Geocoding or Geotagging has become increasingly popular in the last couple of years. That’s likely because the number of cameras that can accomodate GPS integration has risen and their cost has dropped, not to mention the growing list of photo sharing websites that use that kind of GPS data for extended features like mapping. So, it seems like GPS and Photography are now intrinsically linked.

With many higher end cameras, you can now connect a GPS directly to the camera if you have the right equipment. With Nikon cameras like the D200, D300, or D2X, or D3 – a 10-pin port allows you to connect a GPS directly to the unit (provided you have the right cables). The problem is that this can be unwieldy, and it typically requires a high end SLR that not all of us have.

There are two slightly better solutions around this, which we’ll discuss. » MORE

View Exif data like camera model, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and metering mode in your Firefox browser with the FxIF Firefox extension. Once you’ve got it installed, you just need to right click on any image and get the Properties of the image. In addition to your regular width, height, and alt text information, you’ll get the Exif data also. Of course, the Exif needs to be intact, so it won’t work on every image, but it should work on most full sized Flickr, Photobucket, or Pbase pictures for example. Anything that hasn’t been heavily edited should still have Exif.

Click here to download.

Finding out your shutter count is one of those crazy things that photographers like to do, because most digital SLR’s will record that information internally. The problem is manufacturers don’t make it easy information to access. However, knowing your shutter count can let you know whether it’s time to get that camera serviced or not, before it breaks down.

For Nikon owners (and I understand this also works for Sigma and Fuji), there’s a handy tool out there called IExif from Opanda. While Opanda specializes in retail EXIF reading/editing software, the basic IExif application is freeware, and you can download it from here. IExif will let you open a JPG and read it’s metadata – which in and of itself is not terribly impressive (most image editing applications will let you do that), but it will show you the stuff that most other applications will not, including all the non-documented EXIF values.

Lots of this stuff is encrypted and won’t mean anything to you, unless you happen to know what 00A8 is referring to on a Nikon D200. However, it will let you see the shutter count for that image. It will only do this for JPG files unless you pay for IExifPro which can open Raw files.

Opanda also has a plugin for Firefox that will let you right click on an online photograph and view its EXIF data, assuming it still has any. You can download the free Firefox plugin here.

For Canon owners, it seems that Opanda doesn’t really decrypt the EXIF tag for shutter count, so you’ll need to look elsewhere. CanCount is an application from a German software maker which will show you the count on 1-series cameras. I also understand that Photomechanic will read some lower end Canon shutter count information, but if you know of something more concrete, let us know.