# Is there any way to see my Camera serial number in Lightroom 6.8?



## stevemurrayphotos (Mar 8, 2017)

My camera has been stolen and I don't recall registering it with Sony, but I know that LR can separate cameras by serial number, just don't know how to see what serial number it associates with my ILCE7M2 - is there any way to see the serial number or am I out of luck? Help!


----------



## stevevp (Mar 8, 2017)

Sorry to hear about your camera. Although I can't find the serial number in Lightroom, it should be in the extended EXIF which can be viewed by uploading one of your pics here: Jeffrey Friedl's Image Metadata Viewer.

I hope that helps.


----------



## Hal P Anderson (Mar 8, 2017)

You can probably do it:



 
Note that we're looking at EXIF data. My Nikons don't show a serial number, but your Sony may.


----------



## stevevp (Mar 8, 2017)

My Nikon does show the serial number now I know where to look!


----------



## stevemurrayphotos (Mar 8, 2017)

Thanks for trying, Hal, I've tried the LR Exif field and Jeff Friedl's viewer but doesn't look like its recorded or viewable, unfortunately.


----------



## Gnits (Mar 8, 2017)

stevemurrayphotos said:


> Jeff Friedl's viewer




If using Jeff metadata viewer ... use the search option and type in 'serial'.   If possible use a raw file.  I discovered I could not find a serial number on my exported jpgs, maybe becasue Lr was not parsing this specific metadata.


----------



## rob211 (Mar 8, 2017)

Hmm. I wonder why Lr reports my Oly serial number, but not the Pentax. Both have the serial in the original MakerNotes, but Lr shows the former in exif, not the latter. And "internal serial number" is different from "serial number," the last being the true serial found on the camera body, at least with my cameras. Dunno what the difference is for.


----------



## Tony Jay (Mar 8, 2017)

I own several Sony bodies - the serial numbers seem never to be recorded in EXIF metadata.
The Canon bodies, OTOH, their serial numbers are always represented.

Not sure why Sony hides this metadata.

Tony Jay


----------



## Gnits (Mar 9, 2017)

Different manufacturers do different things. I was frustrated I could not find a Sony Serial number in Lr.  I wanted to be able to recognise what camera I was using as part of my Lr import process. exiftool allows me to find the Internal Serial number, which uniquely identifies my Sony camera.  This may be of some use to the person who had his camera stolen.  I think it is bad form by Sony that they do not make the official serial number available through Lr metadata.  I must check how the internal serial number compares to the actual serial number. If I find out they are the same or different I will post here.


----------



## Wernfried (Mar 9, 2017)

Have a look at Phil's Exiftool.

In case "Serial Number" is empty in your EXIF then you could copy "Internal Serial Number" to "Serial Number" before you do your import into LR. Command would be similar to this:


```
exiftool "-SerialNumber<InternalSerialNumber" -tagsfromfile "c:\your_folder\*.jpg"
```

In case you prefer not to modify your RAW files, you can also create XMP sidecar files similar to this:


```
exiftool "-SerialNumber<InternalSerialNumber" -tagsfromfile "c:\your_folder\*.jpg"  -InternalSerialNumber %d%f.xmp
```

This would create a XMP sidecar file containing only the new tag.

Best Regards
Wernfried


----------



## Gnits (Mar 9, 2017)

Well summarised. 

I will note for future reference. I have my own app which copies my images from card to disk.  I use ExifTool, combined with a database list of my cameras, which handles all the logic I need relating to serial numbers. I was driven to this to evolve my own efficient workflow, but was probably influenced to take this step based on the absence of the Sony serial number in Lr.

In terms of searching for a stolen camera based on a serial number, I am not sure that those search tools take the Internal Serial number into account.


----------



## rob211 (Mar 9, 2017)

What's the difference between "internal serial number" and "serial number"? My cameras have both. Is it just that: an internal, not written on the body number inserted by the firmware?

And I still don't get why Lr reads serial numbers (not internal serial numbers) and puts it into a "camera serial number" field for my Oly camera, but doesn't do the same for my Pentax. They're in the same tag in exif I believe. ORF vs DNG, but I would't think that would matter.


----------



## Gnits (Mar 9, 2017)

The implication of what you have reported is that Lr has different code / logic per maker.  Probably not surprising, as they may all have their own custom metadata fields buried within their files.


----------

