[shuttertalk]

If you've always wanted a way to view and edit your photo metadata natively within widows (e.g. via windows explorer) then you'll be pleased to know that Microsoft has released a new tool - Microsoft Photo Info!

Microsoft Photo Info is a new software add-in for Microsoft Windows that allows photographers to add, change and delete common "metadata" properties for digital photographs from inside Windows Explorer. It also provides enhanced "hover tips" and additional sort properties for digital photographs in Explorer (in Details view).

What is photo metadata you say? It is basically shooting information which is stored in the header of the image file, and can contain basic stuff such as date and time of shot, and also more advanced data recorded from your camera such as aperture, shutter speed, flash, white balance, focal length and more. Pretty handy if you see a pleasing image and wanted to know what settings you used, so you can remember for next time.

Previously, this information was not readily accessible within windows - one had to use a third party program or image editor to view and change the data.

Some product highlights:
* Microsoft Photo Info supports most of the common IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) properties commonly used in digital photography workflows.
* View EXIF properties
* Correct EXIF capture date / time information. Photo Info can optionally update the EXIF date/time information as recorded in the image file by your camera
* The initial release of Microsoft Photo Info supports the following common image file types: JPEG, TIFF, WDP, HDP (HD Photo), NEF, CR2, and CRW

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using...oinfo.mspx

Don't forget to check out Microsoft's RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP as well...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using...o/raw.mspx