Bike guy Loc: Atlanta

I have purchased several refurbished camera bodies over the past years and have always been pleased with the shutter count on them.
Yesterday I received my Nikon 7100 Refurbished camera. The shutter count came out to be 117.
I have had cameras with shutter counts as low as 500 but never this low. How can that be? I'll go out in one afternoon and shoot more than 100 photos.
When they refurbish a camera do they set the shutter count back? Or would they replace a shutter that needs to be replaced to bring it up to the advertised "like new".
Appreciate any comments.
By the way the camera appears great, took it out again today.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Refurbish is not typically a repair as in replacing a shutter, a $300+ expense when performed for a customer. The equipment can be returned such as someone bought a camera and returned a few days later in the original box, etc. A double-check and the camera can be sold as refurbished. It cannot be resold as new ...

From the shop.usa.canon.com website:

Shopping and Buying from Canon
Refurbished Products

Products are returned to Canon for a variety of reasons, including overstock balancing, miscellaneous returns from retailers, suspected mis-operation, and minor damage to the box.

Products that are refurbished must pass a comprehensive quality assurance inspection before final packaging and shipment. Rigorous function and cosmetic inspections are performed by trained Canon technicians so that each refurbished product meets operational specifications and strict cosmetic standards that we have established.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Put the camera through it's paces. You could have gotten a demo camera, a new camera that was tried out and returned or a defective camera that needed repair. IMHO it could be any of those as to what you got.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Many Stores, rather than send the cameras back to the company, will sell the item as Open Box. These are returns to the store, sold as a discounted item. Best Buy and B&H sell Open Box. Not the same as Refurbished though. Open Box is almost a Brand New item. Because returns are required within 30 days.

Jim Bob

No way to know for sure. We can all speculate but how helpful is that really going to be? I have purchased refurbs with even lower shutter counts. Consider yourself lucky especially if it was refurbished by an authorized repair facility. Shutter is not reset when cameras are refurbished.

capmike Loc: New Bern, NC

I had my shutters on two D 750’s replaced on a recall. Thought the shutter count would go to zero, but no, the shutter count is in the chip, not the shutter itself. No way to zero shutter count except by replacing the main camera computer chip. Not likely.

Mike

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

MANY folks try out a few shots, don't like the camera, and send it back. Actually, this is good for you but bad for the company that produces them.

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

As a Canon user, and not a fanatic about knowing shutter count, it's really a statistical thing. For some inexplicable reason Canon does not provide easy access to shutter count. I have access to that information for all my Canon cameras. The only time that I found it really useful was when I bought a used Canon T2i and the serial numbers reported and those on the body did not match. Every other camera I have interrogated with software returned very credible responses. My recently acquired refurbished 80D from Canon had just under 3K clicks. Not a problem for me or my level of usage and worth the savings of approximately 30%. An initial problem that I encountered turned out to be a faulty battery supplied. Once diagnosed Canon fixed it immediately, by replacing the battery.

Is shutter count really that important?

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

I agree, unless the camera in question is old in the tooth... how much usage can a newer camera have as certified refurbished? Considering the life expectancy of shutters, not enough to be concerned over.

I was not concerned about ordering a refurbished 7D mark II early last year from Canon USA and would have expected a few thousand clicks. Happy to find it had 117 clicks and equally happy to put over 6000 more alongside.

Jim Bob

Well I think it is an important factor especially if one is contemplating the purchase of a used camera. For refurbished perhaps not as critical but I personally find it reassuring particularly when camera companies publish estimated shutter life specs.

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

I agree Jim Bob. That's why I go to the trouble of having software that tells me the shutter count of all my Canon digital cameras. No way to get that from my AE-1 or T90s though. I found it very useful when buying used cameras on ebay, and as said, one time exposed a problem but it wasn't the seller's fault and they took the item back without issue. The issue wasn't shutter count.

I cannot understand why Canon does not disclose shutter count information, it doesn't help them since their products are reliable enough, but I don't speak Japanese either, so I'll just remain puzzled. Except for when I want to know the shutter count of my Canon digital cameras!

That said, once you have a camera and an idea of how many actuations have occurred, it's pretty easy to track your usage and estimate the number.

Even if you do know the number of shutter clicks, what does that tell you? It's just like buying a vehicle. Our current vehicles were all purchased new. They're all stick shifts, two Hondas and a Subaru. The Subaru's clutch failed after 30K miles and they wouldn't cover it, even with extended warranty. The Hondas get over 150K before needing a new clutch. The Hondas have been built in Japan, the Subaru was built in the USA? Is that significant? Does it tell me anything? No. But knowing the mileage, even on new vehicles, didn't either....

Jim Bob

I see your point. But in my view, more information is almost always better than less. What excuse did Subaru use to deny warranty coverage? You may send PM if you prefer since this is clearly off topic.

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

Na, I'll just respond. Even though it was diagnosed as a manufacturing fault, they denied coverage because the clutch was considered a wear and tear item. Cost $2000 to fix and the extended warranty was a waste of money. Now it is quite a bad ass vehicle in many ways, more than fast enough, handles the mountain twisty roads quite well at speed, stable in a four wheel drift, but having them wriggle out of being responsible didn't go down well with me. Essentially it is a brand issue. The vehicle is fine, but I no longer trust it, and am reluctant to consider another one.

They didn't deal with 'reliability', and for me the brand is damaged as a result of poor support, not the product itself.

I don't consider this to be off topic if we are talking about use and brand reliability. I'm totally with you when it comes to more information, but it doesn't always help.

TMcL

Doesn't everything in a car wear out over time ... including the engine

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

Absolutely when dealing with any used camera purchase. Just like mileage on a car, it's an indicator of the life and use of the camera. And the price should reflect accordingly. On refurbished by the manufacturer, I am less concerned about the shutter count when the camera carries a warranty (from Canon, in my case).

On a side note, sorry about the Subaru, Peter. We had a similar problem with our Honda Accord EX, engine went out at 74,000 miles. Just past the warranty period. Honda replaced the engine and paid two thirds of the bill, we covered the other third. The engine was evidently out of balance from the beginning and finally spun itself to death which is why they split the cost with us. But since we got the use of the engine for the 6 years, no problem. Just sold it to a neighbor after putting another 250,000 on it.