EXIF Back for Canon Body

mifo · Jul 30, 2008

Hi all,

I've seen that the new Canon EOS-1V collects EXIF data such as shutter speed, apature etc and can download this to a PC to match it to digital scans of the pictures. This sounds extremely useful as I am usually too lazy to add this data to the files but use my PC for cataloging and organising the photos.

I've got EOS 300 and was wondering whether anyone knows of an add on or a new back from this which does the same without splashing out over 1500 USD for a new body - I'm very happy with the 300 and get by with my little notebook OK. But every now and again I find photos where I didn't note all the details (or even any details) but really want to know why it worked so well!

I'd be very grateful for any pointers.

Thanks

ben-s · Jul 30, 2008

There was a technical data back for the EOS 1N and possibly the EOS 3 at one point, but I don't think there was one for the 300.

GeoffHill · Jul 30, 2008

You'll pay a lot less than $1500 for a mint Eos1v

tim_walls · Jul 30, 2008

GeoffHill said:
You'll pay a lot less than $1500 for a mint Eos1v

Not for mine you wouldn't . Mind you, mine was bought new and you'd have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

But, the more useful point is this - Canon don't, AFAIK, make the cable to connect the 1V up to the computer any more, and without this the data collection feature is useless. And I've never seen said cable on fleaBay either; I suspect if you can get one it'll cost a small fortune.

That said, I've not exactly searched for it, so I'm willing to be proven wrong!

(I believe the EOS-Link software has also been out of development for a loooong time - so there is a good chance you may have trouble getting it to run on more recent operating systems.)

Bob F. · Jul 30, 2008

tim_walls · Jul 30, 2008

As proud MEng (Comp) ACGI, I rather hope that if it was just a USB cable I'd have worked it out by now - you've filled me with doubt though . I'm pretty sure it plugs into the 1V's remote-port (i.e. the port used for cable releases etc) and isn't USB.

(i.e. The link-cable is USB at the computer end, but not at the camera end - the official cable includes a small box-o-tricks to implement the USB interface.)

I'm going to have to check when I get home now to be sure though!

Bob F. · Jul 30, 2008

Tim - I think you are right. Upon closer inspection, it looks like I misread the picture, mistaking the computer end for the camera end... Doh!

Apologies for getting anyone's hopes up!

I'll delete my post above to ensure search engines do not pick it up.

Bob.

tim_walls · Jul 30, 2008

The really annoying thing is the cable was a blatant ripoff when it was available (something like 200 quid I think,) and is now even more so that it isn't.

I'd lay dollars-to-doughnuts that the interface at the camera end is a dead simple serial interface (probably something like I2C even,) and the contents of the official cable is no more than a simple USB peripheral controller chip. Total bill of materials pence in volume, but even on a one-off basis no more than a few quid.

If I ever lay my hands on a working example, I'll hook the logic analyser up and try and reverse-engineer the protocol at the camera end so people can homebrew their own replacements.

Bob F. · Jul 30, 2008

Of course, the really embarrassing thing is that I too am the proud(!?) holder of a BSc in Electronic Engineering. Just as well that I mostly do software these days... Lol!

Cheers, Bob.

AutumnJazz · Jul 30, 2008

I was going to get an EOS-1V, and a couple sellers on ebay I had propositioned said they would throw in the cable, if they could find it.

Mind you, the software barely works on Windows 95 (or is it 98), and there is a hacked together one for XP, that is even worse.

tim_walls · Jul 31, 2008

AutumnJazz said:
I was going to get an EOS-1V, and a couple sellers on ebay I had propositioned said they would throw in the cable, if they could find it.

Mind you, the software barely works on Windows 95 (or is it 98), and there is a hacked together one for XP, that is even worse.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I've never gone out of my way to hunt one down - the software is meant to be flakey, and it (inevitably) involves installing a proprietary Canon driver.

A homebrew cable would probably be more useful than the real thing in fact - if it was homebrewed then the interface data specification could be published and I'm sure you'd have decent free software alternatives in no time.

(The cable does have another purpose than downloading shooting data, incidentally - there are a few of the camera's custom functions that can only be programmed through the cable. The fact that I can't remember what they are for the life of me suggests they're not that important though .)

EXIF Back for Canon Body

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