Nikon NX studio

[Øivind Tøien]

There is a new version of NX Studio available (1.20).

Maps feature has been removed. I am not sure why they introduce features then people start using them then they remove the features. I now have to burn my external GPS data into the NEF files in order to be able to see it (and I have to use other software to view it). I was quite happy using Nikon's side car file approach to store the GPS data and view it on the map in NX Studio. Of course that was always limited to that software and so using more sophisticated tools to search for files in a certain area were not available. However, I don't get it why they removed these features, I thought it was quite handy.

Nikon seem to add stuff and remove it on a seemingly random basis. It doesn't help in forming trust in the company.

I guess David's problem of how to move adjustments from NX-D to NX Studio is a similar case. Nikon just don't think anyone would use their software seriously and need to keep the changes over a long period of time.

Bummer,  the map feature was just about the only feature I used in Studio so far. It was not only the ability to view the map but also to import GPX log for log matching images to GPS data. I cannot see the log matching featuret any longer - it was accessed under the map menu after selecting the route icon. Perhaps they have problems with compatibility of the interface towards google map, as there was a message in the previous version about a compatibility problem. (The map feature has been there from ViewNX2 on. ViewNX2had problems with finding the correct map server towards the end too). So Nikons simple solution to "fix" this problems is to remove the feature! For now I have reverted to the previous version.

Anyone know of a free utility that will provide the same functionality?
 

[Birna Rørslett]

Exiftool can match GPX logs and image data. That is the manner in which I geolocate captures from non-GPS enabled cameras like the Sony NEX-5N and Panasonics. Dump the GPX log file into a folder with image files, fire up Exiftool and that's it. You can opt for adding GPS either to jpgs or RAW files (or other formats as long as the file format supports EXIF). If your camera clock is off, Exiftool can correct that on the fly. The matching is perhaps not blazingly fast, but not very slow either.

Google Maps API will not support an IE-based interface from mid '22 onwards. That affects a lot of software out there.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Exiftool can match GPX logs and image data. That is the manner in which I geolocate captures from non-GPS enabled cameras like the Sony NEX-5N and Panasonics. Dump the GPX log file into a folder with image files, fire up Exiftool and that's it. You can opt for adding GPS either to jpgs or RAW files (or other formats as long as the file format supports EXIF). If your camera clock is off, Exiftool can correct that on the fly. The matching is perhaps not blazingly fast, but not very slow either.

Google Maps API will not support an IE-based interface from mid '22 onwards. That affects a lot of software out there.

Does this mean that the map feature stops working also if we stick to the old version of NX Studio?

I will try exiftool to embed the GPS data.

[Birna Rørslett]

Yes, as long as the software relies on an interface Google Maps will decline later this year. There are hacks to circumvent this, but likely these will not hold up over a longer time. So the map parts of the programs have to be completely rewritten, which likely will not happen immediately.

Exiftool relies on the correct setting of the camera clock for optimal matching to the GPX log. Start each [day's] session by shooting a watch or similar to see whether there is a difference betrween camera and world time. The difference can be input to Exiftool so it uses the correct time setting. This matters if you are moving around a biut during the shoot.

[Øivind Tøien]

Exiftool can match GPX logs and image data. That is the manner in which I geolocate captures from non-GPS enabled cameras like the Sony NEX-5N and Panasonics. Dump the GPX log file into a folder with image files, fire up Exiftool and that's it. You can opt for adding GPS either to jpgs or RAW files (or other formats as long as the file format supports EXIF). If your camera clock is off, Exiftool can correct that on the fly. The matching is perhaps not blazingly fast, but not very slow either.

Google Maps API will not support an IE-based interface from mid '22 onwards. That affects a lot of software out there.

Thanks, I found the menu in ExiftoolGUI. However when I tested it on D500 nefs (originals to be sure), I am getting error of the kind

Time is too far beyond track in File:Geotime (ValueConvInv) - 2021-08-16-1852N-4063.nef
Warning: No writable tags set from 2021-08-16-1852N-4063.nef

I previously have successfully imported .GPX data to these files with NX Studio (then residing in the nksc files and being output to JPG on conversion) and the location seems correct. The GPX log is sampled at 1 sec intervals, so should have enough time resolution. If I assume that the GPX file contains UTC time stamps and EXIFtool is unaware of the time zone, thus set an offset of -2 hours (daylight savings time in Norway for the folder tested), I am not getting the "Time is too far beyond track..." message, but only the first few files are changed and for the rest I am getting report that nothing is changed and that there are no writable tags for each of the files. The location of the changed files are incorrect, getting the coordinates that were logged at a later time. Apparently something is going on with the interpretation of the time stamps vs. time zones and/or daylight savings time. I might need to do a new test while capturing new files under controlled conditions.

Beyond this, there is still the issue of not being able to see a plot of where multiple image were captured on the map. Currently Irfanview has some buttons to show location on different types of maps, however this is just for a single file.

[Edit: Offset was set with the wrong sign, so daylight savings time in Norway with +2 hours offset gave correct import in ExiftoolGUI.]

[Birna Rørslett]

Exiftool and its documentation cna be quite terse, to put it mildly. However, all the answers are there once you understand the logic. Always best to make a  pilot test to learn how things should be set up.

For date/time, UTC zones might need to be taken into account.

[Øivind Tøien]

Yes, and it is not alway obvious what is positive and negative offsets. 

