Metadata write back problem

[AlanS]

Hi,

I've got an issue with a number of files that have the yellow pen shown and don't go away when pen is clicked on.
'XMP::dc\subject' is shown as requiring a write back.

per your Metadata Problems post, the output panel, Metadata analyst, and log file are attached.

the file I used is at

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmg6u1csse2grxy/20111017-51%20UPRR%20Bridge.zip?dl=0

Hopefully this can help solve my issue.

Cheers,
Alan

[Mario]

The legacy IPTC /XMP keywords in your file don't match the hierarchical keywords.
This is usually caused by other software which does not synchronize keywords properly, your thesaurus, your keyword mapping settings under Edit > Preferences > Metadata.

In your case it seems that you have both an XMP record embedded in the image and a sidecar file.
This is never good.
And you have somehow stored different keywords in the XMP record in the image and the sidecar file.
What is your tool chain, which software did you use on these files?

The NEF file contains a partial XMP record with these keywords:

[XMP-dc]        Subject                         : SFMX|PORTS|UPRR Bridge, Textures & Walls
[XMP-lr]        Hierarchical Subject            : SFMX|PORTS|UPRR Bridge

This record was written by a software which uses the old XMP Core 5.6.0 Adobe XMP toolkit.

The XMP sidecar file has these keywords:

[XMP-dc]        Subject                         : SFMX|PORTS|UPRR Bridge
[XMP-lr]        Hierarchical Subject            : SFMX|PORTS|UPRR Bridge

By definition and industry standard, RAW files should not contain XMP metadata.
But IMatch sees both the XMP metadata embedded in the image (Adobe software ignores it, propably) and also the XMP data in the sidecar file and merges it.
IMatch does not write XMP data to RAW files by default. It follows the standards.

This means it cannot "fix" the different keywords you have somehow embedded in the image and the sidecar file. You need to do this manually.
The simplest solution would by to remove the XMP record from the NEF file. The ExifTool Command Processor has a preset for that.