Wrong orientation in Viveza 3 and Silver Efex Pro 3

Nik Collection by DxO
#1

I have a number of pics taken years ago in vertical orientation with a Nikon D200. In Viveza 3 and Silver Efex Pro 3 they display in horizontal orientation and there is no way to correct them in these apps. I reported the problem to DxO tech support in June but never heard back.

I’m using the latest Nik version for each, 5.0.4 x64 (4.3.0). Running Windows 10 Pro. Note, this did not occur in earlier Nik versions. The problem does not occur in PL4 or earlier versions. Photo Mechanic show the files in their correct orientation.

I’m uploading an example _PAS7800.NEF (14.4 MB)

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian

#2

Tried with your file, which quickly appeared ‘horizontal’ in PL5 before it was then shown in vertical orientation. – And yes, in Viv3 and SEP3 it turned up as ‘horizontal’.

But then I tried other pics, which I had taken with a D200 and different lenses – no problem.
→ So, check with different files. I’m sure it has to do with your file – which, when sent to Viv2 or SEP2 appears vertical.

#3

I viewed the image in Irfanview and there it’s shown as landscape. And in PL5 it showed as portrait.
I think you’ve dan something with the NEF file. It contains an IPTC section which has been added later.
Using a program showing Exiftools values it showed 3 orientation tags in the exif chapter: 1 showed Rotate 90 CW and the other 2 Rotate 180.
Using Exiftool self it showed Rotate 180.

George

#4

That sort of agrees with my findings.

Just using Finder, the preview thumbnail in the icon who’s the image as being upside down (rotated 180°)

Pressing the spacebar to show a Quicklook preview, rotates the image to the right way up.

Exif Editor shows the orientation as rotated 90° clockwise.

ExifTool shows one Rotation tag and three Orientation tags

  • MakerNotes:Rotation - 90
  • EXIF: Orientation - Rotate 90 CW
  • EXIF: Orientation - Rotate 180
  • EXIF: Orientation - Rotate 180

It would appear that you have edited the file in Nikon’s Capture NX software as the metadata includes the image edits made as well as the “regular” metadata. Have you used any other software to edit it, apart from PL? Somehow, something has managed to insert 4 tags with different orientations, which is likely to confuse the heck out of all sorts of software.

#5

@bbuttolph

I remembered different in-camera settings and now checked and tried all of them with my D750

  • Setup Menu → Auto Image Rotation On/Off
  • Playback Menu → Rotate On/Off

and took pics with the release button

  • upwards = 270° CW
  • downwards = 90° CW

In no case I got your strange ‘result’, where PL5 showed the pic in vertical orientation and SEP3 processed it horizontally (but Viv2 and SEP2 vertically).

And yes, like @George and @Joanna checked with ExifTool, you must have tried / correct something in Capture NX and/or PM6 …

#6

First, thank you all for your help. What a nice bunch of folks this forum has!

This picture (and others) was taken in 2012 while on vacation in Lake Como, Italy. Yes @Joanna, at that time I was using Capture NX and Photo Mechanic. I was probably playing around with the rotation, not thinking I would cause harm to the images.

I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly how this happened.

Is there a way to clean up the mess or is it better left alone? I don’t want to make things worse. I can get by fine without editing these images in Viv3 and SEP3. It was more of a ‘nice to have’.

Thanks,
Brian

#7

CaptureNx didn’t mess up. So it might be Photo Mechanic.
I think it can be fixed. Joanna has more experience with it. But you can still edit them in Nik.

George

#8

The quickest way is to use ExifTool.

If you want to remove all the Nikon Capture edit data, the command is…

exiftool -nikoncapture:all= filename

To reset the orientation to default, it’s…

exiftool -orientation=1 filename

If you want to reset a whole directory in one go, just replace the filename with a ‘.’

Let me know if you need any more help.

#9

afbeelding
afbeelding887×144 4.95 KB

Doesn’t work.

#10

@Joanna, I used the ExifTool commands you gave to remove the Nikon Capture data and reset the orientation to its default. The results are mixed. Photo Mechanic shows the image upside down. Windows Photo Viewer shows it in its correct orientation. PL4 and both Nik apps show it in landscape mode. So at least the DxO apps are now consistent with each other!

