Digital Camera Systems Launches Lens Metadata Survey to Benchmark Post and VFX Pipelines

Digital Camera Systems (DCS) has launched an industry survey aimed at understanding how lens metadata is captured, transferred, preserved, and used across post-production and VFX pipelines. The initiative seeks to pinpoint where metadata is lost or becomes unreliable, and how those gaps translate into rework, manual workarounds, and reduced production efficiency. The five-minute survey is open to anyone working with or managing lens metadata across production, post, and VFX.

Anonymised responses will feed into an annual benchmark report titled "The State of Lens Metadata in Post-Production and VFX," intended to give studios, supervisors, pipeline teams, and technology providers a clearer shared picture of the problem's scale. The findings will also underpin a lightning talk by DCS General Manager Gary Keller at ASWF Open Source Days 2026, where he will address the role of lens metadata in VFX workflows and the case for an industry-wide benchmark.