Knowing your Canon camera’s serial number costs you two minutes today but can save you hundreds of dollars or a complete loss tomorrow. It is the single most important piece of data you can record about your equipment.

On a few older film-era EOS bodies and some entry-level digital cameras, the serial number is printed on a sticker located on the hotshoe (the metal bracket where you mount an external flash). You’ll see it when looking down from the top.

To check a Canon camera's serial number, you can look for it on the or behind the flip-out LCD screen . If the physical sticker is damaged, you can retrieve it digitally from the EXIF metadata of a photo using software like Canon Digital Photo Professional.