Estou usando a nova estrutura do ImageIO no iOS 4.1. Recuperei com êxito os metadados exif usando o seguinte:

CFDictionaryRef metadataDict = CMGetAttachment(sampleBuffer, kCGImagePropertyExifDictionary , NULL);

Lendo, parece válido. Salvar uma imagem funciona, mas nunca há dados exif na imagem.

    CGImageDestinationRef myImageDest = CGImageDestinationCreateWithURL((CFURLRef) docurl, kUTTypeJPEG, 1, NULL);

    // Add the image to the destination using previously saved options. 
    CGImageDestinationAddImage(myImageDest, iref, NULL);

    //add back exif
    NSDictionary *props = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                            [NSNumber numberWithFloat:.1], kCGImageDestinationLossyCompressionQuality,
                           metadataDict, kCGImagePropertyExifDictionary, //the exif metadata
                                                        nil];

                          //kCGImagePropertyExifAuxDictionary

    CGImageDestinationSetProperties(myImageDest, (CFDictionaryRef) props);

    // Finalize the image destination. 
    bool status = CGImageDestinationFinalize(myImageDest);