Due to the popularity of this article, we have written a new one with updated content to answer all questions about the life of your camera.
Can you imagine the funeral of your camera? When I think about it, my hair stands on end. You will say that I am exaggerating, but some of us have a very intimate relationship with our SLR camera.
A reflex camera is, for many, like their girlfriend, or like an extension of their person: they understand her and she understands them, they provide her with the greatest pampering and care. After all, they must have paid a large amount of money for it, and over time an incalculable sentimental value has been added to that economic value.
But… cameras die, man. Yes, yes, exactly as it happens to us humans, a camera lives to fulfill a noble mission: to portray the beauty (or sadness) of the things that surround us, to give shape and color to our interpretation of the world, but once its life expectancy, the camera begins to show alterations in its behavior, dementia, anomalies, and when its time comes, it dies. It paralyzes. Isn’t it awesome?
But this is not an issue that should concern us, just like on the day of the birth of any baby, nobody worries about the moment in which that person will reach old age. However today I would like to explain in a little more detail what is the life expectancy of the cameras, as measured Y how can you find out.
How is the life expectancy of a photo camera measured?
In number of shots. Just as the number of kilometers that a car has traveled can give us an idea of its state of health and the life expectancy that remains, For photo cameras, it is the number of times the camera has shot a photo, which gives us an idea of the life of the photo..
How many “shots” does a camera live?
About 100,000, up to 150,000 even. The truth is that most brands move around 100,000 shots as life expectancy, although some firms like Canon present some of their most advanced or professional models with about 200,000 shots, in theory. I have to say that it also depends on the way those shots were fired. For example, shooting always in a burst can “tire” the camera more than if we shoot photos individually.
Yes but… How many “shots” will my camera last EXACTLY?
In any case, the estimated life of a camera is not something that we are going to find very explicitly on the camera box along with the specifications. It is an approximate value, and therefore if a camera is expected to have a life of 100,000 shots, that does not mean that it is possible to reach more, or perhaps less. As with humans, the life expectancy of people depending on the country or continent is known but it is not known with infallible accuracy.
If you still want to find out the life expectancy of your camera, there are Webs where they indicate, as a guide, the life expectancy of our camera depending on the brand and model. For example at https://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/ we have a good database of various camera models, although we may not find our model. Also say that the data on this website is very indicative, based on mere statistics, so consume with care.
And how many shots have I already…?
If you are curious to find out the shots you have taken with your camera, there is a very simple method. We simply visit this page: https://www.myshuttercount.com/ where we will provide a photo taken with our camera (the most recent photo possible) and the same page will give us a series of useful data, among which is the number of shots taken up to that moment.
To do the test on the page you have to click on the button Select Filebeside “Select photo” and once our photo is selected, click on “Upload files”. The photo can be JPG, RAW, the only thing is that it has to be original, just as it was taken with the camera, without having been edited or retouched.
After clicking on “Upload files” information will appear. The number of shots data appears as «Shutter count».
Is 100,000 shots not enough?
I assure you it is a lot. Obviously there will be users who take 1,000 shots a day every day, those do not count, but for a normal user on foot who uses the camera with some frequency to document trips, events, as well as to carry out some exercise and photographic project from time to time how much, I assure you that 100,000 shots is not little. What’s more, it is very likely that your camera will be considered “obsolete” before you reach half of those 100,000 shots.
Take the test, upload a photo to the page that I mentioned before and see how many shots you have taken since you bought it for the first time. You will get a surprise.
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