How to read Exif data from your image files

Exif data is metadata stored in JPEG and TIFF image files by digital cameras. It allows you to view the settings used for taking the picture, including the camera model, aperture, focal length, exposure, flash used and a lot more.

Exif data as seen in Windows XP

A subset of Exif data is readable by the Windows XP operating system. Simply right-click on the file, go to Properties and then in the Summary tab, pick Advanced. As you can see from the picture, some information is missing, such as the flash used.

Under Mac OS X, you can view Exif data with the Finder. Simply do a Get Info on a file and expand the More Info section.

Alternatively, you can use a free program such as Exif Reader (WinXP only) for retrieving Exif information from a file to obtain information not displayed in the file properties of your operating system.

Source: Displaying Exif Information from JPEG Images

Photo credit: SamsungI have compiled a list of 101 uses for a camera phone to convince myself (and others) that the camera feature on you cellular phone can really be useful. All of these uses are legitimate and have already been tried by someone somewhere in the world.

101 Uses for a camera phone

1. Use your camera phone to look under your car without getting all dirty.
2. Take a picture of a take-out menu in a restaurant in preparation for your next visit.
3. Every time you see something you like in a store, take a picture of it. The next time someone asks you what you want for your birthday or for Christmas, send him your photos.
4. Property inventory. Use your camera phone to document your belongings in the case of a natural disaster or robbery.
5. Use pictures to document car mileage when you travel for business.
6. At a show or convention, snap the contact names and business information that interest you.
7. When attending a conference, take pictures of the powerpoint presentation.
8. Take pictures of the intersections, subway stations and buildings when you travel to a foreign city. It will help you find your way around.
9. If you find something you think your wife would want, send a picture of it to her cell phone and then ask her if she would like this.
10. Take a picture of your children before entering a theme park. If one of them gets lost, you will have a very good description along with what he was wearing.
11. Entertain kids by taking their pictures or playing a photo version of scavenger hunt. Give them a list of objects they must take a picture of.
12. When shopping for glasses take a picture of yourself and send it to your wife. Ask her which pair she prefers.
13. Digitally memorize your parking ticket’s expiring hour.
14. Take a snapshot of posters announcing shows you’d like to see.
15. Upload videos straight to YouTube from your camera phone.
16. Document bumper stickers you like (NOT while you’re driving).
17. Grab prices for comparison. Make sure you remember in which store you took the picture though.
18. Document medical problems. Show your pictures to your doctor the next time you see him.
19. Film your office parties. I guarantee you will have plenty of occasions to have fun back at the office.
20. If you’re a journalist or writer, take quick snapshots of locations or events you want to write about.
21. When you travel, take a snapshot of important phone numbers, such as the phone number of the local forest ranger before entering a national park.
22. Spam your friends’ cell phone with pictures of your high score at video games (I’ve done this).
23. If you can’t remember the number on your ink cartridges, keep a picture of them on your cell phone.
24. When browsing the yellow pages, take a picture of the yellow page ads along with the map and information.
25. When fixing plumbing, take a picture of the configuration of the pipes before going to the plumbing store.
26. Take a picture of the “For Sale” signs outside houses you’d like to buy.
27. Take a picture of dip switch settings on computer equipment before toying with them.
28. Document your collection of DVDs. Useful when exchanging DVDs with friends.
29. With your camera phone you are always ready if you see a celebrity walking down the street. Paparazzi are us.
30. If you’re bad with names, add a picture next to the names on your contact list.
31. Grab a picture of the next thing you need to do. Use it as a wall paper.
32. Take a picture of the city maps or shopping mall maps so you can carry them around on your cell. Don’t trust the ‘You are here’ sign though.
33. Keep others updated as you travel by sending photos directly to their email address.
34. Use your camera phone to send a map to someone who’s lost.
35. Set a picture you took as wallpaper on your cell phone.
36. Film a co-worker in a delicate situation and use it to blackmail him. That’s one free cup of coffee a day.
37. Take a picture of your luggage/bags at the airport. It will come in handy if you happen to loose them.
38. Use a camera phone to help you stay in touch with your family when you are separated. Pictures often speak louder than words, especially with the lil’ uns.
39. Self-portrait. Some camera phones will even display what the camera sees on the outside LCD screen to help with the framing.
40. Overcome language barriers. A picture is worth a thousand words.
41. Go Feng Shui. You will need a Feng Shui cell phone though.
42. Keep track of work resources you might need. Grab a picture of them and send it to your manager.
43. Keep track of prices at the grocery store.
