How does EXIF work?

[eastbluffs]

How do I download the EXIF for each photo onto my hard disk and is it possible to do within Photoshop CS?

[ReValveiT]

If you're using Windows (XP, 2K - not sure about '98) the easiest way to view the EXIF is to right-click on your pic, select 'Properties', click on the 'Summary' tab and click 'Advanced >>'.

It can also be viewed in most editing programs...

[eastbluffs]

Thanks. Never realized it was embedded within the file! Actually - it doesn't work on Win 2K, but XP is OK.

[Rob vdKam]

I understand the XP advanced summary data is not the full EXIF dataset. For example, I believe I heard that some EXIF data has the focus distance, especially for when manual focus assist is used. Any truth to that? Anyone know how to get at this metadata?

[dhai]

To access EXIF data use exifer ...
this program lets you change and access just about everything
it can even do some batch processing

http://www.exifer.friedemann.info/
(postcardware)

Exifer is a nearly free software (you only should send me a postcard if you're using Exifer frequently) with which you can manage the metadata (EXIF/IPTC) of pictures taken by digital cameras.

Because many image processing software destroys this metadata when saving such files, the idea was to create a backup of the metadata before editing it in any software, and then, after that to restore it back into the processed file. With Exifer you can do this very easily.

Note: All image processing software I know (e.g. ACDSee) destroys at least the EXIF makernotes after saving. Exifer doesn't!

[reyval2k]

Another great Exif viewer which has an added feature that allows you to view exif data within a firefox browser is Opanda's IExif v2.0 viewer. check it out at Opanda.com.