Disappearing IPTC data

[Archive]

[Originally posted by brjohnson on 2007-03-18 19:54:25-07]

I have a directory full of .nef images that have been processed in Photoshop.  In Photoshop Bridge, I have added data in the IPTC 'Description' field and in other IPTC fields.  Some of these images were taken with a non-digital lens, so that there is no data about the lens in the metadata.  I would like to add lens data to these files.  After much trial and error (I'm new at ExifTool), I found that I can add the required information with the following command line:

exiftool -focallength=55 -focallenghtin35mmformat=83 -lens="55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor" -maxaperturevalue=2.8 -if "focallength le 1" *.nef

However, when I run that command on a directory with a few test images, all of the IPTC data that was previously added disappears from the resulting file.  Am I doing soemthing wrong, or is there a better way to do this?  Thanks,

Bruce

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2007-03-18 20:45:22-07]

Hi Bruce,

What you are doing looks fine, and should not affect the IPTC information.
Why do you say the IPTC disappears?

Use "exiftool -a -u -G1 FILENAME" to see what is really there.

- Phil

[Archive]

[Originally posted by brjohnson on 2007-03-19 23:25:05-07]

I think I've got it now.  It turned out that the data I was missing was being stored in an .xmp sidecar file by Bridge.  I thought by using exiftool .... *.nef the tool would read and copy data from both the .nef and the .xmp.  Didn't work that way.  So, I changed my command to:

exiftool .... *.*

 and it worked fine.  Now, what I need to do is figure out how to store the arguments in a file (or better yet, build a shortcut) so that I don't have to type the whole thing in a cmd window whenever I want to run it on another directory.  Thanks for all your help!

Bruce