Viewing Metadata information

I am trying to view all of the metadata for my pictures. In PS I can select "File Info" under the

File menu and see a lot of information. I understand, however, that some of the information

recorded with the files by the camera is proprietary and that I need to use Nikon Capture to

access it accurately (like ISO). Though when I open the files in NC, I only see a handful of the

data under the "These were the settings at the time this image was taken:" flag. I have

looked inside all of the menus and tried to use the Help Viewer, which didn't work, but

couldn't find anything.

Is there a better way to access all of the Metadata information in one place? And, will any of

that data tell me what distance the camera was at?

Actually, Nikon software doesn't show some of the most useful EXIF data. Try Opanda. They have at least one version that's been made freely available and another available as limited trialware.

I'm still waiting for EXIF data to record when VR is switched on or off.

Oh, yeh, and when I use a reflector. And whether the flash was on a bracket. And which of my too-many tripods I used that day...

I guess that's what the voice memo function on the D2H is for.

If you don't mind commandline stuff, ExifTool supports an unusually broad range of data fields, including much of the proprietary Nikon stuff (decrypted where necessary):

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

If you looking for windows based tool <a href="http://www.gvsoft.homedns.org/download/index.html">GexifView</a><br><br>

If you need specific metadata for your camera, we can investigate this together. Send me a mail.<br>Here an example for metadata found in a Nikon D200 picture<br>

-- EXIF-Data --------------------------- <br>

0x010F Make : NIKON CORPORATION <br>

0x0110 Model : NIKON D200 <br>

0x0112 Orientation : 1=Normal 0� <br>

0x011A X Resolution : 300/1=300 <br>

0x011B Y Resolution : 300/1=300 <br>

0x0128 Resolution Unit : 2=Inch <br>

0x0131 Software : Nikon Capture Editor 4.4.2000 <br>

0x0132 Date Time : 2005:10:06 00:05:01 <br>

0x0213 Y Cb Cr Positioning : 1=Centered <br>

0x0214 Reference Black White : 0/1, 255/1, 0/1, 255/1, 0/1, 255/1 <br>

0x8769 Exif Offset : 302 <br>

0x8825 GPS Offset : 904 <br>

0x829A Exposure Time : 6/1=6 sec <br>

0x829D F Number : 14/1=F14,0 <br>

0x8822 Exposure Program : 1=Manual <br>

0x8827 ISO Speed : 100 <br>

0x9000 Exif Version : 48, 50, 50, 48=0220 <br>

0x9003 Date Time Original : 2005:08:31 18:56:08 <br>

0x9004 Date Time Digitized : 2005:08:31 18:56:08 <br>

0x9101 Components Configuration : 1, 2, 3, 0=YCbCr <br>

0x9204 Exposure Bias Value : 0/6=0 EV <br>

0x9205 Max Aperture Value : 3/1=F2,8 <br>

0x9207 Metering Mode : 5=MultiSegment/Pattern <br>

0x9208 Light Source : 0=Auto <br>

0x9209 Flash : 0=Off <br>

0x920A Focal Length : 40/1=40,00 mm <br>

0x927C Maker Note : 78, 105, 107, 111, 110, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 77, .. <br>

0x9286 User Comment : ASCII... <br>

0x9290 Sub Sec Time : 57 <br>

0x9291 Sub Sec Time Original : 57 <br>

0x9292 Sub Sec Time Digitized : 57 <br>

0xA000 Flash Pix Version : 48, 49, 48, 48=0100 <br>

0xA001 Color Space : 1=sRGB <br>

0xA002 Exif Image Width : 3872=3872 pixels <br>

0xA003 Exif Image Length : 2592=2592 pixels <br>

0xA217 Sensing Method : 2=OneChipColorArea <br>

0xA300 File Source : 3=Digital Still Camera <br>

0xA301 Scene Type : 1=Directly Photographed <br>

0xA302 CFA Pattern : 0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 0, 2, 1=........ <br>

0xA401 Custom Rendered : 0=Normal process <br>

0xA402 Exposure Mode : 1=Manual <br>

0xA403 White Balance : 0=Auto <br>

0xA404 Digital Zoom Ratio : 1/1=1/1x <br>

0xA405 Focal Length in 35mm Film : 60=60,00 mm <br>

0xA406 Scene Capture Type : 0=Normal <br>

0xA407 Gain Control : 0=None <br>

0xA408 Contrast : 0=Normal <br>

0xA409 Saturation : 0=Normal <br>

0xA40A Sharpness : 0=Normal <br>

0xA40C Subject Distance Range : 0=Unknown <br>

<br>

-- Maker Specific Data: Nikon3 --------- <br>

0x0001 Makernote Version : 0210 <br>

0x0002 ISO Used : 0, 100 <br>

0x0003 Color Mode : COLOR <br>

0x0004 Quality : RAW <br>

0x0005 White Balance : AUTO <br>

0x0006 Sharpening : NORMAL <br>

0x0007 Focus Mode : AF-S <br>

0x000B White Balance Bias : 0 <br>

0x000C Whitebalance RB Coefficients : 1609375/1000000, 1484375/1000000, 1/1, 1/1 <br>

