28 Replies Latest reply: Mar 20, 2007 6:59 AM by john beardsworth RSS

    Metadata Browser - selected view

    jrsforums Community Member
      I may be missing something, however....

      It appears to me that the 'Metadat Browser' only acts on the entire 'Library'. Is it possible to select a folder...or just a selection of images...and have the "Metadata Browser' so the breakdown for just those items?

      thanks...JOHN
        • 1. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
          Seán McCormack CommunityMVP
          Not that I'm aware John. I did try before I made the video on my blog.. i wish we had .sigs here.
          • 2. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
            jrsforums Community Member
            That's a shame. It really is useless (to me) over the breathe of an entire "library". It ould really be useful over a subset...that is, for example, a shoot or series of shoots over a period of time.

            John
            • 3. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
              Lee Jay-7OQGJF Community Member
              I don't have LR here to test this, but I thought you could control/command click on keywords or folders after you had selected a lens or whatever in the metadata browser.
              • 4. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                Seán McCormack CommunityMVP
                Well, smack my forehead, but yes this does work.

                Chomp, Chomp, Chomp.. (eating humble pie)
                • 5. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                  jrsforums Community Member
                  Not for me (on win/xp)

                  I tried selecting lens the cntrl-folder....blank screen of images. Also tried the reverse (whih would be more intuitive to me) of selecting folde then ctrl-lens. This gave same result.

                  John
                  • 6. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                    Lee Jay-7OQGJF Community Member
                    Are you sure that folder had images taken with that lens?

                    The metadata isn't all that reliable. For example, I have two lenses - something like "17-40L and "EF 17-40L" and I've never figured out why there's a difference.

                    I'm pretty sure I've done this on XP which is why I knew about it.
                    • 7. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                      Seán McCormack CommunityMVP
                      Lee is right,
                      If there nothing to match in the folder, the screen will go blank.

                      Chomping still...
                      • 8. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                        jrsforums Community Member
                        "...Are you sure that folder had images taken with that lens?"

                        Yes....

                        John
                        • 9. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                          Lee Jay-7OQGJF Community Member
                          So, try this.

                          Click a folder and then an image. Look at the metadata for that image and note the *exact* way the lens was listed.

                          Now click that lens in the metadata browser. You should get a whole bunch of images *including the one you had previously selected*. Verify this. Now hold control and click that folder that you had clicked before. That image should still be there, but other images should go away.
                          • 10. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                            jrsforums Community Member
                            OK...this showed the problem...

                            The more current folders do not appear in the "Metadata Browser' lists. Even though if I select on of the folders, select an image, go to the exif data, select the arrow near the lens, the image does not appear in the images shown.

                            Any explanation. Do I need to delete the "library" and restart importing.

                            John
                            • 11. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                              Lee Jay-7OQGJF Community Member
                              It takes a while for the metadata browser to finish populating. If you haven't let it sit for a while after an import it will never finish as it only populates during idle time.
                              • 12. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                Casamagnolia-wSzxs8 Community Member
                                It works for me.

                                I just played around with it more and it is very flexible. I can CTRL/click on a number of items like folders and/or tags and/or metadata, then go to Find and the Find is applied on what is already selected. Very flexible and very very nice.

                                Would be nicer if they did more metadata tags or made it something you can configure. All metadata tags might be a lot for the database but if we could individually choose the ones we use, then that would solve the problem. Meanwhile, I can select by folder rather than the tag that is often associated with folder, Job Identifier. Or enter the text that I have in my Job Identifier field in the Find field.
                                • 13. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                  Community Member
                                  Works well. thanks.

                                  When you select a lens and a folder LR only shows images that are in both groups.

                                  I wish it had the same behaviour when you click 2 collections - just showing what images are in both instead of all images.
                                  • 14. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                    narya.de Community Member
                                    For example, I have two lenses - something like "17-40L and "EF 17-40L" and I've never figured out why there's a difference.
                                    I'd guess you took those pictures with the same lens on different cameras. My 350D (aka Rebel XT) would record your lens as "17.0-40.0 mm", while the new 400D (aka Rebel XTi) would see an "EF17-40mm f/4L USB" or something like this.

                                    I fixed all the metadata from my old camera by exporting the metadata to XMP files, then batch editing those (with TextMate or any other capable text editor) and then reimporting the metadata from the XMP files. Worked like a charm. In less than half an hour I fixed several different lenses in a few thousand files.

                                    Alexander.
                                    --
                                    Canon EOS 400D (aka. XTi) • 20" iMac Intel • 12" PowerBook G4 • OS X 10.4 • PSL 1 • PSE 3
                                    • 15. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                      Community Member
                                      Alexander,

                                      Can you explain a bit more on how to do that... How do you export to xmp and then reimport the metadata? Does the technique work with DNGs?

                                      I shoot with zuiko lenses on my 5D so the lens data does not show up. I want a way to input the lens data so that I can search those lenses too. Would be good to be able to enter the exposure setting too as that is not recorded in the EXIF.