ExifToolsGUI actually has a GoogleMap tab in addition to the Metadata tab, but it is grayed out and does not respond to anything

[Birna Rørslett]

The ambiguous offsets are a major reason for initiating any series by a picture of your watch ... Compare to the reported EXIF time of a file and you get the offset.

ExifGUI hasn't been updated for years and probably used an older IE-based ActiveX to connect to Google Maps.

[Bob Foster]

Regarding manually adding gps exif data-

Not being a fan of Google's data collection in return for use of their services I use a freeware program called Viking. It is available for Windows, Linux, BSD and Mac Os. In Windows if you associate the .gfx filename extension with Viking simply "clicking" on the .gfx file will bring up a point of interest or a route taken in Open Street Map. Link to VIking-

https://sourceforge.net/projects/viking/

Prior to each session where I wish to use Exiftool I take a photo of an analog clock that has a sweep second hand that is on my computer desktop. Time is consistent as it is updated daily by the timeserver of my choice. I don't know that this method is any better than using a wristwatch, this is simply what I do.

At least on my Windows 10 Enterprise workstation I do not have to take the hours that I'm behind UTC into account (I think that the exiftool "geosync" function must have been changed at some point to read the offset from Windows.) Caution- I don't know when the change was made or if it applies to any other version of Windows or any other operating system. Do note that as Birna pointed out the difference between the time reported by the GPS unit and the camera is important. In my case Windows is compensating for the hours but has no idea what time the camera thinks it is. I do need to add the appropriate offset in minutes and seconds.

For what it's worth even though exiftool remains command line based you can add reasonably accurate (2 to 3 meters ususally) data to a whole folder of your images in under a minute provided that you have a consistent workflow. Batchfiles are also possible if you have used multiple cameras.

For what it's worth I also have written a simple exiftool script for each lens that is typically used on a bellows (or view camera) to add the appropriate but missing exif data to my processed files.

Bob

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks Bob, looks very useful. File - Acquire - Geotagged images will place thumbnails on the selected map layer. It even had access to the Topo maps that my previously preferred GPS viewer (GPXsee) also provides, but seems a more advanced and GIS oriented. (What I am still missing in relation to NX Studio is the ability to click on a marker to open and edit the image.)

There is no need to use command line with ExifTools for a number of purposes as the ExifToolsGUI provides access to a number of features, if not all, but I could see that it could be very useful with scripting. It is not surprising that I am getting problems with offsets etc. as I move between time zones for much of my vacation, and then typically edit images in a different time zone than where they were captured. (Add to that forgetting to change camera clocks at the first part of a travel and forgetting to set daylight savings time... , but these kind of issues had already been caught when I captured the images I tested above    ). 

There could perhaps also be variations in how the GPS logging app writes the files. I use an open source app on my Android phone suitably named GPS Logger which is quite accurate and suitable for hikes and not dependent on any external service other than the satellites. (There are a couple of others with the same name - this one has a red field at the top of the screen that identifies it. ) I notice I had a setting to show GPS time in local time zone turned on, but I am not sure if that also affected the written log. I also see options for which version of GPX standard to use, I used 1.0.

[Birna Rørslett]

I prefer using a wrapper around Exiftool instead of the brute-force command line approach. Just a matter of convenience as I need other EXIF data points to be read or updated anyway when the images are entering the database.

Viking is slow and not very stable when I tested it on a Windows 10 box.  A pity, since I'm currently a a true -- literally -- 'Viking', being a citizen of the Viken county (until end of next year at least). By rules of standard Norwegian grammar, a member of Viken is a viking .  Viken however will be split into separate counties in the near future, if the politicians don't go against demands of the public majority (again). Hope not as Viken is not a natural region of Norway.

I'll download it on a Linux system instead to see whether the software fares better there.

[Bob Foster]

I use Windows out of sheer commercial necessity (sigh,) and the enterprise version because it (alone in many instances) allows the removal or disabling of many, many "features" in W10. If or how my modifications to W10 Ent. affect the performance of Viking is something that I'm not prepared to speculate on. 

I do use ExifToolGUI; it's more than adequate for many of my needs but in some cases use the command interface because it's more efficient.

As I reside in a rural area where cell phone service is, at very best poor, and often frequent areas where three is simply no signal available, the use of Android or iOS apps is not something that I've considered.

I had a short, but by no means exhaustive look this morning at some of the wrappers for ExifTool. A couple look as if they may be worth trying. Given the fate of Centos(7) where my database currently is, I'll be moving on, perhaps to Debian, in the near future.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

An annoying change is that when using Open With in v. 1.20.0, the created TIFF file always goes to the directory set in Options / Destination for Files Opened in Other Applications, which then has to be set every time manually to the directory where the original file is, if I want to keep them in the same directory. What's more, it copies the NEF into a second file if the settings are not used (so I can get to ACR I need to choose this option; otherwise it will do the Nikon conversion and open that TIFF in PS). This will be a royal pain to put up with.

[Birna Rørslett]

Sounds like Nikon have fully embraced the Microsoft way of thinking: all users are created equal, have the same wishes and requirements, and don't worry, we know what these are. Windows is getting more tiresome for each new "evolution".

[Hugh_3170]

So sadly true.

No longer do the evolutions arive in the acceptable/unacceptable/acceptable.... sequences of old such as 2000/Me/XP/Vista/Win7....

...................................................
Windows is getting more tiresome for each new "evolution".