Adding tags within LensTagger

[Alexnapo]

Hey all,

I'm a film shooter. I've been using a software called AnalogExif for a while but it keeps crashing so I'm switching to LensTagger https://www.lenstagger.com/ which uses ExifTool to write EXIF metadata.

LensTagger lacks a lot of fields on its interface. Only lens, camera, scanner, and film stock information is on the interface. But not stuff like lab name, address, dates, etc.




In the bottom part of the program (see attache screenshot - sorry I can't manage to embed a picture here), it's possible to change/edit the Command manually.
I guess this is where I could add some tags ? Can someone instruct me how I would go about for example to ad lab name ?

Thanks !

[StarGeek]

There's no tag specifically designed to hold lab name, so you have to repurpose some other tag for this.  The easiest thing would be to add all that information to the description, that way it would be visible in programs such as Lightroom.

Your additions would look something like
-Description="Great Lab, 123 Main Street, NoWhere, SD"

This would overwrite anything that was already in the description, though.

To add the date the photo was taken, you would use
-DateTimeOriginal="2019:11:02 12:00:00"

If you want to really get specific, you can set the time you scanned the image with
-CreateDate="2019:11:02 12:00:00"
But most people don't bother with so much detail.

[Alexnapo]

Hello StarGeek

Thanks for the tips.

So I was thinking indeed of using the description section of the metadata for that.

To add lab name I would have to add the "-Description=" text (following the name, etc.) in the Command of LensTagger ?
Or it's more complicated than that ?

Is there a way to only edit the description and avoid touching the rest ? I do use lightroom. I'd like to avoid messing around with any other metadata and LR edits if I go about modifying the description.

Thank you,

[StarGeek]

To add lab name I would have to add the "-Description=" text (following the name, etc.) in the Command of LensTagger ?
Or it's more complicated than that ?

Nope, that's it.  Just make sure and enclose the TEXT part in double quotes, but not Fancy Quotes like a word processor will auto correct to.

Is there a way to only edit the description and avoid touching the rest ? I do use lightroom. I'd like to avoid messing around with any other metadata and LR edits if I go about modifying the description.

Lightroom has the ability to add the Description directly and that might be a simpler way if you're more comfortable with a GUI.  Otherwise, the direct command would be
exiftool -Description="TEXT TEXT TEXT" /path/to/images

That command would create backup files which can be suppressed with the Overwrite_Original option.  You can recurse into subdirectories with the -r (recurse) option.   

[Alexnapo]

Hey StarGeek,

Thanks for the hints. To make sure I understand. To add stuff in the description field I would do example.

-Description="Lab name, labe address"

By the way, in my LR the field is called "User Comment"
We are talking about the same Exif field Description IS User Comment, correct ?

I so see indeed, I can edit the User Comment field directly in LR. I didn't realize that was possible.
It seems finicky, however....

Back to LensTagger and Exiftool.
What if I want to add multiple lines in description ? How can I jump line ?
Attached is a screenshot of what I usually have in the Description after I wrote Exif data with the AnalogExif software.

Other questions, if I write
-DateTimeOriginal"2019:11:02" that's an actual EXIF field in itself ?

[StarGeek]

Thanks for the hints. To make sure I understand. To add stuff in the description field I would do example.

-Description="Lab name, labe address"

Yes, this will add the text to the XMP:Description.  I only have an older version of Lightroom but when you add text to it's Description field, it will add the text to XMP:Description, IPTC:Caption-Abstract, and EXIF:ImageDescription.  My Adobe Bridge is up to date and it will write to all three fields.

By the way, in my LR the field is called "User Comment"
We are talking about the same Exif field Description IS User Comment, correct ?

EXIF:UserComment is a different field.  I was suggesting the use of Description because it is a tag supported by most software.  UserComment, in my experience, is rarely supported.  The EXIF version of Description is the EXIF:ImageDescription tag.  If you want to use the that tag instead, just replace the tag name in the above command
-UserComment="Lab name, lab address"

What if I want to add multiple lines in description ? How can I jump line ?

