Copying MakerNote to XMP fails

[Archive]

[Originally posted by robertf on 2007-10-08 16:02:30-07]

Using Exiftool stand-alone on Windows xp pro 64
Cameras: Panasonic FZ-10, Canon A40

The command:

Code:

exiftool -TagsFromFile src.jpg "-all>xmp:all" (dst.jpg or src.jpg)

does not copy the MakerNote block to xmp.

The command:

Code:

exiftool -TagsFromFile src.jpg "-MakerNotePanasonic>xmp:MakerNote" (dst.jpg or src.jpg)

copies a block of undecipherable symbols begining with Panasonic to the xmp exif MakerNote block.

Is copying MakerNotes to xmp something that should not be attempted or am I doing it wrong?

My present workaround consist in copying the exif block from the original to the finished versions manually which is time consuming, even for a retired amateur.

Thanks,
Robert

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2007-10-08 19:05:12-07]

Hi Robert,

I'm not really sure what Adobe's original intentions were wrt the XMP
MakerNote tag, but it certainly can't be used to store binary data directly.
Unfortunately, while the MakerNote tag existed in the early Adobe XMP
specification, they never defined an encoding method for the data, so
the tag is essentially useless, and has even been dropped from more
recent revisions of their XMP specification.

Adobe really dropped the ball on this one.

This is typical of the way other companies (and Adobe in particular)
tend to handle makernote information -- they ignore it and hope it
goes away -- which makes things a lot harder for those of us who find
this information useful.  I recommend sending a complaint to Adobe
and suggesting that they add the MakerNote tag back into the XMP
standard and define a simple encoding method to allow it to be used.

So I'm afraid the best solution is still to copy the makernotes from the
original file.  This doesn't have to be too painful as long as you have
a reasonable file naming convention, since exiftool can be used to
perform this operation on groups of files or entire directories with
a single command.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

- Phil

[Archive]

[Originally posted by robertf on 2007-10-08 21:57:19-07]

Hi Phil,

Thanks, it's not bad news: it stops me from banging my head on the wall to no avail.
I will write Adobe about that. Since I'll probably be in a hospice by the time they give a useful answer, I'll search your documentation for a hint on how to automatically copy the MakerNotes.
Shouldn't be too difficult: I assign a 3 character suffix to all modified files; a letter for the version, a single digit for the branch, and a letter for the version within the branch.

Thanks again.

Robert

[Archive]

[Originally posted by exiftool on 2007-10-09 11:04:17-07]

Hi Robert,

Look at FAQ
number 8 for help with copying maker notes.

- Phil