How to... Use information stored by digital cameras (EXIF)

Many digital cameras create image files that store information about the image and the camera that took it. Information about shutter speed, aperture, focal length is typically included as long as the precise time the picture was taken.

MyAlbum can extract these information when reading a picture and put them in the Custom Fields of the picture. With the information in the Custom Fields it will then be easy to display it, print it or use it by any other means.

The module that extracts Exif information is installed along with MyAlbum and is automatically loaded. You can check it¢s state in the MAX tab of the Application Setup dialog box: you should see a line reading Digital still camera image information extractor (if not please read the MAX_DigiCam-ReadMe.txt file in the MyAlbum folder).

As the extractor will put the extracted data in Custom Fields, your album must have a set of Custom Fields that match the extracted data.

When you create a new album using the Wizard, define the fields in the Custom fields screen: the easiest thing is to use a predefined template (JPEG/Exif for instance) and click the Build list button.

If you are not using the Wizard, open the Album Info window (F6) and go to the Custom fields tab and define the set of Custom Fields (do it before adding any picture to the album!).

Tip: If you are often using the same template, open the Application setup dialog box and go to the Color tab and select the template in the Use custom fields set drop-down list. This template will be added to all the albums that you will create afterwards.

Now you can add JPEG pictures to your album (see How to... Add picture to an album page), if they contain Exif data, it will be extracted and stored in the custom fields.

Select a picture and open the Picture Info (F7) dialog box, you should see the extracted information in the list in the lower right corner.

Using the extracted Exif data

Now that the Exif data is stored in the Custom Fields you may want to use it for display or printing. MyAlbum uses for generating texts what are called Display Strings. The Display string editor dialog box allows you to build your own display strings. You will find there the set of defined Custom Fields in the rightmost list. Select one of them and click the Add button, the code for the custom field will be inserted in the Display String.

Advanced operations

The extractor will extract the following information:

You can customize the names of the Custom Fields used: for instance, you will want to use Date taken instead of just plain Date.

To do so, open the MAX manager in MyAlbum, select the MAX and click the Setup button. In the dialog box, you can edit the names of the custom fields that the MAX will put information in.

Remember that the name specified in the Setup box and the actual name of the Custom Field must match exactly.