Canon Enables Copyright Notice In Newest DSLRs

Adding a copyright notice to your photos is critical before you send them out on the web or to clients. Fortunately, the task has just become a lot easier with Canon’s recently announced EOS 5D Mark II and 50D digital SLRs. Both cameras can be configured to automatically add your name and a copyright notice to each digital capture. [If you're not a Canon shooter, check out the links to important copyright sites at the end of this article.]

The process is simple. When you get your new camera, you attach it to your computer with a USB cable and use Canon EOS Utility to add your name and activate the copyright notice. Thereafter, every time you take a photo, a simple copyright notice with your name is added to the EXIF metadata embedded in the file.

Of course, in the era of Orphan Works legislation, it’s much better to append your complete contact info to the file. This is really easy when importing your captures into Lightroom [but that's the subject of a future post]. The fact that Canon now enables the coding of a basic copyright notice into their newest cameras, shows how important the copyright issue had become.

Click here to see the details in the Canon Digital Learning Center.

For more information on the importance of protecting your copyright, check out the great tutorial on copyrights offered by the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers).

Two other great sources for info on the subject of copyrights and metadata are UPDIG and the PLUS Coalition (Universal Photography Digital Information Guidelines and Picture Livensing Universal System).