Post your LensType / LensID discoveries here

[Phil Harvey]

On a Canon 450D:
LensID: 137
LensType: "Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L or Sigma or Tamron Lens"
Name: Sigma 8-16mm F4.5-5.6 DC HSM

Great, thanks!  I'll add this.

- Phil

[gregglee]

Minolta lens and teleconverter combinations

On Sony and Minolta cameras

To limit width in the following table,
600 means Minolta 600mm f4 HS APO G                           
400 means Minolta 400mm f4.5 HS APO G                           
200 means Minolta 200mm f2.8 HS APO G                           
1.4X means Minolta 1.4X APO Teleconverter
1.4X II means Minolta 1.4X APO Teleconverter II
2X means Minolta 2X APO Teleconverter
TC means teleconverter.
                 
                 lens id    TC id
lens       TC     0xb027    0x0105
600       none    26091       0 
600       1.4x    25901      160
600      1.4xII   26091      144
600        2x     26011       96

400       none      15        0 
400       1.4x      15       160
400      1.4xII     15       144               
400        2x       15        96

200       none    26121       0
200       1.4x    25901      160
200      1.4xII   26121      144
200        2x     26011       96

Note this agrees with the TC id tags listed in exiftool for these TC's.

Lens tags seem strange at first, but here is what appears to be going on:

lens id 25901 = Minolta 1.4X APO Teleconverter with 200 and 600 (and perhaps with other compatible lens in the original numbering series)   id of lens not shown.         

lens id 26011 =  Minolta 2X APO Teleconverter with 200 and 600 (and perhaps with other compatible lens in the original numbering series)     id of lens not shown.   

lens id is correct with 400 lens for all three tc's (and perhaps with any lens in new number series starting over at 1 circa 1993)

lens id is correct for all three lenses with 1.4xII  (and perhaps with 2xII)   

Probably not useful to speculate on the (8 contact) Minolta D and Sony TC's. 

[Phil Harvey]

I was trying to say that I have a successor version to the Sigma 70-300 to the one listed in exiftool under the same 25611 id as this lens, and a successor version of the Sigma AF 170-500mm to the one listed in exiftool under the same 25631 id for that lens.  So I was just confirming that Sigma continued to use the same ids on my non-listed versions as for the listed earlier versions.

Thanks.  I think I understand now.  You meant that the "Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 DL Macro" listed as 25611.1, has the same LensType number as your newer "Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 APO DG Macro" (ie. DL vs. DG), and that the "Sigma AF 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO Aspherical" has the same LensType as your "Sigma AF 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG" (ie. Aspherical vs. DG).  Unfortunate.

Re your TC table.  Very interesting.  I'll have to think about how it is best to handle the 25901 and 26011 entries.

- Phil

Edit: I have a question about the TC.  For LensType 25901 or 26011, what are the values of FocalLength, MaxAperture and MaxApertureValue for one of the images?

[milchtaich]

Same LensType number, 25611, also reported by my Sigma AF 400mm F5.6 APO Macro lens.
Another entry I can add to the list is 25521 for the Tokina AT-X 17 AF 17mm F3.5.
Both numbers are for the Sony A100 camera.

Igal

[Phil Harvey]

Thanks Igal!  I'll add these too!

- Phil

[gregglee]

Edit: I have a question about the TC.  For LensType 25901 or 26011, what are the values of Focal Length, MaxAperture and MaxApertureValue for one of the images?

For these TCs,  Focal length and MaxApertureValue (both in ExifIFD) are the correct  combined value.  That is for the 1.4x, focal length and max aperture are 1.414 times the lens alone values, and  for the 2x, focal length and max aperture are 2 times the lens alone values. 

I don't see a field named MaxAperture

[Phil Harvey]

For these TCs,  Focal length and MaxApertureValue (both in ExifIFD) are the correct  combined value.  That is for the 1.4x, focal length and max aperture are 1.414 times the lens alone values.

Great, thanks.  I'll add the logic to be able to identify lens/TC combinations for LensType 25901 and 26011.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

Note: current listing:  25.4 = Sigma 30mm F1.4 DG EX is incorrect.  There is no DG version of this lens.  Probably just a typo.

I'll check my reference on this tomorrow.

You were right.  I will change this to "Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC".

- Phil

[joukom]

Here are the information from my two unrecognized/incorrectly recognized Tamron lenses, reported by Canon EOS 60D and exiftool 8.77:

1) Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC (B005)
Lens Info                       : 17-50mm f/?
Lens Model                      : 17-50mm
Lens                            : 17.0 - 50.0 mm
Lens ID                         : Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 OS HSM
Lens Type                       : Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L or Sigma or Tamron Lens

2) Tamron SP 60mm f/2 Macro Di II (G005)
Lens Info                       : 60mm f/?
Lens Model                      : 60mm
Lens                            : 60.0 mm
Lens ID                         : Unknown (137) 60mm
Lens Type                       : Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L or Sigma or Tamron Lens


- J

[Phil Harvey]

Excellent, thanks!  These will be added in version 8.78.