See FAQ #21.  Option B would probably be the best for your situation where you're just adding data.  So you would use:
-E -UserComment="Lab name
lab address"

Attached is a screenshot of what I usually have in the Description after I wrote Exif data with the AnalogExif software.

Interesting.  Adobe Bridge and my old LR 4.4 doesn't have that option.

Other questions, if I write
-DateTimeOriginal"2019:11:02" that's an actual EXIF field in itself ?

The DateTimeOriginal requires a time stamp as well as the date.  The most common solution in your situation is to write 00:00:00 for the time.
-DateTimeOriginal="2019:11:02 00:00:00"

[Phil Harvey]

Other questions, if I write
-DateTimeOriginal"2019:11:02" that's an actual EXIF field in itself ?

The DateTimeOriginal requires a time stamp as well as the date.  The most common solution in your situation is to write 00:00:00 for the time.
-DateTimeOriginal="2019:11:02 00:00:00"

Actually, according to the EXIF specification, unknown fields are supposed to be left blank.  I don't really recommend this, and I prefer Stargeek's technique of setting them to zero, but just FYI it would be done like this:

-DateTimeOriginal#="2019:11:02   :  :  "

(note the "#", which is necessary to bypass the ExifTool value checks)

- Phil

[Alexnapo]

To add lab name I would have to add the "-Description=" text (following the name, etc.) in the Command of LensTagger ?
Or it's more complicated than that ?

Nope, that's it.  Just make sure and enclose the TEXT part in double quotes, but not Fancy Quotes like a word processor will auto correct to.

Is there a way to only edit the description and avoid touching the rest ? I do use lightroom. I'd like to avoid messing around with any other metadata and LR edits if I go about modifying the description.

Lightroom has the ability to add the Description directly and that might be a simpler way if you're more comfortable with a GUI.  Otherwise, the direct command would be
exiftool -Description="TEXT TEXT TEXT" /path/to/images

That command would create backup files which can be suppressed with the Overwrite_Original option.  You can recurse into subdirectories with the -r (recurse) option.

Hey StarGeek

I don't see a Description field in the LR metadata options for EXIF.
Perhaps the EXIF empty fields don't show up when empty ?

[Alexnapo]

Thanks for the hints. To make sure I understand. To add stuff in the description field I would do example.

-Description="Lab name, labe address"

Yes, this will add the text to the XMP:Description.  I only have an older version of Lightroom but when you add text to it's Description field, it will add the text to XMP:Description, IPTC:Caption-Abstract, and EXIF:ImageDescription.  My Adobe Bridge is up to date and it will write to all three fields.

By the way, in my LR the field is called "User Comment"
We are talking about the same Exif field Description IS User Comment, correct ?

EXIF:UserComment is a different field.  I was suggesting the use of Description because it is a tag supported by most software.  UserComment, in my experience, is rarely supported.  The EXIF version of Description is the EXIF:ImageDescription tag.  If you want to use the that tag instead, just replace the tag name in the above command
-UserComment="Lab name, lab address"

What if I want to add multiple lines in description ? How can I jump line ?

See FAQ #21.  Option B would probably be the best for your situation where you're just adding data.  So you would use:
-E -UserComment="Lab name
lab address"

Attached is a screenshot of what I usually have in the Description after I wrote Exif data with the AnalogExif software.

Interesting.  Adobe Bridge and my old LR 4.4 doesn't have that option.

Other questions, if I write
-DateTimeOriginal"2019:11:02" that's an actual EXIF field in itself ?

The DateTimeOriginal requires a time stamp as well as the date.  The most common solution in your situation is to write 00:00:00 for the time.
-DateTimeOriginal="2019:11:02 00:00:00"

Ok so I did a test with -Description="Boston,MA" and it wrote the text to a field called "Caption" in LR.
See attached screenshot.

