C100 and metadata

[Todd Terry]

I don’t use the C100, I use the C300… but I’m 99% sure all the same metadata is recorded on C100 clips, too.

Just open the card (or the card backup) in the Canon XF Utility. Find the clip you want the info for and right click on it. A pop-up dialog box will appear that shows a bunch of choices, including “Clip Properties,” “Camera Metadata,” and “Custom Picture.”

“Clip Properties” will tell things like name, duration, size, timecode, framerate, bit rate, audio sampling rate, etc.

“Camera Metadata” will tell you recording date/time, shutter speed, focal length, focus distance, focus mode, image stabilizer on/off, ISO speed, ND filter, white balance mode, color temp, and a couple of other things.

“Custom Picture” will tell you the values for the several dozen parameters in whatever camera profile you are shooting with.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Bill Meissner]

Thanks Todd for your reply,

Unfortunately, the C100 doesn’t come with the XF Utility. The software it comes with appears only to transfer & stitch mts files from the card to another storage location. So it’s no help. I don’t think XF Utility is compatible with C100 AVCHD files.

Still looking to find if the C100 records metadata and how to access it.

So far, Canon email tech support says yes but no help in actually accessing it.

Have a great day,
Bill

[Stephen Bransford]

Bill,

Did you ever figure out how to pull detailed metadata off a C100 AVCHD directory? I need to determine the white balance temperature for something I shot a couple weeks ago, and the White Balance field is blank in the EXIF metadata section of Premiere Pro. Is there an alternate program that can actually read the detailed metadata from a C100, or is it possible that the camera isn’t even recording that metadata to begin with? Any insights you’ve uncovered would be hugely appreciated!

thanks,
Steve

[Bill Meissner]

As far as I can tell, C100 only includes the most basic metadata. A nice camera but with so many crippled functions. 60p would be nice too.

Bill

Canon EOS C100 / Sony EX1 / Canon 60D
Final Cut Pro Adobe Production Premium
iMac 3.4GHz i7 32GB OSX 10.8
MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz i7 / 16Gb Ram
Matrox MX02 LE

[Scott Williams]

Hi folks – here is an exchange I had with Canon support with respect to metadata in the hdmi stream. I was looking for metadata on focal length, aperture, and iso using Canon EF glass:

Dear Mr. Scott Williams

Thank you for your E-mail inquiry regarding the Canon EOS C100 Cinema Camera.

HDMI out footage will not contain the Metadata you require Scott. As a workaround what you may try is, towards the beginning of every shot/scene, you can set the camera to display all of the onscreen information. This will then get recorded to the external recorder. You may then turn off the display information and start the recording of your intended scene. This will then serve as a record of many of the camera settings for the scene you’re recording Scott.

Should you require further assistance, please feel free to email us or visit our customer support website at https://www.canon.ca

Sincerely,

Mike
Technical Support Representative
Customer Information Centre
Canon Canada Inc.

—————————————————-
You wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply Mike. I will follow up with Adobe and Atomos.

One follow up question with respect to the video information that comes
out of the hdmi port on the C100. Is it at least theoretically possible
for an external recording device like the ninja 2 to capture metadata. In
other words, does the video output from the C100 hdmi port contain
metadata (including those I described in my last email) which could be
collected if the recording device has that capacity. Let me know.

Scott.

[Todd Terry]

Mike’s workaround might be better than nothing… but obviously that does you no good if you change any of those parameters after the shot starts. Focal length, obviously, would be the one most likely to change… but I’ve been known to change any/all of those factors during a take.

And of course you must remember to turn that off.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Drew Lahat]

This question is still totally relevant and applies to other C-series models…

The idea about embedding metadata in HDMI is nice, but a bit exotic… an considering how conservative Canon is as a company, I don’t hold my hopes high that they’ll ever implement that.

But I think the OP’s question had nothing to do with HDMI, and he was working with the internal recording.

Canon XF utility doesn’t help with AVCHD or MP4 clips, and Premiere’s support for camera metadata is between abysmal to nonexistent… But exiftool may be able to see a lot more metadata than you thought. Hardly a smooth workflow, but give it a shot.