Metadata from LR2 in Capture NX2 - NEF

Kyle D · February 20, 2009

Hi,

I was just wondering if someone knew a way to get the metadata that I put in my NEFs when I import and organize them in LR2 to actually show up when I use Capture NX2.

Thanks!

jfriend · February 20, 2009

Kyle D wrote:

Hi,

I was just wondering if someone knew a way to get the metadata that I put in my NEFs when I import and organize them in LR2 to actually show up when I use Capture NX2.

Thanks!

I don't think that's possible. LR2 does not write metadata to the NEF files - it only writes it to it's own database or to an XMP sidecar file.

NX2 only reads the metadata from the NEF file, not from the XMP sidecar file or the Adobe database.

Thus, the two can't share metadata when using RAW files.

The only way I know of to share the metadata would be to export the LR2 version as a TIFF which you can then operate on in NX2 (but I'm guessing that probably isn't what you wanted).

Kyle D · February 21, 2009

jfriend wrote:

I don't think that's possible. LR2 does not write metadata to the NEF files - it only writes it to it's own database or to an XMP sidecar file.

NX2 only reads the metadata from the NEF file, not from the XMP sidecar file or the Adobe database.

Thus, the two can't share metadata when using RAW files.

The only way I know of to share the metadata would be to export the LR2 version as a TIFF which you can then operate on in NX2 (but I'm guessing that probably isn't what you wanted).

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, the tiff route is not what I wanted at all. I wanted to use LR2 as my import and database/organization tool and then NX2 for all of the editing of the NEFs. I want to stay with Capture NX 2 because I have a nice workflow that I am comfortable with and working with a file takes me very little time to get it ready for print.

So, is there anyother import/database/organizational utilities out there that I can use?

jfriend · February 21, 2009

Kyle D wrote:

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, the tiff route is not what I wanted at all. I wanted to use LR2 as my import and database/organization tool and then NX2 for all of the editing of the NEFs. I want to stay with Capture NX 2 because I have a nice workflow that I am comfortable with and working with a file takes me very little time to get it ready for print.

So, is there anyother import/database/organizational utilities out there that I can use?

Most people who want to use both NX2 and some other tools for organizing make it work by doing things in a different order than you are doing. They download the NEFs, process them in NX2, save the keepers as TIFFs or JPEGs, then import those into their cataloging program. Any further edits are applied to the TIFF/JPEG and the NEF is no longer used other than an archive of the original.

I do not think it's possible to do it in the order you describe because there are no organizing programs that understand the editing data of NX2. You can find programs that work off the embedded JPEG in the NEF for display in the organizer, but if you ever want to edit the image again or print it with your edits intact, you either have to start editing it all over again from the unedited NEF or go back to NX2, edit, then reimport into your cataloging program. In my opinion this last workflow is not tenable.

arodney · February 21, 2009

Kyle D wrote:

Hi,

I was just wondering if someone knew a way to get the metadata that I put in my NEFs when I import and organize them in LR2 to actually show up when I use Capture NX2.

Thanks!

What kind of metadata? Camera Metadata, standard metadata (IPTC tags) yes or it should. Processing metadata no, that's proprietary to each converters processing engine.

Kyle D · February 21, 2009

I was hoping that I could import with LR2 and organize the files on my disk with it while it's importing. Also have it place keywords, copyright, photographer information into the NEF and then have that show up in the NEF when I edit the image in NX2.

Unfortunately, from the sounds of it, that doesn't seem possible. :cry

matthewjheaney · March 26, 2009

Kyle D wrote:

I was just wondering if someone knew a way to get the metadata that I put in my NEFs when I import and organize them in LR2 to actually show up when I use Capture NX2.

If you're on Windows, then I have some tools available at my website that might be useful to you. The NEF Helper tool (v1.0.4) writes the rating and label metadata fields to the XMP packet embedded in the NEF file, which is where Capture NX2 expects to find it.

http://home.earthlink.net/~matthewjheaney/damtools/

You can also use the NEF Help tool to dump all of the metadata in the image, or just the metadata in the embedded XMP packet.

-Matt

Kyle D · March 29, 2009

matthewjheaney wrote:

If you're on Windows, then I have some tools available at my website that might be useful to you. The NEF Helper tool (v1.0.4) writes the rating and label metadata fields to the XMP packet embedded in the NEF file, which is where Capture NX2 expects to find it.

http://home.earthlink.net/~matthewjheaney/damtools/

You can also use the NEF Help tool to dump all of the metadata in the image, or just the metadata in the embedded XMP packet.

-Matt

Thanks for that, too bad I'd given up on LR2 completely and am staying with NX2 and Nikon transfer.

Thunder Rabbit · March 30, 2009

Howdy, folks.

