Image information

All images on POE show the make and, where available, model of camera used, presumably taken from the 'EXIF' information imbeded within the image file. I notice now that each image shows the original size of the file that has been uploaded. This is a good indication of the initial quality of the image which is debatably nice to know but is entirely down to how each member saves their files. The camera however is basically a box with a shutter mechanism that allows a calculated amount of light to reach the processor and ultimately the memory card. But the quality of this information is directly relative to the quality of the lens. I feel it would be advantageous and useful to all if the lens information could also be extracted from the EXIF file. Don't know how much programming work would be involved......

What do you all think? Is it worth Chris and Sarah working on it.....along with everything else 

Question to POE....you indicate on the upload page a maximum size of 4.99MB.....what is the optimum size to help you. I started uploading at max but now make my POE submissions between 1 and 1.5MB.

Most of my images are around 500-600kb's with the same few Nikon or Canon lenses used.  A typical example here, now to add taken with a EF-S 70-200mm  F2.8G VRII Nikkor;  200mm @ F6.3, ISO 400 1/1600th sec, but doesn't show the  quality of the full sized image by a long way. It also looks better, as many images on the site do, when viewed on an iPad 3.

Picture by Paul Hilton

Yes Paul you are quite right there, the quality of 'shrunken' images for website use is never top notch. But I was thinking along more basic lines.....10-20mm   17-55mm  90mm macro   70-300mm maybe including the brand although that is not vital nor is the full exposure info. Some of us may be able to guess the configuration of lens used but a lot will not, and the type of lens used has a large beaing on the outcome of the final image. Wide angle crams a lot but needs strong forground whereas longer focal length lenses compress the distances within the image.And both have a great effect on the depth of field 

But as I say it is just a thought for future consideration

The aperture and ISO film speed setting might be useful for image comparisons. I don't think the focal length information is much use, because the EXIF data simply records what focal length the lens was set to at the time of shooting. It doesn't take into account the effects of sensor size or subsequent cropping, which will change the effective angle of view.

I agree it might be interesting to know what type of lens was used, although I wouldn't want it to become a game to see who can afford the best lens !! My favourite lens is an old Canon 28 - 105 f/3.5-4.5 EF USM II which I bought secondhand.

Absolutely agree Edward, certainly don't want this to become like a lot of the other photo sites.....more interested in what they have than what to do with it

Maybe not one of my better ideas

LOL@Dave! Na, na,nana, na....mine's bigger than yours!

I will copy the thread to Chris and Sarah for consideration and comment in due course, that is unless they have already seen it.

Nice to have helpful discussion, rather than as Edward suggests it become  a 'game' to see who has got the biggest lens etc.

Well done to all, and hey Paul is that language really English? >>> 500-600kb's with the same few Nikon or Canon lenses used.  A typical example here, now to add taken with a EF-S 70-200mm  F2.8G VRII Nikkor;  200mm @ F6.3, ISO 400 1/1600th sec

LOL....well over my head!

The last thing I want is for people to be comparing equipment because this site is so gppd at what it does without all the crap you see on other sites. I am not really interested in 'in depth' detail of the lens just an indication of the focal length used as this can be of help to people viewing an image. But as Edward so rightly points out the effect of, say, a 17-70mm lens on, for example, a Canon 5D as compared with a Canon 500D is considerably different due to relative sizes of the processors. 

Lets see if we get any further contributions and let Chris and Sarah think about it

By the way you mat have noticed I still cannot raise an avatar

I  thought I was answering the points raised above, though it seems the focal lenght/range of a lens and the actual focal lenght used for an image is the main interest. 

Sorry Paul I think I may not have been as clear as I could have been. I merely thought it might be of interest to know what lens was used to take a shot ie: wide angle , long focus etc

 Thanks for the comments by the way, always appreciated

No problem Dave; you're welcome. Went through a selction of yours on the iPad ( hi res screen) which shows how good the ones I liked really are and do like the colours off your Olympus camera. The vast majority of my Nikon photos, whatever camera, will have been taken at 24mm from the 24-70 lens. 

I like low light/ night time photography hence my lenses tend to reflect this. 

I do like to use older lenses occasionally as, of course, Nikon kept the same F mount and usually my E Series 75-150mm from the 1980s.