# Buying A Camera?  Does The Amount Of Shutter Clicks Matter?



## donny1963 (Aug 28, 2016)

Buying A Camera?  Does The Amount Of Shutter Clicks Matter?
Well in my experience and opinion with this question, and i see alot of people that are anal about Shutter Clicks when buying a used camara.

Does that mater? NO not really,  it's not like buying a hard drive where close to it's mean time before failure , or not even really like Millage on a car,, Some say it is, but it's really not and i'll tell ya why.

It's very rare that a camera's shutter system will fail, not that they don't they do, some even fail after only 10 thousand shutter clicks, but  it's very rare..

I have an Old Canon 50D and it's got well over 2 million shutter clicks and still works fine.
I have several camera's including old film camera's , like my Olympus OMPC i had for about 22 years and that still works fine.

You can even go to
canon eos 5dmkii | Camera Shutter Life Database  for instance,

it will show you a graft of  Canon EOS 5D Mark II Shutter Life ,  even at 100,000 shutter clicks it's a 10% chance for it to fail, even one million it shows only a 32% chance it could fail.

So it Don't really much matter about shutter clicks on a camera because it's not all that big of a deal and chances are you will get millions of shutter clicks out of it with out it failing.

If some idiot is selling his Nikon D810 for only $900.00 because he has 2 or 3 million shutter clicks on it, it's still worth buying it,
because, i looked into the cost to send it to Nikon to replace that shutter, and the cost is only $250.00, so that is well worth it even if the shutter has a couple million shutter clicks on it, that's not a huge deal.


----------



## Overread (Aug 28, 2016)

Mechanical parts always have a limited life-span so the amount of use they have had is a very valid consideration when making a secondhand purchase. One should be aware of the manufacture suggested life-span in clicks of a camera and thus how close a camera is to its statistical point of failure. Sure some will last WAY long and some way less; but in general it gives you a rough idea of where the limit point is . That is the point at which you will have to expect to pay for a replacement to the shutter assembly.

This is important because it means that if its very close or past its limit the price of the second hand camera is not just the advertising price; but the price plus its repair cost. As you said this means you can still get a very good second hand deal; but you have to be aware of the potential for paying for that repair (in both money and time without hte camera).


In much older digital models its even more important to be aware of it because at some point the own brand services will stop repairing the sensors on them. Thus you might well have to then research third party repairshops.


----------



## fmw (Aug 28, 2016)

It's a $250 deal.  If a camera has fewer shutter actuations, it has less use.  If it has less it is likely to last longer for a lot of reasons, including the shutter.   It is also likely to look better if that matters.


----------



## KmH (Aug 28, 2016)

Nikon would very much like to hear about any D810 they have made that has a shutter mechanism that has endured for 2 or 3 million actuations.
But, yep, replacement of the shutter is not very expensive.
However, if you paid $300 for a used DSLR that subsequently needs a $250 repair, just getting another $300 DSLR seems to be a viable alternative.

Entry-level DSLR shutters are not designed and made to last as long as the shutters in pro grade DSLRs.
Shutter life is effected by more than how many times the shutter has been actuated.
The environmental conditions a camera is used and stored in can also affect shutter life.


----------



## donny1963 (Aug 28, 2016)

KmH said:


> Nikon would very much like to hear about any D810 they have made that has a shutter mechanism that has endured for 2 or 3 million actuations.
> But, yep, replacement of the shutter is not very expensive.
> However, if you paid $300 for a used DSLR that subsequently needs a $250 repair, just getting another $300 DSLR seems to be a viable alternative.
> 
> ...


