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Follow-Up to my Exif/Shutter Count Post

February 16, 2011 by 14 Comments

I received tons of great feedback from my post the other day on reading Exif data to find shutter actuations. Instead of making you go back and look at all the comments, I thought I would make a list of other Exif options that you, the readers, shared with the class.

♦ A really smart guy named Andrew wrote a web-based program that let’s you upload an image and then tells you shutter count for your camera based on the file. Obviously you need to upload the latest image taken by the camera. The program is called Camera Shutter Count. There is also a complete list of cameras that it will work with listed right on the page.

♦ For those of you that like to get your hands a little dirty and aren’t afraid of some command line code you can check out Image ExifTool at CPAN.

♦ If you are a Canon owner with a camera that has a Digic 3 or 4 processor you can check out the EOSInfo application available over at AstroJargon. This is a Windows-only program but there is also an older version for Mac users called 40DShutterCount.

♦ It turns out that Photoshop does have a way of revealing this info from the Exif data if you really know where to look. Fortunately Steve W did and he was more than happy to share the location. In Photoshop, got to File > File Info… and then click the Advanced tab and then look in the Scheme drop-down.

♦ For Mac users, you can open your image with the Preview App and then click Tools > Show Inspector and then click the Exif tab.

♦ Another recommended Mac-based program is PhotoMe (Digital Photo Metadata Editor). It’s a free download that not only allows you to find and read your Exif data but also edit the image metadata as well. You can read more about it here.

I’m sure there are many more ways to view Exif and I really appreciate everyone sharing their knowledge with me and the other readers. It’s one of the things I love about the photography community; everyone’s willingness to share with one another. One other thing, I listed several programs that can be downloaded and installed but I can not guarantee that they are free of bugs and the like. Please be sure to check out files for viruses and such before installing on your computer.

Related posts:

  1. Do You Know How Many Times Your Shutter Has Gone Click?
  2. A Follow-Up on Image Protection
  3. A Follow-Up to Friday’s Lightroom Sorting/Exporting Video
  4. The World’s Biggest Photoshop Blog Post
  5. Friday morning post
Filed Under: Software, Tips
  • http://andrew.knots.net Andrew Macpherson

    Thank you Jeff, really useful

    While on the subject of EXIF data, I believe some cameras generate a unique image-id based on the camera serial number and other factors. My Canon 5D does not but you may have come across this feature in researching your reviews? If so is it just a feature of the ‘fully-pro’ models, or down to the manufacturer?

    • Mitch Sacks

      I still can’t get to your site. I just get “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage”. This problem can be caused by a variety of issues, including:

      •Internet connectivity has been lost.
      •The website is temporarily unavailable.
      •The Domain Name Server (DNS) is not reachable.
      •The Domain Name Server (DNS) does not have a listing for the website’s domain.
      •There might be a typing error in the address.
      •If this is an HTTPS (secure) address, click Tools, click Internet Options, click Advanced, and check to be sure the SSL and TLS protocols are enabled under the security section.

      • http://andrew.knots.net Andrew Macpherson

        My website is not IE6 or earlier compatible, but you should get a specific message to that effect. Drop me a line to andrew (at) knots.net and I’ll try to work out what’s going on.

        • Mitch Sacks

          I’m using IE8. I couldn’t get the page to load at all from work, but I just tried it from home and the page appeard (both computers running Windows 7 and IE8). I tried to upload an image and got the following error:

          Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage

          This problem can be caused by a variety of issues, including:

          •Internet connectivity has been lost.
          •The website is temporarily unavailable.
          •The Domain Name Server (DNS) is not reachable.
          •The Domain Name Server (DNS) does not have a listing for the website’s domain.
          •There might be a typing error in the address.
          •If this is an HTTPS (secure) address, click Tools, click Internet Options, click Advanced, and check to be sure the SSL and TLS protocols are enabled under the security section.

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  • Michele P

    Jeff,

    The Photoshop instruction were inaccurate on Canon 20D and 50D. On the 20D it showed a count of 80 when I know there are more than 19K. On the 50D I got 8 (RAW) and 14 (JPG) when both images were over 10K.

    Michele

  • http://www.imageconjurer.com Bernie

    This isn’t that important in the overall scheme of things but I’m now obsessing over the fact that I can’t find this data with any program for a Sony alpha. I feel cheated and unclean.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunebundgaard/ Sune

    You can also see it on photos uploaded to flickr if you have set your Exif privacy settings to show exif-data. (at least for Nikon cameras)

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  • http://www.dellisphotographicart.com Bill d’Ellis

    I tried to find the shutter count for my Pentax K7 using the directions given by Steve W on your Feb post, but got only the following:

    aux:Lens; Tamron AF 18-250 F3, 5-6, 6.3 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO
    aux:LensID: 7 238
    aux:LensInfo: 180/10 2500/10 35/10 63/10

    The shutter count COULD be the 7 238 after LensID but I doubt it.

    Any ideas for Pentax owners?

    Thanks!!!

    Bill
    Bill@billandelsa.com

  • http://www.euerfotograf.de Hochzeitsfotograf

    I didn´t know there was a way in Photoshop. Thanks a lot for pointing this out to me!

  • jim mcd

    Just got back from an px assignment and am catching on on reading of emails. Your suggestion here is FANTASTIC!!!! Used photoshop cs5 with one of my Nikons. Amazing. Just amazing. Thanks for sharing.

  • Lars

    Thanks for the Photoshop info. It’s also possible directly from Bridge, by right clicking a raw file choosing “File Info…” and selecting the advanced tab, expanding the Schema node… -just like explained above. Bridge and PS use a shared exif module eg. it’s the same dialog in both applications :)