P: Include Subject Distance Metadata

[Jeff A. Goulden]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I was not able to find any previous posts.  Since the Fall of 2013 Lightroom no longer captures the subject distance into the Lightroom metadata.  I remember hearing that subject distance was not considered to be accurate data and that's why it was dropped.  I reviewed a bunch of my older images and subject distance seems reasonably accurate to me.  I'd like to know who and why the decision was made to drop this data.  And what it would take to once again start capturing it upon import.  If the camera records data, it should be captured by Lightroom during import.

[Jackfrid]

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.

[johnrellis]

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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.

[Jackfrid]

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

[johnrellis]

"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.

[Jackfrid]

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."

[Jackfrid]

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-a...

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."