(some) tags of the Canon group cannot be written

[spitfire_ch]

First of all, thanks very much for creating ExifTool and your continuous support!

When trying to write Tags from the CanonGroup, I run into a problem for many tags of this group. Without any specific error message, I get the following feedback:

exiftool -Canon:FocalLength="6.1 mm" f:\TestMovies\CameraTest\CanonG12\MVI_4929c.MOV
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

Nothing is being written. If I skip the group and just use -FocalLength="6.1 mm", the tag is written but the XMP-exif group.

Is my suspicion correct, that the tags in the Canon group cannot be written? If so, maybe the Canon Tags section should be adjusted. At least MaxFocalLength and MinFocalLength are listed as writeable int16u.

Thanks very much for looking into this and best regards
Pesche

P.S. I was using a Canon Powershot G12, converted the movie using FFMPEG and tried to apply the tags from the original to the converted movie (or just set a tag in the converted movie).

[Phil Harvey]

Makernote tags are not yet writable in MOV videos (currently just JPEG, TIFF, RAW, etc).  From the current QuickTime tags documentation:

ExifTool currently has a limited ability to write metadata in QuickTime-format videos. It can edit/create/delete any XMP tags, but may only be used to edit existing tags in native QuickTime metadata.

I'm working on expanding this.

- Phil

[spitfire_ch]

Thanks for the explanation! I'll try to change the output format, then. Would mp4 or mkv work?

Best regards
Pesche

EDIT: I just tried that.
MKV returns the info of not being supported: "Error: Writing of MKV files is not yet supported"
MP4 behaves like MOV: it does not return an error, but does not write the tags, either:
    0 image files updated
    1 image files unchanged

EDIT2: Only now your list of supported file types popped into my eyes. I apologize for the unnecessary questions!
Maybe you could add another column for "maker notes" after EXIF, IPTC, XMP, ICC, though.

[Phil Harvey]

The maker notes generally come under the heading "EXIF", since most maker notes are EXIF format.

- Phil

[spitfire_ch]

I see, thanks for the info!