Indexing RAW images, is it possible?

GaoGao · Jul 11, 2022

Hi there,

I am trying to find a way to index RAW images, I mean to allow the Indexing Service to scan and index the metadata (Exif) information of these image files.

The Windows Explorer is able to retrieve and display it, see attached screen capture: On the left I set the Explorer to show the two columns "Camera Maker" and "Camera Model", and Explorer show them and the associated data, but on the right the Indexing Service is not able to do the same. A search for "cameramaker:sony" is not returning anything on RAW image files (but it is working on non raw image files like jpg or Tiff or even DNG). I added the ARW file extension to Indexing Service to no success and I installed the Windows "Raw Image Extension".

Any solution?

Thanks.

Dru2 · Jul 11, 2022

Hi, I don't use Windows Indexing to search for my RAW files (Nikon "NEF" files), so I've no answer to that question. I instead manage them from within Adobe Lightroom (Library module) or Adobe Bridge.

Windows Explorer is never going to give you the management options a DAM (Digital Asset Manager) Like Bridge, Lightroom, or ACDsee will. You can get Adobe Bridge for free, with the cavate being you have to sign up for an Adobe Account (also free).

It's True: Adobe Bridge 2022 Is Completely Free for Everyone, for Life!

Is it really true that Adobe Bridge (the full Creative Cloud version) is totally free to download & use forever, and you don’t have to pay or have

prodesigntools.com

But, no, I have no answer to your indexing question as I don't use it for my files. That said, have you looked to make sure Indexing is looking at the correct folders/drives? If a drive/folder is excluded that could be an issue.

GaoGao · Jul 13, 2022

Dru2 said:
Hi, I don't use Windows Indexing to search for my RAW files (Nikon "NEF" files), so I've no answer to that question. I instead manage them from within Adobe Lightroom (Library module) or Adobe Bridge.

Windows Explorer is never going to give you the management options a DAM (Digital Asset Manager) Like Bridge, Lightroom, or ACDsee will. You can get Adobe Bridge for free, with the cavate being you have to sign up for an Adobe Account (also free).

It's True: Adobe Bridge 2022 Is Completely Free for Everyone, for Life!

Is it really true that Adobe Bridge (the full Creative Cloud version) is totally free to download & use forever, and you don’t have to pay or have

prodesigntools.com

But, no, I have no answer to your indexing question as I don't use it for my files. That said, have you looked to make sure Indexing is looking at the correct folders/drives? If a drive/folder is excluded that could be an issue.

Thanks for your reply. I understand that there are many excellent to tools for DAM, but they are not always available, can cost a lot and anyway require indexing. In the other hand Windows provides a powerful search function for "free", always available and easy to use. Search like "35mmfocallength:28 AND rating:>2 star" does not require anything but Explorer and the result comes in a mater of a second, but not on RAW images or only for limited set of Exif attributes. I identified 35 photos attributes that can be displayed and searched but it is pretty difficult to find information on what exactly is indexed for various photo formats. Maybe somebody will be able to point me to some documents

jimbo45 · Jul 13, 2022

I'd think any camera software capable of handling RAW files (the RAW format obviously being dependent on the camera in questiion) would be able to extract EXIF information.

If you can find an old copy of PICASA on the net that works too :

Everything You Need to Know About Picasa Metadata | Organize Pictures

Image metadata has been around for a long time. Standards for image metadata however have been trying to keep pace with consumers' appetite for digital content. As a consequence, image metadata standards have been in flux for a while. It has been very difficult for software makers to adapt both...

www.organizepictures.com

The other easy way if you know any SQL is to extract the relevant EXIF info, build a table in a Maria DB or MySQL DB with the keywords you want as keys, plus the file name as the picture etc and then simply run an MySQL or EXCEL query on the DB -- simple and shouldn't take you long to do it. No programming special skills really needed apart from a bit of SQL and if you install HEIDISQL on Windows you don't even need that.

Note though if using MariaDB (free BTW) and EXCEL query you'll need to install the Maria ODBC data source on windows with port 3306 as default. It's all Free. This stuff works perfectly on the latest version of W11 and Office 2021 (for the EXCEL queries) too.

Cheers
jimbo

iko22 · Jul 13, 2022

GaoGao said:
I added the ARW file extension to Indexing Service to no success and I installed the Windows "Raw Image Extension".

Any solution?

