Shutter count...

[OldBaldHippie]

I just heard about this today...did you know about it?

http://digital-photography-school.com/actuations-shutter-count-someday-our-cameras-will-die

[The Turtle Whisperer]

When I was reading up last week i did see that. 

While probably not relevant to the low cost model I bought, some of the techs said that even if the shutter replacement is $400, it's going to be worth it on some of the high end models. 

[omega lambda]

Absolutely!  I had to replace a shutter when I was in France.  I'm a member of Canon Professional Services and in the U.S. would have gotten 30% off the price of the repair, but the Euro offices didn't honor the U.S. discount.  I paid about $400 to replace the shutter in 2011 (including the exchange rate) and it was far cheaper than replacing a $4k camera.

But I think the shutter count is a good thing to know when you're buying a used camera.  All things considered, if there are two cameras for sale for the same price, the one with the lower shutter count is the better deal.  And if you know a camera has close to 100k actuations, you can figure that into negotiations or if the cost of the camera and possibly replacing a shutter soon is still a good deal to you.

[Mrtambourineman]

No, I new about this when I bought my used camera.  Because mine is a Rebel XT is is difficult if not impossible to determine what the actual count is.  It certainly had some wear marks from use when I got it and I've certainly taken thousands of images with it since I bought it (no idea if I'm near the 10K / yr average - probably not).   

[JimR]

it's always been an issue, even filmed based SLRs, except nobody except pros would go anywhere near those counts with film cameras.  Digitals, though, you can rack 100,000 no problem.

[omega lambda]

So, I did shutter counts on my cameras.  I have three identical cameras that should have lives of 100k+ shutter actuations.  The one I mentioned above died at about 30k actuations.  I just lost another shutter, at ~30k actuations.  I have one camera with the original shutter still working and I just found out that Canon cannot repair my cameras anymore due to their age.   

[badger]

Well that stinks! How old are they?

[omega lambda]

Well that stinks! How old are they?

They are 8 years old. 

[Mrtambourineman]

They are 8 years old. 

That stinks! 

[omega lambda]

That stinks! 

I know! With the exception of the shutter, my cameras are like tanks. I'm hoping to find a third party to fix them.

[Mrtambourineman]

I know! With the exception of the shutter, my cameras are like tanks. I'm hoping to find a third party to fix them.

I hope you can.  Canon should be giving you a refund if you're only getting 30K actuations.