Lens data not displaying--lens variations?

[pjulianp]

I am running the 10.4 release of LrC with Camera Raw 13.4 on Windows 10 Pro (current release).

I am using three lenses at the moment, two that were introduced in 2009, and one that was introduced in 2004. Those lenses are:

SMC Pentax-DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL WR

SMC Pentax-DA L 50-200mm F4-5.6 ED WR

and

SMC Pentax-DA 16-45mm F4 ED AL [IF]

Of these three, the last is displayed when I view the EXIF data in the Library module. The other two--I note that the versions without the "L" but with the "WR" are supported according to Adobe's page of supported lenses (i.e. "SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL WR" is a supported lens). I further note that the versions WITH the "L" but without the "WR" are supported (i.e. SMC Pentax-DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL" is also a supported lens). I have verified using EXIFtool that the EXIF data for each of these lens models is present in the RAW file's metadata for each photo shot using these lenses.

I'm not concerned as much with profile correction, as I can do that manually or select an optically almost identical lens. I do, however, shoot with a number of different lenses and would REALLY like to have access to the EXIF's "LensModel" information in the Library module... just like I do for the third lens (16mm-45mm) I mention above. I've included screenshots of the Library module's EXIF display area for each associated RAW file.

Is there genuinely no way to display this EXIF data? Even if the lens profile isn't supported by Adobe for correction, why would it hide available EXIF data from me? I consider this a bug. Not including a profile for correction--fine, there are too many lenses to include them all. Not allowing me to view existing data, that a freeware program does? I don't understand.

Thank you!!

[OldChE]

I agree!  I just updated from Lightroom 5.7.1 to the subscription Lightroom Classic (11.1).  One reason I decided to upgrade to the latest, subscription-based Lightroom is that I was hoping it would properly pick up the lens identity tags from the jpeg exif codes and show me what Pentax lens I was using.  It does (and did in Lightroom 5.7.1) show many of my Pentax lenses correctly, but not the "kit" zoom that I got with my newest Pentax K-1 Mark II.  The lens that is NOT identified correctly is the HD Pentax-D FA 28-105mm F3.5-5.6 ED DC WR.  Why is that?  The lens has been out for 6 years now (released 2016), certainly long enough for Adobe to recognize the proper codes.  Is there something else I need to do with the Lightroom Classic program to allow it to properly recognize this lens?  Please help!  Thanks - Richard.

[OldChE]

OK, problem solved - sort of. I imported some new photos taken with the K-1-2 and the HD 28-105 lens, and Lightroom Classic correctly identified the lens in the metadata.  Also the Lightroom program (the web based version) also correctly identifies the lens when importing a new jpeg file. It looks like that assignment of the lens name (based on the exif code) occurs during the import of the file into LR, and then that information is stored in the LR catalog entry for that image. The images using that lens that I had imported previously with LR 5.7.1 do not show the lens identity in the new Lightroom Classic metadata panel, I suppose because the catalog entry for those images was created when they were first imported, the old LR 5.7.1 wasn't picking it up at the time, and the new LR Classic program doesn't update that information since the catalog entry is already existing. Probably if I deleted those images from the catalog and re-imported them with the new LR Classic they would pick up the lens correctly. However, I'm not going to do that, as it's not worth potentially losing the edits I made for them. I might test the theory with one image, just to see.

In any event, I like the new Lightroom Classic, it has some neat new features that my old LR 5.7.1 didn't have (like customizable metadata panel), and I'm looking forward to learning Photoshop as well. I had been using Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 (from 2012) for any editing that I couldn't do in Lightroom.

Perhaps someone searching the forum for answers to a similar problem will find it useful. Happy New Year!

[pjulianp]

Thank you for this update OldChE! I will see if the lenses that didn't
import correctly before will do so correctly now with this new release
(which I like also!). Like you, though, I'm not going to delete and
re-import my old photos to backsolve. Thanks again!

[DdeGannes]

Quote “I am not going to delete and re-import my old photos to backsolve.”

No need to do that, create a virtual copy of one such file and apply an updated profile and lens correction to view the changes.

[OldChE]

DdeGannes, I'm not sure if what you suggested would work.  Can you apply a profile and lens correction to jpeg files?  I'm typically not handling raw files, just jpegs.  Whenever I select my jpeg images and try to apply any lens profiles to the images, no Pentax lenses show up in the list.

[DdeGannes]

That is because the majority of lens profiles are created for RAW files and are not for use with jpeg files which have already been rendered. You will need to do manual corrections.

[pjulianp]

Ah, great idea! I'm still just learning and didn't even think of profiles.
Thank you!

[OldChE]

Thanks pjulianp.  If you do try that experiment, post back here and let me know how it turns out.