How to extract the XMP data embeded in NEF files

[jarraun]

Hi,

After the traumatic downgrade of Nikon Capture NX2 to a very basic NXD, I´m going to take the xmp sidecar files way with Lightroom. As Mario said in one of his posts:

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I dropped Capture a while ago and used ExifTool to extract the XMP data from the NEF into sidecar files.
I really don´t know how this can be performed, it would be very nice if someone could explain me the process. Thank you.

Best regards,

Javier from the Pyrenees

[Mario]

A good start would be the ExifTool Command Processor in IMatch.
Try the following command:

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-overwrite_original
-use
MWG
-tagsfromfile
{File.FullName}
{File.Path}{File.Name}.xmp

This extracts XMP data from all selected files and creates an XMP file in the same folder.
Try it with some sample images.
To remove XMP data from a file, use

Code Select Expand


-overwrite_original
-xmp=
{Files}

[jarraun]

Thank you Mario, it works ok. Much work to do these days, I think many people must be very angry with Nikon throwing away their View / Capture NX2 software. Really sad.

Best regards

Javier from the Pyrenees

[Mario]

I think Nikon did not throw it away by their own decision...

Nikon Capture was developed by a company named nik. This company was bought by Google and they have their own plans. I think Nikon just does not have the license for Capture anymore.

And I always warned about the proprietary way Nikon treated XMP data, and the consequences of their stubborn way to insist on embedding XMP in NEF files. Using this makes you dependent on a specific software - which is never good.

It's the same as all the cool "edits" users make in the RAW processor of their choice. Most users don't understand that all their edits are lost when they switch to another product, cannot longer afford or are no longer willing to pay the annual/monthly rent for their software etc. The only way to keep the changes is then to "export" them to an image file, but that's no longer lossless.

This and similar issues are the reason for IMatch being so "open". It uses established metadata standards (sometimes even forces users to stick to them). It has export features for all "proprietary" IMatch data like categories and attributes. The resulting formats are text or XML usually, which makes it easy to import the data into other applications if you ever decide to switch platforms or to another DAM.

Such secondary issues are very important but often overlooked by users.

We are often blinded by flashy advertisements, "endorsers"  (celebrities who are paid to tell us that they like product X) and the general marketing machinery the big companies can afford. I've recently read that Adobe spends more than 100 million US$ a year on marketing activities. My marketing budget is zero 

[cytochrome]

Hi,

After the traumatic downgrade of Nikon Capture NX2 to a very basic NXD, I´m going to take the xmp sidecar files way with Lightroom. ....
Javier from the Pyrenees

Unless you are buying a Nikon camera that is not yet on the market (?) there is no hurry.. CNx2 still works fine (I suppose, I don't have it, only the free ViewNx2, but same "problem").

I would take my time, and see how NX-D evolves (it is a beta, we all know here that a beta may acquire new tools) before embarking on an all xmp route.

Of course, that is only if you were on a xmp/iptc in image file work flow.

Francis

[jarraun]

Mario and Francis from the Alps,

No more Nikon software for me, I chose Capture NX2 believing Nikon had to keep for ever the edits made in their own NEF files taken with their own cameras, I thought it was safer working with software of the same brand as the files than general software. I was wrong. NIK-Google business movements doesn´t mater to Nikon customers that expect at least correct service, being an ametaeur I see it as a real shame, let alone the many professional that used CNX2 for their work.

Anyway, life goes on without CNX2 and even without photography.

[Mario]

believing Nikon had to keep for ever the edits made in their own NEF files taken with their own camera

Sometimes users ask me:

"What happens if you are hit by a bus, or you don't want to develop IMatch anymore? I'm surely better of buying software from brand X."

I then just list the software products by "big brands" which have been discontinued or sold and then ruined by the new owner over the past couple of years. Many DAM products have gone into oblivion, but IMatch is still here - since ~ 2001. And just look at IMatch 5 

The key point is to chose an "open" system which does not lock your data away. This allows you to switch brands without (much) loss of work. Like IMatch.

[andrewh]

Well said Mario.

I would add that raw converters are only transient. My first attempt at raw development was with Canon's free software and a G5.

The difference in quality compared to today's raw development solutions is astonishing. I now use PhotoNinja with IMatch and am simply amazed with the results. I never make a print from an old file without going back to the raw file and trying it in PhotoNinja and perhaps Bibble (aka Corel ASP) too.

Keep your raw files pure and untouched! Find them easily with IMatch!