Is there a metadata standard for recording film stock on scanned TIFF negatives?
Asked 10/11/2025
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I’m scanning film negatives to TIFF and want to record the specific film stock used, such as Kodak Portra 160, rather than just the ISO value. Is there any standard metadata field in EXIF, XMP, IPTC, or similar that is intended for storing film type or film stock information? If not, what is the best practical way to tag this consistently?
Originally by Peter M. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Peter M
8mo ago
2 Answers
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Building upon what @romeo-ninov said, they are correct that there isn't any metadata standard for keeping track of film photography.
This is only my opinion, but there are two places that I would put such data. The first would be as keywords, especially the programs you are using can use hierarchical keywords. For example, you could create a hierarchy like this
Film Type
├─ Kodak Portra
│ ├─ ISO 160
│ ├─ ISO 400
│ ├─ ISO 800
├─ Some Other Film
│ ├─ ISO 160
│ ├─ ISO 400
The second option would be to add it to the description. You could add the details after the main description of the image.
Author Blah Blahington at the Los Angeles Times 2025 Festival of Books.
Film Type: Kodak Portra 160
Originally by StarGeek. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
StarGeek
8mo ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
There isn’t a widely recognized EXIF/IPTC/XMP standard field specifically for film stock in scanned film images. In practice, the most useful options are:
- Keywords/tags: Add the film stock as keywords, ideally in a hierarchy if your software supports it, such as
film type > kodak portra > 160. - Description/caption: Include the film information in the image description or caption, for example:
Film Type: Kodak Portra 160.
Keywords are usually best for searching and filtering, while the description is helpful for human-readable reference. ISO alone won’t distinguish between different film brands or emulsions, so storing the full stock name this way is the practical solution.
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