I've had my Nikon D300s for about three months and have taken 2000 shots and that's mainly on the weekends. With my old Fuji point and shoot I shot 1500 shots over 5 years. How many actuations can I expect for the life of the camera and what would be the average number of photos an avid enthusiast or pro might shoot in a years time?
With my old Nikon FE the time it took to wind the shutter definitely limited the number of shots per minute.
Jeff Seldomridge
Curtis, WA
Posted by Dan Borzynski on March 16, 2010 at 6:02 PM
WIth the number of shots you are taking with your cameras, you'll die before the camera does.
Seriously, most current DSLR's have an expected actuations life in the 100,000+ range. I think the Canon 1D series is 250,000 - 300,000 range.
Your question about the number of shots per years is unanswerable. I'm up in the 30,000 range, when employed. If I regularly shot sports, that number would be a lot higher. If all I did was landscapes, it would be a lot lower. There are a significant number of pros who shoot nearly or more than 100,000 frames a year - it is still a small fraction of pros but they are out there. Mostly, you'll see that with sports and event photography.
Not that this means that your shutter won't fail tomorrow, but it would be a very unusual event if it did occur.
Posted by Mia McPherson on March 16, 2010 at 7:23 PM
Jeff,
I have the Nikon D200, after photographing today I have 165061 acctuations on the shutter. I shoot between 5,000 and 10,000 images in a month as an avian photographer.
Posted by Richard Ditch on March 16, 2010 at 8:19 PM
54,628 on my D200 in 4 years (13,657 average per year) all avian.
I would say that about 100,000 shots is a fair number before mandatory servicing. Even if it does malfunction, it will probably still be somewhat usable. I've shot about 8,000 shots experimenting with bird photography and landscape photography. About a 80/20 ratio respectively. I also shoot mainly on the weekends.
Jeff, I own a D200 and D300. My D200 shot about 25,000 images over a 2 yr period, until I got my D300. I've had my D300 for about 6 months, and I have taken about 5,000 images.I shoot a variety of subjects, but not professionally. The D200 shutter is rated at 100,000 actuations, and the D300 at 150,000.
Pete, I don't think you can look up the shutter count in the manuals. Photoshop does display EXIF information, but I use exiftool.exe to read all the data that is in the image file, irregardless of the image name. There are other exif data readers out there, and most of them are free like exiftool.
Thanks everyone........If I average 1500 shots a month and given that I am getting a bit long in the tooth, this camera may indeed last the rest of my life.
I shot 5000 images in a week at Bosque, and almost that during 5 days at Sanibel. If I'm shooting bursts of flying birds, which i do often, it adds up quickly. As Mia says, cull cull CULL and I have to get still better at that before I have no space left.
Sandy r
It really depends on what you're shooting. In a fast-evolving situation requiring burst shooting, whether the bird flight photography as already referenced or our own commercial shooting, counts can mount fast. On a recent industrial job my wife and I averaged almost 2500 shots each for 5 days. That was just over 24,000 shots, split between four bodies. I'm in the Southwest right now and spent the last two days in Arches NP. I shot 26 frames yesterday and felt like I shot a whooooooole lot.
I just checked, and a 2-year old D2x I'm carrying has 80,000+ shots. I'm pretty sure the one I left home has a lot more, because it's getting a pretty scuffed up "homey" look to it.
In our experience using cameras really hard, lots more can go wrong before you wear out a shutter. Like the time my wife ripped the whole top of of MY D2x, the one I'm carrying now. But that's another story.....
Discussion
11 repliesWith my old Nikon FE the time it took to wind the shutter definitely limited the number of shots per minute.
Jeff Seldomridge
Curtis, WA
Seriously, most current DSLR's have an expected actuations life in the 100,000+ range. I think the Canon 1D series is 250,000 - 300,000 range.
Your question about the number of shots per years is unanswerable. I'm up in the 30,000 range, when employed. If I regularly shot sports, that number would be a lot higher. If all I did was landscapes, it would be a lot lower. There are a significant number of pros who shoot nearly or more than 100,000 frames a year - it is still a small fraction of pros but they are out there. Mostly, you'll see that with sports and event photography.
Not that this means that your shutter won't fail tomorrow, but it would be a very unusual event if it did occur.
I have the Nikon D200, after photographing today I have 165061 acctuations on the shutter. I shoot between 5,000 and 10,000 images in a month as an avian photographer.
Just curious and I guess too lazy to look it up in the manual.
Pete D.
Whether I take 1000 or 5000 avian images a month I simply pick & keep my best and dump the rest. Culling takes time.
Pete, I don't think you can look up the shutter count in the manuals. Photoshop does display EXIF information, but I use exiftool.exe to read all the data that is in the image file, irregardless of the image name. There are other exif data readers out there, and most of them are free like exiftool.
Sandy r
I just checked, and a 2-year old D2x I'm carrying has 80,000+ shots. I'm pretty sure the one I left home has a lot more, because it's getting a pretty scuffed up "homey" look to it.
In our experience using cameras really hard, lots more can go wrong before you wear out a shutter. Like the time my wife ripped the whole top of of MY D2x, the one I'm carrying now. But that's another story.....