exiftool: Lens, camera, film information

Since I use a lot of manual focus [non-electronic] lenses, I try to add EXIF metadata as I remember it.

I use exiftool to do this. The basic metadata to add is the lens model. My experience has led me to these options:

exiftool -P -ext jpg -LensModel="Steinheil Quinon 50/2"  -FocalLength="50 mm" -overwrite_original directorypath

-P means to keep the original date/time of the file

-ext jpg means to process only JPEG files (I don't want to modigy raw files anyway), this allows to point to a directory (directorypath).

Sometimes I also save the aperture value:

exiftool -P -ext jpg -FNumber="2.8" -overwrite_original directorypath

-FNumber is used.

For film scans I also try to add EXIF:

exiftool -P -ext jpg -Make="Vivitar" -Model="V3800N" -Software="Fomapan Classic" -ISO="100" -overwrite_original directorypath

I chose to use -Make for the camera maker, -Model for the camera model, -Sofware for the photographic film name, and -ISO for the film speed (ISO sensitivity).

See also related notes:

• Metadata for film shooting (2024-09-30)