Adding missing lens EXIF metadata in Lightroom?

[roland_dobbins]

<p>I've an older, uncoded 90mm f/2 ASPH lens; I coded it manually using Match Technical's excellent M-coder kit, but when I was doing a shoot w/my M9 yesterday, I forgot to check to see if the M9 was automagically recognizing the lens. In the event, the coding I'd done had worn off after 3-4 months of use - if I'd checked, I could've recoded, and all would've been well.</p>

<p>I didn't notice this until I imported 500+ photos into Lightroom - now the photos don't have the lens data, and I can't find a way to manually add this into the metadata for each photo in Lightroom (way to go, Adobe - expose data in fields to the user, but don't give him the ability to edit it. Nice.).</p>

<p>So, how can I add this data back to my photos in Lightroom? Do I need to manually export the photo metadata into an XML file and edit it by hand and re-import, or is there a tool which will edit the DNGs themselves, or . . . ?</p>

<p>Informed advice greatly appreciated - and, "Who cares about the metadata?" isn't valid advice, as I obviously care, or I wouldn't be asking in the first place.<br>

;><br>

Thanks!</p>

[Richard Williams]

<p>Try:<br>

http://www.photome.de/<br>

or (and especially for batch processing):<br>

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/<br>

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/exiftool_pod.html<br>

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/exiftool_pod.html#writing_examples</p>

<p> </p>

[webcress]

<p>I use ExifTool by Phil Harvey. http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ It involves using the command line in the OS X Terminal but is very straightforward. The trick to using this tool is to understand that there can be NO SPACES when typing a command or option except for separating the command from the option and the path. Options are always preceded by a Hyphen(dash). ExifTool will add the spaces into the EXIF data. You can type more than one command by adding a space between them. Once you have entered all the exiftool commands in the terminal hit the spacebar. I use the Bridge so I select all the thumbnails of the images I want and drag them to the Terminal which adds their path to the command line (You can do this from the Finder too). Hit the Enter key and the commands will be executed. Be sure to use double quotes for any multi-word EXIF data. When this process is completed exiftool will create a new file with the EXIF data and the old file will be saved with a .original added to the filename.</p>

<p>Here are commands that I use for my non 6-bit lenses. Remember: Command[space]-Option[space]Filepath[Return] I suggest experimenting with a single duplicate file until you feel comfortable with the process.</p>

<p>exiftool [Return] to explore all the commands to control EXIF data with examples.<br>

exiftool -FocalLength=50 -MaxApertureValue=2.0 -Lens="Leica Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0"<br>

exiftool -FocalLength=50 -MaxApertureValue=1.5 -Lens="Zeiss 1.5/50 C-Sonnar ZM"</p>

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