P: Include Subject Distance Metadata

This is a problem with images from my OM Digital bodies as well. I have verified that the EXIF data is in the image with a current version of exiftool.

P:\>exiftool -focusdistance "p:\pictures\raw files\2025-02-24 granger lake\Q2240376-0356.orf"

Focus Distance : 25.805 m

P:\>exiftool -ver
13.21

This is Lightroom Classic 14.2 with Camera Raw 17.2.

Thanks!

[This post contains formatting and embedded images that don't appear in email. View the post in your Web browser.] 

@DavD: "If I run a RAW image from both the Z9 and Z7II through DxO Pure Raw 3, the focus distance will show in Photoshop and LRC.  So, to me that indicates the data is there and recordable."

Many/most cameras do record something for focus distance, but most record it in proprietary, non-standard, not-publicly-documented fields in the "MakerNotes" section of the metadata.  Though there is an industry-standard field EXIF:SubjectDistance, most cameras don't use it.

In LR's Metadata panel, you can display Subject Distance (which shows EXIF:SubjectDistance if it's present in the photo), and you can also display Focus Distance, which shows the proprietary focus distance for a small subset of camera/lens combinations. (As a general rule, LR only displays industry-standard metadata fields, and Focus Distance is an exception.)

The Nikon Z 7 II and the Z 9 record focus distance in MakerNotes:FocusDistance, but at least for the lenses used with the photos in my test catalog, LR doesn't display that field in the Metadata panel's Focus Distance. Dxo Pure Raw 3 is probably copying MakerNotes:FocusDistance to EXIF:SubjectDistance, which LR can then display:

See this thread for a more recent reverse-engineering of how LR handles focus distance:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/focus-distance-not-displaying-on-nikon-mirrorless-ok-on-dlsr.51966

If I run a RAW image from both the Z9 and Z7II through DxO Pure Raw 3, the focus distance will show in Photoshop and LRC.  So, to me that indicates the data is there and recordable.

I think that's the way it should be, but there are places where Lightroom does change the field names.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/when-exporting-photos-using-lightroom-are-some-of-the-exif-fields-in-the-photo-changed/m-p/14446864

When using Lightroom to export photos, the shutter_count of the photo Exif will be converted into image_number, so many software cannot recognize the shutter count. (Nikon camera D80 & D750)

Version of the app: Lr 3.6 - 13.2
Platform and OS version: Windows

"I think that is a bug or misdesign in LR 3.6 fixed in later versions. In general, LR preserves existing EXIF camera info fields and doesn't change them."

Thank you very much for your reply, I understand.
And I also checked it, and the actual situation is the same as what you said.

"I'm guessing that LR 3.6 filled in EXIF:SubjectDistance in the exported JPEG using the Nikon proprietary field MakerNotes:FocusDistance. Most of the sample .nefs in my test catalog record MakerNotes:FocusDistance. I could verify this if you share the .nef and exported .jpg."

"I reconfirmed that in the original image taken by D80, there is no Subject Distance field ... However, after the same photo is exported through Lightroom 3.6, there is a Subject Distance field with a roughly accurate value"

I think that is a bug or misdesign in LR 3.6 fixed in later versions. In general, LR preserves existing EXIF camera info fields and doesn't change them. I believe it was around LR 3 or 4 that Adobe decided not to make EXIF:SubjectDistance available in the Metadata panel, so perhaps they changed the 3.6 behavior at the same time.

I'm guessing that LR 3.6 filled in EXIF:SubjectDistance in the exported JPEG using the Nikon proprietary field MakerNotes:FocusDistance. Most of the sample .nefs in my test catalog record MakerNotes:FocusDistance. I could verify this if you share the .nef and exported .jpg.

Thank you for your reply.

I reconfirmed that in the original image taken by D80, there is no Subject Distance field, only the SubjectDistanceRange field, and the value is Unknown.

Metadata Info file of NEF by D80:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MM5aUsLzOfGkOjtcoA51zBr5m8namMye/view?usp=sharing

Metadata Info file of JPG by D80:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cpG3KHXAMlvnPafFdr-k-Plauc9G2_DY/view?usp=sharing

However, after the same photo is exported through Lightroom 3.6, there is a Subject Distance field with a roughly accurate value, but at the same time the SubjectDistanceRange field is still retained, and the value is still Unknown.

Metadata Info file of JPG exported by Lightroom 3.6
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Qz1TC0HscrM84Z1IRatXCRNtSWDjFlH/view?usp=sharing

Are they the same as your test results? Do I still need to upload sample images?

Thanks

[This post contains formatting and embedded images that don't appear in email. View the post in your Web browser.]

Can you upload a sample Nikon D80 that contains EXIF:SubjectDistance?  I only have two sample D80 .nefs, and neither contains EXIF:SubjectDistance. (Upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here.)

In my test catalog containing 268 camera models from 22 makes, only 14 models from 5 makes record EXIF:SubjectDistance:

And none of the sample raws from the 29 Nikon models contain EXIF:SubjectDistance (including the D80):

My LR 13.2 correctly exports EXIF:SubjectDistance for all of the images that do contain it.

I also wish the camera, lens, and Lightroom all preserved object distance, but sadly they don't.

When you export photos using the same version 3.6 of Lightroom:
NIKON D80 35mm f/1.8, with object distance.
NIKON D750 24-120mm f/4, no object distance.

When you use the same photo taken with a D80:
Exported from Lightroom version 3.6, with object distance.
Lightroom version 13 export, no object distance.