EXIF-Data in Info Panel?

[Filehero]

Hi there,

having a long history in file manager usage on Windows (various Commanders, PowerDesk, IdoswinPro for many years, and most recently Q-Dir) I now end up evaluating the current mother of them all (well, from my last weekend web readings I think the adjective "current" actually rather appears to be a historical "lie" ....).

First impressions after only some hours of "testing": Wow, what a gem! :thumbs up:
Especially, I'm really impressed by the passion and commitment of Sir Don, his mindset regarding interaction with customers appears more than noteworthy, the implementation speed is simply stunning.

Anyway, though I'm already quite sold I've decided to use my trial period at least for some more days - better is.
Though I'm the ARTM* kind of guy, I'm sure, my testing will result in some "stupid" questions of the RTFM sort. So, I better apologize in advance...

Here I go:
I would like to ask for an additional support for EXIF-Metadata viewing alternative to File Info Tips.

My current photo-image workflow ultimatively ends up in Lightroom. However, prior to the final LR-import I have to pre-check the RAW-files - either to skip the bads, or to define those which need a special pre-import treatment using ExifTool.
Depending on the number of images (and the degree of my memory degradation) that means, I have to do a pre-filtering for any new session. Of course, this often means simply a visual check - but only less often this step _requires_ checking the image metadata as well (usually for lens type and focal length).
By now, for this task I had to accept a tool switch (here: Zoner Free - a great tool on its own!), because no file manager was capable of supporting my needs in a satisfying way. XYplorer, however, seems to have the power to become my cure, since it does show all the required information by means of the Info Tool Tips.

My question: Is there a way to dedicate a special "room" (tab) to those metadata in the Info Panel? I'd simply like to scan to my imgage metadata without having to wait for the Info Tool Tip to show up for every image. That just takes to much time.

I know, implementation of the following Zoner example technically requires tiles-support at least, but: is there any chance to include viewing those metadata to the Info Panel somehow?


Cheers,
Filehero


*: Always-read-the-manual

[admin]

HI + welcome!

Couple of things:

1) Thanks!

2) I plan to make thumbnails more customizable so that you can have metadata of your choice right at each thumbnail. Maybe that would work for you as well?

3) But this will not happen now, because I take a little timeout now. And there are some other things on the to do list first.

cheers,
Don

[Filehero]

Hi,

thanks for your comments.

1.1) You're welcome.

2.1) Sure, anything faster than the info tip should help (after taking one deep dive into the options yesterday evening, I expect those "extended" thumbnails to become quite configurable anyway).
And: adding those thumbnails must not necessarily put the introduction of another "metadata"-tab to the Info Panel from the list of possible features in the long run. I'm aware, if no one else is asking for it might not come.

3.1) No worries over here - I've read the roadmap. Enjoy your timeout!

Cheers,
Filehero

[admin]

OK, approaching metadata in thumbs and maybe in the Info Panel.

I think both should be user definable in some way, because there are too many to show them all (and it also takes time). (In my Win7 I have almost 300 different data per file.) The already existing <prop ...> variable is perfect for this. Advanced, sure, but extremely powerful. Even more so in the next beta...
Since you want different meta data for an audio file compared to a image file, these definitions have to go by file type. sigh.

(1) In a thumb one could probably show a maximum of 7 lines or so below or right of each thumbnail. Formatting can get rough when data are too long. IOW, there will be cropping. Text and background colors for the meta data would be configurable, also the font and font size.

(2) In the Info Panel there would be a new tab "Meta", right of "Version". The space here is wide but not very high (it should not be necessary to increase the height of the Info Panel to see all, of course). So, it would be best to show the data in 3 columns or so. OR: a read-only multiline text box with vertical scrollbar -- would make them easily copyable, but you could end up with a lot of scrolling... ok, one could also format the data to form 3 columns in a multiline text box. Might be a smart solution actually.

Any comments so far?

[Filehero]

Hi Don,

this approach sounds very good.

1.) Customizable set of meta-keys in (under) a thumb for quick overview/file picking. Additional tweaking of the meta data layouts is higly welcome!

2) And the whole bunch on a dedicated tab in the info panel. Without having seen it, I would prefer the 3 column-based layout. I guess, on 16:10/16:9 screens there's a better chance to see all meta data at a glance. On the other side, if the order of listed meta data could be made tweakable, a scrollabe text box could be feasible as well.

Great, that it's on your list right now.


Cheers,
Filehero

[eil]

1) i'm interested how will it look with meta to the right.. is it a choice while it's in making or this will be configurable?
2)

format the data to form 3 columns in a multiline text box. Might be a smart solution actually.

[admin]

Does anybody know where/how the metadata layout in Win7 is defined? What I see e.g. for images (the order and selection of displayed fields) does not correspond to the intrinsic (numeric) order of fields. Hm.

Or put otherwise: Which fields should XY show for images (by default -- one can make it configurable)?

[j_c_hallgren]

Or put otherwise: Which fields should XY show for images (by default -- one can make it configurable)?

I'd think one would be most interested in those fields that are likely to change between pix (though many may be tied to device used so if same camera, they may remain constant for all but if user has multiple sources, it may be more important)...

