When I go to View>Metadata>Customize there is no option to set a “file type” field in the list view screen. It is important to me to quickly see stuff I care about, and to get rid of things (such as copyright) that are meaningless.
I tried to deselecting the unwanted columns (fields) and adding ones I want, but it seems to have no effect. So, what am I missing here?
– I'm a one-week user of AP 3.5 – and I'm selling my new disk of LR-5 & Dx0 —
Copyright is never meaningless. You should always have Aperture complete that field for you on import, unless your camera does it for you.
One day you may capture an image of the President of the USA being assassinated and will be glad you remembered to fill that bit in - it will help save arguments over the millions your image is worth!
In the library inspector (the main panel on the left) click the Info tab. The file type is displayed in the box at the top.
To show say only JPEG files, click the small button with a magnifying glass against a black box adjacent to the main search field in the top right of the main browser. That shows a number of search parameters. If file type is not listed, just click ‘Add Rule’ and select it.
I’m not a professional, so some of the fields don’t have much relevance. But you have a point. And I realize that I was actually configuring the Metadata in the List View fields. But I thought my configuration was MetaData Advanced, and so switching to MetaData Basic took care of most of my concerns. But then, I ran into another gap in my understanding.
What is the difference between Browser and Viewer? Metadata views can be tailored to each of these.
Oh, and the file type isn’t called that in Aperture. It is termed “Nikon Quality” or something similar.
>>”What is the difference between Browser and Viewer? Metadata views can be tailored to each of these.”
From the Aperture manual:
“The Browser displays the thumbnail images contained in a folder, project, or album.”
“When you select one or more thumbnail images in the Browser, those images are displayed in the Viewer. You can use the Viewer to examine an image at its full size or compare multiple images side by side.”
The manual is very thorough regarding this subject, and is worth a read if you haven’t already done so.
>>”Oh, and the file type isn’t called that in Aperture. It is termed “Nikon Quality” or something similar.”
That’s because “Nikon Quality” is mimicking the Quality settings of your camera for that image, e.g., “RAW”, “JPEG FINE”, etc.
That will kind of work for what you want since “RAW” will be the value for any of your NEF files. The Filter HUD can also be used to filter for only RAW files and has lots more flexibility than List view in that you can view the thumbnails, and save albums or smart albums of the results.
I just played around and became familiar with activating the Nikon Quality column in the List View. But I also created a Filter Preset configured to spot RAW, JPEG or TIFF format images. At this early stage, I’ll try both to see which is more comfortable to me.
You might even say that my Workflow doesn’t exactly ‘flow’ yet. It’s more of a ‘Work-stumble’.
I have to say that I have no idea what ‘Nikon Quality’ is - I have never seen the term in Aperture despite shooting Nikons and using Aperture since Aperture v1!
Mine show as NEF, which is RAW, or JPEG, TIFF etc.
Aperture won’t properly copy the settings in your camera (saturation, contrast and so on) when rendering NEF files because Nikon prohibit any software other than their own (the awful Capture NX) from having access to that part of the NEF information.
@Marcus… “Nikon Quality” is an EXIF field that you can use in Basic/Expanded Views for the browser, lists and viewer. Its one of many Nikon-related fields in the list of EXIF data items.
About the field ‘Nikon Quality’ — whoever said that Aperture was simple or shallow? :-)