SHUTTER COUNT

[alexam]

This may have already come up somewhere, but when considering the purchase of a second hand DSLR, what significance is the shutter count. Also what is considered to be heavy use over what period of age?

Thanks

Malcolm

 

[Cris_L]

I did a bit of reading on this myself before deciding to buy new in the end.

i think the low - mid range Canon have an expectancy of 50,000 - 100,000 clicks. So if you get one with 5 - 10,000 its still lowish usage.

I think when i looked into it most people said don't pay TOO much attention to the shutter count as there are other more important factors to consider when buying second hand....can't remember what they were though!

 

[tijuana taxi]

Who knows when a camera will fail, my 40D is currently on about 70k clicks, but have read about them failing before they reach five figures

Personally think that a regularly used camera will be all the better for it, although just bought one for the future with about 300 clicks

So my answer is I haven't got a clue and if its what you want at the right price buy it and have fun until it goes for a burton whenever that might be

 

[alexam]

Thanks Cris & Rich,

At least I now know what the expected life is 'roughly'. I will most probably buy new and was stuck between Nikon D90 and Canon 50D. With all the reading I have been doing as ell as viewing the web and looking at questions and answers in places like TP, I am now leaning towards Canon.

In any case I don't feel I need or want the movie mode, did a lot of film making 20 years ago with Super 8 and although it was great fun, 'been there -done that'.

Still have my old Braun Nizo S800 to sell - that has a superb lens on it, but I expect that format has practically died now!

Thanks again for the info

Malcolm

 

[RevOnline]

It tends to be pretty unlikely that a non-pro camera will get particularly close to its shutter-count limit. If you assume 100000 is the top limit then a 50D bought on release day would have to take 136 photos every single day from then until now. That's really unlikely.

Obviously a low shutter count doesn't mean anything if it has been chucked down a cliff - general condition tends to be a pretty good indicator of how things have been looked after. Look at other items they've sold, etc. It's the obvious things like that you really need to look at.

As I've said in lots of other threads - there isn't such a thing as a bad Canon or Nikon DSLR. There will be plenty of people who will support each side, but the best thing you can do is get down to a neighbourhood camera store (or find convenient friends who already own them) and see how they feel.