Nikon Makernotes ==> Removal of Group "NikonCapture"

[spark]

Hi everybody,

i'm using ExifTool for quite a while and it's become a very usefull tool for Trouble-shooting Problems that arise from the Metadata. I'm now faced with the following scenario and am looking for a nice solution:

NEF/RAW-Images of a Nikon D90 have been transfered using a old Software called "Picture Project". During Transfer the Group "NikonCapture" has been added to the Makernotes. This causes problems when opening the pictures in Nikons Software "View NX 2" and "Capture NX 2". They will essentially be displayed as if they were totally overexposed.

As a workaround i can replace all the metadata with the metadata of a NEF/RAW that has not been "tainted" with the "NikonCapture" Group but that's just a bit too messy.

I'm looking for a way to get ridd of the Group "NikonCapture", leaving all other Metadate intact. As it is part of the MakerNotes it can't be deleted. Is there a way around this?

Anhy help would surely be appreciated

[Phil Harvey]

Well, it isn't strictly true that ExifTool won't add or delete tags in the maker notes.  As it happens, you can delete the Nikon Capture data with -nikoncapturedata=.  Here is a complete list of the tags that are deletable in Nikon maker notes:

   NikonCaptureData
   NikonCaptureEditVersions
   NikonCaptureOutput
   PictureControlData

- Phil

[spark]

Hi Phil and thanks for the super quick reply.
I'm not sure if we're talking about the same, having tried your suggestion, so i'd like to show you on an example what i mean. Here's an excerpt from a D90 NEF that has been transfered with Picture Project:

---- Nikon ----
Maker Note Version              : 2.10
ISO                             : 200
Quality                         : RAW
White Balance                   : Sunny
Focus Mode                      : AF-A
...

---- NikonCustom ----
Light Switch                    : LCD Backlight
AF Area Mode Setting            : Dynamic Area
Center Focus Point              : Wide Zone
AF Assist                       : On
AF Point Illumination           : Auto
...

---- NikonCapture ----
Unsharp Mask                    : On
Unsharp Count                   : 0
Curves                          : On
Nikon Capture 0x7ddc9d          : ..Ü}.eÔ.Ñ'"DESTÿ.[...]
...

It's the last group of Tags i need to remove. Having tried
-nikoncapture:all=
it only resulted in a message saying that this isn't a deletable group.

Just for fun i played a bit with the sidecar options, hoping that i could delete the group there or simply not write the group into the sidecar file to begin with but somehow didn't get it working.

Any further ideas?
Greetz from Dublin

-Sascha

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Sascha,

Yes, I understood.

You should be able to delete the NikonCapture information with either as a block with -nikoncapturedata= or by group with -nikoncapture:all=  .

If this doesn't work, then you must be using a very old version of ExifTool.

- Phil

[spark]

Thanks a lot Phil.

Of course i used an older version of EXIF Tool (8.1.6)... my bad

Deletion of Nikon Capture Tags works flawless now and i'm closer to a solution. Thanks again and keep up the good work!

Best regards,
Sascha

[Phil Harvey]

Right.  Checking the change logs, this feature was added in version 8.26:

  - Made NikonCaptureData writable as a block and NikonCapture a deletable group


- Phil