SmugVault not showing correct orientation of DNG RAW camera files

Cloudgate

I recently began uploading my camera raw files (Canon 5D raw CRW files to the open Adobe DNG format). While I am able to see image previews and thumbnails of the uploaded photos, none of them are displayed with the proper orientation. All my uploaded DNG files are displayed in SmugVault in landscape orientation. Unfortunately most of my shots were taken in portrait orientation.

The camera raw files themselves do have the proper orientation information embedded in them since Finder in Mac OS X, Adobe Bridge, and Adobe Lightroom all display the images with the proper orientation.

As I'm planning to use SmugVault as repository for my it would be a giant timesaver for SmugVault to detect the embedded orientation information of uploaded raw files. Is there something I'm missing? Thanks!

SamirD

I'm not sure how SM handles the SV files, but when jpgs are uploaded, the orientation sensor is actually used to automatically trigger a rotate (and alter the original image). I'm suspecting that because SV is more of an archival product, it will not automatically rotate the image, hence preserving the original.

Cloudgate

SamirD wrote: »

I'm not sure how SM handles the SV files, but when jpgs are uploaded, the orientation sensor is actually used to automatically trigger a rotate (and alter the original image). I'm suspecting that because SV is more of an archival product, it will not automatically rotate the image, hence preserving the original.

Thanks for the reply SamirD. On SmugVault, there's the SmugVault file display which shows each file as a thumbnail, but there is also a standard Gallery View of your SmugVault, which is identical to how one would browse any other SmugMug gallery. This has the same browsing features and gallery options as non-SmugVault galleries.

I can understand if SmugMug is taking the approach to preserve the original orientation of a RAW photo by not auto-orienting its display. But if they are providing the added ability to browse (and possibly purchase prints of) your camera-raw files within SmugMug's normal gallery interface, it's counterintuitive to be displaying it for the user without correctly reading the file's embedded orientation information. It just forces the user to tediously perform batch rotate commands manually in order to match orientation info that's already embedded in the first place.

docwalker

Cloudgate, can I get some example files from you to test with? Send them to me attn doc using http://dropbox.yousendit.com/SmugMug 2-3 would suffice.

SamirD

Cloudgate wrote: »

Thanks for the reply SamirD. On SmugVault, there's the SmugVault file display which shows each file as a thumbnail, but there is also a standard Gallery View of your SmugVault, which is identical to how one would browse any other SmugMug gallery. This has the same browsing features and gallery options as non-SmugVault galleries.

Thank you for the insight on how SV works. I've always wondered what the interface was like.

Cloudgate

docwalker wrote: »

Cloudgate, can I get some example files from you to test with? Send them to me attn doc using http://dropbox.yousendit.com/SmugMug 2-3 would suffice.

Hi Doc, thank you so much for your response. I've just sent off 3 DNG files. I did another upload test with these specific files using MacDaddy and found that they still display in Smugmug with the incorrect orientation, though Mac OS X Finder and Lightroom 3 are able to detect the proper orientation. Though these files originated from a Canon 5D, these orientation problems also occurred with my older DNG files which came from my Canon 20D.

Thanks for your help!

Cloudgate

Hi Doc,

I just saw on the SmugMug blog that this was included as one of the latest bug fixes. Awesome! But it looks like my files that have already been uploaded are still showing the improper orientation. Is there anyway I can force it refresh? I tried toggling the thumbnail to Squared and then back to Original in hopes that it would force recreation of the thumbnails with the proper orientation, but that doesn't seem to work.

Do I need to re-upload my RAW files in order for the proper orientation to be detected? :-(

SamirD

My guess would be that you'd have to re-upload. :cry

Andy

Cloudgate wrote: »

Hi Doc,

I just saw on the SmugMug blog that this was included as one of the latest bug fixes. Awesome! But it looks like my files that have already been uploaded are still showing the improper orientation. Is there anyway I can force it refresh? I tried toggling the thumbnail to Squared and then back to Original in hopes that it would force recreation of the thumbnails with the proper orientation, but that doesn't seem to work.

Do I need to re-upload my RAW files in order for the proper orientation to be detected? :-(

You can also perform an image manipulation on-site - like watermarking, de-watermarking, rotation left/right, etc.

Cloudgate

Andy wrote: »

You can also perform an image manipulation on-site - like watermarking, de-watermarking, rotation left/right, etc.

Hi Andy,

Thank you for the suggestion, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work. I'm able to watermark the JPEG preview of the DNG files, but it doesn't have any affect on fixing the improper orientation. Again these were files that I sent to Doc who confirmed that they contained correctly embedded orientation info, but this embedded info was not getting recognized on upload to Smugmug (Mac Uploader).

If this problem has now been fixed like the news blog indicates, I'd really like to avoid re-uploading my RAW files and trying to see if there is a way to I can get Smugmug to "re-interpret" my embedded orientation settings of already-uploaded raw files.

I know I can manually rotate left/right, but since I shoot a combination of horizontal and vertical pictures, going through thousands of pictures to manually select these would be very tedious.

Thanks for your help!