Kyle,

I'm not familiar with NX2, but I am an avid LR2 user. I was wondering what you perceive the image processing advantages of NX2 over LR2 to be? I went to the NX2 site and didn't see any features that LR2 can't match.

I'm writing because my relationship with LR was rocky at first. But I started to get the hang of it. Then LR2 came out, with the local adjustment brush. This eliminated about 90% of my need for Photoshop. Now I'm totally sold on LR2. It is the rock solid core of my image workflow.

So, what exactly are you doing in NX2 that you can't get done in LR2?

Peace,
Thunder Rabbit
www.thunderrabbitgrfx.com

Kyle D · April 11, 2009

Thunder Rabbit wrote:

Howdy, folks.

Kyle,

I'm not familiar with NX2, but I am an avid LR2 user. I was wondering what you perceive the image processing advantages of NX2 over LR2 to be? I went to the NX2 site and didn't see any features that LR2 can't match.

I'm writing because my relationship with LR was rocky at first. But I started to get the hang of it. Then LR2 came out, with the local adjustment brush. This eliminated about 90% of my need for Photoshop. Now I'm totally sold on LR2. It is the rock solid core of my image workflow.

So, what exactly are you doing in NX2 that you can't get done in LR2?

Peace,
Thunder Rabbit
www.thunderrabbitgrfx.com

Sorry for not replying sooner, I've been really busy with school.

As for what I like about NX2 over LR2. I just found that after playing around with LR2 for a month or so and reading Scott Kelby's book on LR2, I couldn't get the same results that I was used to from NX2. Nor could I edit an image to the way I liked anywhere near as quickly as I could in NX2. Also, even with using the colour profiles in LR2, they wouldn't compare to the colours I could get from NX2.

Sure, I understand that since I've been using NX and now NX2 for going on 2.5 years I didn't expect to be able to learn LR2 and be able to use it as effectively as I use NX2. But I did expect a significant difference in my overall workflow speed by the end of the month over when I started using it. It just wasn't the case, an image that I processed in NX2 in about a minute would talk me anywhere from 5-10 minutes in LR2.

Also, I kind of like the automatic chromatic aboration tool in NX2 and how it is always enabled. I was also unable to find acceptable sharpening settings in LR2 for my D50. I found the sharpening to be hit or miss in LR2. Finally, I also prefered the fact that in NX2 you can save multiple versions of the same image to a single NEF file over the virtual copies method in LR2.

I'm not saying that LR2 doesn't have it's uses or good points. I really liked the fact that it'll preview what you're trying to do before you actually click it in the preview window, ie. converting to b&w. I also liked the importing utility and metadata stuff plus the gallery, but what was the deal breaker was the fact that I couldn't get LR2 and NX2 to play nicely with each other when it came to metadata. My initial plan for switching to LR2 was to use it to import, organize, label, cull my images, and then send them over to NX2 to be edited and then when done have the edits show up in LR2. I would have then liked to have been able to have the metadata I tagged the files with in LR2 to show up in NX2 and if I edited that data in NX2 have it show the changes in NX2. I would have also liked to have been able to upload to smugmug straight from LR2 with the images edited in NX2.

Unfortunately, it seems I can't have my cake and eat it too. So, for the importing and metadata I'm now using Nikon Transfer. For the organizing, culling, etc... I'm now using Nikon View. Obviously, I'm using NX2 to edit them images and finally for uploading I've been playing with Star Explorer.

lynnfish · November 15, 2009

Metadata from LR2 in Capture NX2 - NEF
I've been going through the same issue. Only solution I found is to load (one by one) the xmp file created by LR. There was no way that I could find to do a batch run and copy all the xmps with their associated files.

It would be a great upgrade for Nikon to make. For now, when I edit the pictures that are really important to me, the 1st thing I do is import the xmp file. So far, all the fields I have input into the Metadata file via LF have appeared in NX2 through this one-by-one method.

Hope this helps.

Kyle D · November 15, 2009

lynnfish wrote:

I've been going through the same issue. Only solution I found is to load (one by one) the xmp file created by LR. There was no way that I could find to do a batch run and copy all the xmps with their associated files.

It would be a great upgrade for Nikon to make. For now, when I edit the pictures that are really important to me, the 1st thing I do is import the xmp file. So far, all the fields I have input into the Metadata file via LF have appeared in NX2 through this one-by-one method.

Hope this helps.

I've completely given up on LR and have quite the nice work flow going with Nikon Transfer, View NX, and Capture NX2.

As for individually importing the xmp files, all I have to say is wow! Someone is sure dedicated! I don't think it's feasible seeing as when I go out and do a shoot with a client (equine) I generally come back with 100+ shots. So, I don't think it is realistic to use LR and manually import the xmp files in CNX2.

Thanks for the idea though!

Oh, and just so you know, CNX2 really flies on Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

Metadata from LR2 in Capture NX2 - NEF

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