When I see great pics here on the forum (and else where) I usually do a right click and save them to my photo file. I was going through some of these today and noticed something. When I hold my mouse pointer over the picture I get the standard file type/size/location and now I noticed some of them also give the camera make and model that was used. Is this something new? It’s pretty cool to see what kind of equipment everyone is using.
It can’t be too new as I noticed it as soon as I began using a digital camera - years and years ago. It could just be that people are just now using software that preserves that information and carries it forward from the orignal. Or those you notice it on could be originals that someone hasn’t ummm altered.
That’s the EXIF data encoded in the image file by the camera. Programs with advanced decoders, like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, will also read the exposure and focal length information.
Many basic imaging software programs destroy the EXIF data, when the image is resaved. Again advanced programs like Photoshop and Lightroom, preserve that information and carry it forward.
Nick
I’ve noticed most of the camera data listed seems to be pretty high end equipment. A couple of the pics had the focus and aperture data too. I guess I just never noticed it till today.
I hadn’t heard of such a thing but it doesn’t surprise me; you have the capability to record date and time on camcorders - there is no reason why with the proper input you couldn’t scribe almost any kind of information on a digital image.
This may very well be some kind of a security feature; if it does, as has been said, record the name of the camera on which the image was created it could be copyright protection. Publishers will not accept duplicated slides because there is no way of them insuring that they are not purchasing purloined material.
nbrodar nailed it. now that cameras are all practically shipping with a decent photo program as opposed to the real draconian stuff of a few years ago the exif data is retained through the conversion to something a little more web-friendly… eg from RAW (if your camera supports it, mine does, so I shoot raw mode) to JPG. Or from a >1MB JPG tothe 3-400KB ones used in the forums here…
I’ve actually accessed it many times on my own photos when I can’t remember all the manual mode settings I used on a particularly well done picture or some special effect that turned out well. It really saves going all through the experimental steps all over again !!!
Mark.
There is a certain amount of data “Stamped” into a photo or video by the device creating it.
Taken far enough and deeply enough, it could stand up in a Court of law, linking the imagery to the camera and thence to the owner who owns that device.
They have been doing this for years. In fact I think that there may be a little bit of hidden stuff going on … CONSPIRACY!!! he he. Such as serial numbers of the device that generated the imagery that could be perhaps googled and the owner found (One who registered device over the net or mail after buying it) without too much trouble.
I use a Sony 460 Camcorder and I think the whole kit was about 600 dollars all together. It does the job very well on the computer here at the house with my Roxio software. What I get off the data in those imagery is quite illuminating. Especially things like focal settings, lenses etc. useful.
I expect all things created for our use in the future to carry identifying marks inside imagery and other items generated by this widget so that others can learn about the widget and eventually about you. The user of this widget.
For that reason, I stay about 5 to 10 years behind of the latest and greatest stuff. It took me 20 to use a VCR at home and it lasted 5 years until everyone quit selling VCR tapes.
If one thinks about it enough those stamps could be useful in prosecuting illegal activities in which a camera or recorder was used.
But the data is most useful in recreating camera settings for a image.
I have been shopping for a replacement video camera lately and noticed that all of the new stuff carry file formats that are so advanced and not supported by current software as I understand it.
Indeed some of the newer cameras are deliberately being created without firewire or USB jacks forcing you to spend more money on brand software or other widgets to get this stuff off the device and do something with it. This usually involved spending more money, resources, upgrading and mo
I often use RAW mode for pictures. The advantage to that is that the camera isn’t making decisions when converting the data from the imaging sensor to JPEG format for saving. I get to make the decisions later during editing/processing. The TIFF file that results is exactly the way the sensor saw the world at that time.
EXIF data can be useful, but not all formats support it. Some programs allow you to alter it too. Others just shave it off.
But my Nikon can also save all that data to a text file.