Loss of exif data between Darktable and GIMP

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1

I run Darktable 4.2.1 and GIMP 2.10.34 on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. Recently I have seen exif data lost between the two. In brief:

  1. Open JPEG in GIMP - full exif data visible. Export to JPEG - full exif data retained.
  2. Open RAW (NEF) file in Darktable - full exif data visible. Export to JPEG - full exif data retained.
  3. Open RAW (NEF) file in GIMP - auto opens Darktable - full exif data visible. Close Darktable - auto transfer to GIMP - zero exif data visible. Export to JPEG - no exif data.

I cannot find any settings that change this behaviour and I cannot be sure exactly when the loss of exif data started but the problem was there in GIMP 2.10.32 and Darktable 4.2.0. I also know that photos processed as in para 3 above in August 2022 did retain full exif data whereas those from October 2022 onwards had no exif data.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions on how to retain the exif data throughout process 3 above.

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2

It seems this is a known issue but tracking your post nevertheless as it bugs me as well.

3

I’m having the same issue with DT no longer exporting the EXIF data, and I think it started about Oct. of 2022 if I recall correctly.

DT always exported EXIF data as I wanted it to, then just stopped. The only settings I recall changing might have had to do with hardware GPU acceleration, but I’m not sure how that would alter EXIF export. Plus I’d really like to use that 6GB nVidia GPU in this laptop for something besides keeping cat warm next to computer :slight_smile:

4

Maybe a silly question, but have you checked that the tickbox is enabled in the export preferences?
image
That caught me out a while back as I wasn’t aware of this little preference window.
Accessed like this:
image

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5

Thank you, that took care of it! I’m certain I don’t know how that tickbox ever became unchecked because I didn’t know it existed-and even if I had, I would never have opted out of exporting the EXIF data.

Oh well, just glad it’s sorted!

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6

Glad to have helped! I was in a similar position back when it happened to me - the forum helped me out. It’s never happened again. :person_shrugging:

7

Thanks for your replies and apologies for the late response; I have been away from my computer for a couple of weeks. I was unaware of the EXIF data tick box, but when I found it, it was already checked. This is consistent with my note 2 of the original post, but exporting as described in note 3 still existed.

Now DT has been upgraded to version 4.6. Whatever caused the original problem appears to have been resolved and the EXIF data are retained when DT is closed and the image transferred back to GIMP. I think this issue can therefore be considered resolved.

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8

For me the upgrade to 4.6 seems to have turned off EXIF export, had to re enable it again.

9

Darktable version 4.6 - the problem has not been solved. The metadata is not retained after closing DT and transferring the image back to GIMP.
The same image opened directly in Darktable and saved, retains metadata.