New NEX 7 has shutter count (DSC filename) of 1247 - is this correct?

david357

david357

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Just purchased a new NEX 7 for when I can't be bothered to carry the D700 and lenses, put a freshly formatted card in it and the filename of the first image is DSC1247.ARW. The filename rises incrementally with each image, so suggests to me that it may have been returned to the store or may be refurbished.

Have I been sold a previously used or refurbished camera as new? Looks to me like over 1200 images taken. Does anyone else have a Nex 7 and any experience of this?

I need to know whether I need to contact trading standards or Sony to sort it.

Thanks for any help offered.
 
I can't help I'm afraid, but wouldn't you simply return it to the retailer rather than contact trading standards?
 
I've got to say, going by what you've put, you've got one that's been sold, returned and restocked or a refurbished one that's been sold as new. I'd be calling the retailer as soon as possible, failing a favourable response from them I'd be onto Sony, closely followed by trading standards/citizens advice bureau to see what they suggest.
I've received a new Canon 5D MkIII this morning and the file number started at C001C0001 in the default folder. If mine had shown over 1200 shots already taken It'd be on the way back already. I could of understood if it had been 5 or 6 for test shots, but 1200+ is a lot of testing.
 
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My first port of call will be the retailer, of course, but I just need to know the next course of action if I get no joy.

I do need to make sure I am correct about the shutter count starting at 1 though - my nex 5n certainly started at DSC 003, and I tried it twice in the shop before taking it home.
 
CHeck the shutter count from the Exif, and if it is over 1200 shots, i think you've got a shout at getting a nice discount from the retailer!
 
Rapscallion said:
CHeck the shutter count from the Exif, and if it is over 1200 shots, i think you've got a shout at getting a nice discount from the retailer!
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Thanks Phil, there's two issues here really. (Shutter count does not show in exif)

1. The retailer (or Sony) should not sell a used camera as new.

2. Why was it returned in the first place.

I don't want a discount, I need to know the camera I bought at new price is a new camera!
 
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It might be worth Googling "Nex 7 shutter count" or something like that as I recently checked the count of a GF1 I was selling and found that there are a couple of maintenance modes on the GF1 which could be accessed by pressing a certain sequence of buttons. One of these modes gave the shutter count. There may be a similar maintenance mode on the Nex 7.

Having said all that... it does look like your camera has taken some shots.
 
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You say put a freshly formatted card in... But was it formatted in the Sony before taking the first shot?

I recently had a similar experience with my D7K and was annoyed to "find" that it had 200 pics on it according to the file naming. Turned out that as I'd used the card in my D90, it had grabbed the initial filename from the card there (even though all files had been deleted), and even after formatting in the D7K it kept that numbering sequence, including with new cards.

iExif confirmed it was all cobblers, operator error, lesson learned :)

Have you tried iExif or myshuttercount?
 
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I have tried the Google route without success, Alan, thanks.

The shutter count option on the menu is set to series, not reset - if it had been set to reset I may never have known.
 
ronnus said:
You say put a freshly formatted card in... But was it formatted in the Sony before taking the first shot?

Have you tried iExif or myshuttercount?
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Yes, card formatted, then formatted in the sony before taking a shot.
 
Yeah.

Just Googled it myself and people seem to be saying that you can't find out how many shots a Sony has taken.
 
woof woof said:
Yeah.

Just Googled it myself and people seem to be saying that you can't find out how many shots a Sony has taken.
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Wowser... That's going to suck quite a lot when people want to sell on and get asked the inevitable question.
 
I've had this happen to me twice in the past few years. The first time was when I purchased a D300 for Jessops, it had over a thousand shots on the shutter. The second time was when I purchased my first X100 from Jacobs, it had a few hundred shots on it.

To be honest nothing was wrong with either camera but I made a point of returning them out of principle. Had the stores said they were display or returned cameras and offered a small discount I would have been fine with that. However offering them as brand new hoping the customer is too stupid to know better really peeves me off.

I spent a fair while looking for a way to check the shutter count on your NEX but as others have said it doesn't seem possible.
 
gingerweasel said:
To be honest nothing was wrong with either camera but I made a point of returning them out of principle. Had the stores said they were display or returned cameras and offered a small discount I would have been fine with that. However offering them as brand new hoping the customer is too stupid to know better really peeves me off.
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Yup. Should be illegal and a big fine should follow. 1,000+ actuations at the factory may indicate thorough testing (but lets be honest, that'll never happen) but selling a returned unit or a shop demonstrator as new isn't on, the products aren't new and therefore shouldn't be sold as such.
 
