Is it possible to detect multiple cameras in one picture?

[TotalBeginner]

Hey Guys 👋

I don't know whether this question belongs here or not. I am sorry if it doesn't but maybe you will still be able to answer my question.
Without going too much into detail, someone recently claimed that a celebrity picture on Instagram was photoshop and that it was composed out of different pictures taken by different types of cameras. They said that someone they know ran the picture through a program that detected four different cameras.
Is something like that even possible?

Thanks for your answers,
(Please keep in mind that I know nothing about photography)

 

[weepete]

I don't think that's possible. Digital files often contain some metadata and that can give you information on the gear and settings used to take a shot but I've never seen metadata return multiple information for the same value, like a make and model of camera.

Using multiple differerent cameras would be a real headache in post, so I don't see what kind of advantage that would gain. It is possible to combine multiple different exposures in post, or say foreground from one shot with a sky replacement. Photoshop has some pretty powerful tools that can heavily manipulate a single shot in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, so I just don't see the sense in doing that.

 

[TotalBeginner]

I don't think that's possible. Digital files often contain some metadata and that can give you information on the gear and settings used to take a shot but I've never seen metadata return multiple information for the same value, like a make and model of camera.

Using multiple differerent cameras would be a real headache in post, so I don't see what kind of advantage that would gain. It is possible to combine multiple different exposures in post, or say foreground from one shot with a sky replacement. Photoshop has some pretty powerful tools that can heavily manipulate a single shot in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, so I just don't see the sense in doing that.

Thank you for the insight that really helps a lot!

 

[compur]

Any number of photos taken with any number of cameras can be combined into one image via PhotoShop or a similar program.

And, there are photo analysis programs that can help detect various types of image manipulation.

 

[Original katomi]

One way to tell is to look for the difference in grain/ noise signatures of the different cameras.

 

[smoke665]

There's a lot of extra information stored in the metadata files. Everything from date, location, camera model, lens, the list goes on. There's so much in fact that I've read it could amount to as much as 16% of a typical web image file.

Obviously if we're talking about a single image, there are any number of readers that can display that information assuming it is available. Neither Lr nor Ps deletes any of that information unless you set it to do so, however I can't find definitive information that says it combines information from multiple images either in a PSD file or exporting to a JPEG. Regardless, you also run into issues with most Web sites that restrict or compress web images such that they will strip the file of extraneous information, when it exceeds parameters.

So in answer to your question......I'd say it might be possible, but highly unlikely in a typical web image.

 

[Lez325]

I doubt it very much - a typical web image is usually low resolution - metedata will of course give exif on the equipment used and if saved as a JPG rather than PSD format then the EXIF will not be available to see how many layers have beed added which would be evendent of any manipulation - just my opinion, others may vary

Les