How can I remove camera or lens serial numbers from a RAW file while keeping the rest of the EXIF data?
Asked 5/15/2012
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2 answers
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I want to share my camera’s RAW files, including most EXIF metadata, but I’d like to remove the camera serial number and, if present, the lens serial number. I’m looking for a Linux-friendly solution that can edit the RAW file’s metadata without stripping all technical information. Ideally, it would write out a new RAW file with those serial-number fields removed or blanked while preserving the rest of the metadata.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
1
I think that exiftool should be able to do this work for you. I'm able to use it to read and write the temperature value to a tag in windows 7.
The exiftool webpage suggests that it can read and write maker tags, so serial numbers may be removable.
Originally by user5675. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user5675
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A good tool to try is exiftool. It is widely used for reading and writing EXIF and maker-note metadata, and the serial number is often stored in maker-note tags. That makes it a better fit than tools that only strip metadata from JPEG, PNG, or TIFF files.
If your goal is only to remove the camera or lens serial number while keeping other EXIF data, exiftool is the most relevant option mentioned. In some workflows, removing the MakerNote block can also remove the manufacturing serial information, but that may also discard other camera-specific metadata stored there.
So the practical approach is:
- Inspect the RAW file’s metadata with exiftool.
- Identify the camera/lens serial tags.
- Remove those specific tags if possible.
- If they are only embedded in MakerNote, removing MakerNote may be the fallback, with the tradeoff of losing some manufacturer-specific metadata.
Be aware that RAW formats can be sensitive to metadata rewriting, so always test on copies of your files.
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