Exactly, I don't really mind buying a great camera used even if the shutter has lots of use, because it's fairly cheap.
I saw a Nikon D810 for 900.00 and they was selling it because the shutter failed, so even if you pay $300.00 to get it replaced, your getting a Nikon D810 for $1200.00 which is a great deal..   Pro camera's yeah it's worth it to replace the shutter, but your not going to do that for lets say a Nikon D90 or a Canon Rebel, Because a shutter replacement would cost almost as much as a new Camera with a Kit Lens.

about 6 months ago  i found a Nikon D810 at a yeard sale where the guy died and his wife was selling all his camera equipment,  the lady was rude because she had a price tag of $200.00 on it, and i tried to tell her this camera was worth way more then $200.00 even used, but before i could tell her she cut me off and said i don't care how much you think it's worth the price is $200.00  lol so i gave her the $200.00 and it had a 24-70 f2.8 lens on it lol, and they was 2 other lenses on the table and she was selling them for $150.00 each, they was a 80-200 f2.8 and a 10-24 f3.5 so i got all 3 lenses with the Nikon D810 for $500.00..
that was the deal of the century i thought lol,    and even if the shutter was junk on that it still would have been a good deal to pay to get it replaced.
I'll Never forget that day..


----------



## beagle100 (Aug 29, 2016)

donny1963 said:


> Buying A Camera?  Does The Amount Of Shutter Clicks Matter?
> Well in my experience and opinion with this question, and i see alot of people that are anal about Shutter Clicks when buying a used camara.
> Does that mater? NO not really,  it's not like buying a hard drive where close to it's mean time before failure , or not even really like Millage on a car,, Some say it is, but it's really not and i'll tell ya why.
> It's very rare that a camera's shutter system will fail, not that they don't they do, some even fail after only 10 thousand shutter clicks, but  it's very rare..
> ...



2 million clicks on your Canon 50D ?  
  .  2,000,000 ...  seriously ?   !!
I guess I can keep on using my 60D for the next 20 years


----------



## dennybeall (Aug 31, 2016)

Would you buy a car without looking and considering the mileage on it????


----------



## robbins.photo (Aug 31, 2016)

dennybeall said:


> Would you buy a car without looking and considering the mileage on it????



Well since you can drive them all until they hit 2 million miles, sure, why not?


----------



## table1349 (Aug 31, 2016)

Interesting article.  Especially #2.
Top 4 Things to Check on a Used DSLR Camera


----------



## zombiesniper (Aug 31, 2016)

I would definitely want to know the shutter average lifespan and use of any camera I'm buying. Take my 7dmk2. I've owned it about 6 months and guarantee it has more than 150 000 shutter cycles. Buying this camera from me in 4 years will be the better side of a million shutter cycles where as if you buy one from someone that doesn't try to get out every day you'll have a lot more expected life in that body.

Now is it the only/main thing to look at? No. I think overall condition of something can tell you more about its life than a shutter count.


----------



## randymckown (Sep 1, 2016)

You should *ALWAYS* get the shutter count .. because you might be buying from someone like me  During senior portrait season I have been known to roll the counter back over to zero in under a week.

Also consider not just *how many* clicks it has .. but *how quickly* those clicks were acquired. Would you rather buy a body with 100,000 clicks the were taken over the course of 3 years or 100,000 clicks and the body just came out at the beginner of summer? That 3 year old camera has probably been babied by a hobby shooter ... the newer one has been heavily used and abused as a daily workhorse .... I know I wouldn't buy a digital body from me LOL


----------



## beagle100 (Sep 4, 2016)

randymckown said:


> You should *ALWAYS* get the shutter count .. because you might be buying from someone like me  During senior portrait season I have been known to roll the counter back over to zero in under a week.
> 
> me LOL



right, shutter count will matter in buying DSLR's  ..... until they eventually have electronic shutters
 (not withstanding the 2 million 50D)


----------



## Bebulamar (Sep 5, 2016)

I must make a point to the OP. I do have many film cameras that are 30-40 year old and the shutter is still good. But I must say film cameras don't get 100,000 actuations even in 40 years.


----------



## JennaLeighWeddings (Sep 6, 2016)

I'm not anal about shutter count, but if I can get a camera for $500 with 100 shutter counts or 1,000, I'll go with the lower one.


----------



## sashbar (Sep 6, 2016)

JennaLeighWeddings said:


> I'm not anal about shutter count, but if I can get a camera for $500 with 100 shutter counts or 1,000, I'll go with the lower one.



Both 100 and 1,000 are extremely low by today standards.  Both are practically new cameras.  1,000 shutter count is just 2-3 days of shooting.


