ExifTool Tip

I think you have an older version of Photome Lemmy. My original version did the same as yours, but after I updated it, it reported the lens correctly -

[IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc222/Oggy3323/Scndmp.jpg[/IMG]

If you select "Settings" at the top left side you can select "about" which shows the rev level - mine is 0.79R17 build 856. There is also an "update" option.

I downloaded PhotoMe today and the version and build is the same as yours.

I was referring to the Oggy's picture, following the thread. You seem to be reporting the results on a different picture, of a swan, so I am now very confused.

Does your version report this differently from mine?

If you look at the tag-id you will see that all the lens information is in a single tag, 0207. If you click on "Binary Data" at the top of the tag you will see what is contained in the tag. There is no text in here and I suspect the lens name is actually a numerical value and the application has to have a look-up table to convert these into the text that you see. I think many of the updates to these tools are to correct or update these look-up tables with new lenses and can be the cause of differences between applications and application versions.


So in summary, the binary data is what is reported by the camera and everything below is interpretation by the application and is subject to the accuracy and updates of the application.


Glyn

Edited to add summary

That's a brillant and clear exposition - thank you.

There aren't half some clever folk around here, aren't there?

Curiouser and curiouser.

I agree with Glyn about an identifier code which is translated by whatever software you are using. If it were a text string I would expect the couplets in the lens binary data to be numbers in the 40s and 50s.

You are right Lemmy, that was a different photo. I just grabbed rhe first photo I found taken with the 150-500. The following is from the first photo -

[IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc222/Oggy3323/Scndmp2.jpg[/IMG]

It may look slightly different from your screen dump because I did a search for "lens" to compress the relevant stuff. The first and third attempt are correct as is the aperture range but the second is not so sure.

Still a few bugs there then

Many thanks

Looking at the Phil Harvey's web page for exif tool he does present the list of codes used for lens types and the text name he uses in the look-up table. His list for Pentax cameras can be found here

I think it is interesting to see that the last entry is:

'8 255' = Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG Macro HSM II

255, being a full 8 bits, looks suspicious and I wonder if it is also being used as a catch-all for some unknown Sigma values in a similar way to '3 255'.

I hope this helps,

Glyn

A bit of a mess really! iptc fields can be all over the place too, with different software interpreting them differently.

But then the same applies to ID3 tags for MP3s. It's usually to do with a big company trying to bend the standards to its way of doing things, it seems.

What they miss is that unless a standard is rigidly applied and only extended by industry agreement, they weaken it, not improve it.

Too late now, though

It is indeed and explains why the Pentax digital camera utility is labelling my Sigma 18-125mm as a Pentax F 28-80mm F3.5-4.5.

Glyn

If exiftool ever reports a lens incorrectly, send the information along with the actual lens name to me, and I will add it to the database. I will add the Sigma APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM to the next release.

- Phil

Welcome aboard Phil and thanks for that.

Your ears must have been burning