When you added your file extension to the Indexing Service, did you click on Index Properties and File Contents as well?

TraderGary · Jul 13, 2022

Dru2 said:
Hi, I don't use Windows Indexing to search for my RAW files (Nikon "NEF" files), so I've no answer to that question. I instead manage them from within Adobe Lightroom (Library module) or Adobe Bridge.

Windows Explorer is never going to give you the management options a DAM (Digital Asset Manager) Like Bridge, Lightroom, or ACDsee will. You can get Adobe Bridge for free, with the cavate being you have to sign up for an Adobe Account (also free).

It's True: Adobe Bridge 2022 Is Completely Free for Everyone, for Life!

Is it really true that Adobe Bridge (the full Creative Cloud version) is totally free to download & use forever, and you don’t have to pay or have

prodesigntools.com

But, no, I have no answer to your indexing question as I don't use it for my files. That said, have you looked to make sure Indexing is looking at the correct folders/drives? If a drive/folder is excluded that could be an issue.

I also use Adobe Lightroom to sort and manage using EXIF data. It works beautifully. An Adobe Photographer subscription is only $10 USD a month and is only a tiny fraction of what I've spent on photography. I wouldn't be without my Lightroom/Photoshop subscription.

GaoGao · Jul 13, 2022

jimbo45 said:
I'd think any camera software capable of handling RAW files (the RAW format obviously being dependent on the camera in questiion) would be able to extract EXIF information.

If you can find an old copy of PICASA on the net that works too :

Everything You Need to Know About Picasa Metadata | Organize Pictures

Image metadata has been around for a long time. Standards for image metadata however have been trying to keep pace with consumers' appetite for digital content. As a consequence, image metadata standards have been in flux for a while. It has been very difficult for software makers to adapt both...

www.organizepictures.com

The other easy way if you know any SQL is to extract the relevant EXIF info, build a table in a Maria DB or MySQL DB with the keywords you want as keys, plus the file name as the picture etc and then simply run an MySQL or EXCEL query on the DB -- simple and shouldn't take you long to do it. No programming special skills really needed apart from a bit of SQL and if you install HEIDISQL on Windows you don't even need that.

Note though if using MariaDB (free BTW) and EXCEL query you'll need to install the Maria ODBC data source on windows with port 3306 as default. It's all Free. This stuff works perfectly on the latest version of W11 and Office 2021 (for the EXCEL queries) too.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi Jimbo45,
Thanks for the reply. I have an app doing the Digital Asset Management (DxO Photolab 5), but I am helping somebody managing a photo support site and one of the function I wish to propose is a generic photo search, meaning not related to any specific tool like Photoshop or other. Again Windows 11 indexing service is working perfectly for non RAW images and I want to check if it may work for RAW images. It looks possible.

GaoGao · Jul 13, 2022

iko22 said:
When you added your file extension to the Indexing Service, did you click on Index Properties and File Contents as well?

As mentioned in my first message I added ARW extension to the index property advanced configuration. I did not add the file content for the RAW it will totally inefficient. I added the file content for the sidecar files associated to RAW images by my photo editor, but for some reason it seems the indexing service is ignoring it. This indexing service is a bit of a black box and testing it is not obvious.

ShamrockRig · Jul 13, 2022

GaoGao said:
As mentioned in my first message I added ARW extension to the index property advanced configuration. I did not add the file content for the RAW it will totally inefficient. I added the file content for the sidecar files associated to RAW images by my photo editor, but for some reason it seems the indexing service is ignoring it. This indexing service is a bit of a black box and testing it is not obvious.

Indexing is a bit pants, I've had it completely disabled as it caused me more problems than it solved lol.

GaoGao · Jul 13, 2022

TraderGary said:
I also use Adobe Lightroom to sort and manage using EXIF data. It works beautifully. An Adobe Photographer subscription is only $10 USD a month and is only a tiny fraction of what I've spent on photography. I wouldn't be without my Lightroom/Photoshop subscription.

I am using DxO Photolab 5 and it manages the Exif is a similar way. I am just looking for a method relying only on Windows core tools, and the indexing service is working perfectly on jpeg, png, dng and Tiff, but partially only on RAW files (NEF and ARW tested).

TraderGary · Jul 13, 2022

GaoGao said:
I am using DxO Photolab 5 and it manages the Exif is a similar way. I am just looking for a method relying only on Windows core tools, and the indexing service is working perfectly on jpeg, png, dng and Tiff, but partially only on RAW files (NEF and ARW tested).

