A new variable FocalLengthUsed is created: If a record has FocalLengthIn35mmFormat available, we shall use the value, otherwise FocalLength * ScaleFactor35efl is calculated and used. Select(FocalLength,ScaleFactor35efl,FocalLengthIn35mmFormat,DateTimeOriginal)Īlso, not all cameras populate the FocalLengthIn35mmFormat tag, so we have to manually compute using the 35mm equivalent focal length variables. Filtering to commonly used cameras is needed. In addition to file type, I also have alot of camera models in my data. Please note that your situation might differ significantly in this area. data <- read.csv('photodata.csv')įrom initial data exploration, cleaning of data is deemed necessary. System2('exiftool', args='-common -ScaleFactor35efl -FocalLengthIn35mmFormat -FNumber -DateTimeOriginal -FileType -csv -t -r d:/docs/photos',stdout='photodata.csv')ĭata is then read into R. # Exiftool is assumed to be accessible from configured the system path # Replace the file path below accordingly Please note that the code below performs a recursive search (switch -r) in subdirectories. Please remember to replace the file path below d:/docs/photos accordingly based on your system OS and location of the photos. The extracted information will be saved in a tabluar format to a CSV file named “photodata.csv” to facilitate reading into R. We will be stating the focal length in terms of 35mm film format (or ‘full frame’ format) enabling us to view our usage across several camera devices (for example smartphones, DSLRs, Mirrorless Cameras, Point-and-Shoot, etc) - which is very common nowadays - with a standard benchmark.

For further details, please visit the documentation. We shall only extract common EXIF information and some additional EXIF tags for our purpose as well as to demonstrate the tools usage. Exiftool is capable of extracting a wide range of metadata from photos. We shall invoke Exiftool from R using the system2 command.

Exiftool documentation