
The lens is Sony's own model, a Sony DT 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 SAM and so quite naturally included in the camera's firmware. An EXIF reader that I use then shows this as simply "75-300mm F4.5-5.6" in Lens Model field.Ī lens that is recognized by my camera has exact info: Lens Model DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM That number is reserved for "Minolta AF 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 or Sigma Lens". What happened here is that the ID-code sent by the lens falls into slot 25611 of the lookup table. The lens is actually a Sigma 70-300 f/4-5.6 DG so even the focal range was wrong in EXIF. See how the lens is first recognized as f/4.5-5.6 but then maximum aperture is a hard fact transferred from lens to camera as f/4.0 (which is true). Base line is, correct info can only be found if the info is already known by the camera.įor example my Sony A37 does not quite recognize my telezoom lens: Lens Model 75-300mm F4.5-5.6Īlmost correct but not quite there. It is up to the EXIF reader software to interpret the lens model code into a lens model description. A code that is found in the lookup table is translated into uniform (per camera manufacturer) code and gets written into MakerNotes section of metadata of the image.

Camera body firmware has a lookup table for these ID-codes. Lens model info is not included in the basic EXIF-data but is found in MakerNotes section instead.Įach lens has its own ID-code which is sent to the camera body when an image is captured. Some basic specs of a lens is transferred from lens to camera (for example focal length and the maximum usable aperture at current zoom level) and those are then included in EXIF data. Camera makers include information of several lenses in the firmware, but if a certain lens you use is not included, then the camera can not recognize it correctly. Lens is recognized by the camera only if its ID-code is known to it. What more, many photo gallery sites, and for example Facebook, intentionally strip most or all Exif info (and the rest of metadata) off the images. Also the use of a teleconverter, extension tube or adapter ring may lead to incorrect or missing Lens model info. However, third party lenses may show up with invalid or missing lens model info. Google can find several Exif viewers for you, but not all of them read and/or translate MakerNotes.Ĭhances to find correct lens info from metadata are good when the camera and lens are both from the same manufacturer. I use either my RAW-converter software or an online viewer - Jeffrey's exif viewer at.

You may find Lens model description in the image metadata with an Exif viewer that is able to translate the MakerNotes section of the metadata.
