Serial Numbers in EXIF data

General
1

I just noticed that the serial number of my camera lens is shown in my EXIF data for each observation (under INFO). Is there any way to prevent this?

1 Like
2

Not sure what OS you are using - Mac OS, Windows, or Linux

I found this
In Windows, you can remove the serial by using the program "EXIF Cleaner", and choosing "Remove only the following tags", then selecting the MakerNote check only (MakerNote contains the camera manufacturing number). from this webpage

Also Interesting query considering the online privacy invasion happening.

1 Like
3

And @nellcant23 welcome to the forums :-)

5

Thank you. I am a Mac user, but your answer was enough to motivate me to look for an answer on the web for Mac. So far all I have found is a free App called ExifPurge. It will purge all the data from a jpeg (It doesn’t appear to work on psd or CR3 files, although I haven’t really looked into that.) Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that you can delete only some of the information and leave the useful stuff.

6

Thanks! I am mostly a lurker.

7

seems like versions of exiftools may get you the solution

search for a windows software and then search in alternative to softwares for a suitable MacOS equivalent

8

3 alternatives are available :

  1. Exiftool (open source & free0
  2. Exifpurge
    &
  3. AnyExif

FYI

10

in Windows, you can remove some of the EXIF metadata from the image properties:

image
image476Ă—621 28.2 KB

if something like the Windows functionality doesn’t exist in Mac, i think you could use exiftool to remove specific properties from a file. you could combine this with Mac’s built-in Automator tool to make it easier to execute particular commands through exiftool.

11

It feels like this might be a feature request, too – it may be useful to iNat to strip it (or at least not display it) by default.

2 Likes
12

Here’s a related feature request: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/option-to-remove-camera-information-from-photos/16329

EDIT: but since we include the filename only for the observer, I bet we could do the same for the serial numbers.

5 Likes
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Made an issue to hide these fields from public view.

1 Like
14

If you don’t care about any of the EXIF metadata, are comfortable with command line interface, and ImageMagick is available for your operating system, running:

  • mogrify -strip *.JPG

Would bulk-strip the entire EXIF metadata header from all matching images in a directory.

15

Thank you!

16

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