Source Camera Identification Based on Sensor Dust Characteristics

A problem associated with digital single lens (DSLR) cameras is sensor dust. This problem arises due to dust particles attracted to the sensor, when the interchangeable lens is removed, creating a dust pattern in front of the imaging sensor. Sensor dust patterns reveals themselves as artifacts on the captured images and they become more visible at smaller aperture values. Since this pattern is not changed unless the sensor surface is cleaned, it can be used to match a given image to source DSLR camera. In this paper, we propose a new source camera identification method based on sensor dust characteristics. Dust specks on the image are detected using intensity variations and shape features to form the dust pattern of the DSLR camera. Experimental results show that the method can be used to identify the source camera of an image at very low false positive rates.