tommyf Loc: Vero Beach, FL

I know how to find the SC on a Nikon. How do you do this with a Canon product? Thanks.......Tommy

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

As was posted here recently (yesterday?): http://www.camerashuttercount.com

tommyf Loc: Vero Beach, FL

Thank you. The D6 is not a supported camera with this link as it is a new Canon product. However, I did find an App called Shuttercount, Mac version, for $2.99. You actually connect the D6 to your Mac and it will read the camera's info, including owner's name.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

I think you mean 6D. D6 is a Caterpillar Dozer.

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

A question for the readership in general: Why is shutter count so important? I can understand wanting to know when buying or selling a used camera, and maybe to get a sense when a camera might need to go in for service, but otherwise, isn't knowing shutter count just a curiosity item?

Also, I think it's cool that someone has developed a Mac program to fetch this information, but $2.99 for a one-trick pony that I would think is rarely used is a bit steep. Particularly since you a) say that your camera model is new, and b) there are other programs that provide this information with a lot more capability.

Not trying to be caustic; I'm just curious.

MikeMck Loc: Southern Maryland on the Bay

I have Canons. I got "Shutter Count" for $2.99 and there doesn't seem to be a limit on how many times I can use it. Just plug in the Canon and up comes the shutter count. I am working with Windows 7 on a PC.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Yeah, you'll have better luck finding out what's supported if you at least get the camera model correct. It's an EOS 6D.

And since the 6D was introduced in Nov. 2012, it's certainly not a new model. Most softwares support it now.

Shutter count doesn't really mean very much, unless you are buying a used or refurbished camera and want some idea of how much use it's had. Or perhaps if you've been using a camera for some years yourself and are trying to decide if it's likely to need service or replacement soon.

Even so, shutter count mean much. Some manufacturers give us an estimated Mean Time Before Failure based on shutter clicks. But even that is just an estimate. I've seen cameras rated to 100,000 clicks fail after 10,000... and the exact same model shoot over 500,000.

I have two Canon 7D that have about 125,000 clicks apiece after five years of regular use. Canon rated the 7D for 150,000 clicks, but that's neither a guarantee nor a death sentence. With reasonable care and service, I would expect the cameras could see considerably more life. Still, for certainty (and to get the new bells and whistles offered), I'm likely to upgrade to a couple new 7D Mark II soon.

Some electronics have a built in "expiration date". Don't know if they still do it, but Epson inkjets used to be programmed with a "printer is worn out and needs replacement" warning and shut themselves down after a pre-determined number of pages. But some clever programmer wrote an applet to reset the counter... I've got an older Epson inkjet I've reset 3 or 4 times. It's still working (though it has more than it's share of paper jams now).

I don't know of any cameras with built-in expiration. Most never come close to their predicted number of clicks, anyway, before folks upgrade to a newer model with the latest and greatest innovative features.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Just found shutter count by Dire Studios, grabbed it for my Mac & Canon 80D, and yes indeed it will show the shutter count.

I know that worrying about the shutter count is not productive, but like the mileage & actual gas mileage on my car, I want to know, so I now can know my shutter count. Why Canon does not take a page from Nikon and just put the shutter count into the EXIF of each image is beyond me.

2.99 is cheap in my book!

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

I agree, and I'll add a few other responses into this as well.

As another Canon user, why Canon doesn't make this information easily available is mystifying to me, I cannot think of a good reason, especially when it is pretty easy to find out if one wants to know.

The problem is that although Canon cameras record the information, because the company doesn't expose it third party companies need to reverse engineer a way to do that. Those options are available, but they vary in quality, availability, and cost. Shuttercount simply doesn't work since it relies on EXIF data, and Canon doesn't put the information in the EXIF data. Dire Studio software seems to stay fairly current, but does not support new Canon models on Windows at this time. EOSMSG works and is multi-platform. It is malware free IF downloaded from the main site - EOSmsg.com, but other sources may have potential issues as with any software download sites. The EOSmsg guys do a good job, but it costs about double the cost for Dire Studio stuff - still cheap - although I believe that they may charge for each camera with unlimited use per camera. EOSmsg also measures 'mirror up count' as does Magic Lantern which includes video and live view usage and is a better measure of usage.

The bigger issue is why do we care about shutter count? The vehicle analogy is a good one to consider.

When buying or selling a camera or a vehicle having some guide to wear and tear is useful, and visual inspections aren't always enough. Surprisingly, people don't always tell the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth. A new vehicle doesn't normally come with zero miles on the odometer, but less than 10 or 20 seems reasonable. Even a dealer demo vehicle should be just a few hundred. Same with a new or refurbished camera for click count. Buying used or refurbished is a little different, and selling follows similar rules. The shutter count is nice to know. The rest is just a comfort thing, nobody knows how long a camera or a vehicle will go before experiencing a problem.

Since I'm a Windows user, and will be getting a refurb 80D in a couple of days, I'll probably go with EOSmsg. It works well and I don't want to have to do it via wifi to iOS, which is Dire Studio's current option. $6.99 is the cost of a single cheap beer in a dive bar!

Now, beyond buying and selling there is big difference between cameras and vehicles. Vehicles have regular maintenance schedules that are important to pay attention to if you wish the vehicle to be reliable and not have excessive maintenance costs. How many UHH members have to change the oil, brake fluids, timing belts or water pumps on their cameras? Nada, zero, zip. On a vehicle that usage information - odometer readings and time between services - is important. A camera is not the same, keep it clean, but mostly it works until it doesn't.

So, in summary, I do like to know the shutter count on my cameras, and I will surely find out when my new refurb 80D lands in a couple of days, but other than making sure that it is low enough when I receive it, it really doesn't matter. I can work out how the camera should be doing by tracking my usage, by estimating how many images or videos I take on average in a week. I don't expect to wear out any of my cameras before I wear myself out!

Good luck, and unless buying or selling, 'Dinna fash yerself' as the Scots might say.

Japakomom Loc: Originally from the Last Frontier

Thanks for sharing that it works with your newer camera. I have had this app for my 6D and had tried my new 5DIV, but it wasn't updated yet. Just tried ShutterCount again and it worked! Now I know, almost 31,000 on my less than one year old camera. I knew it would be high since I shoot a lot of sports.
Thanks again!

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

A quick follow up. My refurb 80D landed from Canon today. I signed up with EOSmsg using Windows for a whole $5.18, and now I know that my new (to me) 80D has 2984 shutter clicks/mirror up events, which I'm quite happy with given the price I paid, together with the 1 year warranty. I don't need to think about shutter count any more unless something happens or changes, and I should be good for a decade or more.