Canon 40D + Lightroom Auto-Rotate
September 1st, 2007Cameras these days record the orientation of the camera when you take a shot, and write this into EXIF which is embedded into the photo. There seems to be a new way in which the 40D does it.
If anyone has attempted to import from 40D into Lightroom, they might notice that all the images are rotated 180%.
Windows picks up the correct way up, yet Lightroom simply doesn’t.
I hope Adobe will be quick to remedy this problem, as well as update the RAW converter to accommodate the 40D
Update
Having a further look into it - I noticed this only occurs when you connect the camera directly to the computer, as opposed to extract the CF, and using it within a reader.
Also windows didn’t automatically rotate the photos when looking at them through explorer, so possibly this is a Windows Vista problem, and not Lightroom.
If anyone in XP or OSX can reproduce this - do post.
Update 2
After trying this with Lightroom 1.3 - the issue still persists.
Not fixed yet.
Nice site. Thanks for all the interesting info.
I also have an issue with my new 40d i purchased a few days ago and Lightroom. when connecting the camera directly to the computer and trying to import from device with Lightroom the images are very bad quality and mirror upside down rather than rotated 180 degrees. if i view the photos in explorer as mentioned they are all the same orientation, unrotated. but i believe this is normal, as with the 40D i believe it saves the orientation to the photo and does not physically rotate the image like my 300D did. when i turned on image rotation in my 300D the photos saved on the card by the camera were already rotated, where as the 40D saves orientation and leaves it up to the computer software to rotate the image. if i import photos from the camera using the windows photo and video import the photos are rotated as necessary.
I am not sure that the problem is with the 40D for the way my preview photos in Lightroom are mirror upside down, as i have seen this before, if i go to import from device there was 2 options, from the card reader and from G:\ which both are the same thing just listed twice for some reason. but if i click on card reader the images were bad quality and mirror upside down like i am seeing now with my 40D. going to import from directory and selecting the photos on the card reader worked fine, as well as selecting g:\ as the device.
if i go to import from directory and select the 40D > CF > dcim > 100canon> it then says the search returned no results.
i believe the problem lies in Lightroom.
Clint - my experience with the 40D and Auto-rotate dilemma was with Lightroom 1.2 from memory.
Perhaps if you’re not already up to 1.3.1 - give it a go, and see if you can reproduce the problem.
I must admit - I always File -> Import Photos from Disk, so perhaps it is a bug that’s persistent only when you import from device.
I’ll do an import next time from device and see how I go.
Cheers,
R
Orientation is stored in the JPG EXIF as references to where Row 0 and Column 0 begin.
Top, Left = 0 degrees of rotation
Bottom, Right = 180
Left, Bottom = 90 CW
Right, Top = 170 CW
“0″ = No orientation recorded to the JPG
I’m writting software that involves auto-rotating.
While investigating the Canon 40D I have seen the following:
With Auto Rotate turned off from the menu all photos regardless of shooting orientation have an EXIF orientation value of 0.
The JPG EXIF header does not include orientation information. Therefore any program trying to auto-rotate (Lightroom, Windows, Aperture) has no information to work with. I have to say I’m really stunned at this. If the camera has the orientation data, why not write it to the JPG regardless of how you choose to display the photo on screen? I don’t know what Canon was thinking with this.
With Auto Rotate turned on for both Camera and Computer the orientation field contains all the right values.
So… It behooves you to keep the “Auto Rotate” turned on while shooting if you want to be able to [later] detect the original orientation.
PS - Its also worth noting that the 40D doesn’t recognize the difference between rightside up and upside down. Under both conditions it records an orientation EXIF of “1″ meaning “Top, Left” or ‘no rotation’
Clint,
Thank you for the info - didn’t realise that the 40D could be so flawed as to not actually record the info sometimes.
Perhaps its a physical flaw in the design - or one that can be fixed by firmware.
Come 1.0.5!
I have been testing this issue when tethered. It appears to be resolved by turning off the rotate option in EOS Utility. I am running LR1.4 and 1.0.8.