What is "Metadata"?

What is "Metadata"?

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To understand this topic and get the benefit of it, you need to be comfortable with Portfolio™, mappings and FilFolio™ in general.

Digital cameras record their images in files and these contain data, in much the same way as any file on any computer. Here is a list of the sort of data that you can find in these digital camera files:

·	The image data itself. This is always present.
·	A miniature version of the image (a thumbnail). This is sometimes present.
·	Data about things like image copyright, shutter speed, date and time, latitude and longitude. Images from the most recent digicams (3 years old or newer) have some of these items.
·	Data about things like camera serial number, the amount of zoom, the program mode, the image quality. Images from the most recent digicams (3 years old or newer) have some of these items.

The first 2 items in this list are not metadata - from the point of view of FilFolio™ anyway - and will not be discussed further here.

The 3rd item (copyright, shutter speed, etc.) is metadata. In fact it's what I will refer to as standard metadata. This means that there is a list of all these items, what they mean and that everyone agrees about them. In FilFolio™ terms, standard metadata corresponds to these types: Exif, GPSInfo, Interoperability and TIFFRev6. (You can see the types listed in the Mappings Pane.)

The 4th item in the list (serial number, etc.) is also metadata but this is called MakerNote metadata. Every manufacturer of digital cameras wants to include information that is not in the list of standard metadata, so what they do is make up their own lists and use them in addition to the standard list. That's why it's called MakerNote - it is invented by the camera maker. At least one manufacturer (Nikon) has come up with 2 lists of its own metadata in addition to the standard list! In FilFolio™ terms, MakerNote metadata corresponds to these types: Canon, Casio, Fuji, Nikon1, Nikon2 and Olympus. (You can see the types listed in the Mappings Pane.)

To ensure you get the most out of your metadata, have a look at the next topic.

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