0x000D Unknown : 0, 1, 6, 0=.... <br>

0x000E Exposure Difference : 3, 1, 12, 0=.... <br>

0x0011 Thumbnail Offset : 6364 <br>

0x0013 ISO Requested : 0, 100 <br>

0x0019 AE Bracket Compensation : 0/1 <br>

0x001B Unknown : 0, 3904, 2616, 3904, 2616, 0, 0 <br>

0x001C Unknown : 0, 1, 6, 0=.... <br>

0x001D Unknown : [raw: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 ] <br>

0x001E Unknown : 1 <br>

0x0081 Tone Compensation : NORMAL <br>

0x0083 Lens Type : 2= 2 ??? <br>

0x0084 Lens Information : 28/1, 70/1, 28/10, 28/10=28,0-70,0(mm) F2,8-F2,8<br>

0x0087 Flash Used : 0=Flash Not Used <br>

0x0088 Auto Focus Position : 0, 1, 0, 2=.... <br>

0x0089 Bracketing Mode : 2=no bracketing - Timer <br>

0x008A Unknown : 2 <br>

0x008B Lens Stops : 72, 1, 12, 0=H... <br>

0x008C NEF Decode Table1 : 73, 16, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, .. <br>

0x008D Color Mode : MODE3 =Mode 3 (sRGB): higher saturation <br>

0x0090 Lighting Type : NATURAL <br>

0x0091 Unknown : 0207.'.+}.|..�..1�.�C...%fĿ.�^MY�ȫ�H.... <br>

0x0092 Hue Adjustment : 0 <br>

0x0095 Noise Reduction : OFF [raw: 4F 46 46 20 00 ] <br>

0x0097 Color Balance : 0207................................... <br>

0x0098 Lens Data : 0201 7AA7E88AD115E9 <br>

0x0099 NEF Thumbnail Size : 1952, 1308 <br>

0x009A Sensor Pixel Size : 605/100, 605/100 <br>

0x00A2 Unknown : 7190057 <br>

0x00A3 Unknown : 0 <br>

0x00A5 Unknown : 2726 <br>

0x00A6 Unknown : 0 <br>

0x00A7 Total Shutter Releases : 2726 <br>

0x00A9 Image Optimization : CUSTOM <br>

0x00AA Saturation : NORMAL <br>

0x00B0 Unknown : 48, 49, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.. <br>

0x00B1 Unknown : 0 <br>

0x0E08 Unknown : 1 <br>

0x0E09 Nikon Capture Version : Nikon Capture Editor 4.4.2000 <br>

0x0E0E Nikon Capture Offsets : 0100.....................�.... <br>

0x0E10 Unknown : 6458 <br>

0x0E19 Unknown : 256, 100 <br>

<br>

-- Thumbnail Data ---------------------- <br>

0x0103 Compression : 6=Jpeg <br>

0x011A X Resolution : 300/1=300 <br>

0x011B Y Resolution : 300/1=300 <br>

0x0128 Resolution Unit : 2=Inch <br>

0x0201 Thumbnail Offset : 7520 <br>

0x0202 Thumbnail Length : 6227 <br>

<br>

Thanks for all of the support and help. I am a Mac user, so unfortunately, I can't use most

of the suggested software. As for the commandline tool, I could probably use it, but it

seems just a little over my head. As a side note, however, I must say the closeup photo of

the eye in the posted example is awesome.

Ger Vermeulen, thank you for offering to help. I have finally found an application called

Exif Viewer, that seems to work well for JPEGS, and lists most of what you posted from

your D200. Unfortunately, I don't think it will work for Nikon NEF files.

The reason I want better access to the EXIF data is because I am new to SLRs and trying to

learn depth of field and hyperfocal distances. I have a couple of shots that I wanted to see

how far out I had focused the camera to plug the information into a DOF calculator to

compare. In Ger Vermeulen's post there is a field titled "Subject Distance Range." I am

also able to get that field using EXIF Viewer. Unfortunately, it shows "unknown" in both

Ger Vermeulen's post and in EXIF Viewer. Am I looking in the right place? Why is it

unknown?

Thanks for the help, everyone. As a newbie trying to learn on my new camera, I really

appreciate it.

Tag: $A40C "Subject Distance Range" can have several values:<br>

0 : Unknown<br>

1 : Macro<br>

2 : Close view<br>

3 : Distant view<br>

You where hoping for the distance in meters, sorry no!

ExifTool retrieves a value for 'Focus Distance' (in metres) from NEF files (though I haven't tried this with D200 files), so it might be worth persevering with this software. The first step would be to test if perl is installed ('perl -v' at a shell prompt). If not, here is one place to get it for MacOS X or Windows:

http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/

After perl is installed, Exiftool can be unpacked and the examples tested. Here's some more information about running it:

http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID86/15138.html#20

Note that you probably need a D or G lens for the focus distance to be meaningful.

Technical stuff: I've had a quick look at the ExifTool code ('Nikon.pm' is the relevant file), and it appears the focus distance is part of Nikon's proprietary lens data in tag 0x0098. This is probably encrypted in D200 files, apparently using the same algorithm as the infamous white balance encryption (Nikon.pm borrows the 'xlat' WB decryption key from the dcraw source to handle lens data). Most Exif viewers do not handle this sort of data.

Thanks, but I am not comfortable with installing and using Perl scripts in the terminal. I

should probably learn about it, but haven't found the time yet. I guess I am going to have to

go without for a while.