Canon Raw file format specs

[Osmium]

Does anyone have the specs (or know where to find them) for the Canon Raw file format [specifically for EOS-1Ds]?

I'm writing a Photoshop scripting application (Visual Basic) and I want to grab the EXIF data before it gets processed by Adobe Camera Raw.

I can script Adobe Camera Raw ok, but I want to base the processing on some EXIF data. *

I'm using the EXIF 2.2 spec to try to extract the EXIF data but not all of the data seems to follow that spec. Things like manufacturer, model, date/time ascii data are easy to get at, as are some of the LONG data types, but many of the SHORT data types don't seem to match with the spec and don't make sense - at least to me!

* This used to say that I lost some EXIF data after ACR - but that turned out to be a bug in my code - don't kill me! :-)

[gcogger]

I don't believe Canon have released the specs :-(
The guy who wrote 'Powershovel 2' could not get the info for where the White Point info was stored in some cameras, so it doesn't look promising...

[Osmium]

A good lad in the Adobe Photoshop Scripting forum pointed me at the Canon Camera SDK which seems to do what I want - so I'm trying to get a copy of that. I'll post here when I have something to report.

[marcel wouters]

Roy,
Try this one http://www.hugsan.com/EXIFutils!
Very good documentation about exif and iptc fields.

[Osmium]

Thanks Marcel, I'll check it out.

[marcel wouters]

Roy,
i forgot to say you that you don't need to play with the raw file for exif and iptc data as they are completely contained in the THM files (in fact a jpeg file with the thumbnail).

[Osmium]

Those docs at hugsan are very good, Marcel. Thanks!

It doesn't look like I'll be able to get the Canon Camera SDK, so I'm pushing ahead with my own code and those docs are really helpful. BTW, at the point in my workflow where I want to examine the exif data, the raw file is all I've got.

[marcel wouters]

Roy,
just by curiosity, what you expect from the exif data to hel you in your workflow?
I use a manual raw workflow that give me a nice result, the only difficult point is to find out the right white balance (if there is no obvious neutral area) and i don't think you could resolve this by the exif data!
At the same time i must say thet the PIM II plugin (that uses exif informations) does a very nice job for jpeg images (most of the time, there are always exceptions).
Did you already try this plugin?

[Osmium]

I have this idea...

... I'll let you know if it works!

[hippiness]

ExifTool.

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/%7Ephil/exiftool/)

You can get to the specs from there.