Frequently Asked Questions

Will Version 1.0 of PhotoME cost money?

No, PhotoME is free and will continue to be free.

Where are the functions to remove red eye and retouch a picture?

There are none. PhotoME is not an image editor, it's a meta data editor.

Meta data is information that is part of the image file and contains information about the image itself and the creation of the image.

My anti-virus software reports a virus/​spyware/​malware/​trojan in a file within the PhotoME package. Does PhotoME include spyware/malware?

No, PhotoME is virus-free. I wouldn't invest more than 3 years in coding a program, just to spread spyware/malware. There are much easier ways to do that. ;-)
Before each release I test every file included in the PhotoME package using 32 different anti-virus engines (using VirusTotal.Com).

Some anti-virus solutions have badly defined virus definition data, resulting in a "false positive" - reporting a virus within files which are actually not infected.
For example, Sophos products are well known for such false positive reports.

If this happens to you please inform the publisher of your anti-virus solution about the problem, they will confirm you, that this is just a false positive; or contact me, so that I can do that.

What information can be found in the "meta data"?

Some examples are: the Aperture used, Exposure time, ISO value, Focal length, information about the lens used, the time and temperature when the photo was taken, the name of the camera owner, the firmware version and serial number of the camera, a shutter count, the GPS position where the photo was taken and many more.

PhotoME can show information that the camera writes to the image file as well as information that can be calculated from the meta data. Naturally information that is not made available to PhotoME can not be shown.

I can't find the shutter count or camera temperature in my image files - why?

There can be several reasons for this:

1.) Different camera manufacturers include different information in the meta data written to the image file. The amount of information also depends on the camera model.
For example a camera without a GPS receiver can not write the GPS position to the meta data, and a camera without a temperature-sensor can't write the temperature to the meta data.

2.) The image was edited by image editing software.
Many tools like the Microsoft Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, Microsoft PhotoInfo, Microsoft Pro Photo Tools, ACDsee, Picasa and any tools that use GDI+ from Microsoft to write the Exif meta data destroy parts of it (the maker notes). Some other tools like Adobe PhotoShop or Lightroom remove the complete meta data or parts of it from the image file.
When using PhotoME it is highly recommended to open unedited images that come directly from your camera, to get the full amount of informations.

3.) Some cameras (especially from Panasonic and Leica) write only primary information into their RAW files. In this case try to open a JPEG file.

4.) PhotoME does not currently support your camera. In this case feel free to contact me.

What do the question marks in the tag name or content field mean?

Three question marks (???) mean, that the tag or it's type are currently not known.
If there is just one question mark behind the tag name or the value, it has not currently been verified that the interpretation of the value is correct.

When I open PhotoME it shows information from Nikon - why? I don't have a Nikon camera!

But I have one!

The image which is shown on startup is just a sample image.
You can use this image to test, how PhotoME works - you can modify data, move tags, remove tags without destroying your own images.

If you don't want to load this image on startup you can disable it:
"Settings" "Options..." "Startup settings" "Don't load example image on startup"

I have a Canon camera too, and also like Panasonic, Pentax and all other camera makers. I receive no compensation from Nikon.
So there is no reason to demonize PhotoME, because of the Nikon example image. ;-)

I have an idea, which would be really great to see implemented in PhotoME. Is there any chance of seeing this feature in a future version of PhotoME?

I'm very interested in ideas from users. Feel free to email me your idea and I will try to implement it as soon as possible.

I have futher questions, which are not answered in this FAQ.

Check out the "How To" page to see if your question has been answered there. If not, feel free to email me your question!