You know how it goes, you have had your camera for a number of years and someone asks you how many photographs have you taken in that time. You think about it for a minute and realise that you have lost track of how many you have taken. You know it is a lot, but honestly, it is often the last thing on your mind.
“Why Is It Important To Know Your Shutter Count?“
In all honesty, for most people, most of the time, it is not very important in the day to day life of your photography. However, there are reasons why you might want to know your shutter count. To make it clear before we continue, this subject of shutter count is based on your mechanical shutter, not the electronic shutter.
- Selling your camera – Often, when you sell your camera, your shutter count is very important to those buying your camera. A cameras shutter usually has a recommend life-span of so many tens, or hundreds of thousands of shots before wear-and-tear takes its toll. In these circumstances, the amount of use on your shutter can affect the money you get for your camera depending on how much, or how little you have used the camera.
- Issues with your camera – Sometimes, as you own a camera, things can just feel off. Maybe some images have weird artifacts or lines on your images that you have taken, or the camera miss-fires. Knowing your cameras shutter count may help with this. Perhaps you bought the camera second hand and never checked the shutter count? This can help you discover how far into the life-span the shutter is.
- Keeping track of your productivity – This one is important. Sometimes you go through phases of being trigger-happy, while other times you do not take many photos at all. Looking at your usage, you can work out if you are taking too many photos, or too little. You can work out your annual average usage and so much more. All important to many photographers.
“How To Get Your Total Shutter Count”
This is where it can be difficult for some cameras, and it is almost never straight forward for any camera. You would think that your camera would keep track of how many photos you have taken and make it easily accessible, however, camera manufacturers do not make it easy!
There are a number of ways you can do this though. Please note, that some ways on some cameras do not distinguish between electronic and mechanical shutter, but it will give you a ball-park figure, and most people, most of the time use mechanical shutter because of the limitations of the electronic shutter in certain lighting and panning conditions (there are now cameras that exist without a mechanical shutter such as the Nikon Z8 and Z9 and the Sony A9 iii, so any readings will be purely the electronic shutter)
- Reading the number associated to the image file – The simplest method first, your jpeg or raw file usually has a number associated with it (such as dsc_1234) as long as the camera is relatively new and you know that the numbers have not re-set (and presuming you have a new camera), that number will be the shutter count. It does not take into account the difference between mechanical and electronic shutter, but it will give you a very good idea of usage.
- In-built shutter counter – There may be a camera out there that does this, but in my search I could not find one. Although, certain Nikon cameras have the shutter count built into the EXIF data.
- Using third party upload site – This way seems to be the most accessible way when all else fails. There are sites such as Camera Shutter Count Camera Shutter Count Checker and Shutter Count Dot Net (among many others) where you can upload a jpeg file and it will give you a reading of how many shutter actuations you have made.
“Conclusion – What Are My Shutter Counts?”
It is always useful to know your shutter count, if not for anything more than curiosity.
My shutter counts are as follows.
- Nikon ZF – just under 7600 shots.(14 months old)
- Nikon Z6ii – just under 20000 shots (3 years old)
Both camera were from brand new and boxed, so had a starting shutter of zero.
If you enjoyed this article, and want to read more fascinating photography related articles, please browse the website. There is a lot to offer, and a lot to enjoy. Thank you.
ONECAMERAONELENS.COM – YOUR ONE STOP WEBSITE FOR UNBIASED AND ACCURATE PHOTOGRAPHY RELATED MATERIAL
My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography. Feel free to like, comment and subscribe!
You can find all the latest articles and blogs on my homepage here.
My main photography social media page is my Photography By Mark G Adams page.
Nikon Recipes for the Z system can be found here.
You can find a complete list of my gear here.
DOWNLOAD THE LATEST “ADVENTURES IN PHOTOGRAPHY” MAGAZINE FOR FREE HERE
Photography By Mark G Adams 