Edit Exif data to reflect "adapted" Lens

[tonyjuliano]

I'm shooting more and more with adapted lenses on my E-P2.

Problem is I use EXIF lens data a lot for sorting images in Lightroom.

Does anyone know of an EXIF editor or technique I can use to get the lens data to show correctly?

 

[OzRay]

'Fraid not. Because there's no communication between lens and camera with non-Olymus lenses, you won't get the required EXIF data recorded. It's a pity that the camera can't record something like the IS manual lens setting (given IS is on and you've set it correctly) as EXIF info, in that way, you'd have a way to record the lens being used.

Cheers

Ray

 

[tonyjuliano]

'Fraid not. Because there's no communication between lens and camera with non-Olymus lenses, you won't get the required EXIF data recorded. It's a pity that the camera can't record something like the IS manual lens setting (given IS is on and you've set it correctly) as EXIF info, in that way, you'd have a way to record the lens being used.

Cheers

Ray

I understand this limitation, but there has to be an external exif editor that can add this information after the fact, manually, right?

 

[OzRay]

I understand this limitation, but there has to be an external exif editor that can add this information after the fact, manually, right?

You can always do this, but it's kind of a pain because you have to manually record the details while shooting.

Chees

Ray

 

[BillN]

That's what bugs me - at least with my D300 you can (pre) manually input the lens focal length through the menu system - I have now no idea on some shots which lens I have used, and even my Mac is not smart enough to tell me

 

[DjordjeJ]

I put keyword for corresponding lens in Exif, and if You now aperture, you can add it too.

 

[tonyjuliano]

My problem is solved, here's what was happening...

There is a program that you all may be aware of, ExifTool, that has the ability to write most exif data, even restricted types. I use this tool to write exif data to all my film stuff (scanned tiif's or jpeg's)

Unfortunately, this tool was returning an error when I tried to write info to the "Lens Model" field of the OLY raw file (or even if I converted it to DNG first). No matter what I did, it would not write successfully. It seems that Olympus is doing something unusual in regards to this info.

This is what I had to to do...

I used a program that would write other types of data, and create an XMP sidecar file in the process. ExifTool WAS able to successfully write the lens data directly to the sidecar. I then import the original ORF into lightroom, telling it to convert it to DNG, and the sidecar info is absorbed.

The end result is exactly what I wanted. The adapted lens info shows up in the proper section of the metadata, therefore enabling me to sort by this in lightroom (or any other program), just like native lenses, without writing it to keyword data.

Whew!!

 

[thearne3]

Tony -

Glad you solved this riddle! Could you be more specific? Are the programs you used Windoz or Mac -centric? Any chance this solution will work for Aperture 3????

Addendum: I see that Exiftool itself can add XMP sidecars - is that what you used???

 

[tonyjuliano]

Tony -

Glad you solved this riddle! Could you be more specific? Are the programs you used Windoz or Mac -centric? Any chance this solution will work for Aperture 3????

Addendum: I see that Exiftool itself can add XMP sidecars - is that what you used???

This will absolutely work with Aperture...

You can use whatever you wish to create the sidecar files, yes - exiftool can do this.

The "trick" is, once the XMP is created, to use exiftool to write the lens data to the "Lens Model" section of the XMP file (not the original RAW file).

Then, when you import into Aperture 3, Lightroom, or just convert to DNG, it will read and be stored correctly.

 

[thearne3]

This is really exciting! I'm not that familiar with using Exiftool and would like to do exactly what you're doing: change Lens Data, specifically, Name/focal length and aperture setting. What's the easiest way to identify these item codes? It looks like you might be using the XMP Aux tags: Lens, LensID, and LensInfo (and not the Microsoft tags??). How do you format/input actual aperture used? Could you post a sample command for making such a change? This would save a lot of time.

My goal is to create an Applescript for each of my legacy lenses and input f-stop if available.

Thanks, again, for your help, Tony!

 

[tonyjuliano]

This is really exciting! I'm not that familiar with using Exiftool and would like to do exactly what you're doing: change Lens Data, specifically, Name/focal length and aperture setting. What's the easiest way to identify these item codes? Could you post a sample command for making such a change? This would save a lot of time.

My goal is to create an Applescript for each of my legacy lenses.

Thanks, again, for your help, Tony!

