Ratings for Fuji files in Photo Mechanic missing in Lightroom after import.

[beto0887097]

Ok, I really hope somebody can help me out. I normally shoot Canon and my workflow is: Ingest/Rate in Photo Mechanic, then import to Lightroom and do editing there. Never had a problem with this setup.

I recently bought a Fuji XT-1 and I ingest/rate the RAF files in PM but the ratings are not in Lightroom after I import to LR. I tried the "Read metadata from file" option and that didn't bring any changes whatsoever. Canon's CR2 files behave normally and ratings are all there.

I noticed that when I rate in PM, a xmp file is created with my ratings etc. Then when I import to LR the following happens:

For Canon files: the existing xmp file gets rewritten by LR, adding stuff about camera, lens, etc. Ratings that were there are left intact.

For Fuji files: the existing xmp file is left untouched. Instead, LR creates a different xmp file with info about camera, lens, etc but no "rating" value.

I have no idea where the problem lays (LR, PM or some setting in the camera itself). I've tried googling but no luck.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Beto.

[johnrellis]

For Fuji files: the existing xmp file is left untouched. Instead, LR creates a different xmp file with info about camera, lens, etc but no "rating" value.

When you say "LR creates a different xmp file", do you mean that LR is overwriting the .xmp created by Photo Mechanic?  Or are LR and PM putting their respective .xmp files in different locations somehow?

If the former, then to troubleshoot, upload a sample Fuji file and the .xmp created by PM to Dropbox (or similar) and post the sharing link here.  We can see if we can reproduce the problem and figure out what's going on.

[beto0887097]

Hi John, thanks for replying.

It's both, kind of.

If the files are from my Canon: LR overwrites the existing .xmp file (created originally by PM). It doesn't completely overwrite it, it leaves the rating (set by PM) and adds info about camera, lens, etc.

If the files are from my Fuji: LR creates a different xmp file in the same location as the old (PM) xmp file. So now I have (in the same folder):

1. A raw file (.RAF from the fuji)

2. An .xmp file with rating info (created by PM)

3. An .xmp file with everything but a rating (created by LR)

I can add screenshots or attach the actual xmp files if this helps.

Thanks again.

[johnrellis]

Can you show a screenshot of the Mac Finder or Windows File Explorer showing the raw file and the two .xmp files in the same folder?  I'm not sure how that is happening, and a screenshot should clear it up.

Also, do Help > System Info in LR and report the exact version of LR and the version of OS X / Windows you are running.

[beto0887097]

Lightroom version: CC 2015.7 [ 1090788 ]

OSX: 10.11.6 (El Capitan)

This is the screenshot of my Finder window with the raw files and their xmp files:

This is another screenshot of the info window for the two different xmp files, just in case (I'm also confused as to how they are named the same and live in the same Finder window). LR xmp on the left, Photo Mechanic xmp on the right:

Thanks again

[johnrellis]

One of the files ends with ".xmp" and the other ".XMP".  Normally on Mac, that shouldn't make a difference, but your disk may be formatted to be a case-sensitive volume, in which the case of filenames does matter (and creates endless confusion, since many apps assume filenames are case-insensitive). 

To check this, go to Finder and find the volume "BUFFALO APPLE".  Right-click the volume and do Get Info.  Post the screenshot.  

it should something like this screenshot:

(If you don't see the screenshot in the email notification, click the link View The Full Discussion to view in your Web browser.)

[beto0887097]

Ahhhh would you look at that!

I guess this is the problem?

[beto0887097]

I just realized there's one gotcha, though. My Canon files also have two xmp files (one all caps one small caps) and the ratings from PM do get recognized by Lightroom without any issues. It's only the fuji files that have this problem.

[johnrellis]

I just realized there's one gotcha, though. My Canon files also have two xmp files (one all caps one small caps) and the ratings from PM do get recognized by Lightroom without any issues. It's only the fuji files that have this problem.

That is curious -- that would imply that LR handles the case issue one way for Canon and another way for Fuji.  I guess that's possible.

You could verify this is the issue by putting some test Fuji files on a case-insensitive volume (e.g. your main drive) and seeing if the problem occurs there.

[beto0887097]

Just did exactly that and there's no problem when ingesting to/importing from a case-insensitive volume!

I guess I'm not interested in the minutiae, it's now clear that a case-insensitive hd is the way to go.

I can't thank you enough John! This drove me crazy for a week and a half.

Thanks again,

Beto.

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

That does seem to be the problem -- PM is creating .XMP's while LR is reading and creating .xmp's (or vice versa).

I recommend that you reformat the volume to be case-insensitive, otherwise madness ensues (as you've discovered).  I did a quick Google, and it seems the most straightforward way to do that is to first delete the unwanted .xmp's (the one's LR created), back up the volume (make sure it's really backed up), reformat, and then restore from the backup to the now-case-insensitive volume.  I've read that the tool iPartition can reformat the volume in place without losing data, but I have no experience with that.  (And you'd still have to first get rid of the duplicate .xmp's.)