iPhoto Data

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Level 3

605 points

iPhoto Data

When I upload my photos to iPhoto 11 and look at the "Info" for a photo I see the basic data such as shutter speed, f-stop, ISO, etc. I do not see the other shot-specific settings from my Canon G12 such as Mode (Automatic, TV, TA, etc), Auto ISO vs manual set of ISO, etc. I suspect that iPhoto does not display all of this Canon-specific data that the camera displays when I look at the info on the camera in Playback. Correct?

I am just getting into digital photography and knowing how different camera settings change the image will help me learn. If the Canon-specific data does not transfer to iPhoto then I think I'll need to keep the photos on my camera after the download so I can use iPhoto to view the photos while using the camera display to see the shooting settings. Is that a good plan?

Any help and advice is appreciated. Thanks.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Jul 2, 2011 10:38 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,748 points

Jul 2, 2011 11:13 AM in response to 1badDuck

Were you able to view that info before, i.e. in iPhoto 09?

Here's a comparison between the extended photo info pane of iPhoto 09 and the info pane of iPhoto 11:

Click to view full size

Not sure if iPhoto can display all of the EXIF data that's available. I've got a number of images from a variety of cameras for an EXIF info test and it's obvious that not all of the info gets displayed by iPhoto. You might need a 3rd party EXIF viewer to get all of the info you want.

For example this is what EXIF Viewer shows for a photos taken by a Nikon:

And this is what iPhoto displays:

😟

Not very good. I just put EXIF Viewer in the Dock and dragged the photos from iPhoto onto it.

OT

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,978 points

Jul 2, 2011 11:15 AM in response to 1badDuck

Q1: Correct

Q2: No

These settings, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority etc are an assistance when shooting. It means you have one less thing to calculate when you take a shot (If the camera decides the Aperture, then all you have to think about are Shutter Speed and ISO). But the key information is the decision the camera makes - and that's avilable in the Info pane.

Or of you really want to track that data, then simply adding a keyword to the photos will do the same job. Tv or Ta for instance, and then a smart album will find those for you.

Regards

TD

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Answer 3

1badDuck Author

Level 3

605 points

Jul 2, 2011 12:57 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks.

Toad, how did you get that extended info pane to show in iPhoto? That EXIF Viewer looks very good and does seem to show additional data.

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

215,748 points

Jul 2, 2011 1:04 PM in response to 1badDuck

That's just the info pane that comes up if you type Command+i or click on the Info button at the bottom of the window.

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Answer 5

1badDuck Author

Level 3

605 points

Jul 2, 2011 5:29 PM in response to Old Toad

Toad, sorry if I'm missing something obvious. I am refering to the blue/white striped panel that you have the red lines connecting to in your original post. When I click on "info" or Commans+I I only get the left hand side, not the blue/white striped panel that has the categories (Image, File, Location, Camera, Exposure) listed with data under each category.

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Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,978 points

Jul 3, 2011 12:10 AM in response to 1badDuck

That's from the earlier versions of iPhoto. The illustration shows how the same information is available in the current version, in a different layout.

Regards

TD

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Answer 7

1badDuck Author

Level 3

605 points

Jul 3, 2011 7:36 AM in response to Yer_Man

Got it. Thanks. I'll try the EXIF Viewer.

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