How Long Will Your Camera Last?

Nothing is Forever

It’s fair to say that everything has a life expectancy. There are few things in our world that are infinite. You may be ok with the notion that your car has an expected lifespan, that your phone will need to be replaced, and that your TV may need upgrading. However, in teaching our workshops I have noticed that people are sometimes surprised to know that cameras have a life expectancy as well. The sad fact is… your camera will wear out and fail.

Knowing when a camera is expected to expire, is useful in planning the purchase of your next camera or when considering the purchase of a used camera. In these cases, knowing your shutter count is helpful.

What’s Really Going On Inside Your Camera?

Your DSLR camera engages in a complex ballet of movements every time you make a photograph. That shutter sound you hear when you make a photograph is actually 6 separate movements occurring in a fraction of a second.

1. First, the aperture closes. The default position for the aperture is OPEN. It’s open to allow for the greatest amount of light to enter the camera in order for you to focus. Therefore, when you press the shutter button to take a photograph, the aperture has to close to your selected f-stop number.
2. The focusing mirroring slaps up and gets out-of-the-way. An SLR camera has a mirror which allows for you to see through the lens when focusing and composing your image. When you press the shutter to take a photo, that mirror moves out-of-the-way and the light that enters the lens passes through to the shutter and then to the image sensor.
3. The shutter opens. This is when the magic of exposure begins. The shutter opens and begins to let light into the camera and onto the image sensor (or film).
4. The shutter closes. Depending on your exposure time, the shutter may close 1/8000th of a second after the shutter opens or it may close seconds or minutes after the exposure begins.
5. The focusing mirrors closes.
6. The aperture opens again.

There’s a lot of movement associated with making a photograph. Check out this video by the SloMoGuys. It accentuates the speed at which all these movements occur.

Shutter Life Expectancy

Your shutter has a life expectancy. The life expectancy of your shutter is measured in Shutter Counts, Shutter Actuations or Shutter Cycles; for our purposes these are synonymous. One can expect the life expectancy of a modern digital camera to be between 50,000 to 400,000 shutter cycles depending on the build quality of the camera. An estimated shutter life database was created and maintained by Oleg Kikin and is available here http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/sitemap.php.

The two graphics below show the rate at which a Canon 5D Mark II and Nikon D800 expire. The 5DM2 expires at about 230,000 shutter actuations while the D800 expires at about 103,000 shutter actuations. Note that the sample size for the Nikon D800 is miniscule and may not be representative of real world use. 

Canon EOS 5d Mark II shutter Life ©Oleg Kikin

Nikon D800 shutter life ©Oleg Kikin

How to determine your Shutter Count

By now, you’re ready to find the shutter count of your specific camera. It’s easier for some cameras than for others.

There is no single method for determining shutter count on all makes and models of camera. Some manufacturers choose to keep the shutter count hidden. Depending on your camera, one of the following methods may work best.

• Method #1: Try using the software that came with your camera to find the “Total pictures”, “Shutter Count”, “Shutter Cycles” or “Shutter Actuations”. You should try this first, as it’s the cheapest, safest and quickest method of determining your shutter count. If you don’t have the original software disk that came with your camera, you can try to download it from your manufacturer’s website.
• Method #2: If your software does not support access to the shutter count, you could upload a JPEG to one of these sites. The site reads the metadata in your uploaded image to determine the shutter cycles.
  • http://www.myshuttercount.com/
  • http://shuttercounter.com/
  • http://www.nikonshuttercount.com/
• Method #3: If neither method 1 nor method 2 work, you could buy camera-reading software. My Canon 5D Mark II falls into this category. I use the Shutter Count app to access the data I need. It can read the shutter cycles and the camera serial number. It will keep a log of each time you read the shutter count a camera and allows you to export the file as a CSV. I like that it keeps track of multiple cameras by serial number and the shutter cycles of each.
  • ShutterCount for Mac – $2.99
  • ShutterCount for Windows – $2.99
  • EOS Inspector – Konstantin Pavlikhin – $1.99
• Method #4: warning: installing non-licensed, third-party software will void your warranty and may “brick” your camera.
  Magic Lantern for Canon adds a great deal of functionality to your camera. One of these functions is a shutter counter.
  If you shoot video with your Canon DSLR, you will find that Magic Lantern opens a number of technical and therefore creative avenues as well.

Conclusion

Knowing your shutter count and the shutter life expectancy may help you plan the purchase of a backup or replacement camera. Use the knowledge well and feel free to share with friends.