I was researching used camera market and see if I can get a new one. Many times during my research, I came across wording such as reddit essentially saying cameras are rated for shutter count.
I tried searching and could not find a documentation on Sony website that actually supports this. Anyone knows if there’s official document from manufacturer that supports these kinds of statements?
Sideline question, I’ve came across lot of reasons about not using electronic shutters. Does it really make that big difference between mechanical and electronic shutters
"… > “The Sony cameras have all been tested for a certain amount of release cycles. They Sony a6500, Sony a6400, and Sony a6100 have been tested for 200,000 shutter release cycles and the Sony a7RII, a7RIII, and Sony a9 have been tested for 500,000. We don’t have information for the Sony a7III, but it’s likely to be the same as the Sony a7R III at 500,000.“
“Honestly, shutter count lifespan is pretty overrated for your camera. Most people will never reach the shutter count lifespan number during normal use. In addition, even if the number was reached, it doesn’t mean your camera will just stop working. The official shutter count lifespan for the Sony a6500, Sony a6400, and Sony a6100 is 200,000 and 500,000 for the Sony a7R III and Sony a9.”
The official recommendation from Sony for shutter count lifespan is 200,000 for the Sony a6500, Sony a6400, Sony a6100 and 500,000 for the Sony a7R III and Sony a9. In reality though, it could be less or could be more.
On average, I take about 6700 images per year on my Nikon D3500, so with 100000 shutter lifespan, I’m not reaching it any time soon (I’m at 31000 currently). As it is mentioned, it could fail sooner, but also later than that.
Yes, engineers who design the shutter mechanism have a figure in mind, and the idea is that with that many shots, only a small percentage of shutters should fail. But this does not mean that the shutter will not work after that: in the majority of cases, it will carry on and work fine, it is just that the failure rate from wear and tear exceeds some tolerance. Note that the failure rate is not zero at any point in the product’s lifecycle, and it may not be much larger at the “rated” life expectancy than the minimum.
(Engineers use an U-shaped curve to describe this process, based on which it makes sense to get a camera which has seen some usage if it is not under warranty, so you weed out the ones with a manufacturing defect).
Also, shutter mechanisms are relatively easy to replace for a qualified camera repair shop. It is but one of the things that can break on your camera and may require repair.
FWIW, this guy says something similar. Basically, looking at the physical signs of how a camera has been treated is more important than shutter count, which people focus on because it’s the only quantifiable metric. He’d rather have a 200,000 shutter count camera that’s been treated well than a lower count but battered body. He says his ideal used camera is around 70,000 actuations. Enough to show it’s not a manufacturing dud, but still low enough that the shutter has plenty of life.
You can learn a lot by paying close attention to shutter part numbers that you can often see in camera teardown. Websites and videos can show this.
For Sony A7/A7R/A7S, for example, they all use the same part. The A7R is harder on shutters because of all the opening and closing it does. It has no first-curtain E-shutter. So the A7R is a little different than the A7 and A7S. The A7 and A7S seem to be rated for 200,000 cycles.
The next release of cameras contain a different part number shutter. This is where Sony started claiming a 500,000 duty cycle.
I’ve seen two things in the “real world.” The first is “banding” when using electronic shutters in, say, museums when the shutter speed is set to more than 1/40th of a second. The second is for photographing things in motion. Think Jacques Henri Lartigue and his famous automobile photo.
Regarding mechanical shutters and using electronic first curtain, there is a situation I’ve encountered where certain combinations of light direction, shutter speed and aperture can really mess up the out of focus regions of an image. Under just the “right” conditions there’s a shadow thrown by the mechanical curtain following the electronic curtain. In this case problem is noted by Sony and is solved by either going full electronic or full mechanical.
One of the camera shops I’ve used regularly sees Canon 5D (original) come through with well over 1,000,000 releases on their original shutters. I think that’s pretty amazing.
To the point of the video, knock on wood, none of my cameras have ever had a shutter failure purchased new or used. I recently picked up an A7RII for cheap because it has approx 73,000 releases and the guy I bought it from knew that was really the only measure available to us as buyers. I feel “good” about the purchase because of the things said in the video and because I’m finding myself in more situations where I use an electronic shutter (which adds zero to the shutter count).
I agree if something going to fail early, it’s better to buy outside an early range as proof the thing will be reliable. I have a Sony A6000 with well north of 150,000 releases on the shutter. I’ve treated it well, though it did have a 2 foot fall to concrete 4 years ago. And the more I talk around this the more I realize price is everything and the only thing. What price am I sensitive to and buy at that price or lower.
Reporters Sans Frontiers recently published a journal of 100 images by Jacques Henri Lartigue. Therein is described how this image was forgotten until Lartigue saw how much attention an image of Man Ray’s was getting. Lartigue went into his stack of negatives and retrieved the “failure” he was looking for, printed it, and the rest is history. In fact, few people seem to remember Man Ray’s photo in that style. We tend to only remember the Lartigue.
As an side, I just tried to find the Man Ray image and once again experience what a pile of sh*t the web has become. Ugh.