I'd also think those fields that might be used to group/categorize them would be good to display by default...which would be those available on almost any image.

[Filehero]

Or put otherwise: Which fields should XY show for images (by default -- one can make it configurable)?

From the screen example I would consider as rather "useless" (as an EXIF information):
- Titel
- Thema
- Bewertungen
- Horizontale/vertikale Auflösung (dpi does only matter when it comes to printing)
- Maximale Blende
- the 3 file system timestamps (but the shooting date is relevant!)
- Attribute

The challenge I see: You will easily find another "photographer" or picture artist who will claim some props from my black list to be central to his very own workflow.

For instance:
case a) someone like me uses the file system majorly to manage preselections (getting the keepers), upon that I switch into a dedicated digital asset management system which manage some of those properties on their own.

case b) there are a lot of "database" haters (igrnoring that the file system is nothing else than a database...) who do everything on the filesystem. So they indeed might what to see the resolutions, comments, maximum aperture etc..

Could offering some sort of sets (empty property containers to be filled by the users) be an approach?


Cheers,
Filehero

[admin]

I will start offering some basic default info. Which, say 5, photo-specific fields do you think should be added to the below:

Code: Select all

Name: PK5_4601.PEF
Größe: 19,3 MB                       Kameramodell: PENTAX K-5           
Elementtyp: Pentax Raw Image         Abmessungen: 3264 x 4928                          
Änderungsdatum: 25.05.2012 19:55     Kamerahersteller: PENTAX                          
Erstelldatum: 26.05.2012 09:42       Aufnahmedatum: 04.01.2012 14:17                   
Letzter Zugriff: 26.05.2012 09:44                                                                                                                      

At some stage later the user will be able to define custom metadata layouts, actually portable metadata layouts.

[Filehero]

Code: Select all

Name: PK5_4601.PEF
Größe: 19,3 MB                       Kameramodell: PENTAX K-5           
Elementtyp: Pentax Raw Image         Abmessungen: 3264 x 4928                          
Änderungsdatum: 25.05.2012 19:55     Kamerahersteller: PENTAX                          
Erstelldatum: 26.05.2012 09:42       Aufnahmedatum: 04.01.2012 14:17                   
Letzter Zugriff: 26.05.2012 09:44                                                                                                                      

At some stage later the user will be able to define custom metadata layouts, actually portable metadata layouts.

From a photographers perspective: I would replace Änderungsdatum, Erstelldatum, Letzter Zugriff (these are the standard filesystem stamps anyway, aren't they?) with aperture, exposure time and ISO.


Cheers,
Filehero

[admin]

Code: Select all

Name: PK5_4601.PEF
Größe: 19,3 MB                       Kameramodell: PENTAX K-5           
Elementtyp: Pentax Raw Image         Abmessungen: 3264 x 4928                          
Änderungsdatum: 25.05.2012 19:55     Kamerahersteller: PENTAX                          
Erstelldatum: 26.05.2012 09:42       Aufnahmedatum: 04.01.2012 14:17                   
Letzter Zugriff: 26.05.2012 09:44                                                                                                                      

At some stage later the user will be able to define custom metadata layouts, actually portable metadata layouts.

From a photographers perspective: I would replace Änderungsdatum, Erstelldatum, Letzter Zugriff (these are the standard filesystem stamps anyway, aren't they?) with aperture, exposure time and ISO.


Cheers,
Filehero

Yes, makes sense. Unfortunately these properties are only available to the shell if something like FastPictureViewer Codec Pack is installed. So they are no good for the factory default.

EDIT: well it might work even with standard Win7... I'll try it.

[Filehero]

Hi Don,

Code: Select all

v11.20.0007, Meta tab, property "aperture"

It seems the windows api had it's hit once again.

Shown in the tab:
35mm Brennweite: 46 (I guess, the key means "Brennweite in 35 mm-Kleinbildformat")

In reality:
31mm Brennweite: 46


Cheers,
Filehero

[admin]

Hi Don,

Code: Select all

v11.20.0007, Meta tab, property "aperture"

It seems the windows api had it's hit once again.

Shown in the tab:
35mm Brennweite: 46 (I guess, the key means "Brennweite in 35 mm-Kleinbildformat")

In reality:
31mm Brennweite: 46

Hm, it should look like this. What's your OS again?

[PeterH]

From point of a DSLR the field "focal length at 35mm" doesn't really make sense. It shows the real focal length multiplied with the crop factor of the sensor. But another field "focal length" exists in exif data. (Just checked with irfan view.) So I would prefer to show this field by default.

Technical: if my objective shows 50mm focal length, "focal length at 35mm" shows 75 mm. Strange...
(W7 explorer shows it correct as "Brennweite". Though it also shows the "35mm Brennweite".)

In the moment I'm missing especially aperture and ISO.

Edit: now I understand: where Don's hardcopy shows ISO mine (W7) shows the "35mm Brennweite"

Edit II: And a difference between .jpg and .nef (= Nikon RAW): in .nef the fields "Kommentare" and "35mm Brennweite" exist, but are not filled with data.
(Compared between .jpg and .nef of the same picture, both directly out of the cam...)