Exchangeable Image File Format - MakerNote Data

MakerNote Data

The 'MakerNote' tag contains image information normally in a proprietary binary format. Some of these manufacturer-specific formats have been decoded:

• OZHiker: Agfa, Canon, Casio, Epson, Fujifilm, Konica/Minolta, Kyocera/Contax, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax/Asahi, Ricoh, Sony
• Kamisaka: Canon, Casio, FujiFilm, ISL, KDDI, Konica/Minolta, Mamiya, Nikon, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Sigma, Sony, WWL
• X3F Info: Sigma/Foveon
• ExifTool: Canon, Casio, FujiFilm, GE, HP, JVC/Victor, Kodak, Leaf, Minolta/Konica-Minolta, Nikon, Olympus/Epson, Panasonic/Leica, Pentax/Asahi, Reconyx, Ricoh, Samsung, Sanyo, Sigma/Foveon, Sony
• Olypedia: Olympus

Unfortunately, the proprietary formats used by many manufacturers break if the MakerNote tag is moved - i.e. by inserting or editting a tag which precedes it. The reason to edit to the Exif data could be as simple as to add copyright information, an Exif comment, etc. In some cases, camera vendors also store important information only in proprietary makernote fields, instead of using available Exif standard tags. The most infamous example for this is Nikon's ISO settings tag.