Would like help in adding 5 makernotes to NEF files

[Michal]

Hello!

I know ExifTool doesn't allow adding maker notes because it can influence how OEM software deals with such files but that is the reason why I want to add them. And so my goal is this: I want to add 5 new Picture Control makernotes to a Nikon nef file if they don't exist already. Because ExifTool can edit existing makernotes, then I suppose you probably know how to add them. If there's no way ExifTool can be set to add them, perhaps you could give me some more information about it or point me to other resources?

Alternatively, a partial solution would also satisfy me (almost): ability to copy makernotes from one IFD only from one file to another - by copying I mean replacing all tags entirely and deleting those that do not exist in the source image from the given IFD. Nikon has makernotes with IFDs like these: Nikon, NikonCapture, etc. I'd like to copy only -MakerNotes:Nikon but so far ExifTool doesn't seem to be able to do this:

exiftool -tagsfromfile original.NEF -MakerNotes:NikonCapture dest.NEF

Doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?

[Phil Harvey]

The NikonCaptureData tag is already writable, but I could make some other Nikon SubDirectories writable as well.  In particular it seems you want the PictureControl to be writable.  I will look into this.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

I have a version of Nikon.pm (attached) which may do what you want.  It would be great if you could test this out.  Just replace your existing Nikon.pm in the lib/Image/ExifTool directory.  With this version you should be able to copy the PictureControl information as a block with -tagsfromfile SRCFILE -picturecontrol.

- Phil

[Michal]

Phil, thanks for your quick response. I'll test it out but it seems first I need to run exiftool from the perl package - I have used only the .exe so far. Anyway, in the folder you mentioned there is no Nikon.pm file, there are NikonCapture.pm and NikonCustom.pm - should I replace any of these files or simply add Nikon.pm to the mix?

BTW, are you saying that the following command should work?

exiftool -tagsfromfile original.NEF -MakerNotes:NikonCapture dest.NEF

The thing is that the destination file has no NikonCapture tags, I want to copy them over from the source file. Should it work?

Edit:
Actually what I would like to do is this:

exiftool -tagsfromfile original.NEF -MakerNotes:Nikon dest.NEF

So that I could copy all Nikon tags and leave NikonCapture alone - whether it exists or not. I got some errors with this. Are you saying it should work?

[Michal]

So I managed to test the patch on unedited nef files, it doesn't seem to work well. Below is the output, D60 doesn't have picture controls, D3000 and D90 do:

E:\Foto>exiftool.pl -tagsfromfile d3000.NEF -picturecontrol d60.NEF
Warning: [minor] Suspicious MakerNotes offset for ExposureBracketValue - d3000.NEF
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

E:\Foto>exiftool.pl -tagsfromfile d3000.NEF -picturecontrol d90.NEF
Warning: [minor] Suspicious MakerNotes offset for ExposureBracketValue - d3000.NEF
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

E:\Foto>exiftool.pl -tagsfromfile d90.NEF -picturecontrol d3000.NEF
Warning: Can't convert NikonCapture:PictureControl (not in PrintConv) - d90.NEF
No writable tags found - d90.NEF
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

I used to experience the ExposureBracketValue error before when trying to manipulate makernotes (I don't remember what exactly).

[Phil Harvey]

I'll test it out but it seems first I need to run exiftool from the perl package - I have used only the .exe so far.

You can test it on the .exe by replacing the .pm in whatever temporary folder the package expands to the first time exiftool is run (typically "C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Temp" on Windows 7)

Warning: Can't convert NikonCapture:PictureControl (not in PrintConv) - d90.NEF

Darn.  I didn't notice that NikonCapture already had a tag named PictureControl.  I'll change this one to PictureControlData.  But until I do this you could use -Nikon:PictureControl, but it sounds like either the Nikon.pm isn't installed properly or we are talking about different data.

Actually what I would like to do is this:

exiftool -tagsfromfile original.NEF -MakerNotes:Nikon dest.NEF

You should NOT do this since it will overwrite required white balance information and mess up the colors of the image.

- Phil

[Michal]

Warning: Can't convert NikonCapture:PictureControl (not in PrintConv) - d90.NEF

Darn.  I didn't notice that NikonCapture already had a tag named PictureControl.  I'll change this one to PictureControlData.  But until I do this you could use -Nikon:PictureControl, but it sounds like either the Nikon.pm isn't installed properly or we are talking about different data.

Yes, probably this is the tag which stores information about chosen picture control when shooting.

Actually what I would like to do is this:

exiftool -tagsfromfile original.NEF -MakerNotes:Nikon dest.NEF

You should NOT do this since it will overwrite required white balance information and mess up the colors of the image.

Well, I want to do it as a workaround because exiftool will not allow me to add picture control tags. So I could copy all MakerNotes:Nikon from a file which already has picture control tags. Wrong information like white balance is not really a problem because I can use exiftool to change the tags to proper values. The problem is I can't simply add new tags so I am looking for other ways to achieve the same effect.

Will exiftool allow me to copy all MakerNotes:NikonCapture to a nef file which has no MakerNotes:NikonCapture tags but has MakerNotes:Nikon tags?

[Phil Harvey]

OK then, I ran some tests with the Nikon.pm I sent (and ExifTool 8.29) and it should work for copying the Nikon:PictureControl (this will be called PictureControlData in 8.30).

You should be able to use 8.29 to copy NikonCaptureData as a block.

- Phil

[Michal]

So I don't know why it didn't work for me, maybe it has some problems with the D3000 files, I'll try to play with it again. Anyway, as I understand it will not copy the NikonCaptureData if no NikonCaptureData block is present in the destination file? That would not help in my case because I want to add these tags to a file which doesn't have them. But it's not really a big problem for me.

Another question - would it be possible to copy all the ShotInfo tags as a block? I mean the ones which are called Nikon ShotInfoD80 Tags, Nikon ShotInfoD90 Tags, etc. here?

[Phil Harvey]

Anyway, as I understand it will not copy the NikonCaptureData if no NikonCaptureData block is present in the destination file?

No.  This is one exception, and exiftool will create this tag if it doesn't exist.

Another question - would it be possible to copy all the ShotInfo tags as a block? I mean the ones which are called Nikon ShotInfoD80 Tags, Nikon ShotInfoD90 Tags, etc.

The ShotInfo data is more complicated because it is encrypted, so it isn't as simple as just making it block-writable as I did with the other blocks.

- Phil

[Michal]

That's great with the NikonCaptureData block - thanks for your help!