Modified Sony-ARW-Files are red colored in Lightroom or DNG-export

[scharott]

Hi,
I have a problem with Raw-files (SONY ARW-file) and DNG-files, if I modify tags in the raw file. It is a part of my solution to correct wrong lens information in the raw file. If you don't use Lightroom or DNG-Converter, then this solution is usable, but it makes coloured files in Lightroom or in DNG-files.
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Why needed true lens info?
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The last updates of the Adobe CameraRaw engine make usable an automatic lens correction by LensProfiles.
There are profiles made by Adobe, you can download some profiles from the community and you can develope your own lens profiles.
For an workflow with "auto lens correction" I need a true lens information, but there are some lenses with identical IDs.
Example: LensID=30  --> "Minolta 28-80mm f3.5-5.6"  or "Sigma 18-50 f3.5-5.6".
I have a SIGMA lens for my SONY camera, but Adobe gives me allover the lens info "28-28mm....." - means "Minolta" 28-80mm. This is terrible, because a I've additional a Minolta 28-80mm (f4-5.6)! And this is only one of my difficult lens IDs.

What is my Solution against wrong lens info in Adobe Software?
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I had tested it to modify the lens info to MY lenses, and the summary of all is, that the Adobe CameraRaw-PlugIn only looks for the <LensType>-Tag  and then it takes the only and one record set from an internal database: "28-80mm f3.5-5.6". Adobe doesn't check, that a focallength "18mm" never can be done by a "28-..."-lens.
I tried to rename some tags with info about my Sigma "18-50mm f3.5-5.6" or similar demanded inputs, but they will be renamed by Adobe, as soon as I develope the raw file in the CameraRaw-Plugin.
But, if I delete the LensType to "0" then I can hold my other tags and I find a correct lens info in the image-metadata.

My workflow:
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I copy the raw images from the camera and at next I use exiftoolGUI & arg-files to correct and fill the tags with true lens info. The exif-commands are controlled by an "-IF" option. Such ARGUMENT files are pre-defined for some lenses, which have the problem of multi-used-IDs.
I use it in exiftoolGUI in "ExifToolDirect", like  -if "$lensID# eq 30" -@ SIGMA_1850_TO_SIGMA_NEUTRAL.args
In my ARGUMENT-file I use these Tags:

   -ExifIFD:UserComment=SIGMA 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 LensID=30
   -ExifIFD:LensInfo=18/1 50/1 35/10 56/10
   -ExifIFD:LensModel=18-50mm F3.5-5.6 (SIGMA)
   -Sony:LensType#=0   
    -Sony:LensSpec#=00 18 50 3.5 5.6 00
   -xmp:LensManufacturer=SIGMA 18-50 LensID 30
   -xmp:Lens=18-50mm F3.5-5.6 (SIGMA)
   -xmp:LensID#=0
   -xmp:LensInfo=18/1 50/1 35/10 56/10
   -DNGLensInfo=18/1 50/1 35/10 56/10

Some of these tags are empty in the raw file and will be added to the metadata.

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Then I watch the raw files in Adobe Bridge, filtered by <lens info>, and  mark the filtered group with same lens type and open for all identical files the CameraRaw-Plugin.
In this batch-work I can execute the lens correction by LensProfiles to adjust all images in few seconds.

There are no problems after them to use these raw files in Adobe Bridge, CameraRaw-plugin or Photoshop.

DNG & Lightroom problem:
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But if I convert the modified RAW files to DNG-Files by Adobe-DNG-Converter (makes it usable on older CS installation), then I get a red-colored DNG-image. Furthermore,if I import the modified Raw-files or DNG files to Lightroom, then I'll get also red images.

To find out this problem, I converted a crude raw file and a modified copy of them to DNG. Then I exported the metadata of both files to TXT. After them I compared the both TXT files and I found, that some information about camera profile and colours are lost in the Metadata of the modified DNG-file.
If I proceed the exiftool with the option "show minor errors", then it announces "Entries in SubIFD are out of Sequence. Fixed".
I reduced my ARGUMENT file to 1 Tag, but in any case (only EXIF-Group/only SONY / only XMP) it comments with the "out of sequence"-error.  I believe, that this is the source of the problem.

And now my question:
Has anyone the same problem and found a solution for it ?

Thanks !!
scharott

Sorry, if there are some mistakes, but English is not my native language.

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Scharott,

What version of ExifTool, Lightroom and the DNG converter are you using?

There were some incompatibilities (mentioned in the Known Problems section of the ExifTool home page) with older versions of Adobe software.

- Phil

[scharott]

Uuups! That was it - I've updated to the latest versions of DNG-Converter and LR 3.4 and the images are clean.
Now I repair some RAW-images in LR by using <developement> with a minimal change. Then it refreshes the preview picture.
Thanks !!
scharott

PH Edit: No edits.  Sorry, I just hit the wrong button when responding.

[Phil Harvey]

Great.  Glad this was the problem.  The latest version of LR is 3.6 btw.

- Phil