Bug 435414 - Enhancement of "Edit Metadata..."
Summary: Enhancement of "Edit Metadata..."
Status: REPORTED
Alias: None
Product: digikam
Classification: Applications
Component: Plugin-Generic-MetadataEdit (show other bugs)
Version: 7.2.0
Platform: Other Other
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Digikam Developers
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2021-04-06 10:08 UTC by herb
Modified: 2022-05-15 20:36 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


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Description herb 2021-04-06 10:08:19 UTC
SUMMARY
Selecting an image e.g. in Albums-view and opening the Edit metadata dialog via menu inside this dialog all existing values are checked (the corresponding checkboxes are checked).
In case of an *.jpg image out of camera many technical Exif-values are checked.

In case of I want only to modify some XMP metadata I have to enter my values and to press Apply.
But now all existing Exif metadata are re-written. 

In case I do not want that the existing Exif-metadata are re-written I have to uncheck all checkboxes for Exif-tags.

It would be much easier to have
- 3 checkboxes near Apply-button that say: Write Exif/IPTC/XMP

Another possible solution would be 3 checkboxes to uncheck/clear all xxx-tags

I ask for this enhancement because in case of re-writing the Exif-tags
Exiv2 stores many of the values as 4-byte value. 
Because the Exif-standard requests 2-byte values, Exiftool displays warnings for them, which I want to avoid.

Thanks in advance and
Best regards
herb

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. 
2. 
3. 

OBSERVED RESULT


EXPECTED RESULT


SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: 
macOS: 
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 
KDE Frameworks Version: 
Qt Version: 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 Maik Qualmann 2021-04-06 11:26:07 UTC
Can you give an example Exif Tag, where this 2 byte / 4 byte problem occurs. I have never heard of it or seen a warning in the Exiftool output for images whose metadata was written by Exiv2. In the Exif metadata standard there are different byte lengths depending on the metadata type (short or long). I also don't find a bug report on this problem on Exiv2.

Maik
Comment 2 herb 2021-04-06 13:05:08 UTC
Hello Maik,

thanks for your response.

I have an *.jpg image out of camera of my Olympus EM5iii.
With Edit Metadata... I added the Exif Description.
I did not change any other checkbox and after rewrite the metadata I get the following output from command:

exiftool.exe -error -warning -validate -a -exif:all -g0:1 testimage.jpg

---- ExifTool ----
Warning : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x829a ExposureTime
Warning : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x829d FNumber
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x8822 ExposureProgram
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x8827 ISO
Warning : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x9202 ApertureValue
Warning : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x9205 MaxApertureValue
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x9207 MeteringMode
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x9208 LightSource
Warning : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x920a FocalLength
Warning : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0xa215 ExposureIndex
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa300 FileSource
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa401 CustomRendered
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa402 ExposureMode
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa403 WhiteBalance
Warning : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0xa404 DigitalZoomRatio
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa406 SceneCaptureType
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa407 GainControl
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa408 Contrast
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa409 Saturation
Warning : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa40a Sharpness

---- EXIF:ExifIFD ----
Exposure Time : 1/250
<other tags removed>


But discussing my proposal - without thinking about the problem described above - it makes sense e.g. to avoid rewriting IPTC metadata-tags in case of only modifying XMP values.

Best regards
herb
Comment 3 herb 2022-05-15 09:08:20 UTC
Dear digiKam developers,

in meantime I started to work with digiKam 7.7.0 (snapshot 13.5.2022) on my Windows 10 system.
As I wrote in 1st post:
-------
Selecting an image e.g. in Albums-view and opening the Edit metadata dialog via menu inside this dialog all existing values are checked (the corresponding checkboxes are checked).
In case of an *.jpg image out of camera many technical Exif-values are checked.
In case of I want only to modify some XMP metadata I have to enter my values and to press Apply.
But now all existing Exif metadata are re-written. 
In case I do not want that the existing Exif-metadata are re-written I have to uncheck all checkboxes for Exif-tags.
----

I ask you to think again about my proposal.
I am convinced it would be a great feature of digiKam
- to write e.g. only (checked) XMP tags
- without UNchecking all Exif and IPTC-IIM tags.

For this feature I see to possibilities
(1) to have 3  additional buttons: uncheck all Exif / IPTC-IIM / XMP tags
(2) to have 3 checkboxes: write Exif / IPTC-IIM / XPM which affect the behaviour of button Apply

Thanks in advance
Best regards
herb
Comment 4 Maik Qualmann 2022-05-15 11:40:00 UTC
A test here with an image from Nikon gives the same result when writing an Exif user comment:

exiftool -error -warning -validate -a -exif:all -g0:1 dsc_1075.jpg 
Warning                         : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x829a ExposureTime
Warning                         : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x829d FNumber
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x8822 ExposureProgram
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x8827 ISO
Warning                         : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x9202 ApertureValue
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x9207 MeteringMode
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x9208 LightSource
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0x9209 Flash
Warning                         : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0x920a FocalLength
Warning                         : Non-standard format (rational64s) for ExifIFD 0xa215 ExposureIndex
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa217 SensingMethod
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa300 FileSource
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa401 CustomRendered
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa402 ExposureMode
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa403 WhiteBalance
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa405 FocalLengthIn35mmFormat
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa406 SceneCaptureType
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa407 GainControl
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa408 Contrast
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa409 Saturation
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa40a Sharpness
Warning                         : Non-standard format (int32s) for ExifIFD 0xa40c SubjectDistanceRange
Validate                        : 22 Warnings

Now with digiKam-8.0.0 we already have the possibility to write back the metadata EXV container using ExifTool:

exiftool -error -warning -validate -a -exif:all -g0:1 dsc_1075.jpg 
Validate                        : OK

Using ExifTool to write the metadata would also solve the problem...

Maik
Comment 5 herb 2022-05-15 17:58:26 UTC
Hello Maik,

thanks for your reply.
It is really a good news that using Exiftool will solve the "Non standard format" problem, which occurs in case of re-writing Exif-tags.

But I have an additional question: This bug 435414 discusses 2 things.
(1) how to solve problem of "Non standard format" 
(2) my request to enhance the dialog: Edit Metadata (see comment #3)

Shall I open another  bug-report (feature request) for a follow up of (2). And this bug-report does follow up for (1)

Best regards
herb
Comment 6 Maik Qualmann 2022-05-15 20:36:18 UTC
This bug report is quite sufficient for problem (2).

Maik