[StarGeek]

I don't see a Description field in the LR metadata options for EXIF.
Perhaps the EXIF empty fields don't show up when empty ?

Description is an XMP tag and it will most likely show up under IPTC Core.  That's where it shows up in Adobe Bridge.  My copy of Lightroom is a bit old (ver 4.4) so I can't check.

I don't know how editable the EXIF fields (ImageDescription and UserComment) might be in Lightroom.  They cannot be directly edited in Bridge.

The reason I suggested Description is because it is the more modern standard.  It doesn't have the length limitations (that nearly all programs ignore) of the old IPTC IIM legacy and has better support among most software than the other two tags.

[Alexnapo]

Hey StarGeek

I see what you mean. I was able to open Bridge on my side and have a look at what it looks like when I look at those pictures I wrote EXIF to it. Now I see what you were saying.

Indeed it does my stuff shows in IPTC Core under "Description" for the text Boston, MA
And under keywords for the rest of the stuff about camera make, model, etc.

However I don't see a unique field about camera make and model. Any clue ? Is that outside IPTC Core ?

[StarGeek]

However I don't see a unique field about camera make and model. Any clue ? Is that outside IPTC Core ?

Yes, overall the IPTC Core fields are more descriptive about the content of the photo, the location, the creator, etc.  They hold data that won't be created by the camera but added afterwards.  See IPTC Photo Metadata Standard 2017.1 for a lot more details.

The EXIF group hold more items related to the camera and it's settings, though there are a few items that are more descriptive and added afterwords, such as the previously mentioned UserComment and ImageDescription , as well as the whole XP* tags, created by Microsoft that are primarily only used by Windows.  In Bridge you'll have to scroll down the metadata window to find it under "Camera Data (EXIF)".

There is an XMP version for most EXIF tags, usually in the XMP-tiff or XMP-exif groups, but I don't believe that there are many programs out there that make serious use of them.

[Alexnapo]

Other questions, if I write
-DateTimeOriginal"2019:11:02" that's an actual EXIF field in itself ?

The DateTimeOriginal requires a time stamp as well as the date.  The most common solution in your situation is to write 00:00:00 for the time.
-DateTimeOriginal="2019:11:02 00:00:00"

Actually, according to the EXIF specification, unknown fields are supposed to be left blank.  I don't really recommend this, and I prefer Stargeek's technique of setting them to zero, but just FYI it would be done like this:

-DateTimeOriginal#="2019:11:02   :  :  "

(note the "#", which is necessary to bypass the ExifTool value checks)

- Phil

Thanks for the tip Phil.

[Alexnapo]

I see.

Thanks for all those explenations.
It does make sense.

Another question.
When using LensTagger I see in the edit box of the Command I it's written this way

"/Users/alex/Pictures/_Film Scans/LR Plugins/LensTagger-1.9.0.lrplugin/bin/exiftool"  -Make="Canon" -Model="eos 650" -ISO="200" -m -overwrite_original_in_place -P "-UserComment<-Make=Canon$/-Model=eos 650$/-ISO=200$/Scanner Make: Frontier$/Scanner Model: SP-3000$/Film Make: Kodak$/Film Type: Ektar$/LensTaggerVer:1.9.0" -Keywords+="Canon, eos 650, 200, Frontier, SP-3000, Kodak, Ektar, LensTagger"

I have a hard time understanding the logic in a few things looking at the text.
What are the $ for ?
Why is the entire line from UserComment to end in quotes and not the individual data.

Thanks,
Alexandre

[StarGeek]

What are the $ for ?
Why is the entire line from UserComment to end in quotes and not the individual data.

See the -p (printFormat) option and FAQ #21d.

The dollar sign slash is used to indicate a new line when used with the -p option.  LensTagger is setting the UserComment tag to a bunch of exiftool options.  No idea why.