Jul 23 2010

Video Photo Tip ~ How Many Photos Has My Camera Taken?

Posted in HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH, PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS, VIDEOS

Video Photo Tip ~ How Many Photos Has My Camera Taken?

Have you ever wondered how many photos your camera has taken? Or have you ever sold or bought a camera and asked how many photos have been taken with that camera? Some cameras do have that info in the menu screens, but many don’t. Here’s how you can tell.

This website allows you to load one of your images. Click here to get started. Be patient, it can take a long time for the metadata from the file to pop up. It’s well worth the wait, as you’ll see data you never dreamed of. Once it appears, scroll down and look for “Shutter Count”. If you’re shooting with a Canon, look for the “File Index” number. There you have it. That is the number of photos captured by that camera when that image was shot.

There are also some free software downloads that do similar tasks. Check them out here and here.

Photo Tip ~ If you have a photo tip or would like to have a photo question answered, send me an email. Be sure to subscribe for free to this blog to receive ongoing great photo tips and inspiration! If this was helpful, please leave a comment.

by Kent Weakley

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darcy @ m3bJuly 23 - 1:45 am

Not a single “um” in that video. (unlike someone i know.)

Good info to know!

Kevin MullinsAugust 10 - 7:24 am

Great tip Kent!

TJ McDowellAugust 11 - 8:18 am

Sweet! Didn’t know that. I’m guessing you can get the exif data using other utilities too, which would be helpful if you were somewhere buying a used camera and didn’t have access to the internet.

ASlistair ScottAugust 22 - 6:11 am

Amazing! I thought I knew about the EXIF data … but I didn’t know this! Photoshop shows it, and so does Nikon Capture, but only a bit it would seem.

This shows masses more, and I don’t understand a quarter of it! Thanks, Kent, for pointing out this one.

Nikhil RamkarranAugust 26 - 6:34 pm

I’ve used several of these exif viewers and the one I tend to come back to always is PhotoME. Its free and gives you more than you might want to know. The only problem is that it gives you so much, you might not be able to find what you actually want.

Have a look here: http://www.photome.de/ (PC only unfortunately)

Phil RestaAugust 30 - 8:08 pm

I tried several photo’s, but there is never a “shutter count” in the results. There is a “file index” which numbers the photograph much like a film camera does frames, but it does not show how many times the shutter was released.

Kent Weakley Reply:
August 30th, 2010 at 9:14 pm

Interesting. Are these the original files from the camera? If so, what camera are they from?

Egidio Leitao Reply:
May 6th, 2011 at 8:01 am

If you are looking at a file that’s been edited (e.g., via Photoshop Elements), then the shutter count is not displayed. I also had the same problem when I looked at edited photos. Once I checked an original file, the count was there.

Kent Weakley Reply:
May 6th, 2011 at 10:00 am

It is possible for various applications to strip out the metadata from an image. The original files should still maintain that data.

d i l i pSeptember 9 - 1:23 pm

Thanks a lot for the video. Very useful!

LukeSeptember 29 - 11:11 pm

Cool tip and site…although I couldnt find the shutter count on a camera I just purchased used myself (lumix g2) from photos I had taken.

OllyOctober 19 - 9:37 am

I’ve just tried this for both a brand new 7D and a year old 5DMkii and neither show the shutter count or indeed any numbers that may indicate the shutter count is listed under a different value.

Which is a bit frustrating as of all of the info available, finding out the shutter count is what brought me here..

Kent Weakley Reply:
October 19th, 2010 at 9:44 am

Shoot a small size jpg and email it to me. I will be glad to try and find the info for you.

Stanley Tom MamelaNovember 2 - 9:09 am

Cool blog! I dont think Ive seen all the angles of this subject the way youve pointed them out. Youre a true star, a rock star man. Youve got so much to say and have a lot of knowledge about the subject that I think you should just teach a class about it HaHa!