i think it would be far more advantageous to store the exif data as a serialised array in the table rather than as separate fields in the image table because not all images have exif data and prevents having numerous null fields

edit: sorry, this should have been put in the bug discussion

So, what exactly is the issue? That empty fields exist?

well why have empty fields, when one field could store them all? the data isn't going to be searched on right? so why separate them? what if new data fields are added to exif? it is more scalable and cleaner.

Why not store everything in one field? Because it is more efficient to have things parceled out into fields. That's why. No loss if the field is empty and no parsing the field if it is not.

And you even can better edit it directly in the database in case of problems.