Forget Applescript, if you are an OSX user then Automator is the way to go...

Here is a link to specific instructions on what you need to do...

http://studio.messlinger.com/2009/03/08/exiftool-and-the-automator/

After familiarizing yourself with the overview of exiftool in the first section, skip down to section labeled "Write Lens Make and Aperture", this is what you want.

 

[thearne3]

So, if I'm understanding you correctly:

1. Oly files don't behave properly, so a xmp sidecar must be created
2. The xmp sidecar can be modified by exiftool
3. Automator should ideally:
a. Allow user to select files for processing
b. Identify those which have no lens data (ie legacy) (if not already done by user)
c. Create sidecar for each such file
d. Prompt for lens and f-stop for each such file.
d. Make changes in sidecar
e. Import to Aperture

Did I miss anything? If automator doesn't handle logic, then user will need to create an Automator for each legacy lens and only submit such files for processing.

This will take awhile...

Thanks again!

 

[tonyjuliano]

The scenario you describe should work...

Let me say, the only files I had a problem with were OLY RAW files (ORF) that were shot with manual lenses. On these files I had to create the sidecars and let ExifTool alter those instead.

I never tried JPEG's (cause I dont shoot JPEG's).

I'm doing this on a PC, and it's very easy for me to just pick the files individually and apply the exiftool "fixes".

 

[Rich M]

Sorry.....I am a bit confused....you just want to import the lens you were using or is there other data as well?

R

 

[thearne3]

Rich,

Just importing the proper lens would be good. Having the opportunity to input the aperture used also would be even better.

 

[tonyjuliano]

Rich,

Just importing the proper lens would be good. Having the opportunity to input the aperture used also would be even better.

Using these techniques, you can rectify everything...

Lens Model, Aperture and anything else.

 

[Rich M]

This is probably a very cludgy method opposed to yours....but I use Lightroom for everything. In the metadata keyword section I quickly listed all my legacy glass.

When you import off of the SD card, Lightroom prompts you for metadata to add. Very easy to add a keyword tag to all your shots. However, if you are like me you might change lenses a few time....in that case after they are imported I just select all the shots done with one lens and click on that lens in the keyword library.....and LR adds those keywords to the selected shots.

Doesn't seem to take more than a few seconds.

Aperture.....well....that's another story....I try to guess by looking at the speed.

 

[tonyjuliano]

This is probably a very cludgy method opposed to yours....but I use Lightroom for everything. In the metadata keyword section I quickly listed all my legacy glass.

When you import off of the SD card, Lightroom prompts you for metadata to add. Very easy to add a keyword tag to all your shots. However, if you are like me you might change lenses a few time....in that case after they are imported I just select all the shots done with one lens and click on that lens in the keyword library.....and LR adds those keywords to the selected shots.

Doesn't seem to take more than a few seconds.

Aperture.....well....that's another story....I try to guess by looking at the speed.

I'm too anal...

I want that lens data where it belongs, with the other metadata.

 

[thearne3]

Successful Exif editing with no XMP needed

Tony et al,

I have discovered that Orf files CAN be processed directly (no need for xmp sidecar). The error returned by Exiftool is 'minor' - consequently adding the option -m to the command line overrides it.

I have successfully created an Automator that acts on a folder, say the 'PenF' folder. Assuming I have only used one legacy lens in this download (in this case my PenF), the program modifies only files with FNumber=0.0 and inserts lens name and focal length in the Exif data. All files are now ready for import to Aperture (or your program of choice).

At some point, I'll figure out how to add f-stop to each file...that would require actually keeping a record!

 

[tonyjuliano]

Tony et al,

I have discovered that Orf files CAN be processed directly (no need for xmp sidecar). The error returned by Exiftool is 'minor' - consequently adding the option -m to the command line overrides it.

I have successfully created an Automator that acts on a folder, say the 'PenF' folder. Assuming I have only used one legacy lens in this download (in this case my PenF), the program modifies only files with FNumber=0.0 and inserts lens name and focal length in the Exif data. All files are now ready for import to Aperture (or your program of choice).

At some point, I'll figure out how to add f-stop to each file...that would require actually keeping a record!

That's just awesome! Saves me a step!

Where in the command line line does the "-m" go?

And thanks again for this.