projects

the other life of the camera - tracking cameras by their serial number - berlin 2010

The initial trigger for the project has been that, during the classes trip to Helsinki, Tim’s camera got stolen. It was a Canon 450d with the serial number 1180354223. Like all digital cameras, it stores in the image files a lot of other information as EXIF-data. Among those data in the image file can eventually also be stored the camera type and serial number.

Out of that fact came the idea that it should be possible to identify photos which have been made with a certain camera and have been uploaded to the internet. This concept can be extended to different situations where cameras have a changing user or owner: stolen cameras, second hand cameras, rental cameras.

One method is to access the EXIF-data from photos that have been uploaded, extract the serial number and compare it with the one that is looked for. If they match, the photo and the web-address where it was found can be saved. EXIF-data have to be intact and accessible with the uploaded photo, though.

A change of the user or owner of a camera will change also mostly every aspect of the resulting photographs: the photographer behind the camera, the photographic style, the photographed subjects in front of the camera.

As for now, the result is a physical photoalbum, showing a collection of the old and the new user’s photographs.

project documentation pdf

Thank you: Jens Wunderling.

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