DNG editor to write EXIF data (lens data)?

[Mike Hatam]

Does anyone know a way to edit a DNG file from an M9 (or M8) to either edit or add (if it's not already there) the correct lens data into the EXIF?

I'd like to have the correct lens info in the EXIF in my image library for easy searches and look-ups.

Mike

 

[sandymc]

Mike,

CornerFix can do that for M8 images "automagically" - it picks up the MakerNote data, and transfers it to the EXIF. M9 not supported yet, but once Carl Brettville decodes the new MakerNote format, it will probably be able to do so as well.

Alternatively, something like Photo Mechanic will probably do the trick: http://www.camerabits.com/site/index.html

Sandy

 

[gero]

I know that aperture can do it I just dont know well how.

 

[Mike Hatam]

Thanks Sandy and Gero. I don't use Aperture (I'm a PC user, not Mac). I'll look into Photo Mechanic, but didn't know that it works with DNG.

 

[Reynolds]

You're NOT a Mac user? OMG!!

 

[Mike Hatam]

I know, I know... I hang my head in shame...

 

[rkolewe]

You could use Phil Harvey's ExifTool (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ ) to set the lens metadata directly. ExifTool version 7.94 or later understands the M9 maker notes so it wouldn't be too hard to write a script to extract the lens info from the maker notes and write it into the exif lens tag.

Cheers

Ralph Kolewe

 

[rkolewe]

Looking a bit closer at ExifTool it can do this without having to write a script. The command line to copy the maker note to the standard exif tag is

exiftool '-LensType>-Lens' SomeM9ImageFile.dng

Note the single quotes. Should work for M8 files too, I think.

Cheers

Ralph Kolewe

 

[Mike Hatam]

Thanks Ralph for this explanation. This could be a useful tool.

The situation I'm describing is where there no maker notes with lens info, or the maker notes are incorrect (camera set to manual, with wrong lens selected).

Any ideas on how to modify the lens info when it either doesn't exist or is incorrect?

Mike

EDIT: I'm looking into the EXIFTOOL documentation now to see if I can find a way to do this...

 

[Ruediger]

I'm doing this with ExifTool and the values from the M8 Metadata Guide. For example, for the 90 Macro Elmar:

exiftool -FocalLength=90 -LensType="39 1" -n

 

[Mike Hatam]

Fantastic - that's exactly what I needed. Thank you Ralph and Ruediger for pointing me in this direction.