P: Sony Hif Images reading image and writing metadata error

[mhorvath]

Today I imported some HEIF images (Camera: Sony Alpha 7 IV) into lightroom. Everything was fine until I opened the develop module. Whenever I did so it first showed a warning that there was an "error writing the metadata" and after deselecting the image the prompt "error reading the image" came up.

 

 

I already tried following: Re-importing the images (directly via Lightroom copying from the SD card to the MacBooks desktop), manually copying the images to desktop folder and then importing. Checking all the privacy settings (accessability  and full disk access), first-aid for the harddrive and restarting both LR and the MacBook. Also LR is running on the latest update. My catalouge is currently running from a 64GB USB Stick (formated for Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) and the images are in a folder on my desktop. So I don’t see a reason why or what is causing this errors.

[DdeGannes]

Was this workflow working previously?

[mhorvath]

I just switched to it because the previous workflow didn’t work. (Cloud based)

[mhorvath]

Okay one thing I found out, apperantly this problem with the HEIF images doesn’t occur if I turn of "Automatically write changes into XMP" in the catalouge settings. (Though the already "compromised" images stay that way)

I also tried it with RAW images that are saved within the same subfolder. They don’t get this error either way. So it seems it’s just with the HEIF images.

[DdeGannes]

I am not familiar with the HEIF file type so I am not aware why that would happen. Maybe another user would explain.

The Lightroom Classic option to "Automatically write metadata to XMP" is not the default for Lightroom. I do not use it in my workflow.

See if the article at the link below helps.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/supported-file-formats.html

[johnrellis]

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LR will corrupt a .hif from a Sony Alpha 7 IV when it tries to write the file's metadata. To reproduce:

1. Import this .hif:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bz72jd7q2qoq5e/test.2023.05.04.hif?dl=0 

2. Select the imported photo and do Metadata > Save Metadata To File.

3. Observe these errors:

4. Open the .hif in Mac OS Preview and observe this error:

5. Observe that "exiftool -v test.2023.05.04.hif" produces this error message:

Warning = Truncated 'mdat' data (missing 111779 bytes)

[johnrellis]

@Rikk Flohr: Photography, please move this to Bugs. The recipe above shows that LR 12.3 is corrupting .hif files from a Sony Alpha 7 IV.

[johnrellis]

@mhorvath, I recommend that you stop using .hif files from your camera (use .jpg instead) until Adobe fixes this file-corruption bug. While avoiding the using of Save Metadata To File and Automatically Write Changes To XMP will avoid the bug, if you accidentally invoke those commands, the file will become corrupted and you'll have to retrieve a copy from backups.

HIF support was added in LR 12.3 and apparently wasn't fully tested. This is one of the very rare instances in which LR corrupts a file.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I've grabbed the file and see the same result here. I've bugged it to the Classic team. Thanks for the file and the info. 

[johnrellis]

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@Rikk Flohr: Photography, the same problem occurs with an .avif file, which isn't surprising given that .hif and .avif both use the HEIF container format:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/81x4nrskg541ekj/sample-avif.2023.05.04.avif?dl=0

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I've added those notes to the bug. Thanks @johnrellis 

[mhorvath]

@johnrellis yes apparently I’ll have to do it like this. To bad, I wanted to have the advantage of the small file size and high possibilities to edit of the HEIF images.. well guess I’ll have to switch to JPG again if I want to have more space on my cameras memory and don’t use RAW. 

It’s really a pitty because LRC supports HEIF from iPhones (and Androids) as also stated on their website. But not from Sony cameras (and possibly others)

[alpha7]

It seems that other cameras are also damaged.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9%E3%83%A0-discus...

Happens with DNG and JPEG too?

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9%E3%83%A0-discus...

[HazeTemp]

Lightroom classic corrupted all my images!!

I have 600 HEIC 10bit 420 images from my A7RV, I imported them to the latest lightroom classic, I made some simple edits (just some rotations) and clicked ctrl+s to save metadata, and then ALL of my images become corrupt! Even windows photo viewer cannot open them!!

Anyway to recover my original photos?

[HazeTemp]

I bought a data recovery tool and saved my photos, now I'm looking for LR alternative for terrible HECI support. Not worth 10$ a month IMO.

[alpha7]

More users should be made aware that exporting XMP files has a critical bug that corrupts image files when rewriting metadata.
HEIF may not be the only target.
All formats should be investigated.

[DdeGannes]

@alpha7 , What do you mean exporting XMP files? 
Do you mean using the menu option "Save Metadata to file"?

P.S. OK I see that others have confirmed this is a Bug.

[alpha7]

@DdeGannes 

There is a difference from the Japanese menu, but that's probably it.