Using JPEGs to replace sidecar files for metadata

[Skids]

Hi,

Back in 2018 Phil wrote

"Personally, I shoot RAW+JPEG and put the metadata in the JPEG files, but I don't know how other apps such as iMatch would deal with this."

I am in the position that I suspect that I will only be able to use for my present DAM application for limited time.  So I am casting around for alternatives and Phil's suggestion interests me.

I am on a mac and metadata based searches are really fast but Spotlight, the built in search engine, does not recognise xmp files as such but it returns jpegs and edited raw files.

Does anyone know if there are any tools that allow jpegs to be coupled with raw files with the same name?  Also if you use the technique how does it work in practise?

best wishes
Simon

[StarGeek]

Please describe what you mean by "coupled". My interpretation is that something that keeps the JPEG/RAW/XMP files together, especially when you move them. But you mention of Mac metadata searches seems that maybe you're thinking of something else.

Both DigiKam and Darktable are free Digital Asset Management (DAM) programs and are cross-platform. Do these not meet your requirements?

[Skids]

I apologise for my poor terminology. 

I am thinking along these lines.  MacOS keeps its own database of files which is why its searches are so fast.  If a search is made seeking image files with certain keywords it only finds jpegs and perhaps the odd tiff.  I am trying to think of non manual methods of also adding the raw file to the search results so that the raws and jpegs can be passed into a raw editor such as DxO Photolab.  I don't think it can be achieved with a basic search so I am thinking of how to locate the raw file using an Applescript or similar.

Each jpeg found by the search reveals the folder and the core name of the raw file so one method is to do what I think of as brute force check.  This amounts to searching for raw files based on their most likely file extension. For example if the name of the jpeg is /parentfolder/My_Great_Image.jpg  then the code would check for the existence of /parentfolder/My_Great_Image.NEF then /parentfolder/My_Great_Image.CR2 then /parentfolder/My_Great_Image.RW2 etc, until a file is found or the .

Other methods present themselves such as building, in code, a list of all the files in a folder, sort the list based on name then locate the already found jpeg file and check the files nearby in the list. 

Or ensure that the raw filename or at least its file type is stored in the metadata of the jpeg file so use Exiftool to read the name of the raw source file and add it to the list.  This last option is my favourite option and I shall try prototyping it shortly.  However, given that Phil and probably others use their jpegs to store metadata I wondered what their workflows are.

best wishes

Simon

[Skids]

.... Having just looked at the metadata stored in a camera jpeg I see that the camera stores the make and model e.g. Panasonic DC9 meaning so this can be used to identify the raw file.

Simon

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Simon,

I'm on Mac but I don't use the MacOS for any of my image organization.  I have all my own tools for that.  But I do use the JPEGs to store metadata for the RAW images.

- Phil