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Zeiss lensinfo on Flickr and Lightroom not present with Canon R6, but present with Canon 6D

Deathchant
Contributor

Hi all,

Ever since I got my Canon R6, Flickr won't display lensmaker information in case 3rd party lenses are attached. I see this:

52514098381_1305138384
while I see this on Flickr when the picture was taken with a Canon 6D:
52514380594_7e65c6dc76

Flickr only shows what is present in the file, so I checked Lightroom, and I see that in case of 3rd party lenses (in this case a 135 apo sonnar) that no lensmaker info is shown, only the focal length on the R6:
52513633847_f46d4970f4_o

In case of a picture taken with the 6D, I do see the lensinformation with all my Zeiss lenses:
52514583880_aaf40519dc_o

When I attach Canon lenses (16-35, 70-200, 100-400 etc) to the R6, it works fine:
Flickr:
52513633867_428f400220_o

Lightroom:
52514583850_678ac95a4d

So I don't think creating a ticket at Flickr makes sense, since it is already missing in the Lightroom library.

After that, I thought it was Adobe reading the wrong metadata fields from the camera, but I have been using LR for ages, and it doesn't matter which version of LR I use (of course I always keep it up to date), because I don't have this problem when using the 6D.

So the camera seems the only common denominator. I use firmware 1.4.0 on the R6 due to the AF-issues in later versions (hesitant to try 1.6.0). My guess is that Canon does not fill the proper metadata fields in-camera in case of 3rd party lenses. It works perfectly fine when a Canon lens is attached, so the camera does fill metadata fields.

At least the following 2 threads confirm what I have:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/full-lens-information-does-not-appear-i...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/how-to-fix-lens-metadata-with-lightroom...

and both say it is a Canon bug....With the way Canon is keeping everything close to the chest nowadays, "forbidding" 3rd party lensmakers to use the RF-mount, I would not be surprised if Canon decided not to fill the lensmaker-details in the correct metadata fields in-camera in case the lens is non-Canon....But of course that is speculation...

Does anyone experience the same issue and maybe have a solution, or must the solution indeed come from Canon?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Seems the only thing that tells us that this is Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2 ZE is the LensType nr. Exiv2 has a few lenses in the database at LensType nr 33. It seems like Canon didn't use nr 33 at all.

Skärmbild från 2022-11-25 16-04-35.png

Only one is 135mm, so it is easy for exiv2 to pick the right lens. I didn't need to use its configuration file.

As an explanation to the printscreen below, when using -pv instead of -pt exiv2 will show the LensType nr instead of the name in its database. "Ej tillgängligt" is in English "not available", so it has no meaning in this case.

Skärmbild från 2022-11-25 15-56-29.png

darktable uses exiv2 for lens identification.

Skärmbild från 2022-11-25 16-02-13.png

As for your original question, this is possible for Adobe to solve, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I don't know why Adobe is able to pick the right lens for 6D.

6D6D

View solution in original post

20 REPLIES 20

What lens does the camera report during Image Playback?

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

johnrmoyer
Mentor
Mentor

I use exiftool from a command line on both Debian Linux and macOS. I do not have the latest version, but this is what it reports on my iMac. As others have mentioned, the lens identifier appears to be in multiple locations and appears to be difficult to interpret. One new one is "[MakerNotes:Image] RF Lens Type : n/a", but I do not have any RF lenses. Sometimes in some fields my Canon lens is identified as a Tamron. I think this is a difficult problem to identify a lens from what the camera reports since the lens might tell a lie to the camera.