@George, what version of ExifTool are you using? I did not get that warning. I downloaded the latest version today, 12.3.8.0.

#11

I don’t know how to find out what version I use. But the date was in 2019. I downloaded the newest, I think, installed it, and now I don’t get a warning.

Changing orientation to 6 gives me a normal portrait image.

George

#12

Does the D200 have an orientation sensor?

George

#13

Yes, it does.

#14

I’m playing with the orientations and found out that CaptureNx2 doesn’t react on the different values. However it reacts on the Rotation tag.
PL5 doesn’t react on the Rotation tag but it does on some Orientation tags.
Some other strange thing with the new version of Exiftools.
As you can see the changing of the Rotation tag is vissible.

afbeelding
afbeelding769×234 6.89 KB

Now I change the Orientation. First have a look in the original. I get a text back.
Changed the value to 6 and checked: a value of 1.

afbeelding
afbeelding836×351 10.7 KB

This a a file of mine, not of Brian. D80 and CaptureNx2.

George

#15

George, did you see this?

@platypus

Some issues seem to exist with Nikon files treated by Nikon software. Check out the following and see if it applies…
https://exiftool.org/fix_corrupted_nef.html

[ I’ve never used Nikon Transfer, ViewNX/2, CaptureNX, … Studio,
always transferred my files manually with a filemanager → Total Commander - home ]

#16

I know about that vague. But that happens with the transfer. I use a card reader and none of those programs.
What I don’t understand is that when I change the orientation to by example 6 and than review that value I get always 1. While the message is that the file was updated.
The different behaviour of the D200 and D80 files is also a thing.
And the D750.
George

#17

EXIF orientation tag values:

1 = Horizontal (normal) ← Camera grip at right as seen by the photographer
2 = Mirror horizontal
3 = Rotate 180
4 = Mirror vertical
5 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 270 CW
6 = Rotate 90 CW ← Camera grip down
7 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 90 CW
8 = Rotate 270 CW ← Camera grip up

A value of 1 basically means that the reviewing/opening app should do nothing. When an image is rotated and exported, the output file’s orientation tag should have a value of 1 in order to not be rotated by the viewing/opening app.

Also, the camera can be set to automatically rotate the built-in preview and thumbnail or not. This, in conjunction with the orientation tag value and the orientation set by an app, creates whatever orientation value(s) come up in a sidecar, values that don’t necessarily match the EXIF tag values.

Depending on how apps handle these tags, orientation, as seen on screen, can be almost anything. Example: RawDigger ignores orientation info completely.

1 Like
#18

@George
In ExifTool I checked the Orientation entry of all DSLRs I ever used.
In vertical position (with release button upwards), the Nikon models all look alike
Screen Shot 12-31-21 at 01.50 PM

and in horizontal position
[ = held vertically + auto rotate off ]
Screen Shot 12-31-21 at 01.54 PM

D750 held vertically + release button downwards → 90° CW
→ Wrong orientation in Viveza 3 and Silver Efex Pro 3 - #5 by Wolfgang

But I never changed those entries.

#19

After much experimentation, I have a fix that is simple and seems to work well. First, I remove all the Nikon Capture edit data. This results in Photo Mechanic showing the image upside down (rotated 180°). I then rotate the image clockwise twice in Photo Mechanic. The result is that PL4, Viv3 and SEP3 show the image in its correct orientation.

A diff of the exiftool output before and after (nef file drag-n-drop on exiftool(-a -u -g1 -w txt).exe) show that all Orientation tags were changed to ‘Horizontal (normal)’.

FWIW, using ‘exiftool -orientation=1 filename’ did not work. I don’t know if that’s a reflection on exiftool or the fact that the metadata is so messed up.

Thank you all for your feedback. It was a huge help.

Brian

#20

Use 6.
1 is normal, your picture in landscape and the top of the building on the left side.
6 is rotate 90CW.
I’m not sure but I think sometime the position of the camera is meant and sometime the correction of the sensor image. But 6 is giving me the correct image.

George