EXIF - what's that all about then? · Apr 5, 04:11 PM by Simon Mackie
EXIF (it stands for EXchangable Image File format) data is automatically saved by most digital camaras and editing software. It’s used to store lots of useful “metadata”: in other words, information about your images, such as the time the picture was takken, the focal length used, the shutter speed etc. This is very handy for the digital photographer, as it means that you no longer need to keep note of what shutter speeds, apertures, etc. you’ve used while shooting if you want to know what particular settings you used to obtain a particular shot.
It’s also handy to be able to take a look at other people’s images and take a look at what settings they used to achieve their photos. For example on flickr, you can click on the “more properties” link on a photo (at the bottom right, if the photographer has decided to share their EXIF data) and see what settings were used.
For example, on this image, you can see that I’ve used a focal length of 300mm to capture this image of the moon, and used an aperture of f/10 and a perhaps surprisingly quick shutter speed of 1/20th of asecond.
commenting closed for this article
Problems downloading the photos from your Canon 350D/Rebel XT? Cleaning dust from negatives and slides