Why does GIMP 2.8 fail to open long-exposure photos with EXIF data?
Asked 8/2/2014
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2 answers
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Some of my long-exposure images won’t open in GIMP 2.8.10. The problem seems to affect photos shot in Bulb mode with exposure times from about 30 seconds up to 8 minutes. If I remove the EXIF metadata, the files open normally, so the image data itself appears to be fine. I’d prefer to keep the metadata, especially the exposure time information. Is there a way to open these files in GIMP without stripping the EXIF, or is this a known issue?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
6
This would seem to be this acknowledged bug in GIMP; that bug has itself has been closed as a duplicate of this bug, which has been fixed in the development ("master") builds of GIMP by a complete rewrite of the metadata handling. The question I'd more be asking here is why Partha's rebuild mentioned in MBraedley's answer fixes the problem, rather than why it's not working in the official builds.
Originally by user11371. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11371
12y ago
0
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This is most likely a known GIMP 2.8 metadata bug, not a problem with your photos. The fact that the files open after removing EXIF strongly suggests GIMP 2.8 is choking on the metadata from long Bulb exposures rather than the image itself.
According to the community answers, this issue was acknowledged in GIMP’s bug tracker and later fixed in development builds through a rewrite of the metadata handling. A practical workaround mentioned was using Partha’s rebuilt/repacked version of GIMP, which reportedly opens the files correctly.
So your options are:
- use a newer/fixed build of GIMP if available
- try the Partha build mentioned in the answers
- as a temporary workaround, strip or modify EXIF before opening, if needed
There isn’t a normal in-app setting in stock GIMP 2.8.10 that reliably bypasses this specific problem while preserving all metadata.
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