writeback without exiftool

[jmhdassen]

I would like to see a setting whereby we do not use exiftool to update the JPG file.
I want metadata to be in XMP and database.
I like Imatch much better the way it works with RAW files. So IMHO it should be very easy to add this option also for JPG files.
JPG have the advantage that they can be used in Viewers better and are more portable.

Now I know what the first reaction will be. I know everything there is about Standards for metadata and XMP. I have read all this and heard the comments many times.

But here is another standard, or common practice:
The definition of a Catalog is:
A Catalog is a tool with which one manages items. It should facilitate easy finding and retrieval of items. It will use data about the items to do that, so in other words: metadata. But a Catalog is never, ever allowed to modify items. That is a big no-no in the industry. This applies very much to Data Catalogs.

If a Data Catalog finds data errors, and this this common, then the owner of the data should be notified to correct his/her data. If data is corrected directly in the Catalog we get data inconsistencies. Which can be disastrous in some industries. It is 'fiddling the books'.

Translating this to images, this means that a JPG Catalog, strictly speaking, should NOT modify JPG files. But if an error is found it should be corrected at the source, i.e. often the RAW processor application.  And then reloaded in the Catalog. That is how the Data Management industry works.

Now I know that for images often the source (e.g. cameras which produce JPG) can not be used to correct the data. So IMatch can be both Catalog and Editor in those cases. But I for one would prefer to update the images loaded in Capture ONE and reload into IMatch.

All I want to show is that there are more Standards and good practices than just the XMP standards. And there is a good rationale for managing JPG without exiftool.
[I did industrial data management for 20 years].


Regards, Jozef Dassen

[Mario]

IMatch uses ExifTool to read and write metadata. Unless you write-back, no data is written to your image files. Write-back is optional.

[jmhdassen]

Another defensive answer. You never seem to read the actual questions.
I WANT writeback just like with RAW, i.e. updated XMP files. I do not give a hoot about XMP in JPG no matter what some silly standard says.

JD

[Mario]

You will surely tell me that I'm again lecturing you (as you did in so many of your emails).

What you want is non-standard. I don't recommend it.
You can configure IMatch to force a XMP sidecar file for JPEG files. This was explained to you by me and another community member last week already.
This will make your metadata non-standard, will cause problems as soon as you touch your files with another XMP-aware application which expects the XMP to be embedded etc.
I would not go that way but you can do what you want.

Don't try to break IMatch's metadata handling do yo what you want.
Setup your own solution. I've explained that also. And even provided you with a list of other DAM software you can try. Maybe one of the other DAM software does what you want.

[jmhdassen]

Mario,

I am sending you a screenshot video of my problem.
I am sending by WeTransfer because its size exceeds the limit for the attachments.
I know I am not always good at explaining things. Please look at the video and tell me what if anything I am doing wrong.
FYI: The image is from a "modern" camera (D800E) and the JPG is created by the Output facility of Capture One. XMP is entirely created by IMatch, although there might be residue from the many different attempts. There are no customizations of any kind.

Please tell me what I am doing wrong and how to do it right. Maybe I need to "preprocess" all JPG to remove superfluous stuff??
In the end the only tags I really need are:
photoshop/iptcCore location info.
IntellectualGenre (what a name !!!!)
iptcCore:Scene
Gettys Personality
iptcCore:Event
iptcExt:keywords
lr:HierarchicalSubject
in addition I need to out of camera, unedited exif and some tiff tags.
In other words, all the tags a viewer might want to query on.

These all originate in Capture One and should be in original JPG already. I might want to feed updated values back into CO.
My primary use for IMatch is to update 20 years worth of images with CONSISTENT metadata matching a carefully designed Thesaurus.

BTW: do you consider XMP::iptcCore and XMP:iptcExt tags to be XMP tags or IPTC tags. I assume they are XMP tags.

Jozef Dassen

[Mario]

Maybe I need to "preprocess" all JPG to remove superfluous stuff??

No.
There is no superfluous stuff.
Your camera writes EXIF metadata into the image. RAW and JPG.
Some cameras also write a rudimentary XMP record into the file.
There may also be GPS data.
And when the file was processed by some other software in the past, maybe a legacy IPTC record.

IMatch pulls all that into the database and produces / enhances the XMP record by migrating EXIF/GPS/IPTC data into the corresponding counterparts in XMP.
All this is fully automatic. You don't need to do anything. Just keep the IMatch default metadata settings.

The "Default" or "Describe" or "Image" metadata panel layouts display subsets of this information. This is usually all users will ever need.
The Browser layout shows all data IMatch has imported from your files.

You can create you own Metadata Panel layout which shows exactly the metadata tags you want to see. See Metadata Panel Layouts

BTW: do you consider XMP::iptcCore and XMP:iptcExt tags to be XMP tags or IPTC tags. I assume they are XMP tags.

When deprecating the legacy IPTC IIM3 format almost 20 years ago, the IPTC committee created a modern version of it in form on an XMP namespace (IPTC Core).
Later then came the IPTCExt XMP namespace, with even more more data.
The IPTC Core and Ext namespaces are enhanced occasionally, when the IPTC incorporates new fields or retires existing fields.

IMatch is listed by the IPTC as one of the applications which fully support both namespaces, and also migration between legacy IIM3 IPTC and the modern formats.