(How) Can I Get Apple Photos to Display Metadata for videos?

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Level 1

8 points

(How) Can I Get Apple Photos to Display Metadata for videos?

Photos metadata displays fine but video metadata doesn't. Shots from the iPhone camera app show the camera as my iPhone but the lens appears as "No lens information".

Shots from e.g. Filmic pro either display "No camera information" as well or might say the camera is Filmic Pro, which is at least slightly helpful but I'd like to know what lens I shot with as while I can usually tell, it's nice to have the metadata to check or filter by.

Shots from other cameras have no metadata at all for any of the shots. I can find some of the files on my Mac by searching for the default names but I'd love to be able to filter by the camera and lens to be honest. This lack of info seems to be in the Finder too, it is unable to search or use smart filters to find the files by their EXIF info.

I can see a huge amount of information from my camera files about the lens, camera, metering mode, focus mode and more. Apple and third party apps seem to leave off the lens info from the EXIF data, which seems odd to me (I know by default Apple's camera will switch but one can turn that off and third party apps don't have this behaviour). Of course I can't expect photos to find it if it's not in the EXIF.

So how can I get my iPhone and Mac to see the EXIF data in my video files? I want to be able to search by the camera I used the way I can with photos.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.1

Posted on Jan 21, 2023 4:42 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 22, 2023 1:51 AM in response to fraser13

Movie metadata is a mess and a movie target. Apple iOS devices use some 'Keys' tags (and Final Cut Pro 'ItemList' and some other apps 'UserData') and QuickTime Player and Photos.app display some of them (Author, Description, Title, Keyword).

For example, iPhone 13 Pro has these very sparse device specific tags (among other tags) but unlike in images there is no lens info:

exiftool -a -G1 -s -api QuickTimeUTC=1 2022-0612-1923-17.mov
[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2022:06:12 19:23:17+03:00
[Keys]          LocationAccuracyHorizontal      : 4.691263
[Keys]          GPSCoordinates                  : 36 deg 36' 36.36" S, 66 deg 54' 54.54" W, 119.9 m Above Sea Level
[Keys]          Make                            : Apple
[Keys]          Model                           : iPhone 13 Pro
[Keys]          Software                        : 15.5
[Keys]          CreationDate                    : 2022:06:12 19:23:17+03:00

On the other hand, there is much more info for an image, such as:

exiftool -a -G1 -s 2022-1223-2348-22.heic 
[IFD0]          Make                            : Apple
[IFD0]          Model                           : iPhone 13 Pro
[IFD0]          Software                        : 16.0
[IFD0]          HostComputer                    : iPhone 13 Pro
[ExifIFD]       ExposureTime                    : 1/33
[ExifIFD]       FNumber                         : 1.5
[ExifIFD]       ExposureProgram                 : Program AE
[ExifIFD]       ISO                             : 500
[ExifIFD]       DateTimeOriginal                : 2022:12:23 23:48:22
[ExifIFD]       ShutterSpeedValue               : 1/33
[ExifIFD]       ApertureValue                   : 1.5
[ExifIFD]       BrightnessValue                 : -0.7407539034
[ExifIFD]       ExposureCompensation            : 0
[ExifIFD]       MeteringMode                    : Multi-segment
[ExifIFD]       Flash                           : Off, Did not fire
[ExifIFD]       FocalLength                     : 5.7 mm
[ExifIFD]       FocalLengthIn35mmFormat         : 26 mm
[ExifIFD]       LensInfo                        : 1.570000052-9mm f/1.5-2.8
[ExifIFD]       LensMake                        : Apple
[ExifIFD]       LensModel                       : iPhone 13 Pro back triple camera 5.7mm f/1.5
[XMP-exif]      ShutterSpeedValue               : 1/33
[XMP-exif]      FNumber                         : 1.5
[XMP-exif]      ExposureProgram                 : Program AE
[XMP-tiff]      HostComputer                    : iPhone 13 Pro
[XMP-tiff]      Make                            : Apple
[XMP-tiff]      Model                           : iPhone 13 Pro
[XMP-exifEX]    PhotographicSensitivity         : 500
[XMP-exifEX]    LensMake                        : Apple
[XMP-exifEX]    LensModel                       : iPhone 13 Pro back triple camera 5.7mm f/1.5
[ICC-header]    PrimaryPlatform                 : Apple Computer Inc.
[ICC-header]    CMMFlags                        : Not Embedded, Independent
[ICC-header]    DeviceManufacturer              : Apple Computer Inc.
[ICC-header]    ProfileCreator                  : Apple Computer Inc.
[ICC-header]    ProfileID                       : ecfda38e388547c36db4bd4f7ada182f
[ICC_Profile]   ProfileDescription              : Display P3
[ICC_Profile]   ProfileCopyright                : Copyright Apple Inc., 2022
[...]

