata > Save Metadata To File.

2. You set the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.

As I mentioned above, the "truth" about develop settings and metadata is always stored in the catalog file.  But creating sidecars can be useful for a couple of reasons:

- They allow the raw photo's metadata to be accessed by other programs.

- They act as a last-ditch backup in case the catalog file gets corrupted, either by user error, faulty hardware, operating-system bugs, or (very, very rarely in the last many years) a LR bug.   I try to keep my regular backups active and test them frequently, but I prefer to also have XMP files just in case.

[ssprengel]

There is a LR preference of Automatically Write Changes Into XMP that you can enable or not.  If you don't have that enabled then you can manually write the changes.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Thanks John.
I use ON1 and Photoshop to edit files exported from LR. I'm assuming that one or both of these programs need the XMP files?

[johnrellis]

When you invoke Edit In Adobe Photoshop, or Open As Smart Object In Photoshop, no XMP files will be created.

Re ON1: I'm pretty LR passes a TIFF, rather than a raw file, to the ON1 tools, with all the metadata embedded inside the TIFF, so no XMP is created.  But I don't have ON1, so I can't verify.