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Fix very slow iPhoto load and/or quit time
Authored by: alblue on Aug 19, '05 03:29:56PM

Stripping out all EXIF data isn't necessarily a good idea. This contains other info, such as when the shot was taken, what the resolution is, white balance settings, whether the flash was used or not. On more expensive cameras it will also record camera-specific stuff such as what the apeture setting is, speed rating etc. I think with iPhoto 5, the EXIF data is also used to record which position you've rotated the photo, so you might find stripping out all EXIF data may result in your photos returning to their original orientation.

It's also used to store information by some tools (though I think iPhoto uses the metadata resource fork) such as who took it, any comments added and so forth.

You should generally avoid these types of cameras that generate large amount of extra data rather than stripping them all; in particular, you should avoid Nikon cameras. They encrypt the white balance information (essential if you want to do much post-processing on your computer systems) to prevent 'unauthorised' use of the information. They've also been threatening to use the DCMA to prevent people using anything other than their tools -- which unsurprisingly don't run on Macs.



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fix iphoto and avoid Nikon? I think not...
Authored by: dmayer on Aug 23, '05 02:02:14AM

I agree that stripping the exif data isn't necessarily a good idea, although most iPhoto users likely won't miss most of this info. If I'm not mistaken JPEGs have a header with this info anyway (for use by the software).

But as for "avoid[ing] these types of cameras...Nikon in particular", I think you are WAY off the mark. Disclosure: Yes, I use two digital Nikons (with different RAW formats!), and yes I use iPhoto (but not as my main cataloguing program). I also use Nikon's software Capture in addition to Photoshop CS2, and all this is running fine on my mac, thankyou. I have no problems with the loading of iPhoto5 with thousands of photos (all Nikon, some NEF/Raw), although I almost abandoned iPhoto in previous versions because of how bogged down things got with large libraries. The new version has so far fixed this for me.

So, which software of Nikon's doesn't run on the Mac?

As for Nikon "threatening to use the DCMA", can you post a link where Nikon actually says this? Adobe has an issue with the D2x encryption, and that issue is basically a legal liability issue courtesy of DCMA, but that doesn't mean Nikon is the one trying to throw their weight around. And Nikon is not the only company to encrypt their RAW data. See www.openRAW.org for a thorough discussion of this issue. To put it another way, RAW data from any camera manufacturer is not open source but proprietary. If you choose to avoid a company for not using open source only, you wouldn't be using a Mac for one thing.

If you have thousands of photos, you might consider using another program for cataloging. The way iPhoto stores edited versions and originals tends to add up to a lot of disk space very quickly. And iPhoto (previous versions at least) stripped a lot of exif data anyway, meaning if you wanted to preserve this data you needed to import your photos another way for backups, which meant even more disk space. I personally use PhotoMechanic (not perfect, and very pricey), and reserve iPhoto for updating my .mac web pages and making photobooks.

If iPhoto is running slow, consider another workaround, that is to use multiple libraries and an app like iPhotoLibraryManager. I have used this since previous versions of iPhoto, but it still works with iPhoto5 under OS 10.2.4.
Hopefully, Apple will fix this problem soon. (Although I'd rather they put all their resources into fixing the latest security update fiasco).



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