[bimjo]

Ok, anybody that uses a legacy lens with no electrical contacts with the camera (whichever combo that may be) has wrestled with how to record which shots were taken with which lens and at what lens settings.

I tried writing it down in a small notebook. Worked, but clumsy. And there's that whole shooting at night thing to contend with.

Then I decided that since a always have my phone with me when I'm away from home I'd use that. So, the search began for a simple note taking app that would do what I wanted. Since I use an iPhone I headed to the App Store and found something that seems like it will work just fine.

Check out the app called MyScript Memo. The app is free. It will export your scribbles to text (if you buy the $2.99 upgrade) if you so desire. I think I'll pass on the upgrade for now.

So, first shot is me using my rather imprecise finger as a stylus to record the lens/aperture used for the shot:


Followed by using my iPad stylus for a very slightly less imprecise scribble:


Since I tend to lose things like pens when I'm out-and-about (I lay them down & can't find them. It's why I always put lens caps in my right front pocket.) I think my finger will work just fine.

So, the workflow is- 1) write a memo with lens/aperture settings, 2) snap a quick pic of the screen, 3) take the shots. If you change the settings, change the memo and take another shot of the phone screen. The only drawback will be bright sunlight. I just d/l'd the app last night so I'm still working on that part. Going to work great at night though. You can erase the whole screen, or just a portion of it, so if you change the aperture just erase that info instead of the whole screen.

I'm sure there's something similar for the Android phone folks out there for a similar price. I think this is going ot work for me, YMMV.

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Last edited by bimjo; 08-04-2012 at 08:10 AM. Reason: speeling

[axl]

Why bother with writing? Just take the pic of the lens with selected apperture and name it after the first shot with that setting...

[bimjo]

Why bother with writing? Just take the pic of the lens with selected apperture and name it after the first shot with that setting...

In the dark?

[wombat2go]

That's a good idea Bimjo.
I'll try it on the Android phone, it has a Notes app with a finger draw option
I sometimes shoot a gray card at the end of a roll of film and until now used a post-it note stuck to the gray card with the info.

[axl]

In the dark?

I beelieve most of modern phones would have LED flash light...

[bimjo]

I beelieve most of modern phones would have LED flash light...

Well, I don't think I have enough hands.

But… there's no one right way to do things, right?

[Christine Tham]

This is going to sound really silly, but ...

Record your voice on a tiny pocket recorder (or the voice recorder in your phone)? Call out every time you change lens or aperture, and note the image number.

[rawr]

The Android app EXIF4film could also be useful, even though it targets film users:

"Exif4Film is a tool for film photographers to record the EXIF data of their pictures and then save it on scanned images. The Android™ app is used for capturing the EXIF-related data, and the desktop utility or the Adobe® Lightroom® plug-in can be used for saving the recorded data on actual scans."

[bimjo]

This is going to sound really silly, but ...

Record your voice on a tiny pocket recorder (or the voice recorder in your phone)? Call out every time you change lens or aperture, and note the image number.

Not silly at all, but for me it's an added step once the pics get to the computer. Doing the pic-of-the-phone thing the info is already there with the pics when I process them without having to "import" anything.

Depends on where in the process you want to do the work I guess, up front, or at the end.

[rawr]

This is also one of those instances when it would be handy for the camera itself to be able to record a voice memo at capture (or capture/review) time. Two of my old Fuji point and shoots used to let you do this, and it was handy to record scene details, people's names etc, without having to write down notes.

I mean the camera has a mic, and can record audio, so why not let it do voice memo's too? The software to do it wouldn't be too challenging either, I imagine.

[Christine Tham]

sonyalpharumors says the new generation NEX (NEX-5R and NEX-6) will have support for in camera applications, so in theory one can write an application to track this info (maybe even update the EXIF on the photo??? - let's hope!!!)

I am almost certain I will probably buy the NEX-6 when it comes out - this is the camera the NEX-7 should have been (for M mount lenses at least).