Distance reading from EXIF with Z lenses

[Lance B]

In EXIF I get subject distance with F mount lenses on DSLRs and Z cameras but it seems not with Z mount lenses. I know there has been discussions about subject distance readings with Z lenses and I can't remember the outcome as to why there isn't any info in EXIF. Does anyone know whether there is any readings from Z mount lenses and if not why we don't have them? A recent question about distance was asked on some of my images, and as it was an F mnount lens I could provide the info, but this is not available with my Z lenses.

 

[Nextlife1]

I don’t know the answer to your question but I thought subject distances in DSLR EXIF data were extremely unreliable. Are they thought to be more accurate with mirrorless?

 

[Lance B]

I don’t know the answer to your question but I thought subject distances in DSLR EXIF data were extremely unreliable. Are they thought to be more accurate with mirrorless?

I don't know if it is possibly more reliable or not with ML. The F mount lens subject focus distance was reasonably accurate close in but less so at distance, but at least it gave a guide.

 

[fcotterill]

There have been a couple of similar queries in dpr about this. I failed to get the exif package to work

Extract subject distance info from Z9 nef (lossless compressed) files: Nikon Z Mirrorless Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Expert news, reviews and videos of the latest digital cameras, lenses, accessories, and phones. Get answers to your questions in our photography forums.

www.dpreview.com

Anyone else notice missing EXIF Metadata from NEFs?: Nikon Z Mirrorless Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Expert news, reviews and videos of the latest digital cameras, lenses, accessories, and phones. Get answers to your questions in our photography forums.

www.dpreview.com

 

[Charles Loy]

following

 

[Lance B]

There have been a couple of similar queries in dpr about this. I failed to get the exif package to work

Extract subject distance info from Z9 nef (lossless compressed) files: Nikon Z Mirrorless Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Expert news, reviews and videos of the latest digital cameras, lenses, accessories, and phones. Get answers to your questions in our photography forums.

www.dpreview.com

Anyone else notice missing EXIF Metadata from NEFs?: Nikon Z Mirrorless Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Expert news, reviews and videos of the latest digital cameras, lenses, accessories, and phones. Get answers to your questions in our photography forums.

www.dpreview.com

That's probably where I did see some discussions and saw that you and other's didn't get to the bottom of it. A pity as I would have thought ML would have brought a clean slate to the designer engineers to come up with a distance measurement.

 

[WarrenHatch]

ExifTool reports this information. The tag you are interested in is ‘FocusDistance’. As with the F-mount lenses, the reporting is more accurate at closer distances. Unlike F-lenses, ‘Infinity’ is a value that can be reported. Still, the values much past CFD should be taken as broad approximations. You will need a version of ExifTool that is reasonably current (within the past 9 months or so).

 

[MikePapple]

ExifTool reports this information. The tag you are interested in is ‘FocusDistance’. As with the F-mount lenses, the reporting is more accurate at closer distances. Unlike F-lenses, ‘Infinity’ is a value that can be reported. Still, the values much past CFD should be taken as broad approximations. You will need a version of ExifTool that is reasonably current (within the past 9 months or so).

I have used ExifTool with my Sony gear. You might want to test it in your home - set your camera and lens on a tripod a known distance from your target. If you are in apsc mode you have to multiply by crop factor. Test it with a teleconverter as well.

 

[Dinusaur]

Apparently, the subject distance information is available from 'Properties' menu of a converted jpeg file (see the discussion link below). The photos in this discussion were taken using Z9 and 600mm TC. When I tried the trick on photos taken using a Z9 and 400mm TC, it didn't work for me. I use NX Studio to convert nef files to jpeg and it might be stripping that info off.

Nikon, better subject detection, please!

Since switching to Nikon from Canon a little over a year ago, I have been managing with the rudimentary subject detection of the Z8 series. Yes, FW 2.0 improved things dramatically, though Nikon is still way behind compared to Sony/Canon. Apart from my frustrations over the Z8 inexplicably...

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