Merging metadata from two sets of images?

[JeffK]

I am wondering if I might have some further help with my trialling of IMatch

In a trip to the UK last year I took about 8,000 photos with my Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ-40.

When I got home I made a backup of all the images.  This backup contains the Panasonic Makernote placename data which the camera writes to the image file.  I can see this metadata in IMatch.

After I got home I edited all the metadata in a copy of the images and the edited images contain placename data obtained through Geosetter which I, for convenience, transferred to the IPTC Contact Info fields;  and a subset of the Makernote data which I put into the IPTC placename fields.  The latter data only contains three of the possible 5 fields as that is all the knowledge/tools I had at my disposal at the time.  I can see all this data in IMatch

I would now like to take the more complete placename data (all five available fields) in the original images and transfer it to the edited images but without destroying the Geosetter derived data.

Can I do this in iMatch?  In other words I want to merge the placename data from the two sets of images.

Thanks for any advice.

Jeff

[Mario]

I don't see a direct way to copy some metadata fields from some files to some other files. This cannot be done via a metadata template, nor via version propagation (which can propagate metadata, but not certain tags). Your best bet would be to do it with ExifTool or in the ExitTool Command Processor in IMatch. If this is only for a few files you are probably done in 10 minutes on the command line with ExifTool. See the ExifTool web site and forum for many examples. Or maybe the free ExifTool GUI has a special feature for that.

In IMatch, I would give the ECP a try. If you can 'construct' the file name of the copy source from the file name of the copy target, you can create an ECP argument file which explicitly specifies the source and target files via their file names and variables. Then you can copy individual XMP tags between the files.

[JeffK]

Thanks Mario.

I'm not very familiar with Exiftool but I need to learn more so I might give it a go.

I was in the process of trying "export metadata in text file" and then "import data from csv file" on 200 samle files - havent got it working yet.

Jeff

[Mario]

The CSV Export and Import may work as well. IMatch 5 is really virtually limitless in what it can do...

You only need to figure out the variables for the export. To do this, locate the data you want to export in the Metadata Panel. right-click and use Copy as Variable. Tip: Use Notepad to to temporary keep the variables (Copy as variable, paste into Notepad, copy next variable, ...)

After you have all variables, use them with the Text Exporter.

[JeffK]

Yes it does appear to work.  But I've still got to identify the fields I want to populate and work on a bigger sample.  I hope to do this tomorrow.

I'll post again when I get further down the track.

[Mario]

I will move this topic to General Discussion because you posted in a board which is about giving tips not for asking questions.

[JeffK]

Thanks Mario sorry about that.

[JeffK]

Yes it does appear to work.  But I've still got to identify the fields I want to populate and work on a bigger sample.  I hope to do this tomorrow.

I'll post again when I get further down the track.

This method does appear to work.  I've now processed about 900 files in the first batch; I will try a batch of approx 2000 now.

Would like to have a look at program speed - work out why it appears slow during some processes eg writing back metadata to files but the export/import bit I've used here is quite fast once it's set up.

[JeffK]

After getting so far into this I realised that all except the first 400 of my files already had the correct metadata but just in the wrong "fields".

So I had two runs at moving the metadata around.  The first copied 4 fields from one place to another for the 7,822 files and took approx 90 minutes.  The second copied 5 fields for the same files and was at approx 2h15m when IMatch stopped working.  On closer examination I found that the operation was in fact successful.

While I have not worked through IMatch from the beginning it is obvious it is a very powerful program functionally.

I have some doubts about speed and stability but I guess there may be some preferences and methods of working I could tweak to improve this.

Jeff

[Mario]

When IMatch 'stops working' (or just appears so, because it is in fact too busy to momentarily respond), there are several things which allow us to find out what's happening. The log file (see help). The DUMP file (see help, when IMatch crashes).

Without at least the log file, and a precise description of what you were doing and where, it's hard to tell if and why IMatch became unresponsive.

For example:

A simple run of the ExifTool Command Processor can change 1000 files in a few minutes on disk.
But this means that IMatch has to reprocess all thousand files, re-importing metadata, applying metadata templates, versioning, propagation, re-create thumbnails and cache files, update collections and data-driven categories and many more things. And this can stress out any PC real bad. But no log file, so I can only guess...

See also: How to report bugs and problems

[JeffK]

Thanks again Mario.

The power and functionality of IMatch is impressive.  I'm just working out whether I can use it in parallel with ACDSee Pro 7.

I remain wondering about speed in particular but as you say it is not possible to specifically deal with any perceived issues without good information.  So I'll work with it some more and let you know if I have issues.

I decided to, in a more leisurely fashion, explore the programs functionality and experiment with my photo collection.

So I have registered a copy.

Thanks and regards,

Jeff

[JeffK]

Mmmm - downloading 5.2.8 failed twice with network error so far - all other sites/test downloads appear OK.

It's OK - third attempt worked OK.

[Mario]

Not sure which performance you are referring to?

When you talk about metadata: IMatch/ExifTool can be fast or slow, it all depends on your options, file formats etc.
What costs extra time is the a) overall data quality produced by IMatch and b) the proper implementation of the Metadata Working Group rules for metadata. This guarantees that your image metadata will be compatible with most applications and future-proof.

When you dumb down IMatch to the levels of other software mentioned, e.g. by disabling MWG compliance and not mapping between different metadata standards, you can improve metadata read/write speed considerably.

Strip all data-driven categories you don't use. Another performance boost.

Don't used advanced features like versioning. Much less work for IMatch so more speed.

That's a good start when your performance. Since I have no real idea about the performance issues you consider (you did never post a log file so I don't even know the file formats you process or if your database is large or small) I cannot give other tips.

If you have some specific issues, post detailed info + log file so we can see what you do, how you do it and then provide tips.

[Mario]

Mmmm - downloading 5.2.8 failed twice with network error so far - all other sites/test downloads appear OK.

Download running at 2 MB/sec right now. No other reports. Server farm reports 0 errors in the past 10 days.
Disable anti-virus, downloader and other software. Then retry.
If it fails again, send me your email address and I can check the log file for your account.