- Phil

[tempel]

I just have a few lens for testing here...

All on a Pentax K-5

1.
Sigma 50-500 4.5-6.3 APO DG OS, ID 8 17 (exiftool 8.80 knows this one already)

2.
Sigma 150-500 5-6.3 APO DG OS, ID 8 15

3.
Sigma 120-400 4.5-5.6 APO DG OS, ID 8 13

The naming of these lenses is from what's printed on the Sigma boxes, BTW.
The "HSM" is also on my Sigma boxes, but only as a separate label, not part of the name label for the lens. The "HSM" is part of the name on the lens itself, though, like this:
  Sigma DG
  120-400mm 1:4.5-5.6 APO HSM

I just found that there's already a record of one of the above lenses:
'8 255.2'   = Sigma APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM
It's certainly this one, I believe: http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/150-500mm-f5-63-apo-dg-os-hsm-sigma
Now, why would we find two separate IDs for this lens?
Mine were all from Europe (UK and Germany), and all recently purchased (just this week, I'll return two of them soon).

Now, if only there was a way to patch Apple's own detection to get these Lens know, because its tools (e.g. Preview) fail to recognize any of them...

[Phil Harvey]

Excellent!  Thanks.  I'll add these.

I have a theory about the different Sigma lens ID's for the same lens:  They started appearing about the same time that cameras introduced adjustable fine-tune focus correction based on lens recognition.  Before that, Sigma used many duplicate LensID's, and I'm guessing that they realized this would be a problem because the camera would likely apply the same focus adjustment to all lenses with the same ID.  So they began changing them to make them more unique.

- Phil

P.S.  Which of the 3 lenses are you keeping?  I have seriously considered these myself because I need a longer telephoto for my K-5.  The thing that I really don't like though is that Sigma doesn't offer these in a non-OS version, so you are paying for something you don't need with all of these.

[tempel]

Phil,
funny you ask about the lenses as I have just written a quick comparison about these 3. Unfortunately, it is in German.

And you're a Pentax user, too, which is a nice surprise.

Here's some info you might like: Being primarily a software developer, I wrote an app the other day that will check on OSX if Apple already knows the lens type. This is important so that Aperture, iPhoto and Preview even show any lens data from the img's Exif data.
If OSX has not identified the lens model, my app uses your tool to add it so that Aperture and Co then show the lens model. I plan to release that soon to the public.

Also, I found that when you use the Ey-Fi card software to geotag your imgs, it erases (overwrites?) most of the Pentax specific data, including the lens type. Reported that to them, we'll see if they'll figure it out.

On the Sigmas...

I've verified that the 150-500 does get you more detail of an object, so if you want a max tele reach, do not take the 120-400.
The 120-400 is significantly shorter and a bit lighter, though, and has a more common filter thread diameter, making it overall less cumbersome.
The Bigma (50-500) seems to be slightly less sharp around the corners than the 150-500 and then 120-400.
Overall, they all perform very similarly in quality, though, and certainly better than my cheap old Pentax M 200mm f/4.
The other slight disadvantage of the Bigma is that its lens hood has to be so wide (to accomodate 50mm at 36x24) that it can hardly be called a hood. The ones on the 3x zooms, OTOH, are long and narrow, to keep out the sun pretty well, I'd think.

On the OS...

Never having had a OS/IS lens before, I was pleasantly surprised of its usefulness. When you're holding your Pentax with a 500mm tele in your hand, the OS allows you to keep the target steadily on the screen. Imagine that target has some out of focus elements in the frame as well. If you get a lot of shaking, you'll be have more difficulty hitting the center spot for focussing - with OS this is pretty easy. In fact, even just looking at something with OS thru the viewfinder works well. So, why you might think you won't need the OS since the camera has its own, it can be of some advantages nontheless.

I will probably keep the 150-500 since I wanted the max magnification, and I plan to use it more in situations where I have the time to change lenses should I want to go into the 50-150mm area instead of going with the more universal 50-500. I choose the 150-500 over the 50-500 for the more efficient lens hood and the miminally better sharpness in corners. And it's a little less expensive as well.

[Phil Harvey]

Thanks for the report... I was leaning toward the 150-500 myself, so I'll probably go with that one when I take the plunge.  I hadn't thought about using the OS through the viewfinder.  Interesting.

Right now, I'm stuck using a Pentax DA 55-300, which isn't enough for me.

- Phil

[gregglee]

1) 128

2) Sony (reported on A77)

3) Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM

This lens is not new so I was surprised that it is not listed in Sony lens tags already.
This will the 13th lens with tag 128, all Sigma and Tamron.