exiftool -"*lens*" -G0:2 /Users/jrm/photos/2022Nov10/*.CR3

======== /Users/jrm/photos/2022Nov10/IMG_1331.CR3
[EXIF:Image] Lens Info : 200-800mm f/0
[EXIF:Image] Lens Serial Number : 6220003595
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Type : Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD A035E + 2x
[MakerNotes:Image] RF Lens Type : n/a
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Model : EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +2x III
[MakerNotes:Camera] Shutter Release Without Lens: Enable
[MakerNotes:Camera] Retract Lens On Power Off : Enable
[MakerNotes:Camera] USM Lens Electronic MF : Disable After AF
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Drive When AF Impossible: Continue Focus Search
[Composite:Camera] Lens : 200.0 - 800.0 mm
[Composite:Camera] Lens ID : Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD A035E + 2x
[Composite:Camera] Lens : 200.0 - 800.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 199.7 - 798.8 mm)
======== /Users/jrm/photos/2022Nov10/IMG_1474.CR3
[EXIF:Image] Lens Info : 140-560mm f/0
[EXIF:Image] Lens Serial Number : 6220003595
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Type : Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM + 1.4x or Tamron Lens
[MakerNotes:Image] RF Lens Type : n/a
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Model : EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III
[MakerNotes:Camera] Shutter Release Without Lens: Enable
[MakerNotes:Camera] Retract Lens On Power Off : Enable
[MakerNotes:Camera] USM Lens Electronic MF : Disable After AF
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Drive When AF Impossible: Continue Focus Search
[Composite:Camera] Lens : 140.0 - 560.0 mm
[Composite:Camera] Lens ID : Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM + 1.4x
[Composite:Camera] Lens : 140.0 - 560.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 139.8 - 559.2 mm)

https://exiftool.org/ has the download

https://exiftool.org/history.html has the change history.

Contributing raw files might result in the lens identifications being improved if the Camera does in fact know what lens is attached.

---
https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/


@johnrmoyerwrote:

Sometimes in some fields my Canon lens is identified as a Tamron. does in fact know what lens is attached.


Because LensType tag is a number and not written in plain language. Tamron/Sigma use the same numbers. Your LensType nr should be 749 but I am not sure because below it says 2x (and 2x II because they share the same optics). Not 2x III.

LensType nr 749LensType nr 749

Without extender your LensType nr is 747

Skärmbild från 2022-11-24 22-30-18.png

Because I know darktable and because it is possible to read the source code I can tell you that darktable starts with:

  1. Exif.CanonCs.LensType
  2. Exif.Canon.LensModel
  3. Exif.Photo.LensModel

Some problems with this will be:

  • when Canon uses the same LensType for different lenses (75-300, 75-300 II and 75-300 III) or for different combinations (300/2.8L IS USM, 300/2.8L IS USM+1.4x or 300/2.8L IS USM+2x III).
  • when third-party makers use the same LensType as Canon.

LensType nr for Canon EF 300/2.8L IS USM is 142. Also 300/2.8L IS USM+1.4x and 300/2.8L IS USM+2x III share the same LensType nr 142.

The solution is to jump to the next tag, Exif.Canon.LensModel, because for my 6D, it has the right lens name and extenders there. But my D30 only has LensType tag and not Exif.Canon.LensModel or Exif.Photo.LensModel and will not give me the right combinations of extenders for this lens...

For Canon lenses on recent Canon cameras, the best place to look for the lens name is what exiftool calls "LensModel" instead of "LensType". For my very old Powershot A710 is, there is no lens model information in the jpg and "LensType" is 65535 which looks like a placeholder value or maybe is interpreted as negative one to indicate the built in lens, but for my Rebel T1i the LensModel identifies the lens. LensModel is a string and not a number like LensType. It may be necessary to use the Canon EOS Utility to load the lens information into the camera for the camera to be able to write the LensModel maker tag.

"exiftool -lensmodel -G0:2 /Users/jrm/photos/2022Nov10/IMG_1331.CR3
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Model : EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +2x III"

"exiftool -lensmodel -G0:2 /Users/jrm/photos/2022Nov10/IMG_1474.CR3
[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Model : EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III"

" | | | | 37) LensModel = EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +2x III
| | | | - Tag 0xa434 (41 bytes, string[41])
"

" | | | | 37) LensModel = EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III
| | | | - Tag 0xa434 (43 bytes, string[43])
"

"[MakerNotes:Camera] Lens Model : EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
======== ../2012Oct21/IMG_3678.CR2
"

I speculate that Canon DPP software uses the LensModel string when choosing the parameters for "digital lens optimizer", but I do not know this. I arrived at this speculation because Canon DPP seems to be better at mitigating small aperture diffraction blur than doe the GMIC Richardson/Lucy deconvolution. It seems plausible to me that knowledge of aperture shape would permit a better deconvolution than an assumption that it is circular.

