Lightroom Classic CC import lens metadata incomplete

[paulr84811420]

Hi - new to this forum, hope someone can help.

I've just done a bulk import of all my old photos, which include thousands where the lens metadata is recorded properly against the image, which I can verify by opening the image on my Mac using preview, then using the Inspector.

So, for example the metadata for my lens in the Inspector reads:

However, the panel in Lightroom omits the brand specific information and shows as follows:

So, only 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 is shown rather than AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR.

This means that the lens is therefore not shown in the database so i can't apply lens-specific corrections in the Develop module.

My problem is even more pronounced in that the lens I have used for the last few years - my trusty 28-300 has also not been imported properly across over 6,000 images, yet, strangely for 165 it has.....

Exactly the same lens was used, and the metadata is intact on the original file.

Can anyone please suggest what has happened here?

I'm tempted to just do a new import to see if that fixes the problem.

Many thanks,

Paul

[kglad]

[ moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Lightroom Classic CC — The desktop-focused app]

[Just Shoot Me]

Paul select EXIF and IPTC to the left of the word Metadata.

Are you using a Nikkor (Nikon Brand) lens or some other brand?

[paulr84811420]

Yes Nikkor brand 16-35 brand new!

Have tried that, but still no correct identification of the lens - just has the generic zoom information as per the post.

One slight quirk, when looking at JPG's, whilst the lens information in the library metadata is basic, if I go into develop and try to do lens correction it does identify a few Nikon lenses, but not a full set.

[Just Shoot Me]

I'm slightly confused.

Are you looking for the info to show in the Metadata section of the right hand panel of the Library module or for the lens to show up in the Lens Correction section of the Develop module?

If this is a New Nikon (Nikkor) lens (New in that Nikon just released it) then Adobe might not have any data on it and hasn't added it to the list of available lenses.

Also that screen shot above is showing a list that you might get when working with a JPG image in the Develop module. There are only a few lens correction options available for JPG images. Most of the time the camera has a built in profile for each lens that gets applied in the camera for JPG images. No real PP need for JPGs.

[Just Shoot Me]

Also it this is a lens that Nikon just released have you updated the camera firmware to support it?

[paulr84811420]

Hi - yes I can see why I've confused you.

The shot was indeed from the develop module, and I appreciate there are not always full options for JPG files.

No these are old established lenses, and from my original post you can see the import count where over 6,000 were recorded as generic against my 28-300 but 165 imported the lens detail correctly - I don't understand where lightroom can just import, say, 28-300 rather than the full lens description when it is clearly in the metadata.

[Just Shoot Me]

I suggest you take some new images with that lens and then import them directly into LR and see what shows up.

Did you ever use one of the Nikon programs to import your images originally? If you did those older version of, I think it was called Nikon Transfer, could or did corrupt the image so LR couldn't read it.

[paulr84811420]

Thanks - will have a look.

Generally the images were just copied directly from the memory card, but it's clear that the metadata is intact, as it shows up on an inspection of the file by using Preview on the Mac.

But thanks for your assistance anyway!

[Just Shoot Me]

Can you upload some images shot with that lens to Dropbox or the like and post a public link to them in a reply. I'd like to import them into my system and see if the lens data shows up correctly.

[paulr84811420]

Yes will do tomorrow morning.

[paulr84811420]

Hi. I have uploaded 5 files to this location:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6w7izf8jh0qved7/AADbMwxedPMArJOtwS38ZCmEa?dl=0

DSC_0021 and DSC_6081 both import the lens metadata correctly from two different lenses

DSC_0007 and DSC_6308 are incomplete from the same lenses.

PFR_0018.NEF looks incomplete, but if you go to Develop module and apply lens correction it correctly identifies the lens.

It looks like this may have been a known bug with previous versions of Lightroom, but seemingly has been reintroduced with Classic CC:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2130950

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2166314

Thanks for your help!

[99jon]

This is what I see for the NEF - click image.

[paulr84811420]

Yes sure in Develop module, but what does the Lens EXIF data show in the Library view?