44. If you get involved in a car accident, take pictures of the scene, the damage and the other driver’s license plate. Remember to smile.
45. Scare shots. Lots of scare shots.
46. While looking up a book at the library, take a picture of the reference number instead of writing it down.
47. Upload photos to Flickr directly from your phone.
48. Take a picture of the business cards you get.
49. Snap the business hours of places you frequent.
50. Take a picture of your car’s license plate, serial number, insurance papers and any other pertinent information. If it gets stolen you will have that information handy. Beware though, this is sensitive information.
51. Entertain kids by taking a close-up picture of an object and ask them to identify it.
52. Take shots of any damaged package before opening it.
53. If you are a real-estate agent, get an edge on the competition by sending pictures of a house to potential buyers.
54. Take pictures of movies you would like to see. The next time you rent a movie or go to the theater, you will spend less time making your selection.
55. Snap information written on a post-it memo and then throw the memo away.
56. When running errands, take a snapshot of what you have to buy before you leave.
57. Use your camera phone to remember things you want to Google.
58. Take a picture of a recipe you would like to try.
59. Keep pictures of your children, wife or friends on your cell phone. It will make your wallet lighter.
60. Girls – when you go shopping, take pictures of clothing items you want and send them to all your friends for instant advice.
61. Contest parking tickets. The pictures may sometimes be used as evidence.
62. Show people where you’ve put things. Take a picture of the item in its new location and send it to the concerned persons’ phones.
63. Fight crime. A good picture of a criminal is worth a lot to the proper authorities.
64. Keep a photo journal. Take a picture every day. After one year you’ll be able to review everything you’ve done during the year.
65. Snap a shot of the train schedule at the station instead of grabbing a paper copy.
66. Use your camera phone to loose weight with MyFoodPhone. Take a snapshot of your food and use their service to send it to a dietician for review.
67. Take photos of apartments when you go apartment hunting.
68. Take a picture of your todo list so you don’t have to carry the paper version around.
69. Take photographs of books in bookshops to look them up later on Amazon.
70. Use your camera phone as a mirror. You can take a picture of yourself from all kind of different angles.
71. Take photos of the classroom blackboard to catch assignments.
72. Use your wallpaper as a focusing tool. Take a picture of what you should be focusing on, be it studies, work or family and use it as a wall paper on your phone.
73. Before going to the grocery store, take pictures of your food shelves.
74. Use a picture to remember IP addresses instead of writing them down.
75. Use a picture to remember where you parked.
76. When browsing a catalog, take a picture of the items you want before going to the store.
77. When you disassemble something, use your camera phone to document the steps so you can reassemble it later.
78. Buy a macro lens for your camera phone and get into macro photography.
79. Remember good wines. Take a picture of the labels.
80. Start a Moblog.
81. Take pictures of furniture you consider buying at the store. When you get back home, look at the pictures and see which one fits best in your home.
82. In a foreign country, photograph your hotel along with its name if it’s hard to pronounce. If you get lost, show the picture to people on the street, they will most likely be able to point you in the right direction.
83. Enter a camera phone photo contest.
84. Stay motivated. Grab a picture of something you really want to accomplish. Use it as a wallpaper.
85. When shopping for someone else, use your camera phone to double check your shopping list. Send a picture to the other person’s cell phone to confirm you are buying the right thing.
86. At a concert, instead of lifting a lighter show the band your best snapshot. Lighters are sooo yesterday.
87. Photograph landscaping ideas.
88. Get a picture of your hotel room number so you don’t forget what it is.
89. A camera phone earns you bragging rights. You get 1 bragging right per megapixel, twice if it has a flash.
90. Take a picture of on-screen instructions instead of printing them out.
91. Stay in touch with your travel buddies. Send a picture of your location to their cell phone.
92. Annoy your boss, friends, wife, kids by taking pictures of them when they’re mad.
93. When looking for a job, have your camera phone ready to snap photos of job advertisement posters outside stores.
94. Take a picture of interesting designs. Look them up later when you need inspiration.
95. Take a picture of a haircut that turned out well. Document the sides and the back of your head.
96. Document your collection of video games. Useful when exchanging video games with friends.
97. Document new meals you have at a restaurant to remember what you liked and didn’t like.
98. Use your camera phone to remember brands you prefer. Take a picture of the box/wrapping.
99. Become a photojournalist. Send photos of news you witness to Yahoo
100. When you see a furniture arrangement you like, snap a picture of it and keep it in your archives.
101. And of course you can simply take pictures of your vacation, friends or family.