---
https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/

Deathchant
Contributor

@Peter, @ Waddizzle

I just took 4 shots:

1: _IMG.3306.CR3 = R6 + Zeiss 135 apo sonnar
2: _IMG.3307.CR3 = R6 + Canon 70-200
3: _IMG.3309.CR2 = 6D + Zeiss 135 apo sonnar
4: _IMG.3308.CR2 = 6D + Canon 70-200

See below:
DPP 4 vs Lightroom EXIFDPP 4 vs Lightroom EXIF
I can conclude the following:

- In Lightroom, the lensinfo shows correctly for the following combo's: 6D+canon, 6D+Zeiss, R6+canon
- In DPP 4.16, the lensinfo shows correctly for the following combo's: 6D+canon, R6+canon
- On Flickr, the lensinfo shows correctly for the following combo's: 6D+canon, 6D+Zeiss, R6+canon

At least Lightroom is aligned with Flickr.

My assumption is that DPP 4.16 will be aligned with exif tool. But I have to get ExifTool+ExifGUI working first.

I also checked what I see in-camera (in case of the R6, because the 6D does not show lensinfo when playbacking images).
R6 + Zeiss 135 apo sonnar:
52522833395_05d5d2309f_b

R6 + Canon 70-200:
52522355816_45732b3765_b

Any of those raw files to share?

Sure:

https://easyupload.io/m/m9jtye

Pass = lensexif

Seems the only thing that tells us that this is Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2 ZE is the LensType nr. Exiv2 has a few lenses in the database at LensType nr 33. It seems like Canon didn't use nr 33 at all.

Skärmbild från 2022-11-25 16-04-35.png

Only one is 135mm, so it is easy for exiv2 to pick the right lens. I didn't need to use its configuration file.

As an explanation to the printscreen below, when using -pv instead of -pt exiv2 will show the LensType nr instead of the name in its database. "Ej tillgängligt" is in English "not available", so it has no meaning in this case.

Skärmbild från 2022-11-25 15-56-29.png

darktable uses exiv2 for lens identification.

Skärmbild från 2022-11-25 16-02-13.png

As for your original question, this is possible for Adobe to solve, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I don't know why Adobe is able to pick the right lens for 6D.

6D6D

I followed your youtube video and I got EXIFtool working. I don't know if Lightroom uses the same exiv2 as Darktable in order to manipulate it as you did in your video...

Looking at the R6+135 apo image (_IMG.3306.CR3):

EXIF-tab:
52523120128_469d4ded9d_c

Maker-tab, LensType:

52522571531_8b16efebb2_c

Maker-tab, LensModel:

52522849059_0d26f6fce0_c

When I check the option SHOW TAG VALUES AS NUMBERS, I see indeed LensType = 33.

But more lenstypes are under 33:

{33, "Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f/2 SLII Aspherical"},
{33, "Voigtlander Color Skopar 20mm f/3.5 SLII Aspherical"}, // 1
{33, "Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5 SLII Close Focus"}, // 2
{33, "Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm f/2.8 ZE"}, // 3
{33, "Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 18mm f/3.5 ZE"}, // 4
{33, "Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE"}, // 5
{33, "Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 25mm f/2 ZE"}, // 6
{33, "Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 28mm f/2 ZE"}, // 7
{33, "Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2 ZE"}, // 8
{33, "Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/1.4 ZE"}, // 9
{33, "Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 ZE"}, // 10
{33, "Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 50mm f/2 ZE"}, // 11
{33, "Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2 ZE"}, // 12
{33, "Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2 ZE"}, // 13

Seems like LensTagger LR-plugin is a cumbersome but workable solution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCGTyK3GwJU

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