# Life of a Camera/Memory Card



## laurielynn22 (Oct 14, 2010)

I own a Nikon D300 and I am wondering if its reached its life!  Can anyone tell me what is the average life of a digital camera?  And is there a life time for memory cards?
I've noticed that my clarity is not as sharp and it seems like my camera is having a hard time focusing when I am in landscape mode.  Help!!


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## Olcoot (Oct 14, 2010)

My wife and I  just upgraded to D300s from  D200's that have over  119,000  and 96,000 shutter actuations respectively and both are still  going strong, sharp, crisp and AF is just as is was when new. We have  been using the same 8 GB cards in them since they were new with never an  issue as well. Have you ever manually cleaned the sensor and focusing screen or had it cleaned? They do get dirty if you  change lens often especially outside.


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## KmH (Oct 14, 2010)

laurielynn22 said:


> I own a Nikon D300 and I am wondering if its reached its life! Can anyone tell me what is the average life of a digital camera? And is there a life time for memory cards?
> I've noticed that my clarity is not as sharp and it seems like my camera is having a hard time focusing when I am in landscape mode. Help!!


Huh? The D300 doesn't have a 'landscape mode'. Do you mean a D3000?

What lens(s) do you use, and what condition are they in? The lens also has an effect on clarity and the ability to auto focus.

From Nikon USA's web site:



> *Rugged and Durable*
> The strength and precision of magnesium-alloy construction with advanced dust and moisture countermeasures is teamed with a shutter mechanism tested to beyond 150,000 cycles for real-world reliability.


 
The shutter in a D300 has a life expectancy of about 150,000 actuations. When it does fail, just send the camera in and have them install a new shutter (about $300). Then you'll be good to go for another 150,000 shutter clicks or so.

The CF cards your D300 uses are rated for 1,000,000 write cycles. CompactFlash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



> The currently used NAND[17] flash has an endurance of 1,000,000 writes[17] per location (less reliable than magnetic media) before hard failure and is prone to frequent soft errors on read.[18] The CompactFlash card includes error checking and correction (ECC) and wear leveling circuitry that is transparent to the data user...
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## Garbz (Oct 15, 2010)

Cameras don't get less sharp with time. Their focusing sensors can attract dust just as their actual sensors do. Send it in for a service, may cost around $100.


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## thomas30 (Jan 19, 2011)

It totally depends how you use it. If it is in single hand and you use it modestly then the life of lens and battery is around 5 years. And memory card can go one or two years more.


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## thatfornoobs (Jan 24, 2011)

Honestly, thanks for posting this thread. This is a topic I never really thought about.


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## KmH (Jan 25, 2011)

thomas30 said:


> It totally depends how you use it. If it is in single hand and you use it modestly then the life of lens and battery is around 5 years. And memory card can go one or two years more.


This is total BS.


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## RockstarPhotography (Jan 25, 2011)

thomas30 said:


> It totally depends how you use it. If it is in single hand and you use it modestly then the life of lens and battery is around 5 years. And memory card can go one or two years more.



5 years for the life of a lens huh?  I guess I better throw away all my old glass.


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