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Any way to export collective metadata from C1?

Permanently deleted user

I would like to analyse my use of lenses and certain apertures and focal lengths over time.

Under filters, C1 will of course list all these data, but it would be useful to export them and maybe graph them in Excel or Numbers.

Does C1 have a facility that isn't obvious to export a simple delimited text file - or has someone written a script?

This is hardly a die-in-the-ditch issue, but I'll be a few users have thought about this.

TIA

Shane

 

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  • Permanently deleted user

    Do you know and/or are willing to play with SQL?  The .cosessiondb (used with sessions) and the .cocatalogdb inside of catalog packages are SQL databases. They contain a table named ZIMAGE which I believe contains the info you are looking for.   It would be easy enough to export the table into a text file.

    If you do this make a copy of the database and play with the copy.   Also, rename the copy such that the name doesn't contain any spaces.  

    Output would look like this:

    12|1815||8CCDC27A-53C4-4936-832D-1FC8F6069F9F||1574623224.0||||1574631856.42739|2019/11/24/1814/116Q5394.DNG||116Q5394|0|6717|116Q5394.DNG|17|0|6000|4000||28.0|3|16|0|5|0/10|DNG||--|5.59999990463257|0.00312500004656613|0|1574594424.0|3.16|4970730||LEICA Q (Typ 116)|LEICA CAMERA AG||28.0 mm f/1.7|44624384|5.88000011444092|5.88000011444092|Leica Q (Typ 116)|100|--|-1|0|0||||||

    5.59999990463257 is the aperture (f/5.6)

    0.00312500004656613 is the speed 1/320

    etc.

     

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  • Permanently deleted user

    Thanks Marco.

    My knowledge of SQL is limited to recognising "SQL" - though I have no idea what they stand for! <blush>

    I shall google the matter and see if I can get my ageing brain around it.

    All the best.

    Shane

     

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  • Permanently deleted user

    OK, here you go.   These steps will get you the data I think you want.

    1) Right click on your catalog and select show package contents
    2) Opt-drag the .cocatalogdb to your desktop making a copy
    3) rename the copy of the database on your desktop so there are no spaces in the name
    4) Open a terminal window
    5) run this command
     
    sqlite3
     
       the prompt will change to sqlite> 
    6) type .open then drag the renamed database file from step 3 onto the terminal window.   That will add the path of the database to the command line.  Hit the return key.
    7) enter these commands to sqlite3
     
    .output data.txt
    select ZIMAGEFILENAME,ZEXP_APERTURE,ZEXP_SHUTTERSPEED,ZISO,ZCAMERA_MODEL,ZCAMERA_MAKE,ZCAMERA_LENS, ZEXP_FOCALLENGTH from ZIMAGE;
    .output
    .quit
     
       You can now close the terminal window.
       
    The file data.txt will exist in your home folder. The fields will be in the order of the select statement, separated by vertical bars.  Have fun with your spreadsheet software.
     
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  • Permanently deleted user

    Wow! Thanks Marco.

    That's very kind of you.

    All the best

    Shane

     

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  • Permanently deleted user

    Hi Marco

    I did as you suggested and received this error message:

    Error: near "/": syntax error

    I'm a tad confused as the "/" symbol only appears in the path of the .cocatalogdb file.

    Regards and TIA

    Shane

     

     

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  • cayenne

    Please look at this thread:

     

    https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360012843378-Capture-One-changes-the-Lens-Model-EXIF-data-on-import 

     

    Scroll down a bit towards the bottom....I'm talk there about a tool I found called "EXIFTOOL".

    It is a CLI (Command Line Interface) tool found here: https://exiftool.org 

     

    I found this is very powerful and will do pretty much what you are looking for pretty quickly.

    I used in in various directories to grab ALL and I mean ALL of the metadata (exif and more) and it puts all the images' info in .csv format which you can readily open with a spreadsheet application.

     

    In my case, I pused all the data to a .csv file, I opened it in spreadsheet and did edits I needed, saved to a new .csv file...and then used exiftools again to write out all the changes back to the images....

    But in your case, you just need the data out so this may be right up your alley.

     

    Look for my post on that other thread and I give the command line examples on how to export all the metadata to the .csv file....very simple.

     

    HTH,

    cayenne

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  • Permanently deleted user

    cayenne is correct about exiftool with one caveat.  It reads the original file.  Capture One NEVER updates the original file.   Any metadata changes made in Capture One will never be seen by exiftool unless you save to a sidecar and run exiftool on the sidecar file.   In your case this may not be an issue as Capture One doesn't let you change camera and lens info.

    As for Error: near "/": syntax error

    What is the exact command you issued?  Was the error on the .open command?  If on the .open command did you leave out the leading dot?

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  • cayenne

    I can't find how to quote anyone on this forum...ugh.

     

    Per Marco's comment. It does appear, however, that C1 does write out any metadata changes it does happen to let you make to files that it exports (TIFF, JPG, etc).....

     

    What I don't understand, and I had a thread about it earlier...for some reason C1 only lets you enter/edit a small subsection of the metadata on the images you have in there.

    I guess that they are going for "non-destructive", but to me that ends with the image properties itself, like with color, luminance, etc...

    But meta data does not affect the image itself really, at least not the fields that most anyone would want to edit, so I don't understand why C1 is so picky or limited in the meta data it allows you access to.

    I mean, C1 lets you rename files....changing metadata is in that same category, you know?

     

    cayenne

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  • Permanently deleted user

    Hi Cayenne

    I also can't find a way to quote!  :-)

    Thanks for your input, but that wasn't quite what I have in mind. What I want to do is export the complete data C1 holds under filters for analysis, such that I can drop it into Excel or Numbers and see that my most commonly used focal length is say, 105mm or that I most often shoot at f/8 or half my shots are made above 1/1000 sec.

    I'm happy to work with the EXIF data held by C1.

    Hi Marco

    I literally cut and pasted the syntax you so kindly provided. I just ran it again, with the same error:

    Shanes-iMac:~ ShaneBaker$ sqlite3
    SQLite version 3.28.0 2019-04-15 14:49:49
    Enter ".help" for usage hints.
    Connected to a transient in-memory database.
    Use ".open FILENAME" to reopen on a persistent database.
    sqlite> .open
    sqlite> /Users/ShaneBaker/Desktop/BirdsCulled.cocatalogdb
    ...> .output data.txt
    ...> select ZIMAGEFILENAME,ZEXP_APERTURE,ZEXP_SHUTTERSPEED,ZISO,ZCAMERA_MODEL,ZCAMERA_MAKE,ZCAMERA_LENS, ZEXP_FOCALLENGTH from ZIMAGE;
    Error: near "/": syntax error
    sqlite> .output
    sqlite> .quit
    Shanes-iMac:~ ShaneBaker$

    Any thoughts?

    Regards

    Shane

     

     

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  • Permanently deleted user

    I see the error.   Don't hit return after the .open, just add a space.   The full command to sqlite3 command should be

    .open /the/path/to/your/database 

    and then hit return.

    Also, you can tell from the names I used in the select command what fields you'll be getting.  Are there other bits of data you might like?   If they are available it's easy to add it to the output.

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  • Permanently deleted user

    That worked beautifully. Many thanks again, Marco.

    I think I'm good with that data.

    All the best

    Shane

     

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