Shutter counts

C

Colin44

Suspended / Banned
Messages
193
Name
Colin
Edit My Images
Yes
Keep seeing people post shutter counts when selling cameras, so far in the past couple of months of owning my camera I've racked up 5500!

Does this seem excessive for 2 months use?! Maybe I'm just snap happy and also just learning, Nikon says my camera is good for 100,000 so I shouldn't be worried should I?


Is this like car mileage, as long as the camera is looked after the shutter count shouldn't really be a problem?
 
As a non professional - that sounds like a lot. Are you using the camera all day every day? However, even if you continue to shoot at that rate it is still 3 years before you hit the 100K mark. You will effect the resale value - but on a D3100 that resale value is quite low anyway, so the effect will be low - so ignore everything and shoot as much as you like.
 
If you are just learning then no, I don't think it is excessive. At the end of the day the only way to get the results you want is practice so just keep clicking away (and be glad you are not using film) ;)

Once you have mastered the basics then you tend to take a lot less pictures because A) you think more about the subject and B) you get fed up trawling through all the dross trying to find a decent shot :lol:
 
Do you use "live view" a lot?

If you do, each image registers 3 shutter actuations.

Doesn't seem too excessive for anew camera if you have been using it a lot.


Heather
 
Used it every days since the end of Janurary, and I don't use live view. In fact I've never actually tried to film anything with it yet.

Its been a mixture of everything, mostly in manual and messing with the settings. Not so much messing now as I'm starting to get an idea of what setting I need for the conditions now.
 
I think now you've got the hang of what settings and where you might see the number of shots start to dwindle over the coming months. When I first got a 550D I took nearly 1000 shots in the first week and at one point over 2000 shots in a day. By the time I sold it after just over 2 years old I'd only done around 14000 shots with it.
 
Don't worry about shutter count... even at the rate you're shooting it will probably be obsolete before the shutter fails.
 
Colin44 said:
Nikon says my camera is good for 100,000 so I shouldn't be worried should I?

Is this like car mileage, as long as the camera is looked after the shutter count shouldn't really be a problem?
Click to expand...

I thought it was 50'000 for most Nikons? At least at the consumer end of the scale? Maybe?

Its not really like car mileage though, because I wouldn't touch a 5 year old, 10'000 mile car with a barge pole.
 
Lyonspride said:
I thought it was 50'000 for most Nikons? At least at the consumer end of the scale? Maybe?
Click to expand...

100K for most non pro Nikons

Its not really like car mileage though, because I wouldn't touch a 5 year old, 10'000 mile car with a barge pole.[/QUOTE]

Why not? One of my cars is 6 years old, and only done 12K. It's utterly perfect, mechanically and cosmetically.
 
Pookeyhead said:
100K for most non pro Nikons

Its not really like car mileage though, because I wouldn't touch a 5 year old, 10'000 mile car with a barge pole.

Why not? One of my cars is 6 years old, and only done 12K. It's utterly perfect, mechanically and cosmetically.
Click to expand...

Nah, low mileage on a regular car often indicates short journeys, you'd be looking at bore wash from unburnt fuel on the warm up, this will dilute the oil and increase engine wear, especially if its been serviced based on mileage. Not to mention exhaust rot AND on a modern diesel the DPF probably be will knackered from that sort of use.

I'd accept low mileage on something special, a weekend or track day car, but not on a family hatch.
 
Fair enough. A family hatch is definitely not :)

Low mileage on any car though, coudl be down to low use... not short journeys.. so don't rule them all out.

There is no parallel to cameras though. You can buy a brand new camera/.. stick it in your cupboard for 5 years, and when you take it out, it's still a brand new camera. Long gone are the days where mechanical shutters needed "exercise" :)
 
Last edited:
Not sure why we worry about shutter count. I guess it's because we can. In the bad old days of film, you had no way of knowing. The best thing you can do is use it until the shutter or something else fails. Get your money's worth out of it.
 
This may be a silly question but how to you check the shutter count on a D3100?
 
My 5D2 currently have over 160k shutter counts, the shutter is rated at 150k.

Rated value just means manufacturers think it may fail after that, doesn't mean it will fail. Just keep creating photos and enjoy the camera.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top