Yes, I see the problem. jpg, png, dng, and tiff, are all universal and RAW files are all structured differently for each manufacturer.

Dru2 · Jul 13, 2022

@GaoGao,

GaoGao said:
I am just looking for a method relying only on Windows core tools, and the indexing service is working perfectly on jpeg, png, dng and Tiff, but partially only on RAW files (NEF and ARW tested).

TraderGary said:
Yes, I see the problem. jpg, png, dng, and tiff, are all universal and RAW files are all structured differently for each manufacturer.

You should still be able to index those. I keep all my RAW files on my E-drive under a single folder called "Process". Within that folder are two folders per each camera - NEF FILE - D850, NEF FILES (for my D800E).

Anyway, when I type ".nef" (Nikon RAW files) in Windows Explorer search finds my files without issue. Here if found the individual folders the files are in, and then each file....

This search was done from "This PC" and the results shown above. I've not modified my indexing features so this was done as is. That said, you (the OP) might check the File Types include your raw files as mine does....

GaoGao · Jul 15, 2022

Dru2 said:
@GaoGao,

You should still be able to index those. I keep all my RAW files on my E-drive under a single folder called "Process". Within that folder are two folders per each camera - NEF FILE - D850, NEF FILES (for my D800E).

Anyway, when I type ".nef" (Nikon RAW files) in Windows Explorer search finds my files without issue. Here if found the individual folders the files are in, and then each file....

View attachment 33923

This search was done from "This PC" and the results shown above. I've not modified my indexing features so this was done as is. That said, you (the OP) might check the File Types include your raw files as mine does....

View attachment 33922

Hi Dru2
I don't have any issue to find my RAW files, but to index the Exif information in these files. Below a search on "isospeed:>1000" Only the Tiff files return even if the Explorer is able to display the ISO values of all the files in this folder as show in the lower part of the screen capture. ARW file extention is indexed.

.

Dru2 · Jul 15, 2022

Yeah, I don't use Explorer for exif data. I think if you're going to be dealing with RAW files, you should have a program suitable for dealing with its data. I don't think that's Windows Explorer (also evidenced by your findings).

Good luck

TraderGary · Jul 15, 2022

Dru2 said:
Yeah, I don't use Explorer for exif data. I think if you're going to be dealing with RAW files, you should have a program suitable for dealing with its data. I don't think that's Windows Explorer (also evidenced by your findings).

Good luck

And for me that's Adobe Lightroom. YMMV

Dru2 · Jul 15, 2022

TraderGary said:
And for me that's Adobe Lightroom. YMMV

Indexing RAW images, is it possible?

TraderGary · Jul 15, 2022

Dru2 said:
Indexing RAW images, is it possible?

Well, I do sort RAW images when I'm using Adobe Lightroom. I do it every day, so I know it's possible inside Lightroom.

Dru2 · Jul 15, 2022

TraderGary said:
Well, I do sort RAW images when I'm using Adobe Lightroom. I do it every day, so I know it's possible inside Lightroom.

I mainly use Lightroom for my Exif searches but am starting to tinker with Bridge to see what it really does. I've always had Bridge, but never really used it, as both LR, PS, and Windows Photos app served my needs.

I'm now starting to play with Bridge to see how it fits my needs as a single viewing package, as well as a quick photo editor.

GaoGao · Jul 17, 2022

Dru2 said:
I mainly use Lightroom for my Exif searches but am starting to tinker with Bridge to see what it really does. I've always had Bridge, but never really used it, as both LR, PS, and Windows Photos app served my needs.

I'm now starting to play with Bridge to see how it fits my needs as a single viewing package, as well as a quick photo editor.

Well, my question was not about what I should not use or about what I should use. My question was about indexing Raw images to search them with Explorer. Explorer can manage les Exif data in a very simple and fast way, without having to open any extra software, see below, and it offers advanced search functions. (I have by the way a good knowledge of Exif and of Media Management)

Dru2 · Jul 17, 2022

GaoGao said:
Well, my question was not about what I should not use or about what I should use. My question was about indexing Raw images to search them with Explorer.

Yeah, but I answered your question here: Indexing RAW images, is it possible?

And yeah, if you look at the Details tab of each file, you're get what you want. And I'm not new to that tab.

Peace