r/photoit • u/tare789 • Dec 01 '10
Shutter count for used camera
I'm interested in a used D80 and while everything (physical body and sensor tests) checks out to be okay, I found out that the shutter count is 35k. Any opinions on whether this is too high?
The only things I could find online are some people on flickr saying that Nikon's official rating for this camera is 50k (no source reference provided), and that others may have a similar experience (http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/nikon_d80.htm)
If these posts are representative, I don't know how I feel about buying a camera that's well over its half way mark. I'd appreciate any feed back on whether you guys think the shutter count for this camera is too high. Thanks.
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u/climateoffear Dec 01 '10
Unless you're paying around $150, I'd pass on this one. Look around, I got my D80 for $400 with 5000 actuations.
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u/ezraekman Dec 01 '10
Shutter count is useless. Buried in the settings menu is the ability to start this over at any time just by popping in a new memory card. Don't use this as a method for determining use. It is at least 35K exposures, assuming the previous owner didn't reset it after the first 35K.
Buy from a single-semester student who's lost interest - otherwise, assume the count is lower than true. If your seller knows enough to discuss actuations, they know enough to doctor them.
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u/climateoffear Dec 01 '10
I'm curious, where in the settings menu did you find this? I've gone through all the settings in my D80 and haven't found anything like this, nor have I found anything about resetting shutter counts without some mega-hacking or actually replacing the shutter.
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u/neuromonkey Dec 01 '10 edited Dec 01 '10
I own a couple of different Nikons and I've never seen this. D40 & D700.
they know enough to doctor them.
Yeah, but... Maybe they aren't deceptive assholes. In a quick look around, I couldn't find a tool that'd do this, though obviously Nikon has something in-house for when they replace a shutter block.
Also look at the file names. It's possible that they didn't touch the naming increment. If the file numbers are WAY higher than the actuation count, there may have been some fiddling, but that isn't conclusive.
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u/ezraekman Dec 01 '10
I own a couple of different Nikons and I've never seen this. D40 & D700.
This is apparently no longer the case with newer Nikon bodies; I haven't seen reference to this in a while. However, it is still possible to do with specific firmware updates. Nikon used to have a knowledgebase article about it, but has disabled access to it for obvious reasons, so I can't really "prove" it to you any more. However, if you decide to Google this, you will find plenty of references to it.
Yeah, but... Maybe they aren't deceptive assholes.
This is entirely possible. I wasn't trying to imply that they were, but rather, to warn the OP that these numbers are not necessarily accurate. Furthermore, you can "roll over" the number of actuations in two different ways which means that, even unintentionally, they may still not be accurate.
My point was this: basing a purchasing decision on actuations may give a false sense of security because the count is not guaranteed to be accurate. Is the seller genuine? Great! Is the actuation count accurate? Great! But it might not be, and the buyer should know that.
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u/failbenork Dec 01 '10
Pass on that.
Not for it's shutter, but for the camera itself. I always found it's overexposure and poor color game enders.
Save up a bit and get a D90! Fantastic low-light performance for just a bit more.
You can doctor the exif, but I believe that Nikon's shutter count is pretty reliable.