Backing up Exif data from PEF (Exiftool question)

After processing my RAW Pentax *ist DS PEF files with Photoshop
Elements 3, most of the Exif information stored in the RAW image is
gone much to my chagrin. I have been looking at the ExifTools Perl
script and that allows me to copy most of the Exif data between the PEF
file and the JPEG file I created while keeping the possible modified
image sizes, etc intact. So far so good.
I also noticed that Exiftool can create an XMP file which contains all
this information in XML format. It would be great to create a little
tool that automatically saves all Exif data for all RAW files in XMP
files with the same name, but I haven't been able to figure out how
Exiftool can read an XMP file and write the data back into an image.
What tool can I use to write XMP data into a JPEG? Is there a better
tool around for backing up Exif data from PEF files and writing it back
into JPEGs after processing?

Hoshisato wrote:
> After processing my RAW Pentax *ist DS PEF files with Photoshop
> Elements 3, most of the Exif information stored in the RAW image is
> gone much to my chagrin. I have been looking at the ExifTools Perl
> script and that allows me to copy most of the Exif data between the PEF
> file and the JPEG file I created while keeping the possible modified
> image sizes, etc intact. So far so good.
> I also noticed that Exiftool can create an XMP file which contains all

> this information in XML format. It would be great to create a little
> tool that automatically saves all Exif data for all RAW files in XMP
> files with the same name, but I haven't been able to figure out how

What does the following command do for you? I cut it from exiftools FAQ.
exiftool -o %d%f.xmp dir
Create XMP meta information data files for all images in dir.


You look like you are a windows user so you can try the following in a
test directory on copies of some of your image files. It will take each
pef file in the current directory and execute the exiftool command using
the full file name (%F) and create an xmp file in the same directory.
Type for /? at a command prompt to learn more. You may need to change
the command after the "do". Put it into a batch file to reduce your
typing to just the batch file name.

for %F in (*.pef) do exiftool -xmp -b "%F" > "%~dpnF.xmp"

> Exiftool can read an XMP file and write the data back into an image.
> What tool can I use to write XMP data into a JPEG? Is there a better
> tool around for backing up Exif data from PEF files and writing it back
> into JPEGs after processing?
>

I can't speak to the XMP data into a jpeg but exifcopy from
http://www.hugsan.com/ *may* work for your PEF files Exif data directly
to jpeg.

--

Len