Camera serial number not correct

[Walter0D4D]

Trying to separate photos taken with two cameras in LrC 10.1.1 - camera serial number in LrC does not match serial number on my camera body - Lumix GX8. Where is LrC getting this serial number from?

Shouldn't these serial numbers match?

[Bob Somrak]

May LrC has an issue reading the SN but it could be the camera has been repaired and a body from a different camera was used during the repair and the SN no longer matched the SN stored in ROM in the camera. 

[Walter0D4D]

This is the case with two of my cameras, a Lumix GX8 and a Lumix G9. I bought them both new and neither has been out for repair.  

Unfortunately, I don't have the original boxes to compare the serial number on the box with the serial number on the body.

[johnrellis]

I downloaded a sample .rw2 for the GX8 from dpreview.com and examined it with Exiftool.  LR is reading the serial number from the metadata field MakerNotes:InternalSerialNumber -- the camera doesn't store anything in the industry-standard EXIF:SerialNumber field, and I don't see any other fields containing likely serial numbers.

The serial number in your LR screenshot is decoded as (XEL) 2015:10:22 no. 0086, according to Exiftool.

This dpreviewcom thread has a post from a user who says Panasonic told him his G7 had an "external" serial number and an "internal" serial number recorded by firmware in photos, and that the two are not the same. The internal serial number records the assembly line, date, and camera number produced on that date.

So this is likely what you're seeing in LR with the GX8.

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[Walter0D4D]

Thanks, John.

Seems it’s a camera manufacturer issue, and not unique to Panasonic, although it also suggests a total lack of industry standard practice for populating that field. I’m told Sony cameras place nothing in the serial number field, for example.

wso

[johnrellis]

"I’m told Sony cameras place nothing in the serial number field"

Just checked several Sony models in my catalog, and they don't have any serial numbers (in EXIF or MakerNotes).

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