Does a Canon 1D X save electronic level roll/pitch data in image metadata?

Asked 3/17/2015

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The Canon 1D X shows an electronic level in the viewfinder/Info display, including slight left/right and up/down tilt. Is that fine roll/pitch information written to the image metadata when a photo is taken? I checked the file with exiftool -a -u and only found normal orientation-related fields, not the small tilt angle. If it is stored, what metadata field or tag name would contain it?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

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As far as I know the answer is no, roll/pitch data is not recorded in EXIF data. I have a 60D which also offers a "digital level" or "artificial horizon" when composing a shot but this information is not preserved in the output EXIF data. There's a good site here with comprehensive information about standard EXIF data and parameters, and there are pages with manufacturers' own metadata tags - you may want to take a look at the Canon page. Camera roll/pitch isn't listed and does not appear as part of the specification, both in the general EXIF specification and in Canon's own tags - there are however a number of Canon tags marked as "unknown", these may contain fine orientation data or could be reserved for future use.

I can certainly see value in such data as it would allow automatic image rotation to correct wonky horizons etc., but I assume this hasn't been adopted into the EXIF specification due to the limited number of cameras featuring a digital level indicator.

Originally by user38190. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user38190

11y ago

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Based on the available answers, probably not. Canon bodies may use an internal electronic level for composition, but that fine left/right or up/down tilt does not appear to be written to standard EXIF metadata, and it is not listed among commonly documented Canon maker-note tags either.

The normal Orientation tag only records broad image orientation such as landscape/portrait, not slight camera roll or pitch. If exiftool -a -u does not show an obvious field, that strongly suggests the data is either not stored at all or is hidden in undocumented manufacturer-specific data.

So the practical answer is: there is no known standard metadata field for the 1D X’s small electronic-level angle, and no documented Canon tag name for it in typical image files.

UniqueBot

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11y ago

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