For me it just shows this – i.e. not showing the full lens details, whereas if you open the file through another method you can see the lens metadata IS recorded correctly.

[paulr84811420]

Whereas for DSC 6081, the lens metadata is reported correctly in the library module as below, but it's the same lens, and again if you look at the file properties outside Lightroom you can see the metadata is intact!

[99jon]

The only difference I can see is in the software version shown in EXIF e.g for DSC_6308 = Ver.1.01

For DSC_6081 = Photos 1.5

[paulr84811420]

But if you look at the Lens field for one it says:

28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

whereas for the other it says:

AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

[paulr84811420]

If I open the images both using Preview and then examine the metadata using the Inspector tool, the metadata is correct in both images as below, hence why I am trying to understand why Lightroom imports (or maybe just shows) it correct for one, but not for the other:

PFR_0018.NEF

DSC_6081

[99jon]

What do you see if you shoot a couple of new NEFs & jpegs and import straight into Lightroom from camera or card reader, without passing through Apple or Nikon software?

[paulr84811420]

Still the same problem - imported from card reader directly by lightroom

[99jon]

I would suggest you report it as a bug in the feedback forum where the engineers will see it. LR is obviously seeing the info for two separate lenses and you would need to filter on both to find everything taken with that specific lens.

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/categories/photoshop_family_photoshop_lightroom

[paulr84811420]

Have done so - thanks for your assistance - at least proves I wasn't going mad!

[richardplondon]

(TLDR; this is purely a description and so long as you can get the right lens profile applied, I wouldn't worry about it)

I recall a previous instance where a Pentax camera firmware update changed the format of Lens ID that was encoded into the picture file, from a 2-byte to a 3-byte code. This broke the LR lens detection for a time, until that was rectified in a later LR update.

It emerged during this episode, that Lightroom was disregarding any lens description field that might be present (what is sometimes referred to I think, as the "pretty name") and going only by the numerical Lens ID. The meaning of this Lens ID and the assignment of a given lens description and in due course selection of an appropriate lens correction profile, are all part and parcel of LR's own lens (and camera) support. The camera's role in this ends at including this Lens ID code according to the dictates of its own firmware.

This scheme is AFAICT partly designed with 3rd party lenses in mind. The camera body itself has no knowledge or recognition of such a lens, only some lenses by the same manufacturer may be known to it. But, for example Sigma might build into the lens electronics a code to be reported to the camera body, and the camera then just passes that on. Some Lens ID codes of this kind are unfortunately not unique, so LR may then show an inappropriate lens description (though that info is purely cosmetic) and also, one may then need to intervene in what particular lens profile is associated.

It only becomes a practical issue when one uses two lenses that happened to report the same coding to LR. Often legacy or fully manual lenses, or those on a mount adaptor are not identified except by generic type. In the case of Pentax on mounting such a lens the shake reduction prompts you to supply a focal length so there is at least that much encoded into the image to help distinguish the photos concerned.

[paulr84811420]

Thanks - I think we are getting somewhere.

It looks like Lightroom populates its 'Lens' field from the 'Lens Info' field in the metadata, which for example above would show:

28, 300, 3.5, 5.6

It then interprets this in a basic sense.

If however the metadata does NOT contain a 'Lens Info' field (as in my shots which I describe as having imported correctly), then it defaults to populating the 'Lens' field with the 'Lens Model' information form the metadata, which does indeed contain the 'pretty name' as you call it.

Not sure whether this can be fixed or whether I'll just treat as a quirk, but not really an issue!

Thanks for your help.

[richardplondon]

I have in the past used a LR plugin called "Lenstagger" to resolve some of these sorts of issue. It works by writing out current metadata to the file (to protect latest edits), which is then modified externally by scripting Exiftool and then metadata is read back again into the LR Catalog including those updates.

Separate arrangements need to be made for updating the metadata shown for virtual copies, so perhaps the better time to correct this sort of stuff is right at the start, rather than retrospectively.

Where the rubber hits the road is, IMO: whether or not LR detects (or permits you to user assign) a lens correction profile.