Jim Bob

Good point. But given the replies in this thread, it appears no poster has yet to face corrosion of camera guts or other repair issues. We often think of "made in China or Taiwan" as a death sentence for many sophisticated electronics. But that seems not to be the case for DSLRs manufactured in those and similar places. I find the responses in this thread truly enlightening and remarkable.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Don't let it corrode!!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It pays to buy weather-resistant cameras and lenses. Many options are available...

Weather resistance means that the temporary presence of rain, snow, sleet, and high humidity won't really bother your gear. It does not mean the camera is waterproof, so don't go diving with it, without a waterproof housing.

asiafish Loc: Bakersfield, CA

I started with a used Canon 5D, made in 2006 or so. I sold it last year (should have kept it as a backup) and with over 300,000 exposures it was still working like a champ.

A lot of those older DSLRs, especially the 12 megapixel full-frames (Canon 5D, Nikon D700) had a really beautiful way of drawing light. I don't know what it was, the larger pixels most likely, but those things just produce gorgeous files at moderate ISO.

Nikon Df gives a similar look and holds up extremely well at high ISO, but I'm a Canon shooter so won't likely own one. Maybe I'll just get another beat-up 5D to go with my 5D3.

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

Not I said the Vicar!

Seriously, stuff fails, but I still have a working Zenit E from 1970, an AE-1 from 1976, a T90 from 1986, a Contax from 1975ish, let alone the digital stuff.

Working isn't the real issue, it's the digital sensor tech that advances so fast that even if stuff still works you want to replace it.

Hell, my Brownie 127 still works, and I could probably get, shoot and process film from it if I wanted to!

Even today's entry DSLRs have a shutter life that equals or exceeds most professional film SLRs of the last century, and there aren't too many of those from this century.

asiafish Loc: Bakersfield, CA

Why would you want to replace it? Newer sensors have advantages for sure, but older ones look just as good today as they did when new.

I can see early crop cameras not being too desirable anymore, but plenty of people are still buying and using 10-year-old Leica M8, Canon 5Ds and the like.

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

I remember PhotoArtsLA talking about problems with Hasselblad sensor corrosion. It does happen.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

It is a good question: I think you may find more problems with a new camera ie latest in the range rather than an older model, looking at posts on UHH there seems to be a 'breaking in period'. Whether that is mechanical or mental I am not sure! Maybe it is 'change' that throws up uncertainty (therefore a question 'has anyone experienced this happen with that camera?) But it is rare to see a post bemoaning the finality (fatality) of a beloved oldie. Not scientific by any means.
My Canon D450 is still going strong, not sure when it was built.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I guess the real question is, what's the life expectancy of micro-circuitry? And perhaps equally important, what's the life expectancy of LCD screens? As far as I know, none of my LCD screens from the late 70's and early 80's are still functioning; they have all died over the years. I don't know if today's LCD screens have a longer lifespan, but it can't be forever. Let's be honest, a DSLR with a dead LCD screen is practically a useless camera.

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

Oh, I agree with you, other than the GAS "got to have the latest tech" peer pressure thing. Although if you have a ten year old Canon 5Ds that could be an interesting discussion that should probably be offline. It might scare the natives!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

My first dslr was a Canon 20d in 08, bought used from a friend that bought it new in probably 03. A friend of mine now uses it as his primary camera to this day.
No camera I've owned has ever needed repair(knock on wood!!).
I'm not likely at this point in time to ever keep a camera to even close to its max actuations.
I don't even baby the baby, let alone a camera!!! LoL
SS

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

So how many babies do you admit to? Never thought of you as the "Baby Daddy" type. Perhaps we learn something new every day!

Bugfan Loc: Toronto, Canada

How long an SLR lasts depends on how often it's used, what environment it's used in and what it cost.

In my film days my primary SLR lasted thirty years and actually still works as do all the old lenses.

Digital is Nikon for me and I've got four of those. These too have ranged from twenty years to about seven yars with no problems. There is much to be said about buying a DSLR that is robust and well built albeit at higher cost.

To clarify a few things ... I do not take care of my DSLRs. I expect them to perform under all conditions. So they get used in rain and snow, in searing sun and heat, in howling winds and dust, in temperatures down to minus thirty. They seem to handle these hazards very well.

I do however ensure they are always meticulously cleaned after each rough shoot. I obviously also don't drop it or bang it against hard surfaces. While they may be robust they are not invincible.

I do expect each DSLR to fail eventually, they are rated in shutter clicks and sooner or later I'll hit the number for each camera. At that point it won't be worth fixing, it will simply need to be replaced. I guess I've avoided that dreaded number by having more than one camera and thus not stressing only one. Add to that whatever the number is, it won't die the day the number rolls over, I may get more out of it than that.

The only thing that's frustrating is that I didn't have to upgrade my film SLR, it just kept working. Today however upgrades seems all too common. What I would love to see is an SLR that has a removable back so that we can attach a different sensor as we used to change film types. It would also be nice to have a replaceable pentaprism finder that houses all the sensors the camera uses for focus and exposure. In this way we wouldn't have to upgrade all the time, we could just replace parts of the camera at less cost. But of course that's why it won't happen I guess, the camera makers are having enough trouble maintaining profits with all the cell phone cameras about. To now move to replaceable parts they'd probably go broke.

asiafish Loc: Bakersfield, CA

Shutter replacement on a modern high-end DSLR (full Frame Nikon or Canon) is in the $400 to $600 range, so it probably is worthwhile to repair one if its just a worn-out shutter.

That said, shutters often last far longer than they are rated to. I know someone with a Leica M9 (rated at 100,000) that has over 400,000 clicks on the shutter and its still working great.

Jim Bob

Great post. My camera acquisitions also go back to the 1970's. Started and stayed with Minolta ending up with a couple Maxxum bodies and several others. None of them ever needed repair after years of shooting sports, weddings, models and pretty much everything else. Pretty amazing how long these little electronic playthings last.