The alpha shutter count tool

Guy wrote: To get a result, you must provide an ORIGINAL RAW, CRAW or JPEG directly from the camera. Like some of you discovered, practically any software for importing/exporting/whatever will destroy this part of the exif.

Absolutely correct. Maybe a little more detail may help understanding why..

These fields were never in exif in the first place, at least not in the industry standard exif.
They are in a category of metadata called "maker notes" that is unique to each manufacturer, and sometimes varies from model to model. Sometimes makernotes are described as a different category of metadata from exif (for example in exiftool) and sometimes as a subset of exif that is not part of the standard. Either way the key point is not standardized.

Exif (current version 2.3) is an informal "industry standard" format. Not all manufacturers load all exif fields, but for those that they do load, they follow a standard field designation and data format.   Not so for makernotes.

So it should be no surprise that photo software handles standardized exif and non-standard makernotes differently. Photo processing software often will copy exif (and iptc) to edited images. But it almost never copies maker notes. If you have anything but an original raw or jpeg from the camera, then makers notes are likely gone.   (If you only view an original jpeg that's fine. But if you open it in a editor, then finish with save rather than close, you now have a copy and makersnotes is gone. )     

makernotes
Sony makernote tags
exif tags

Hi,
This is my first post on the forum, though I'm a long time lurker :). I'd like to thank you for the tool you provided. Also for me the tags for A99/A77 seem to work also for my nex-5n.

Sony_Tag9050_0x0032 = A Sony_Tag9050_0x0033 = B Sony_Tag9050_0x0034 = C

Maybe someone could also confirm this :)

Borut, there's a typo in the SonyTags given for the A900 on your tool site

SONY Alpha A900/A850:
Shutter count fields:
Sony_FocusInfo_0x0846 = A
Sony_FocusInfo_0x0847 = B
Sony_FocusInfo_0x08460x0848 = C
SUM = A + (B * 256) + (C * 65536)
SUM = (C << 16) + (B << 8) + A

5D and 7D can be read from the camera using a Windows service program and USB connection to the camera. I haven't kept up with whether A100 or A700 equivalent was discovered.

Guy wrote: Well, the ARW problem is now solved. I have been using a bad algorithm to get the model of the camera, and it failed with ARWs Since the script could not determine the model, it just dumped empty output ... This has now all been fixed. The A450/500/550 triplet is now also supported.

Yes, I can confirm that it now works properly with my A850/A900 ARW files, giving the same values as I got manually with exiftool.

I can also check my daughter's A550 now. Thanks.

analytical wrote: 5D and 7D can be read from the camera using a Windows service program and USB connection to the camera.

Only the 5D, not the 7D.

It is great to see that this actually works!
All SONY alphas (including all NEX photo cameras) are now supported, with the exception of A100 A200 A300 A350 and A700.
The tool site also lists the 4 methods that are used to store this information in the makernotes and which camera uses which method.

Another interesting observation I have made:
The A33/55/35/560/580 cameras and the first NEXes actually store both images taken and full shutter actuations (this number is different since the camera must always do one actuation more if shot in live view - or Manual Focus Live View on 560/580).
I suspect this is also the same with the last method (the Tag9050 one), but I have to borrow the 77 from my dad to test that out.

If anyone comes across any problems, glitches, or anything else worth noting, let me know!

Good tidings to all,
Borut