Importing TIFF stack metadata

Question

the data files I am working with are TIFF stacks, we generate them with a self-written microscope program (in matlab). Among other information, an ASCII value is saved for each image in the TIFF stack and I cannot access it with the Import function of mathematica.

First of all, if I use a free exif reader from the internet (AsTiffTagViewer ver 2.00), i find something like this:

and I am interested in the Tag Code "PageName".

What I have tried in mathematica so far is the following: I run the command

Import["sample26_delaycurve_x00060_z-95_tryout_DS_CH1.tif",{"RawExif"}]

and I get the following output

<|
  "NewSubfileType" -> 2, "ImageWidth" -> 256, "ImageLength" -> 256, 
  "BitsPerSample" -> 32, "Compression" -> 1, "PhotometricInterpretation" -> 2, 
  "StripOffsets" -> 8, "Orientation" -> 1, "SamplesPerPixel" -> 1, 
  "StripByteCounts" -> 262144, "PlanarConfiguration" -> 1, "SampleFormat" -> 3 
|>

This lines up pretty much with the result from the Exif reader (see screenshot), except the last 3 Tag Codes, the codes I am interested in... Mathematica apparently summarizes them into a Tag Code "SampleFormat" with a value of 3.

The TIFF stack can be downloaded here https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlvJm2ZsN8fQmdBFKf_JQg7rKJp1-Q?e=9NYhFv . I appreciate any type of insight - Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

Apparently Import simply ignores this tag. It seems to be a bug, please report it to the technical support.

As a workaround you can use third-party command-line utility tiffinfo (I obtained a Windows binary from this page) for extracting the tag information. From Mathematica it can be called using RunProcess:

tiffinfoOut = RunProcess[{"tiffinfo.exe", file}, "StandardOutput"];

Converting the output into a Dataset:

tiffinfo = Dataset[
   Association[#1[[1]] -> 
       Association[Rule @@@ (StringTrim /@ StringSplit[#2, ":", 2])] & @@@ 
     Partition[SplitBy[ImportString[tiffinfoOut, "List"], StringStartsQ["  "]], 2]]];

Requesting the "PageName" column:

tiffinfo[All, "PageName"] // Values

As a list:

tiffinfo[All, "PageName"] // Values // Normal

{"t = -3.000000 ps", "t = -2.000000 ps", "t = -1.400000 ps", "t = -0.700000 ps", "t = -0.500000 ps", 
 "t = -0.240000 ps", "t = -0.120000 ps", "t = -0.040000 ps", "t = 0.000000 ps", "t = 0.020000 ps",
 "t = 0.040000 ps", "t = 0.060000 ps", "t = 0.080000 ps", "t = 0.100000 ps", "t = 0.120000 ps",
 "t = 0.140000 ps", "t = 0.160000 ps", "t = 0.180000 ps", "t = 0.200000 ps", "t = 0.220000 ps",
 "t = 0.260000 ps", "t = 0.300000 ps", "t = 0.320000 ps", "t = 0.340000 ps", "t = 0.360000 ps",
 "t = 0.380000 ps", "t = 0.400000 ps", "t = 0.500000 ps", "t = 0.600000 ps", "t = 0.700000 ps",
 "t = 0.800000 ps", "t = 0.900000 ps", "t = 1.000000 ps", "t = 1.100000 ps", "t = 1.400000 ps",
 "t = 1.700000 ps", "t = 2.000000 ps", "t = 2.300000 ps", "t = 2.600000 ps", "t = 2.900000 ps",
 "t = 3.200000 ps", "t = 3.700000 ps", "t = 4.340000 ps", "t = 5.000000 ps", "t = 6.000000 ps",
 "t = 8.010000 ps", "t = 10.010000 ps", "t = 12.010000 ps", "t = 15.340000 ps", "t = 18.680000 ps", 
 "t = 25.350000 ps", "t = 32.020000 ps", "t = 38.689999 ps", "t = 45.360001 ps", "t = 52.040001 ps"}