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mikey_2000
mikey_2000
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Lens name handling changed between LR3 and LR4

Apr 24, 2012 2:35 AM

Hi,

 

This problem has been mentioned before but I'm bringing it up again as it is still unresolved and I have some further information.

 

I use a Sony a77 and import raw files into LR4.0, I previously used LR3.6.   I use a tool called alphalensinfo before importing raw files.  This creates xmp sidecars containing a tag for the lens name.   This is necessary as Sony cameras do not always identify the correct lens name, especially when using third party lenses.   In LR3.x, on import, it would read the lens name from the xmp sidecar and all would be well in the library module.  In LR4.0, the xmp sidecar's lens name is ignored and Lightroom 4 reads the lens name from the raw file, which may be wrong.

 

This is quite annoying and only appears to affect raws from newer Sony cameras.  A knowledgable user on www.dyxum.com has done some testing/research on this, identifying where lr4 lens name handling appears to have changed from lr3.x. 

 

Is it possible for LR4 to be fixed to allow proper lens indentification in the same way as LR3 did? It seems to be a matter of changing the priority LR4 puts on data from xmp compared to raw.

 

This post gives some details and previous posts give more background:

http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/identifying-lenses-in-lightroom-with-alpha lensinfo_topic43251_post1021484.html#1021484

 

I'd be most grateful if one of the Lightroom developers could read that posting and see if they can help out.

Thanks,

Michael (mikey2000 on dyxum.com)

667 Views   4 Replies   Latest reply: Tosfrd, Apr 26, 2012 9:03 PM
 
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  • mikey_2000
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    1. mikey_2000,
    Apr 24, 2012 2:40 AM   in reply to mikey_2000
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    Oops, I forgot to mention, I'm using lr4 for windows (64bit) and previously used lr3.6(64bit) for windows.  The a77 is using firmware 1.05 but previously used 1.04 with the same problem.

     
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  • woldoni
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    2. woldoni,
    Apr 24, 2012 5:27 AM   in reply to mikey_2000
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    +1 for me

     
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  • mikey_2000
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    3. mikey_2000,
    Apr 26, 2012 2:05 PM   in reply to mikey_2000
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    I've found a temporary workaround.  Can anyone advise me if this is 'dangerous' for my raw files?

     

    1.  Copy .arw files from camera to computer

    2.  Run exiftool -lensmodel= *.arw

    3. (lots of .arw_original backups are created)

    4.  Run alphalensinfo *.arw

    5.  Import into lightroom 4.

     

    Step 2 blanks the lensmodel tag in the .arw file.  Then, alphalensinfo creates the aux:lens tag (with the correct lens name in  ).  The LR4 import process discovers the lensmodel tag is blank and moves onto the aux:lens tag and everything appears normal in the library module, just like in LR3.

     

    The catch is, I'm keeping duplicate backup copies of my original .arw files, just in case my little process is damaging them in some way.

     

    Is anybody from adobe interested in this?

     
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  • Tosfrd
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    4. Tosfrd,
    Apr 26, 2012 9:03 PM   in reply to mikey_2000
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    +1 for me to.  I used exiftool/GUI to update arw files for a Tamron lens from my A700 and it worked fine under LR 4.  However my new A57 does not work under 4.1 RC2.

     
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