How to keep organized with meta data and edits across software

Software
, , ,
1

Hi there,

just signed up to get ideas on raw workflow.

This is my background:
I haven’ done anything with my photo collection for some years. RAW (nef) from various Nikons up to D600. Back then I used the Nikon Software to manage metadata and edits since it was able to write everything back into the RAW file. No sidecars, no hassle. And it allowed to search for anything just in Windows explorer, no catalogue needed.

Though out of curiosity I imported the whole collection into an old version of Lightroom at some point but here the trouble started: Metadata was now separate from the RAW files:-(

Later I got a little Lumix camera and there was no specific software to manage the images and due to some issue with the old Lightroom I invested in CaptureOne. But now the xmp sidecar trouble started. Then there were just phone images for some years, not organized at all.

Now I had reason to re-activate that good old D600.

And I’m on Linux now. I went through a round of testing the various available options and I think I have settled on digikam + RawTherapee

I let digiKam convert to DNG on import from camera. I do this because digiKam is able to write the metadata back into the DNG - no xmp sidecar!

Now there is still the RawTherapee editing … I have set digiKam to “Raw Import using RawTherapee”. I make changes, they end up in the editor/viewer in digiKam and there I save and get a suffixed JPG with my edits. And sadly a pp3 with the RawTherapee edit instructions but I guess that is the closest to what I was able to do with Nikon software back in the days.

Now the only thing left is: Is there a way to update the thumbnail in the DNG based on the generated JPG? Is this even a good idea?

I struggle with the fact that looking at the images in digiKam I don’t see that the raw/dng is edited in any way and how it looks, only by opening in rawtherapy - or keeping an edited copy jpg in the same place (so many files for just one image)

Guess what I’m asking really: there is no way to get the old nikon software flow (just one file) back in any way, right? Or can I change anything in my workflow to simplify? Darktable instead of RT would not change anything I guess.

Jens

2

Hi and welcome? What is your aversion to xmp and sidecar files?

3

Convenience, simplicity, ease of use. Like being able to see the metadata while browsing images in (KDE) file manager.

Yea, thinking about it, back in Windows with Nikon Software that was kind of a vendor lock-in. And I lost all editing on the RAWs because the information was stored within the RAW Exif in vendor-specific data that cannot be interpreted by other software. At least all tags and labels etc. are there due to standardized IPTC/XMP stored within the files.

4

Is the bigger annoyance now having one photo spread across DNG + JPG + PP3, or not being able to see the edited state when you’re browsing outside RawTherapee?