
#Canon mark 2 with 15000 shuttercount how to#
Just as you should know a car’s mileage before buying or selling, learning how to verify Canon shutter count is a no-brainer if you’re in the market for a used DSLR. Canon DSLRs are generally rated to sustain anywhere from 50,000 to 300,000 shutter actuation before a shutter replacement is necessary (at a cost of several hundred dollars).

Circuit boards and other non-mechanical components have a virtually infinite lifespan, but a shutter can take quite a bit of wear and tear over its life. The shutter count is to DSLRs what mileage is to cars.
#Canon mark 2 with 15000 shuttercount windows#
So for example, if you’re running the tool in Windows on an image named DSC_1000. To use the ExifTool simply string together the Exiftool command pointed at the image file you want to analyze followed by the find command to search through the output and find the string you want.

We prefer this method as it allows for quick string-based searching without reading over lengthy EXIF data lists (and if you’ve never looked over EXIF data before, trust us, there’s typically over a hundred entries per image file). If you already have a tool on your computer that allows you to examine EXIF data (like the popular InfranView freeware image viewer) you can open up an image and examine the data looking for the search string outlined above.Īlternatively, you can grab a copy of the cross-platform command line tool ExifTool and use it to search through the EXIF data. Use the following table to find the EXIF shutter count value name for your manufacturer if your manufacturer isn’t listed that doesn’t mean there isn’t EXIF data but that it isn’t commonly used or widely publicized: Manufacturer In such cases you can manually search the EXIF data of a sample image using a wide variety of EXIF-related tools. While the CameraShutterCount website is convenient you may be unable to use it (because your manufacturer is unsupported) or you may not wish to use it (because you don’t want to share any image data with a third party).

Even if you don’t see your camera listed it doesn’t hurt to upload a picture and try it it out. You can check the bottom of the main page to see if your camera manufacturer/model is listed as a confirmed working model. You can upload a picture to the site, the site will read the EXIF data, and fire back not just with the shutter count but the life cycle of the camera (based on the manufacturer’s estimated shutter life for your camera model). It’s because of the aforementioned EXIF data that the handy website works across so many camera models. Fortunately many manufacturers embed the number of shutter cycles/actuations in the EXIF data of the pictures produced with that camera so you can examine a recent photo taken with a given camera and see how many clicks are on the shutter. There are several ways to check the shutter count of a camera and all of them rely on either having access to the camera, access to an image created by the camera, or both. At this point the camera is rendered non-operational and you’ll either be paying for an expensive repair (easily $400-500) or if you’re a very brave do-it-yourselfer you can typically find replacement shutters on eBay for around $100 (but you’ll be responsible for taking apart your sophisticated and tiny-part-packed camera and conducting the repair yourself). The shutter, however, is like the engine of a car and eventually it will reach the end of its lifecycle and fail to actuate properly. Practically speaking, if your camera survives the first few months without failing the electronics are solid and they will more or less last indefinitely. Watching the shutter slam open and closed in slow motion really emphasizes how much abuse such a tiny and delicate part really endures. In the video below you can see how the mirror swings up out of the way, and the shutter opens and closes to allow light to land on the digital sensor. Between the two of these devices the mechanical shutter is radically more delicate and prone to failure over the life of the camera. The two largest (and most important) moving parts are the main reflex mirror (the mirror that allows you to look through the lens from the viewfinder and that swings up and out of the way when you take the photo) and the shutter. DSLR cameras, like the SLR cameras they replaced, have very few moving parts.
