EXIF
Exchangeable Image File Format
EXIF is the metadata a camera writes into each photo automatically: camera and lens, exposure settings, date and time, orientation and, if available, GPS location.
Every time you take a photo, the camera records technical facts about it inside the file: the camera model and serial number, the lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, white balance, flash, orientation and the date and time. That block is EXIF. Software reads it to sort photos by date, show settings, rotate images correctly and place them on a map.
EXIF is filled in by the device; descriptive fields such as captions and copyright usually live in IPTC metadata instead.
How it works
EXIF is a standard maintained by Japanese camera-industry bodies (JEITA and CIPA). It stores numbered tags in JPEG, TIFF, HEIF and most RAW files. Key tags include DateTimeOriginal (when the shutter fired), Orientation, and a GPS section for latitude, longitude and altitude. Most cameras without GPS leave the GPS section empty, which is where geotagging comes in.
An example: two cameras, one timeline
A wedding photographer and a second shooter merge their photos in Lightroom and sort by capture time. Because the second camera's clock was five minutes fast, the speeches are out of order. Shifting that camera's EXIF capture time by five minutes puts the day back in sequence.
EXIF in CloudTether
CloudTether reads EXIF from each arriving shot. With geotag photos on, it uses the capture time to look up where the phone was and writes the coordinates into the JPEG's GPS tags, without recompressing it. When it saves a shot to the phone's photo library, it uses the EXIF capture date so the photo sorts correctly. Full-size deliveries keep the camera's EXIF intact.
EXIF and privacy
EXIF can reveal a camera's serial number and a location. Many social platforms strip it on upload; galleries and cloud folders often don't. Decide per shoot whether location should travel.
Tips and common mistakes
- Sync camera clocks with your phone before a multi-camera shoot.
- Set the camera's time zone when you travel, so capture times are right.
- Check what a platform keeps or strips before sharing location-tagged files.
Put it into practice
CloudTether tethers your camera to your phone and delivers every shot to the cloud, live as you shoot — no laptop.