I could swear at some point in the past I saw useful burst metadata in some my Canon RAW images, but I recently noticed that in the CRaw images from my R5II all burst-related metadata seems "empty". I then shot some regular RAW image bursts and saw the same thing. Then I went back and looked at some R3 burst images, with the same result.
Here's an example of the burst-related metadata I found in my R5II images, extracted using exiftool (all the images in the burst had the same values):
[Canon] Shot Number In Continuous Burst : 0
[Canon] Raw Burst Image Num : 0
[Canon] Raw Burst Image Count : 0
I'm helping beta test a tool to help find the "best" image from a burst, and like Lightroom Classic, it uses capture time to detect bursts. I was going to suggest using the metadata, but it doesn't look like my two cameras populate that metadata.
Has anyone seen any useful burst metadata in Canon raw files?
PS: I also thought I remembered seeing some discussion about burst metadata here or in some other discussion forum on the internet.
CR3 files have reliable burst metadata in them. Each burst (contiguous shutter press) is recorded and given a unique ID. R1/R5m2 (maybe also R3; definitely not R5 or R) also distinguish between AEB, FS, and "normal" burst. exiftool doesn't expose any of it, nor does Canon, and it will be the 2030s until Adobe catches on. But the metadata is there. You need to write a custom metadata reader.
How is a burst identified? I saw some settings in Sony that I ignored, but is there a custom setting with the Canon RF bodies? I just shoot an R5 II as needed, mostly at 30FPS if not singled frame. I'm on the dual-BBF method if that makes a difference.
stanj wrote:
CR3 files have reliable burst metadata in them. Each burst (contiguous shutter press) is recorded and given a unique ID. R1/R5m2 (maybe also R3; definitely not R5 or R) also distinguish between AEB, FS, and "normal" burst. exiftool doesn't expose any of it, nor does Canon, and it will be the 2030s until Adobe catches on. But the metadata is there. You need to write a custom metadata reader.
Can you tell me where I can get info/documentation about this metadata (how do you know this)?
I'm not sure what you mean by "a custom metadata reader" (a plugin for some existing software? a separate tool or application?), but I'm retired from a 40+ year career as a system software developer, so I'm quite confident I could write one. That said, I've found Phil Harvey, the exiftool author, to be quite cooperative, so I'd rather tell him where the burst metadata is located so he can add support for it to exiftool.
vbnut wrote:
Can you tell me where I can get info/documentation about this metadata (how do you know this)?
I'm not sure what you mean by "a custom metadata reader" (a plugin for some existing software? a separate tool or application?), but I'm retired from a 40+ year career as a system software developer, so I'm quite confident I could write one.
Sounds we're about the same age and in the same line of business
I know this because (1) when you take a burst and then press Delete, you're offered to delete the whole burst, even if you put the card into a different camera (so it's not in RAM, it's actually in the files). I also know it because (2) I have my own photo management tool and just wrote this feature while on vacation in Indonesia
Give me a day and I'll extract the minimum code and PM it to you. However, anyone - you, Phil - can simply take a burst, point Claude at it and tell him "I know there's burst metadata, find it" and he will. He did for me.
EB-1 wrote:
How is a burst identified? I saw some settings in Sony that I ignored, but is there a custom setting with the Canon RF bodies? I just shoot an R5 II as needed, mostly at 30FPS if not singled frame. I'm on the dual-BBF method if that makes a difference
Canon records a unique identifier per burst, where burst in their sense is defined as
- Shutter is being pressed, until released
- An automatic depth sweep (even if you just tap and it does the sweep manually)
- An automatic AEB sequence (2s timer, for example - you tap once and it does 5, 7 frames)
It does NOT wait for an interrupted AEB sequence. For example, if I have the camera set to 7 frame brackets and I lift the finger 5 frames in, and then press again - the camera will take 5+2 images, both with unique sequences.
Other than my own software, at this point I am not aware of any other commercial or open source software that does this type of parsing. In my use it actually happens quite a lot that I end up with a 5+2 sequence because I accidentally lift early, so I had to teach my app to fuse such sequences based on heuristics (there's no even number of frames in a bracket, so 4+3 is actually 7, usually you will have the same number of frames in a sequence, so 7+4+3+7 is probably 3x7, and so on).
Now that the cat is out of the bag I am fully expecting the floodgates of burst-aware software to open and world peace to be solved
