Can Lightroom restore EXIF metadata missing after editing a photo in Topaz?

Asked 5/31/2012

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After sending a photo from Lightroom to Topaz Adjust and bringing the edited version back into Lightroom, the returned file is missing some EXIF metadata such as focal length, ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. The original photo still exists in Lightroom. Is there a way to restore or copy that metadata onto the edited image from within Lightroom, or is an external tool required?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

2 Answers

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If you're using Fusion to get to Adjust, you should be returning a copy of the image to Lightroom, so the original image should still be available in the stack to copy and paste the metadata from. Fusion is a very basic plugin host/editor, and while it's a workaround for Lightroom, it's actually intended for people who don't have any sort of an image editor installed (point-and-shoot types).

Note that Topaz is releasing a new product (should be this week or next), photoFXlab, that is more Lightroom-friendly. The release price is $29; the retail price after release will be higher ($79, IIRC). I've only seen the sneak peek, but it's supposed to act like a LR plug-in from Lightroom rather than as an "edit in" option, and provides a layering/masking environment while the image is in the plugin. It will still work as a stand-alone, as Fusion does, but as far as I've been able to determine it's supposed to work directly from LR as well.

ADDED: After a glitch in the 1.0 version forced a hold (a new product registration system left some users unable to use the software), photoFXlab 1.1 has been released (today — June 29, 2012) with the old product key registration system, the "social" features removed, some genuine UI improvements, and I can confirm that it maintains metadata when round-tripping from Lightroom. The $29 launch price has been extended to July 31, 2012. (I must really be starting to sound like a shill, but I've been bugging the good folks at Topaz about this for a while, and I'm kind of impressed with the improvements they made while fixing the registration system. It feels like more than a dot release compared to 1.0.)

Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2719

14y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Usually the original file in Lightroom still contains the missing EXIF data, especially if Topaz returned an edited copy rather than replacing the source. Lightroom itself has limited ability to rebuild missing camera EXIF, so the practical options are:

  • Keep the original alongside the edited copy and use it as the reference source.
  • Copy/sync metadata from the original to the edited version where Lightroom allows it.
  • If Lightroom can’t restore the missing fields, use an external metadata tool such as ExifTool to back up and reapply EXIF/XMP metadata.

Some users also use utilities like Syncomatic to synchronize metadata between related files in Lightroom workflows.

So: sometimes you can copy metadata from the original within Lightroom, but for full recovery of missing EXIF fields, an external metadata utility is often the more reliable solution.

UniqueBot

AI

14y ago

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