Nikon Scan 4 Tags

[Rich]

Hi all,

I am relatively new to ExifTool. I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have a question about ExifTool and Nikon Scan 4 Software Settings & Tags the software is supposed to write. I have read the ExifTool manual and I have watched the video tutorials so I have familiarised myself with ExifTool to a degree.

I recently scanned some images in Photoshop CS6 which I saved as uncompressed TIFF files using a Nikon Coolscan 5000ED scanner (compatible with Nikon Scan 4). I would like to find out whether Digital ICE, ROC, GEM, DEE or the Scan Image Enhancer feature have been applied to the digital scans, without having to resort to re-scanning the actual negatives.

According to https://exiftool.org/TagNames/Nikon.html there is information pertaining to Digital ICE (ID Tag: 0x0100), Digital ROC (ID Tag: 0x0110), Digital GEM (ID Tag: 0x0120), Digital DEE (ID Tags 0x0200, 0x0201 & 0x0202) and the Scan Image Enhancer (ID Tag: 0x0060).

I downloaded exiftool for Windows and I can see by dragging TIFF files onto the exiftool executable file it presents me with a list of details in the command prompt. However, there is no information relating to any of the Nikon Scan 4 settings outlined above. I have also familiarised myself with some of the Command Line functions.

I have tried running Exiftool on Windows XP in an attempt to rule out any compatibility issues but unfortunately I am still not seeing the Tags that the Nikon Scan 4 is supposed to be writing to the scanned images.

Can anyone show me how to see the list of Nikon Scan 4 settings that were used when an image was scanned?

Do I need to use a specific parameter in the Command Line to get ExifTool to reveal this information?

Many thanks.

Richard

[StarGeek]

On the command line, you're best bet would be the command in FAQ #3
exiftool -G1 -a -s file.tif

That will show you everything that exiftool knows about.  If you wish to dig further, you can add the -u (unknown) option, which might show you some tags that exiftool doesn't know about.

To get a really detailed look, you can add the -v3 (-verbose) option.

But it is quite possible that the tags don't exist in the file.  If the image was processed by another program, they might have been removed.  Or maybe the software didn't write them to begin with.

If you can make a direct from scanner sample available, I can take a look.  Doesn't need to be an actual picture, but with the appropriate options set.

[Rich]

Dear StarGeek,

In just one reply, you seem to have hit the nail on the head! Full marks to you.

If the image was processed by another program, they might have been removed.

That's it.

The mistake I had been making all along is that I was running Nikon Scan 4 as a third party application in Photoshop CS6. By doing this, all information relating to the settings used was omitted. By running the software as a stand-alone application, all the settings used to create the scanned image were retained by Nikon Scan 4.

I am gutted because it means I have to redo an entire project, which consists of scanning over 1,000 negatives and slides combined!

Unfortunately, a brand new problem now exists. I have discovered that when I perform a scan using Nikon Scan 4 as a stand-alone application and save the image, if I then open that image in Photoshop, for example, to conduct post-processing such as cropping or defect removal using the Spot Healing Brush and I then re-save the image, all prior EXIF data relating to the settings used are erased.

When I perform a scan in Nikon Scan 4 and the settings are recorded, is there a way I can transfer the data over to Photoshop, make amendments to the image and re-save it whilst preserving the EXIF settings that Nikon Scan 4 generated?

I have experimented with using Import and Export Settings options for both the scanned image and the scanner. Nothing seems to be working.

Regards,

Richard

[StarGeek]

The basic command would be
exiftool -TagsFromFile /path/to/Originals/%f.%e -All:All /path/to/Edited/

The command can be altered based upon how you named the files and such, but the -TagsFromFile option is the important option. The above command assumes the edited and the originals have the same name but are in different directories. You can see more examples under Copying Examples and otherwise searching through these forums.

[Rich]

Thanks so much StarGeek. I think all the issues have been resolved now.

Rich