It's an interesting one isn't it, we all expect to buy brand spanking new but also expect to be able to try out, lenses for example, and return them if we don't like them ... I've done in myself, had two lenses for several days and returned them as unsatisfactory ... can we have it both ways? :shrug:
 
gramps said:
It's an interesting one isn't it, we all expect to buy brand spanking new but also expect to be able to try out, lenses for example, and return them if we don't like them ... I've done in myself, had two lenses for several days and returned them as unsatisfactory ... can we have it both ways? :shrug:
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Yes, if an item is sold as "new" then that's what it should be, not an ex-demo or customer return.
 
woof woof said:
Yup. Should be illegal and a big fine should follow. 1,000+ actuations at the factory may indicate thorough testing (but lets be honest, that'll never happen) but selling a returned unit or a shop demonstrator as new isn't on, the products aren't new and therefore shouldn't be sold as such.
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It is illegal which is why its important that people don't accept it. Trouble is most people don't bother reporting it as its easier to get an exchange or refund usually.
If I purchased a camera that was showing a count of more than 5 when I took it out of the box it'd be going straight back to the shop, its just not on at all.
 
gramps said:
It's an interesting one isn't it, we all expect to buy brand spanking new but also expect to be able to try out, lenses for example, and return them if we don't like them ... I've done in myself, had two lenses for several days and returned them as unsatisfactory ... can we have it both ways? :shrug:
Click to expand...

Returning things because you don't like them and returning them because they're unsatisfactory (quality wise) should be different things. Personally I'd consider charging anyone who'd opened, used and then returned an item just because they'd changed their mind as that wipes value off the goods... which are then not new but used.
 
woof woof said:
Returning things because you don't like them and returning them because they're unsatisfactory (quality wise) should be different things. Personally I'd consider charging anyone who'd opened, used and then returned an item just because they'd changed their mind as that wipes value off the goods... which are then not new but used.
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I would agree, in fact some companies (not camera-specific) do charge a 're-stocking' fee. However allowing punters to exchange eg lenses they are not happy with creates a 'catch 22' situation for the company. If the 'new' ticket price is strictly adhered to it is likely that the practice of free exchange would be curtailed ... would that be a good thing?
Not justifying the practice but it is an issue that would need to be addressed.
 
They need to have demo kit available, that's one issue. Another issue is people returning perfectly good kit and I don't know how that can be resolved other than making some kit available to demo and making a charge for non fault returns. Not many retailers make a killing these days and I'd imagine that at some point the return and devaluing of kit when customers decide that they've bought the wrong thing will only push up the price of new kit or potentially drive a retailer out of the market sector or business.
 
Demo kit wouldn't resolve the 'have I got a good copy?' issue though would it?
 
The law is pretty clear cut on this. Any item that has been sold and then left the premises is now a used item. If the product is then returned for any reason at all, by law, the retailer must mark it as such and may not sell it as new, even if it hasn't been used. If the seal has been broken on the box, its now a used item and must be clearly marked as used which includes display models.
Its one of the reasons that a lot of retailers only offer exchanges or credit notes for returns, it makes people less likely to return something just because they've changed their minds or found it cheaper elsewhere.
Incidentally this is one of the reasons that I don't shop at Jessops, I've seen and heard too many people get fobbed off with used goods as new.
 
Mine started at DSC0000.arw must have come straight off production line
no testing had to wait until internal battery charged before it would fire

think you got a return unit bummer:bang:
 
mrjames said:
you make that sound like it's a bad thing...
i'd much rather they test it for 1.2k shots than leave that up to me!
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Well to be honest I think it is a bad thing. If it had 1200+ clicks on it by the makers they would reset the count to zero anyway. You have no idea where the camera has been to have those clicks put on it, who has used it or abused it, why they decided it wasn't good enough for them and a whole host of possible problems.

Lets put it another way, would you rather pay say £700 for a camera from a shop that is sealed and untouched, or would you go to a second hand shop and buy the exact same model for the exact same price and know nothing of its past history.
 
mrjames said:
you make that sound like it's a bad thing...
i'd much rather they test it for 1.2k shots than leave that up to me!
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But maybe after those 1200 plus shots, they found an issue with the camera and returned it! If that was the case, I think that the retailer should not have accepted a return with that amount of use, and I should have been told of it's history and given a new camera, not that one.

Seems most people, like me, feel that it is used, and is illegal. I hope that it is Sony and not the retailer that is at fault, as I have always had a lot of respect for the retailer.
 
Thanks also to those who have tried to find a way of finding the shutter count on the camera. The only thing we know for sure is that the file count was 1247 when I bought the camera, it may have been reset previously so could have done a lot more - that is even more worrying!
 
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