Should I worry about shuttercount?

mattclegg

mattclegg

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I bought a second hand X100f the other week with 8,800 on the shuttercount and a few weeks later, it's jumped up to 10,000. I've read that because this is a leafshutter, the shuttercounts the on/off of the camera and some other movements as well but I've just found that I'm worried I'm building up the shuttercount really quickly. My understanding is that these should easily reach 100-150k if not much more so realistically, I shouldn't be too worried but I've just found myself almost not wanting to play about with the camera because I'm worried about the number going up too quickly.

I guess I just need to man up and deal with it but surely I'm not the only person to have been through this?
 
You bought it to use it, right? 20k a year is 55 every day in a whole year. That's like 7.5 years of shooting before you get to rated shutter life. Well beyond warranty and I'd bet you buy another before then.
 
shutter count isn't even a good guide.. too many people compare to car millage when not the same thing..

I have a canon 1dx at over 800 thousand actuations.. never had a shutter change and one at 1.2 million with a shutter at 500 thousand.. it didn't go.. i got it changed just in case :)
 
For you personally unless you are using it each and every day - forget about it. I have two digital bodies a D700 which I bought a good while ago (20212 perhaps with on 2000 or so actuations and even now it still has less than 9000. Likewise my D600 I bought that a couple of years ago and it had about 7500 actuations even now it has less than 10,000. This mostly down to me learning on a film camera over several decades to think before I fired the shutter. Not belonging to the Machine Gun Corps!

My F6 has a similar counter that can be downloaded via an adapter which costs shed loads of cash, (Well it is a Nikon) but on the MF back there is a counter that lets you how many cassettes have been through the camera and rewound after being used. I have had this camera 6 yrs and a bit and in my time the number has only increased by about 80 cassettes and the vast majority are usable if I wanted to..
 
mattclegg said:
I bought a second hand X100f the other week with 8,800 on the shuttercount and a few weeks later, it's jumped up to 10,000. I've read that because this is a leafshutter, the shuttercounts the on/off of the camera and some other movements as well but I've just found that I'm worried I'm building up the shuttercount really quickly. My understanding is that these should easily reach 100-150k if not much more so realistically, I shouldn't be too worried but I've just found myself almost not wanting to play about with the camera because I'm worried about the number going up too quickly.

I guess I just need to man up and deal with it but surely I'm not the only person to have been through this?
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The Fuji shuttercount is not accurate, one of my bodies has shot 7100 actual pictures but shutter count shows 11600 !!! Ignore and enjoy it.
 
Dont worry, they can die after a few days or a few years.

My sister has owned a nikon d3200 for 8 years and used the hell out of it, massive amount of images made with it and the shutter never died
 
fujilover said:
Dont worry, they can die after a few days or a few years.

My sister has owned a nikon d3200 for 8 years and used the hell out of it, massive amount of images made with it and the shutter never died
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That is why so called "shutter life" used to be and IMO should still more properly called MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) i.e. statistically a shutter will last e.g. 150,000 activations..........but some will fail at much lower count and others will last (exceptionally) longer.
 
Look at it this way, in the next 5 years you've probably got a lot more chance of dropping it or having it stolen than you have of the shutter wearing out! . Let's face it, it's not some rare show-pony or collector's item, it's a mass produced Fuji camera. When the shutter does eventually wear out then that model camera will be old hat and worth a fraction of what you paid for it anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to minimise the shutter count then think about composition and exposure before pressing the shutter button and try to improve your hit rate!
 
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the x100 series shutter count is a bit different anyway. Because of the leaf shutter every time to camera is switched on, you view a photo or take a photo shutter count increases.Its rounded to the nearest 100 anyway
 
Use it and don't worry....unless you're selling a film camera where you are expected to know the shutter count otherwise you're not a proper photographer :eek::p
 
mossienet said:
Anyone had a shutter "fail" due to excessive usage?
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Only one - it was a d3s that failed after circa 130k relatively low. But it did clock up 120k in 7 weeks - I think it was a combination of high usage and getting knocked around a summer camp. In the end - I think it was part of the mirror box that failed as I believe the shutter was ok but the mirror was in all sorts of trouble - when it let go it hit the sensor too :(
 
mossienet said:
Anyone had a shutter "fail" due to excessive usage?
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had three go over the years and each one was over the amount given

You press the shutter and it sticks.....for a while.. then releases itself...no picture taken

so i know when the shutters gone as thats what will happen

BUT :)
A few years ago that happened and I sat there getting a bit upset thinking the shutter had gone.. packed the camera away and used my other... wasnt till i got home i realised it had somehow set to TIMER giving the same effect as shutter failure (but actually takes a pic) haha.. I ahve now disabled that option on my camera as never use :)
 
Thanks for all the replies. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been avoiding using the camera purely because I was worried about Shuttercount. It just made me think twice. I'll now scrap that mentality and just crack on and keep snapping!
 
I have never had a shutter fail and I have been shooting for over 75 years, most of that time as a professional.
however lots of shutters must fail, hence the Camera repair industry.
Shutter failure is like lightning, there is a lot of it going around but is statistically unlikely to hit you.:giggle:
 
I think more shutters have probably failed over the years due to contamination (such as lubricant spatter or rubber light seals, grommets, etc. perishing and dripping onto them) than have actually been worn out through sheer use (with the exception of cameras that have been very heavily used by professional togs and were probably well beyond their expected lifespan anyway).
 
I once bought a used D300 with about 8,000 clicks on it as a replacement for one that was well over 150k. It was three years old so had only done a little under 3000 per year so I thought I was on to a winner until the shutter failed about 6 months later ... at 15,000 :(

Despite being well out of warranty Nikon replaced the shutter free of charge and the replacement was still going strong when I sold it 3 years later with ~200k on it :)
 
In contrast to Kipax's experience post the shutter on both of my 1dx bodies went at around 200,000 - cost about £400 each to get replaced - which is a fair bit, but tiny in comparison to the cost of a new pro body.
 
KIPAX said:
shutter count isn't even a good guide.. too many people compare to car millage when not the same thing..

I have a canon 1dx at over 800 thousand actuations.. never had a shutter change and one at 1.2 million with a shutter at 500 thousand.. it didn't go.. i got it changed just in case :)
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Someone needs to switch off the continuous high mode!

*only joking. It’s great to hear how robust these things are.
 
Although the shutter is probably the most vulnerable part in an SLR camera, it is not the only part that could fail. Shutter Counts given by the manufacturers are usually MTBF (mean time before Failure). An MTBF of say 100,000 does not mean that the shutter will survive 100,000 actuations but it means that there is a 36.8% probability that it will survive (i.e a 68.3% probability that it will not survive). If all of the other parts of the camera were included those MTBF figures would be significantly lower. My Canon 5D4 has only had 5,000 actuations in 4 years.

Dave
 
Cameras are very reliable pieces of kit , I’ve still got my first digital SLR a canon 350D it’s battered and well used with a shutter count of 75K and still working perfectly
I just don’t use it anymore because I’ve got newer cameras
 
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