----------



## john.margetts (Sep 6, 2016)

And there is me being impressed if I come home with ten pictures!


----------



## sashbar (Sep 6, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> And there is me being impressed if I come home with ten pictures!



Now I am impressed !  When I go out shooting, it is usually something between 300 and 600 shots, and I feel SO lucky if I come home with one or two decent pictures .  I do not remember when it happened last time...
Spent half a day shooting in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, which is a great location for street photography, and all I have got is one mediocre pic and the rest was even worse than that. Should have switched to landscapes and flowers...


----------



## theshortwhiteguy (Sep 6, 2016)

I was planning on starting a thread on this subject for us full-time pros, after I read a Ken Rockwell article on why we should not buy used. While Ken makes a good point about DSLR's being consumable, doomed to be thrown on the trash heap because of obsolescence, I have to disagree with him about older an older model's usefulness. My business model was and will never be built on new, because I can buy multiple used bodies for the price of a new one, I can rent or call CPS (Canon Professional Services) and have them ship me equipment for free. In the last 13 years, not one of my bodie's(or lenses for that matter) has been purchased new - I have to go all the way back to 2003 when I bought a 20D - which means I have had to purchase older generations with a low shutter count and at least an 8 cosmetically. My measuring stick is a body could be an 8+ with less than 50% shutter life or a 6-7 with 10k actuation's and I won't buy it. While this is not a plug (and I have purchased from them) I rely heavily on the Lensrentals.com rating scale for my purchases, and this has been a big help for my purchases. From this pro's point of view, if you have the chance to score a body with low shutter count (and good cosmetically), do it!


----------



## JennaLeighWeddings (Sep 6, 2016)

My hubby bought me a used D4s with 600 actuations on it and we got it for $4,000. I would have loved to have gotten a D5s, but since I was upgrading from a D3S I just didn't need to have THAT good of a camera.

As far as buying used, almost everything I've bought has been used.


----------



## sashbar (Sep 6, 2016)

JennaLeighWeddings said:


> My hubby bought me a used D4s with 600 actuations on it and we got it for $4,000. I would have loved to have gotten a D5s, but since I was upgrading from a D3S I just didn't need to have THAT good of a camera.
> 
> As far as buying used, almost everything I've bought has been used.



Checked your website. Some wonderful wedding shots there.


----------



## beagle100 (Sep 7, 2016)

theshortwhiteguy said:


> I was planning on starting a thread on this subject for us full-time pros, after I read a Ken Rockwell article on why we should not buy used. t!



good lord, Ken Rockwell is still on the internet?  should be a law or something
Anal Probe


----------



## table1349 (Sep 7, 2016)

beagle100 said:


> theshortwhiteguy said:
> 
> 
> > I was planning on starting a thread on this subject for us full-time pros, after I read a Ken Rockwell article on why we should not buy used. t!
> ...


----------



## mcap1972 (Sep 12, 2016)

I would check the shutter count just to be on the safe side.


----------



## bboyzala (Sep 15, 2016)

donny1963 said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > Nikon would very much like to hear about any D810 they have made that has a shutter mechanism that has endured for 2 or 3 million actuations.
> ...




haha omg. yeah quite literally the deal of the century. seemed like she was happy that her husband was gone since she was basically raffling off all his equipment


----------



## bhop (Sep 16, 2016)

I've got a D300 that I bought a few years ago for $500 when they were going for around $800 on the used market. The reason I got it cheap was because it had over 200k shutter count on it from "pro" use. I've been using it for the past few years without any problems and it's still going. At the time, I figured, same as OP, "shutter replacement would even out the cost if it dies, and then it'd be like new anyway" so it was worth the cost.

That said, I got a Nikon F4 about 6 months ago, put two rolls of film through it and the shutter self-destructed.. *shrug*  So even pro film cameras aren't immune.

Personally, I wouldn't get a high shutter camera unless it was a cheap deal like the one I got.


----------



## beagle100 (Sep 19, 2016)

JennaLeighWeddings said:


> I'm not anal about shutter count, but if I can get a camera for $500 with 100 shutter counts or 1,000, I'll go with the lower one.



right, everything else equal I would also go with the lower shutter count


----------

