EXIF question

GaryW · Jun 5, 2005

I hope this is not a dumb question, but here goes....

I have a D100 and a Fuji S3 Pro. I have downloaded Opanda IExif to view EXIF data from my pictures (based on the recommendation of a recent post).

Sometimes, I get all of the data I could possibly hope for. Sometimes, I get bare minimums. Sometimes, I get No Exif data.

I have not been able to determine what I do to get the different amounts of EXIF data.

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

Gary

Ken-L · Jun 5, 2005

There are two different scenarios.

1 - Not considering the cameras, I find that the EXIF Data is not kept with certain software programs, and depending on what actions were used on the original photo file. For instance, when I use PS Elements to resize for the forum the EXIF is gone, but when I use IrfanView (my standard for that) the EXIF is okay.

2 - When I transfer with Nikon Transfer there is an option to select that expands the amount of EXIF data that is used.

MontyDog · Jun 5, 2005

#1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax;

GaryW · Jun 5, 2005

Thanks, Ken and Paul.

Normal workflow: I normally shoot RAW or JPG ( I prefer RAW). In either case, I upload from my CF card to a folder on my Mac. From there, I burn a CD if I am on vacation or the such, so I can format the card and reuse it.

Anyway, I open my picture in PSCS, manipulate it, and save it, either as a .psd or .jpg depending on whether I think I will do more editing. I will "save for web" if I want to post the picture on my website or forum.

You may be answering my question already when you said that "saving for web" strips out the EXIF data. Anyway, I would like to hear more. Thanks. !

Chris101 · Jun 6, 2005

Yepper - that's it. Save for web = no exif as that routine tries to make the file as small as possible. If you do Save As (be sure to do this to an 8 bit image) and select jpeg as the format, it will keep the exif with the file, and give you a second dialog to determine the compression. Levels 10, 11 and 12 are pretty good (10 is standard.) Anything below that will begin to show artifacts.

Bob Coutant · Jun 6, 2005

Gary:
If you are concerned about losing the EXIF metadata, EXIFER (a free program) is very good for creating backups and editing of all of the metadata. The backups can then be inserted into modified files. It will also create new thumbnails for modified files, if you want to do that.

heiko · Jun 7, 2005

Hi Gary,

I guess most has already been answered. However, you may want to try the following when transfering files from CF to your computer using NikonTransfer (asuming you use it - if not, perhaps give it a try):
1. Before starting the transfer, press the Tools icon.
2. Click on the "Transfer" tab.
3. Select "Add additional information (IPTC field) to all files" and underneath "Copy shooting data....".

This copies the shooting data into a IPTC field. It can be viewed using "Advanced" in iexif and selecting IPTC.

This may work for some programs, but the "Save for web" option in PS still removes all EXIF and IPTC data.

NikonView and NikonCapture preserve the data when converting an image to jpeg or tiff. However, PSCS seems to have some little flaws. For example, when opening a NikonCapture-created tiff file, it won't tell the shutter speed on the "File info/camera data 1" window. However, this info can be found under "Advanced / EXIF" on the "File info" window.

If you copy the shooting data into the IPTC field as described above, it will appear under the "Description" field on the "File info" window. I tried this opening a NEF file directly in PSCS. If you don't use this NikonTransfer option, there won't be any shooting data if you open a NEF file in PSCS.

There are plenty of variations, all depending on workflow and software you use. But it may be a good idea to copy the shooting data into the IPTC field.

P.S.: I use Iexif a lot, recently. It's amazing how much shooting information I can extract from pictures on the web and on this forum.

Regards,

GaryW · Jun 7, 2005

Thanks, guys. I think I just got confused. When trying to look at EXIF data, I had lost track of which pictures were straight .jpg, save for web, and .jpg's scanned from film.

I didn't know that 'save for web' stripped the EXIF, but that makes sense.

Thanks again.

Gary

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