EOS 5D Mark III - Serial Number EXIF Error

[AiDon]

Hi,

I just enquired of PhaseOne as to why their DAM & RAW processor does not show the Camera Serial Number and I received the following reply:

"The simple reason for this is that the 5DmkIII does not write it in the standard EXIF data which the 5D and the 5DmkII did.
  I have attached a EXIF extract from a 5DmkII and a 5DmkIII to show it.
  This essentialy is a Canon firmware issue or feature depending on how you see it"

Is this going to be corrected in a new Firmware release or is it a feature of the 5D Mark III?

[ebiggs1]

"Is this going to be corrected in a new Firmware release or is it a feature of the 5D Mark III?"

You need to ask Canon instead of this public forum.

[RobertTheFat]

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@AiDon wrote:

Hi,

I just enquired of PhaseOne as to why their DAM & RAW processor does not show the Camera Serial Number and I received the following reply:

"The simple reason for this is that the 5DmkIII does not write it in the standard EXIF data which the 5D and the 5DmkII did.
  I have attached a EXIF extract from a 5DmkII and a 5DmkIII to show it.
  This essentialy is a Canon firmware issue or feature depending on how you see it"

Is this going to be corrected in a new Firmware release or is it a feature of the 5D Mark III?

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Wherever the 5D3 stashes its serial number in a RAW file, it seems to be in place in a converted JPEG. I just found an image that was shot in RAW on my 5D3 and converted to JPEG with DPP version 4. I opened it with Irfanview and displayed the Exif data; the serial number was right where it belonged.

I guess the question is, "Is there a "standard" location for the camera serial number in a RAW file?" Or is the author of a RAW processor responsible for knowing where it is and handling it accordingly? With the exception of a few artificial outliers like Adobe's ACR, aren't all RAW formats camera-specific?

[AiDon]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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 I guess the question is, "Is there a "standard" location for the camera serial number in a RAW file?" Or is the author of a RAW processor responsible for knowing where it is and handling it accordingly? With the exception of a few artificial outliers like Adobe's ACR, aren't all RAW formats camera-specific?

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Hi,

Yes there is a standard promulgated and agreed to by camera manufacturers from The Japan Electronic Industries Development Association (JEIDA) which produced the initial definition of Exif. Version 2.1 of the specification is dated 12 June 1998. The latest, version 2.3, released on 26 April 2010 and revised in May 2013, was jointly formulated by JEITA and CIPA. Exif is supported by almost all camera manufacturers.

Unfortunatly though, camera vendors also store important information only in proprietary makernote fields, instead of using available Exif standard tags. An example for this is Nikon's ISO settings tag and now it seems, the Body Serial number tag on the Canon EOS 5D Mk III is used for something else.

It leads me to believe it is a tag error because my other Canon cameras don't have any problems.

Don.

[RobertTheFat]

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@AiDon wrote:

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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 I guess the question is, "Is there a "standard" location for the camera serial number in a RAW file?" Or is the author of a RAW processor responsible for knowing where it is and handling it accordingly? With the exception of a few artificial outliers like Adobe's ACR, aren't all RAW formats camera-specific?

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Hi,

Yes there is a standard promulgated and agreed to by camera manufacturers from The Japan Electronic Industries Development Association (JEIDA) which produced the initial definition of Exif. Version 2.1 of the specification is dated 12 June 1998. The latest, version 2.3, released on 26 April 2010 and revised in May 2013, was jointly formulated by JEITA and CIPA. Exif is supported by almost all camera manufacturers.

Unfortunatly though, camera vendors also store important information only in proprietary makernote fields, instead of using available Exif standard tags. An example for this is Nikon's ISO settings tag and now it seems, the Body Serial number tag on the Canon EOS 5D Mk III is used for something else.

It leads me to believe it is a tag error because my other Canon cameras don't have any problems.

Don.

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Maybe they put the serial number where they did in order to make it more resistant to Exif-editing software. If so, maybe it's a feature rather than an error. It will be interesting to see where the serial number appears in RAW files from the 7D2.

[AiDon]

Hi Bob,

It isn't that it isn't there it is just in the wrong place so some software manufacturers that live by the rules wont read it as the tag for the Serial is being used for something else. Not sure why you would want to edit out the serial though as even Exif editors will record the Exif change date.

It's just annoying.

Don.

Bangkok, Thailand