- Find your stolen camera using its serial number
Digital cameras have a unique serial number, many cameras will embed this number in the digital photographs you take, more specifically it is included in what it is know as the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data, other data is also included there like geolocation, camera model, data and time, author,etc.
Not all digital cameras store the camera’s serial number in the photographs, this will not work for everyone, it is also possible to erase or fake the EXIF metadata, Facebook for example, will automatically strip the EXIF data from pictures uploaded to your account, erasing EXIF data takes times and many people do not bother with it or just don’t know how to do it.
Stolen Camera Finder is a website that will search pictures on the web taken with your camera, they do this by looking at the camera’s unique serial number stored in the pictures.
Visit StolenCameraFinder homepage
FujiFilm FinePix digital camera
- Find your stolen camera using Eye-Fi & Wifi & 3G
An Eye-Fi card is composed of a memory card with wireless capabilities, it will upload all of your photos online automatically as soon as it detects an open Wifi access point in range, best of all, an Eye-Fi card will automatically tag your pictures and videos geographically with the details of the exact location where they have been taken.
If your camera has been lost or stolen look at your online photo account, e.g. Flickr, SmugMug, to see if any pictures have been uploaded there recently, then look at the metadata (EXIF) and you will have not only the thief photographs but also the location of where the photos where taken, you should facilitate this information to the police for them to follow it up.
One problem you will find is that most Wi-fi access points need a password and if your Eye-Fi card has not been configured to use it it won’t be able to access the Internet, it can be solved buying a high end digital camera with built-in 3G the latest Eye-Fi cards can be made to work with it an upload the photos using your camera built-in 3G Internet.
Journalists and bloggers living in dangerous places will also appreciate the ability to upload their photos online instantly while erasing the pictures from their digital camera memory card just a couple minutes after they have been taken.
