GPS and Lightroom

[mikaels71195823]

I have a question about GPS and Lightroom. First I import RAW files (NEF) to a folder in Lightroom, I set the GPS to all photos. Then I want to have same photos as DNG files for the future. But when I import the DNG files to Lightroom there are no GPS on the DNG files.

I have also tried to select all NEF files and In the Metadata menu> Save Metadata to File, and tried that but stil no GPS on the DNG files. It seems I have to copy and paste from NEF files to DNG files on by one.

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

Import thinks that the DNG files are totally new files that Lightroom has never seen, and so Lightroom does not know you have previously added GPS to the RAW.

You could, inside LR, use the command to convert the photos to DNG, this ought to preserve the GPS information. As I am at work now, I leave it up to you to find this command in the menus.

By the way, the process of importing the RAWs and then later importing the DNGs seems meaningless and pointless to me. Pick one, RAW or DNG, then stick with it, don't import both.

[mikaels71195823]

That's what I did I converted the NEF to DNG in lightroom, but the GPS locations didn't follow. Maybe I should not Import them as DNG as you say and only have the NEF files. Thanks I'm considering it

[dj_paige]

mikaels71195823  wrote

That's what I did I converted the NEF to DNG in lightroom, but the GPS locations didn't follow. Maybe I should not Import them as DNG as you say and only have the NEF files. Thanks I'm considering it

Ok, stop right there.

Your original message says you IMPORTED the DNGs. Now you are saying you converted the NEFs to DNGs inside of LR. Okay ... if that's what you did, where did you look for the GPS locations? Please be very specific and show us screen captures.

[mikaels71195823]

OK, I imported first the NEF files, in the map module I drag the photos to the right places on the map, it was 500 photos. Then I converted those photos to DNG in to a new folder in Lightroom, the GPS coordinates where not on the dng files.

[dj_paige]

I said: Please be very specific. Show us screen captures.

You said:

Then I converted those photos to DNG in to a new folder in Lightroom,

Using what method? I want to know exactly, step by step, what you did. So far in this thread, you have stated you used two different methods. You stated you imported the DNGs and you stated you converted them inside of LR using the menu command. Which is it?

Then you said:

the GPS coordinates where not on the dng files.

Where? Where did you not see the GPS coordinates? Your words imply you are looking at the files themselves (using your operating system or some non-Lightroom utility program)? Is that where you don't see the GPS coordinates? Or are you not seeing them in Lightroom's metadata panel on the right hand side of the Library Module? Which? Where?

[mikaels71195823]

If you have GPS coordinates on a photo you see a little symbol in the lower right corner, and if you click on that symbol it takes you to the "Map" module in Lightroom. This is how it looks in my Lightroom:

And the DNG file are imported from the folder where the NEF file is.

[dj_paige]

Then the conclusion is that converting to DNG inside of Lightroom does not preserve GPS location.

[mikaels71195823]

OK, but, in the Metadata menu> Save metadata in file, it says:

For supplier-specific Camera RAW files, metadata will be saved in child files to the original photo. For all other file formats supported in Lightroom (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and DNG), XMP metadata will be written in the original files.

[johnrellis]

Please do Help > System Info and report the exact version of LR you're running and Mac/Windows.

[johnrellis]

I did the following experiment:

1. Unchecked the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically Write Changes Into XMP.

2. Imported a fresh raw file (a Sony .arw).

3. Changed all the metadata fields visible in the LR Metadata panel, including GPS coordinates and keywords.

4. Selected the raw and did Library > Convert Photo To DNG.

All of the metadata set in step 3 was copied to the DNG created in step 4.  This also happened when Automatically Write Changes Into XMP was checked.

So there's something about your configuration or the precise steps you're doing that's off.

[mikaels71195823]

OK, I looked at your step 1 and this was allready unchecked. But did you write GPS coordinates to one image just? Because it will be tough if you have several photos to convert into dngs. But I will check into that.

[mikaels71195823]

In which metadat panel did you write in all fields? (3)

[johnrellis]

Which version of LR are you running?

[mikaels71195823]

I'm running the latest 2015.12

[mikaels71195823]

For Windows

[johnrellis]

Here's a screen recording showing exactly what I did: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21811200/dng-conversion-2017.07.19.mov . I took three raws, applied a metadata preset that sets all the metadata fields visible in all the Metadata panels, changed the Sublocation and GPS coordinates to be unique for the three raws, then converted all three to DNG.  The DNGs retained the metadata values that I set.

[mikaels71195823]

OK this worked but not to convert them to dng in Import. Sorry for Swedish text:

[johnrellis]

OK this worked but not to convert them to dng in Import.

I just did a similar test with Import using the Copy As DNG option (Kopiera som DNG).  First I tried importing raw files that had .xmp sidecars containing GPS locations and other metadata fields, and the DNG created by LR contained the GPS locations and other metadata fields from the .xmp sidecar.  Then I tried importing raw files that had those metadata fields stored in the raw file itself, and the DNG created by LR also contained the locations and other metadata fields.

If you don't observe the same thing, perhaps you could upload a sample raw file to Dropbox or similar, post the sharing link here, and post the exact steps you're doing to convert it to DNG.  We can see if the problem occurs in our LR.

[mikaels71195823]

OK now it works for me, I got the latest Lightroom and it works, maybe there was something with the other LR. Thanks for your help.

[mikaels71195823]

No, it didn't work anyway, the first way works but not the copy import, I try to fix a video how I do.

[mikaels71195823]

Here is a video how I do it.

[johnrellis]

You're applying a Metadata preset on import:

As a test, set it to None (Inga) and try the import.  If that corrects the problem, then your preset is clearing the GPS field.  Edit the preset and make sure GPS is unchecked.

If this doesn't correct the issue, then upload a sample photo to Dropbox or similar and post the sharing link here.

[mikaels71195823]

I've tried both ways, I changed Metadata preset to none it didn't work, and then unchecked GPS and even empty metadata preset nada.. I send a photo here true Dropbox.

Dropbox - Photo

[johnrellis]

Dropbox - Photo

This is .jpg, not a raw file, so it can't be imported with Copy As DNG.  Can you upload the original raw?