Unclewiggley Loc: Winter Haven, FL

I read in a few discussions on this forum about members that bought pre-owned cameras or when you do buy one check for the number of actuations of the shutter. My question is how is this determined?. Is there a place in the menus that have this information?, if not where do you find it?

Thank you all for any information and what a wonderful forum this is. I go to it the first thing that I do in the morning and read everything.

snowbear

The shutter life of dSLRs range from about 150,000 to about 250,000 cycles. The shutters can be replaced.

The easiest way is to snap a photo and look at the EXIF data embedded within the photo. There are a number of free programs that will read this data. Obviously, you can't do this without actually having the camera in hand.

Unclewiggley Loc: Winter Haven, FL

Thank you snowbear. Checking shutter atuations is something I never gave much thought to.

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

it's important to exercise caution and care when buying used equipment. Find out and learn as much about the camera before buying it. Ask if the camera will have the owners manual so that you can read about the capabilities of the camera yourself. Ask if the seller is willing to provide a copy of the owners manual if the one provided by the company is missing or lost. Important questions to consider in used equipment, is to find out how old the unit is, ask how often it was used and how many photographs were shot. Examine the camera for any obvious damage. Normal wear and tear should be expected and minor flaws and blemishes should also be expected.

If any seller is trying to sell a camera with obvious damage that impedes on how the camera works such as a jammed or broken shutter, ask if they are willing to have it repaired first before you buy, especially if they are asking almost full price for the camera. Research the camera first. Find out what the original retail cost was, look at used cameras online. B&H and Adorama sell used photo gear. Find out what they are charging for a similar used camera. Bear in mind that B&H and Adorama and other places that sell new and used cameras, either have technicians that carry out professional repairs, or send the units back to the manufacturer for repairs before putting any electronic or photo product up for resale. They are also required to disclose any repairs affected on the unit and are not allowed to sell the used equipment at full retail cost.

If you are looking to buy privately, caution is strongly advised and it's a case of buyer beware...

I personally will never buy privately having been burned a few times over many years. If I want to buy something like a camera, I will buy it new. If I can't afford it, I'll wait until I have the money to afford a new camera. This way I'm assured that the camera works properly and I'm supposedly covered by the manufacture's warranty. The warranty can sometimes be more worthless than the paper it's printed on, but most reputable companies *not all* will honor the letter of the warranty they provide for their products...

ahancock

Do all dslrs show the shutter activations in the EXIF data? I have a Nikon D90 and can't find it looking at the data with Thumbs +, Photoshop CS5 and Picassa 3.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Go here: http://www.camerashuttercount.com

The info is in your mega-date, and this program will isolate "Shutter Actuation" count.

wolfman

Here is a good free program that gives you tons of info, including shutter actuations.

http://www.picmeta.com/en

ahancock

Thanks all. These programs all work. The trick is to use a totally unedited photo. If the photo has been resaved in photoshop or any other editor, the shutter actuations disappears.

Lmarc Loc: Ojojona, Honduras

I use PIE (Photo Information Extractor), another free program, and it work great and is SUPER easy. It shows tons of info saved within a photo. It is best to use the original RAW but will work with Tif also.

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

In Photoshop cs5, open the photo, go up to the file menu and click on file info... there you will find all kinds of information especially in the advanced tab.