Lens information on exif

[Mark K]

Just tried ou DxO optics and was surprised to find lens information showing on the thumbnail views. I have been always thinking that the Exif information of images taken by alpha mount cameras does not include lens information.
Has anyone notice this?

[aster]

Hi,

Actually I personally haven't used DxO for lens-distortion-corrections yet. The other programs I use to view the thumbnails display all lens information as part of the EXIF data provided that that's a raw file thumbnail that is.

Yildiz

ps. Here's one screengrab from magnolia raw file when I hover the mouse pointer over it.

[01af]

I have been always thinking that the EXIF information of images taken by Alpha mount cameras does not include lens information.

So you've always been wrong.

Actually, the EXIF data of image files taken with Konica-Minolta or Sony DSLR cameras do contain both lens information and teleconverter information (when using an original Minolta or Sony TC). The info is buried in the vendor-specific Maker Notes, and most image viewers cannot read those. Phil Harvey's ExifTool, for example, can. I have written a little Adobe Bridge script which retrieves the lens and TC info from the Maker Notes section using ExifTool and copies the info to the respective fields in the XMP metadata section so Bridge and Camera Raw can access it from there.

-- Olaf

[harvey]

Actually, the EXIF data of image files taken with Konica-Minolta or Sony DSLR cameras do contain both lens information and teleconverter information (when using an original Minolta or Sony TC). The info is buried in the vendor-specific Maker Notes, and most image viewers cannot read those. Phil Harvey's ExifTool, for example, can. I have written a little Adobe Bridge script which retrieves the lens and TC info from the Maker Notes section using ExifTool and copies the info to the respective fields in the XMP metadata section so Bridge and Camera Raw can access it from there.

-- Olaf

That is a good idea.

I downloaded exiftool but it seems confused over my 12-24...

Lens Type : Minolta AF 28-80mm F3.5-5.6 (D) or Sigma Lens
Lens ID : Sigma AF 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC or Sigma AF 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG

Harvey

[PhotoTraveler]

As noted, the lens info is there and always has been.

What leads people to think it isn't is that Adobe Software does not show the lens info, because they are basically dense and refuse to add it since they think there is duplicates in the ID numbers when there really is not.

In reality the only duplication comes from the actions of companies like Sigma. Sigma reverse engineers the ROMs and uses what ever ID is close enough to what they are making. So they are creating a duplicate. Not Minolta, KM or Sony.

If Adobe would ever wake up, we could all just see the lens info in ACR based tools.

In the mean time, it's one of the primary reasons to not buy any Sigma products.

[Greg Beetham]

Thing is PT, Sony's own utility "Picture Motion Browser" doesn't show the lens model either, Sony or KM/Minolta, at least on my current system it doesn't, wheras Dimage Master Lite did, so what went wrong there? I reckon lens model info is something that users would really want to know in preference to a lot of the other gumpf that's in the exif......in it's defense PMB does show the set focal length, so one can divine most of the time what lens it was that one had used.....if it wasn't too long ago.
And yes I'd have too agree that Sigma using near enough good enough IC ROM's is NOT good enough for ADI flash exposure, just for starters.
Greg

[Javelin]

I don;t have motion browser installed. but I know lightbox reports the lens used correctly.

[Greg Beetham]

And yes you're right PT if other 3rd party programs like those that Yildiz and Javelin have can report the lens used correctly, one would think that Photoshop, versions of Elements and PMB could manage to do it also.
Greg

[Javelin]

lightbox SR came with my A200 and I think there was an update at some point. I did try to use it for a while but there was some limitation I didn;t like abut it and I can't remember what itis.

[Vidgamer]

For me, IDC 3 reports on my Minolta and Sony lenses, but not Tamron. Annoying.

[Winston]

Does Adobe report Sigma and Tamron lenses properly when they are mounted on Canon and Nikon cameras?

[Dusty]

PMB doesn't show the lens model, but Lightbox will on raw files. Just right click and go to properties. For some reason it's missing on the identical jpgs, however all the other data is there. IDC shows it when you hit the blue i icon on the toolbar.

Dusty

[Greg Beetham]

It looks like I'm a tad out of date, I haven't bought a new Sony camera since the A100, I've heard lightbox mentioned on occasion but didn't realize it was Sony's currently supplied image utility, I wonder if it's a revamped PMB? or is it a whole new program?
In any case I don't use PMB..or hardly ever, I put it on the system too get the .dll's in case they were needed, I'm not sure if E6 actually "calls" any of them anyway, (I understood though that all .dll files are compiled on startup into one giant monolithic file in virtual memory so they might be of some benefit) besides I get the impression that Vista meddles with processes more than a little "on suspicion" to maintain system integrity at any cost, it appears that program functionality now takes a definite back seat too system integrity under Vista, which can be both a good thing and maybe not so good on occasion, for example, E6 is not allowed too even startup properly unless I assign it admin privelege, the organizer will run...but the editor can't.
Greg

[Vidgamer]

It looks like I'm a tad out of date, I haven't bought a new Sony camera since the A100, I've heard lightbox mentioned on occasion but didn't realize it was Sony's currently supplied image utility, I wonder if it's a revamped PMB? or is it a whole new program?

I have an A100, and I just went to the Sony site and downloaded the latest.... While I don't think PMB/IDC3 is the greatest, it's improved over what came with the A100.

In any case I don't use PMB..or hardly ever, I put it on the system too get the .dll's in case they were needed, I'm not sure if E6 actually "calls" any of them
anyway, (I understood though that all .dll files are compiled on startup into one giant monolithic file in virtual memory so they might be of some benefit) besides I get the impression that Vista meddles with processes more than a little "on suspicion" to maintain system integrity at any cost, it appears that program functionality now takes a definite back seat too system integrity under Vista, which can be both a good thing and maybe not so good on occasion, for example, E6 is not allowed too even startup properly unless I assign it admin privelege, the organizer will run...but the editor can't.
Greg

I'm not sure which installer does it, but there's something that gets installed with the Sony software that lets you hover over .ARW files and get the EXIF type info. Nice.

I'm drawing a blank as to what "E6" is...

[Greg Beetham]

Yes Vidgamer, I had that when I was using XP but I haven't been able to get an exif list popup in Windows Explorer on a RAW (with lens info) under Vista, I reinstalled everything I could think of that I had installed in XP (Microsoft Digital Image 2006, Corel Photo Paint X3, Corel Capture X3), but so far zilch with Vista.
Greg
ps. E6 is my shorthand for Adobe Photoshop Elements6, not a bad app actually.