BTW, the last time I checked, there must be 'FocalLengthIn35mmFormat' tag before Photos.app displays the FocalLength.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,190 points

Jan 22, 2023 1:56 PM in response to fraser13

There is no universal video meta standard as there is for photos - IPTC. Each camera handles it differently so Apple can't program Photos for all cameras.

Tell Apple what missing features you'd like restored or new features added to the system via Feedback - macOS - Apple.

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Answer 3

fraser13 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 22, 2023 1:37 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks for your reply. Photos doesn't even try to display the 35mm equivalent focal length for video and I am fine with that since it could change all the time depending on lens/digital zoom. However it seems only images show the camera and lens metadata even though the EXIF for my cameras video and photos have the same entries for lens and model etc. as far as I can tell. There's actually a tonne of information in there, including camera settings, unlike the example you gave (I do find a lot less in my iPhone videos' EXIF too).

e.g.

ExifTool Version Number         : 12.50
File Name                       : Z62_1428.MOV
.
.
.
Make                            : NIKON CORPORATION
Model                           : NIKON Z 6_2
Software                        : NIKON Z 6_2 Ver.01.40
Create Date                     : 2022:05:21 20:26:01
Date/Time Original              : 2022:05:21 20:26:01
Frame Count                     : 240
Frame Rate                      : 59.94
Frame Width                     : 3840
Frame Height                    : 2160
Audio Channels                  : 2
Audio Bits Per Sample           : 16
Audio Sample Rate               : 48000
Nikon Date Time                 : 2022:05:21 20:26:01
Electronic VR                   : Off
Exposure Time                   : 1/125
F Number                        : 2.0
Exposure Program                : Manual
Exposure Compensation           : 0
Metering Mode                   : Multi-segment
Focal Length                    : 50.0 mm
Serial Number                   : 6024074
Lens Info                       : 50mm f/1.4
Lens Make                       :
Lens Model                      : 50mm f/1.4G
Lens Serial Number              :
Maker Note Version              : 2.11
White Balance                   : NATURAL AUTO
Focus Mode                      : AF-S
Crop Hi Speed                   : Unknown (7) (6064x4040 cropped to 3954x2232 at pixel 1056,904)
Color Space                     : sRGB
VR Info Version                 : 0200
Vibration Reduction             : On
VR Mode                         : On (1)
VR Type                         : In-body
Active D-Lighting               : Off
.
.
.
Lens Type                       : G
Lens                            : 50mm f/1.4
Flash Mode                      : Did Not Fire
Lens Data Version               : 0801
Exit Pupil Position             : 85.3 mm
AF Aperture                     : 1.4
Focus Distance                  : 3.98 m
Lens ID Number                  : 160
Lens F Stops                    : 7.00
Min Focal Length                : 50.4 mm
Max Focal Length                : 50.4 mm
Max Aperture At Min Focal       : 1.4
Max Aperture At Max Focal       : 1.4
MCU Version                     : 162
Effective Max Aperture          : 1.4
Shutter Count                   : 47212
Flash Info Version              : 0300
Vari Program                    :
High ISO Noise Reduction        : Normal
AF Info 2 Version               : 0301
Contrast Detect AF              : On (2)
AF Area Mode                    : Auto
Phase Detect AF                 : On (81-point)
.
.
.
Aperture                        : 2.0
Image Size                      : 3840x2160
Megapixels                      : 8.3
Shutter Speed                   : 1/125
Auto Focus                      : On
Lens ID                         : AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G
Lens Spec                       : 50mm f/1.4 G
Avg Bitrate                     : 271 Mbps
Rotation                        : 0
Focal Length                    : 50.0 mm
Light Value                     : 8.6

I don't understand why it has a section for camera and lens details if it can't read that clearly accessible information. Is there any way I could reformat it? Finder doesn't seem able to search for it either.

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(How) Can I Get Apple Photos to Display Metadata for videos?

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