I would like to thank About.com, Textually Picture Phoning, Lifehacker and 43folders who already had articles on the subject and served as a source of inspiration for this compilation.

What about you? Have you ever used your camera phone in a fun, creative or productive way? Add to the list by leaving a comment. Note that only legitimate entries will be kept.

Pictures taken with a camera phone are usually of average quality, but there are a few tips to help with the quality of the image. The Digital Photography School has an article in which they give 13 tips for improving camera phone photos.

Among those tips, my four favorites are:

• Well lit subjects - Camera phones benefit greatly from this since they usually don’t have a flash. As the image gets darker, a lot of digital noise appear on the picture because the image sensors on a cell phone are very tiny and not as effective as those on a real digital camera.
• Get close - The preview on the screen of a camera phone can sometimes be misleading. The image looks quite different when opened on your computer, so make sure you frame your subject well or else it will appear too tiny on the final picture.
• Avoid using the digital zoom - This goes for all digital cameras, but especially camera phones. A digital zoom will reduce the quality of the image by a lot and you will have better results if you use a photo editing software on your computer to enlarge a picture. Make sure you take the picture at the highest resolution possible if you are considering editing it.
• Keep your lens clean - This is probably the most important tip. My cell phone lens is always dirty with fingerprints and half of the time I forget to clean it off before taking a picture resulting in a blurry image. It looks quite good on the preview screen, but as soon as I take the picture to my computer I can see that it’s not very sharp. Make sure you clean your lens for a good photo!

Camera phone photography is an art by itself. Feel free to share your own tips here!

Nicolas Fogelholm from About Nokia writes on 3GWeek.NET about camera phones. In his article, he gives three tips when shopping for a camera phone:

1. Don’t opt for a plastic lens. Try to find a cell phone with an optic lens for the best results. Plastic lenses are really not worthy of a real camera.
2. Don’t believe what the salesperson tells you. Make your own research. For example, an average salesman most likely won’t be able to answer whether or not the phone has an optic lens! Look at specialized sites, blogs and user reviews instead.
3. Don’t look at sample pictures from the manufacturer. Manufacturers take their sample pictures in ideal conditions, which make them look really good compared to the average picture you’re going to take with your phone. Use google to find sample pictures instead!

Every cell phone has a camera nowadays, but they’re not all of the same quality. It is important to be well informed when buying a cell phone for its camera!

“Have dozens of photos of documents or whiteboards from your camera phone that you want to print out but can’t because they’re too lo-res? ScanR can help.

The company is known as a Web-based scanner service that specializes in making clean and readable versions of poor-quality photos and files. Just email them your snapshot of a piece of paper, board drawing or what have you and they’ll clean it up and send it back. They have just upgraded their service to offer you pdf files tagged with keywords, these make it easy to search for things within your documents.”

From ScanR’s cellphone scanning service gets a clear picture