[digiKam-users] What are sidecars ? and, how to use them ?

[Remco Viëtor]

On samedi 30 janvier 2021 11:27:21 CET Ramnarayan.K Digikam wrote:
> Hello
> Am using Linux Mint 20, Digikam 6.4.0 (target Debian)
> 
> I primarily use digikam to import and organize my Nikon DSLR Raw (.NEF)
> images.
> 
> *My question is what are sidecars ?*
> 
> What is the best option for me to select  when enabling sidecars so that i
> could append metadata that will then be available when i export to jpeg /
> png (etc) .
That depends also on whether you want to use the digikam image editor or an 
external editor. Afaik, the digikam editor has access to the database, so 
metadata will be edited to the jpegs/pngs on saving.

Some of the external editors can read (some of) the metadata Digikam adds, but 
they won't be able to use the digikam databases. That means you need sidecars 
to transfer the metadata. 

> I understand that it is best (as yet) to try and not write data to raw
> files (experimental as yet)
Writing to raw files is indeed dangerous, as the format isn't necessarily well  
understood by the program doing the writing.

> Ideally my meta data would include (Geolocation, some / many tags like
> birds, flowers etc or even more specific binomial scientific names)
> 
> The targets are websites like inaturalist.org and ebird.org - which pick up
> metadata to geolocate pictures or even identify the creature from meta data
> .
That gets a bit more complicated, as it isn't enough to just write the 
information to "the metadata", you also have to write it under the proper 
metadata tag. I suppose you upload jpeg or png format, which can handle a wide 
range of metadata. Best check with the sites concerned which metadata tags 
they expect.

Remco