How to determine image stabilization setting for Canon CR2 files?

[jcfalconer]

Is exiftool capable of extracting the value of the "ImageStabilization" tag from a Canon CR2 file?  I have tried:
exiftool -TAG "-ImageStabilization" filename.cr2
but I get nothing.
-Jim

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Jim,

You don't need "-TAG" in the command.  This is just the syntax for specifying a tag on the command line.

ExifTool extracts ImageStabilization for many Canon models.  What model are you interested in?

- Phil

[jcfalconer]

Hi, Phil.  Thanks for the reply.  I'm looking to extract the image stabilization information from raw CR2 files from a couple of Canon DSLRs:  the EOS 5d (mark 1) and 7d (mark 1), with various lenses that sometimes have more than one image stabilization (IS) mode.

-Jim

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Jim,

It appears that ImageStabilization is only extracted from CR2 images by PowerShot models.  I would be surprised if it isn't stored for EOS models, but it hasn't yet been decoded.

- Phil

[jcfalconer]

Hi, Phil.  Thanks... I'd be interested in helping decode this information for those cameras.  Can you suggest the best tools to do so?  Can I force exiftool to display the values stored at the address where the ImageStabilization tag normally resides?

-Jim

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Jim,

The thing to do is to take a number of pictures with the lens cap on and the camera in all manual settings, just changing the ImageStabilization in some random pattern (ie. on, on, off, on, off, off, off), then use "exiftool -U" to extract as much unknown information as possible, and look for the pattern in the differences of the output files.  If you send me the CR2's, I'll take a look for you.  My email is philharvey66 at gmail.com

- Phil

[jcfalconer]

Thanks, Phil.  I'll give a try.

-jim

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Jim,

I got the files, thanks.  I have taken a look at them, and on first go I haven't been able to discover the location of the ImageStabilization setting.  It could be that it just isn't stored, but I haven't given up yet... I'll look at them in detail when I get a chance.

- Phil

[jcfalconer]

Thanks, Phil.  I plan to spend some time looking at them myself, too.

-Jim

[victorengel]

Old thread, but ImageStabilization is in {ExifAux} in CR2 files generated by my Canon 5DS. I get a value of 3 for a fully manual lens. Perhaps I'll try with other settings on other lenses if this hasn't been decoded yet.

EDIT: Never mind. I tried with a file that I KNOW I had image stabilization set on a 100-400 Mark II lens, and it also reported 3, so I think this field is not used.