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Panasonic MakerNote

The following description of the MakerNote information generated by Panasonic digital cameras is based on considerable experimentation with a DMC-FZ10 camera as well as examination of images from other Panasonic cameras found on the web. It should be read in conjunction with TsuruZoh Tachibanaya’s description of the EXIF format.

The MakerNote tag in the EXIF data generated by Panasonic digital cameras starts with twelve bytes which contain the text “Panasonic” padded with three nul bytes to make up the header. This is followed by a standard IFD which starts at offset twelve and contains a number of tags:

Tag Name Format Components Notes
0×0001 Image Quality Unsigned Short 1 2 = High, 3 = Standard
0×0002 ? Undefined 4 Always 0, 1, 0, 7 in my camera – firmware version?
0×0003 White Balance Unsigned Short 1 1 = Auto, 2 = Daylight, 3 = Cloudy, 4 = Halogen, 5 = Manual, 8 = Flash
0×0007 Focus Mode Unsigned Short 1 1 = Auto, 2 = Manual
0x000f Spot Mode Unsigned Byte 2 Byte 1: Meaning unknown
Byte 2: 1 = Spot mode on, 16 = Spot mode off
0x001a Image Stabilizer Unsigned Short 1 2 = Mode 1, 3 = Off, 4 = Mode 2
0x001c Macro Mode Unsigned Short 1 1 = Macro, 2 = Normal
0x001f Shooting Mode Unsigned Short 1 2 = Portrait, 3 = Scenery, 4 = Sports, 5 = Night Portrait,
6 = Program, 7 = Aperture Priority, 8 = Shutter Priority,
9 = Macro, 11 = Manual, 13 = Panning, 18 = Fireworks,
19 = Party, 20 = Snow, 21 = Night Scenery
0×0020 Audio Unsigned Short 1 1 = Yes, 2 = No
0×0021 ? Undefined Varies
0×0022 ? Unsigned Short 1
0×0023 White Balance Adjust Short 1 White balance adjustment in units of 1/3EV
Note that the EXIF declares this as unsigned but the data is signed
0×0024 Flash Bias Short 1 Flash strength adjustment
Note that the EXIF declares this as unsigned but the data is signed
0×0025 ? Undefined 16
0×0026 ? Undefined 4 Always “0100″ in my camera
0×0027 ? Unsigned Short 1
0×0028 Colour Effect Unsigned Short 1 1 = Off, 2 = Warm, 3 = Cool, 4 = Black and White, 5 = Sepia
0×0029 ? Unsigned Long 1 Some sort of subject distance measure?
0x002A ? Unsigned Short 1
0x002B ? Unsigned Long 1
0x002C Contrast Unsigned Short 1 0 = Standard, 1 = Low, 2 = High
0x002D Noise Reduction Unsigned Short 1 0 = Standard, 1 = Low, 2 = High
0x002E ? Unsigned Short 1
0x002F ? Unsigned Short 1
0×4449 ? Undefined 512