Updating Canon CR2 for iPhoto/iMac

[Kloomnik]

Hi experts,

I am copying old slides with Canon digital camera in RAW format and importing to iPhoto on a Mac.

The meta-data shown is of no interest to me (it's of the re-shoot).

I want to delete all these meta-data, and write instead tags such as

MAKE  = Nikon (although this tag doesn't really display in iPhoto)
MODEL = Nikon FM3a
LENS  = Kodachrome slide (this would display in iPhoto just under the model)

Things tried:

1. Deleting all meta-data makes the CR2 file unrecognizable by iPhoto or DPP.

2. Ditto for deleting all the Makernotes.

3. Deleting individual tags gives me strange results:

Deleting ISO changes it from 1250 to 1234 (when I read the tag afterwords)
Deleting ExposureTime changes it from 1/100 to 1/102 (when I read the tag afterwords)
Deleting Lenstype makes no difference (when I read the tag afterwords)

And, in any case iPhoto, still reads the *original* values.

In short, after

exiftool -Make="Nikon" -Model="Nikon FM3a" -lens="Kodachrome" -ISO= -ExposureTime= test.cr2

everything looks the same in iPhoto -- except the Model which is now Nikon FM3a.

I tried many other things (too long to list), to no avail.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

BTW, things work a lot better with tif files.

Ami

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Ami,

I do not recommend that you try to delete any metadata from raw images.  Much of this is required in order to be able to develop the image properly.

- Phil

[Kloomnik]

Thanks Phil,

Looks as if to see metadata about the original equipment used in shooting these slides, the file will have to be converted to tiff (at double the size).

~Ami

[Phil Harvey]

I really have no idea what you are talking about. You can see the metadata in the original RAW image using ExifTool, and I thought the problem was that you wanted to remove it.

- Phil

[Alan Clifford]

I really have no idea what you are talking about. You can see the metadata in the original RAW image using ExifTool, and I thought the problem was that you wanted to remove it.

- Phil

Phil, he wants to create metadata relevant to the original slides.

[Kloomnik]

Exactly, thanks Alan.

I shot slides 20-30 years ago with some equipment. I am now copying them using Canon digital camera with RAW format. The mata-data is mostly uninteresting to me. I'd like to erase it and write a few new fields describing the original shoot. It appears that I can do it rather simply if I convert RAW to tiff, but doing this in RAW was unsuccessful (which is what my original post was about).

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Ami,

Sorry, I'm still not clear about your question.  You want to know how to delete metadata from TIFF images?  If so, then FAQ number 7 may be of interest.

- Phil

[Kloomnik]

Hi Phil.

Let me try and explain again.

I shot many slides 20-30 years ago with some equipment. I am now copying them using Canon digital camera with RAW format. The mata-data in the Canon images is mostly uninteresting to me. I'd like to erase it and write a few new fields describing the original equipment used (e.g., camera model, lens, film type, date).

I know I can do it with TIFF images, but I have been unsuccessful in doing it with RAW images.  For example,

exiftool -Make="Nikon" -Model="Nikon FM3a" -lens="Kodachrome" -ISO= -ExposureTime= test.cr2

Doesn't change anything except the Model.

If you confirm that I cannot accomplish this, then I'll convert the images to TIFF and then change the metadata.

Thanks

Ami

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Ami,

Yes.  This is definitely a bad thing to do to RAW images.

- Phil