Assumed 'image' node type implies image module

I am using the imagefield module, but (for better or worse) chose the node type to be called 'image'.

This apparently causes a problem when the exif module tries to find the image's path, as if the node type is 'image', it apparently assumes the image module interface:

function _exif_get_image_path($fields, &$node) {
  if ($node->type == 'image') {
    return $node->images[IMAGE_ORIGINAL];
  }
...

Whereas, my node type is not from the image module, but an image field, which should use the subsequent code to determine the image's path.

I'm not sure of a way to determine if the node type is an Image module 'image' or some otherwise similarly named node type.

In my case, the image module is not even installed- perhaps only if this module is installed/active, the special node handling could be used?