                                      Thanks
                                      Kev.
                                      • 16. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                        narya.de Community Member
                                        Just select all the images you want to change and go to the Menu »Metadata > XMP > Export XMP Metadata to File«. This will create a sidecar (text file) to each of your image files containing all the Metadata Lightroom uses.<br /><br />Now find all those .xmp files with your favourite File Browser (Spotlight on Mac, ??? on Windows) and load them into a text or xml editor that supports batch search and replace with multiple files (I use TextMate on the Mac, I'm not sure what the Windows world has to offer on this).<br /><br />Within those text files you'll find a line like this:<br /><br />   <aux:Lens>EF-S17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM</aux:Lens><br /><br />Replace the text as you see fit or create the line just above the aux:ImageNumber entry if no aux:Lens entry exists.<br /><br />Now go back into Lightroom (make sure all the images are still selected) and go to »Metadata > XMP > Import XMP Metadata from File«. Give LR some time to update the Metadata Browser and have fun.<br /><br />Alexander.<br><span style="font-size: small; color: #408080">-- <br>Canon EOS 400D (aka. XTi) &bull; 20" iMac Intel &bull; 12" PowerBook G4 &bull; OS X 10.4 &bull; PSL 1 &bull; PSE 3</span>
                                        • 17. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                          Community Member
                                          Thanks Alexander,

                                          Does anyone have a suggestion for a good XMP editor for XP?

                                          Cheers
                                          KEv
                                          • 18. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                            Seán McCormack CommunityMVP
                                            Any text editor.
                                            • 19. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                              narya.de Community Member
                                              List of free text editors on Wikipedia.

                                              BTW, I used to work with NoteTab back when I was on Windows.

                                              Alexander.
                                              --
                                              Canon EOS 400D (aka. XTi) • 20" iMac Intel • 12" PowerBook G4 • OS X 10.4 • PSL 1 • PSE 3
                                              • 20. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                Community Member
                                                narya.de,
                                                Great solution that sounds like it would work.
                                                But, can we have a more "Elegant" and simpler solution in LRv1?
                                                * Something that can correct what LRv1 did in LRv1?

                                                Like selecting all the images that "should" be changed and going to the metadata section and changing it? just like keyword tags.

                                                p.s. it's not that I don't think LRv1 is great (for ver1), I DO.
                                                But, this "could" be a easy fix ... imho.
                                                • 21. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                  narya.de Community Member
                                                  Let's hope the developers hear us and provide a prettier solution in v2 (or even better v1.1) ...

                                                  Alexander.
                                                  --
                                                  Canon EOS 400D (aka. XTi) • 20" iMac Intel • 12" PowerBook G4 • OS X 10.4 • PSL 1 • PSE 3
                                                  • 22. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                    Community Member
                                                    For people wondering about the different listings for lenses, I just found something very interesting - Canon 1Ds and 5D create different entries for the lenses:

                                                    1Ds(MarkI or MarkII) - 135mm
                                                    5D - EF 135mm f/L USM (also note 5D lists tele-converters as well)

                                                    this creates unnecessary (and inaccurate) entries in the metadata browser.

                                                    Please Adobe, give us the ability to edit all EXIF info!

                                                    Jim
                                                    • 23. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                      Community Member
                                                      Typo - Sorry

                                                      1Ds(MarkI or MarkII) - 135mm
                                                      5D - EF 135mm f/2L USM (also note 5D lists tele-converters as well)
                                                      • 24. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                        Community Member
                                                        It is the same for the XXD series. The 30D writes the extended name and the 10D and 20D just the focal length.
                                                        • 25. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                          Community Member
                                                          Hopefully, if enough people request it, Adobe will add the ability to edit EXIF info so we can correct issues like this. There's no sense in having so many unnecessary entries in the metadata browser.
                                                          • 26. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                            Community Member
                                                            As Brian Witter notes, Canon's 30D produces the extended metadata for the lens while my Digital Rebel simply refers to the bare focal length boundaries of the zoom.

                                                            What I find very strange is while Lightroom reports "EF70-200mm f/4L USM" as the lens used on the 30D, Lightroom reports "70.0-200.0mm" as the lens used on the 30D when the new 70-200mm f/4L IS is mounted.

                                                            Consequently, the non-IS lens used on the Rebel and the IS lens used on the 30D report as being the same. I checked the metadata with the Canon software and the problem appears to be Canon's baby. It's either the lens not supplying the correct data or the camera not reading it because "70-200mm" is the data reported for the IS lens in the RAW file metadata.

                                                            Man...I can certainly fix the metadata from the Rebel, but I don't want this to be an on-going project... I don't see any other choice beyond changing it as I go or just leaving it as it. [sigh]
                                                            • 27. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                              Community Member
                                                              Additional note: If you use a tool like ExifTool, you can edit the EXIF data in place without having to export, edit, re-import. You can even build a shortcut (on Windows) that you can drop a directory on to update the metadata on a batch of images at one time. I sometimes use an old 55mm Micro-Nikkor on a D70s. No chip, so no metadata on the lens. I just finished building the shortcut to check for missing lens data and, if found, then add data for this lens. Works great.

                                                              Caveat: I have only checked the results in Bridge; haven't tried it with images that are already in LR.

                                                              Bruce
                                                              • 28. Re: Metadata Browser - selected view
                                                                john beardsworth Community Member
                                                                Bruce

                                                                I'd be interested to see that shortcut.

                                                                John