# How many actuations on your Canons?



## Bosman (Apr 5, 2012)

According to Canon Professional Services I took over 343,849 photos on the 1dm3 camera i sent in 2010. That was the second time I had it replaced, i never got a number from them the first time but i am sure it was up there.
My buddy has never had his 50D in for repair and i'd wager he has somewhere around 500,000, why do i think that? Because before we even started our own sports photog company he was using it to shoot sports for other companies and since then only my 1dm3 has been in 2x, last time in 2010. 
His 50D was made in the heavens i think! lol


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## prestonpalmer (Apr 5, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*

My 5D2 is somewhere in the 250,000 range. On the ORIGINAL SHUTTER!!! Yikes. Good thing its now my wedding photography backup camera


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## Bosman (Apr 6, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*



prestonpalmer said:


> My 5D2 is somewhere in the 250,000 range. On the ORIGINAL SHUTTER!!! Yikes. Good thing its now my wedding photography backup camera


Are you a Canon CPS Member? If so then you have free inspect and clean coupons, wouldn't hurt to use one for that body.


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## prestonpalmer (Apr 6, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*



Bosman said:


> Are you a Canon CPS Member? If so then you have free inspect and clean coupons, wouldn't hurt to use one for that body.



Yes. I'm a CPS member. I sent my 5D2 in not long ago when some buttons stopped working after a torrential ice cold rain storm followed instantly by a step into a 84 degree, 100% humidity tropical green house during an EPIC wedding. (yup, some buttons got wonky. First time ive every had a button fail on me on any of my cameras) So sent it into CPS. They changed the LCD, Back Body piece, top LCD, all new buttons, shutter button, just about everything. The thing looked brand spankin new when I got it back. I noted on the repair sheet to take a look at the shutter due to the count, response was "Shutter OK." So... guess that means I get to wait till it fails then ill send it in again! 

I love CPS! Especially amazing for us Wedding Photographers!


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## Daniel Flather (Apr 6, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*

My 5d3 has 2k on it. 

Wow, 500,000 on a 50D is amazing. That's amazing for any camera.


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## Bosman (Apr 6, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*



prestonpalmer said:


> Bosman said:
> 
> 
> > Are you a Canon CPS Member? If so then you have free inspect and clean coupons, wouldn't hurt to use one for that body.
> ...


Wow, I wonder how much a new lcd costs i wouldnt mind my 5d classic getting a new one the old one looks green tinted and faded....


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## Bosman (Apr 6, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*



Daniel Flather said:


> My 5d3 has 2k on it.
> 
> Wow, 500,000 on a 50D is amazing. That's amazing for any camera.


Yea we used our company to pay us to rent our equipment since the sports company we own didn't buy them. I told him i was glad we did that because i just used it up that year for repairs. It was $730 and that is with 20% off for the gold membership! He will need to replace it sooner or later but if he sends it in i am going to have him request a shutter count because i would love to hear what it is.


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## Wideopen (Apr 8, 2012)

My 7d has 3k my t2i has 5k and I still haven't broken my 1st 100 pix on the 5d mark III


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## prestonpalmer (Apr 8, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*



Bosman said:


> prestonpalmer said:
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The entire repair was $150!!!! Super cheap!! And my cam looks like new!


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## Bosman (Apr 9, 2012)

*Re: Who has had the most actuations on their Canons?*



prestonpalmer said:


> Bosman said:
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Unheard of! Tempted to call them and ask for a new lcd. maybe i need ot break it before they do it lol. No, i wont do that if you are wondering!


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## ippikiokami (Apr 9, 2012)

I remember talking to Dan Heller (danheller.com)when I bought a newly serviced 1ds2 from him. He had 750k actuations on that camera before the shutter went out and had a million+ on some other cameras!

I probably have around 250k on my 5d2. That camera is a trooper! Thinking about using a free cps cleaning later this month.


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## keithfullermusic (Apr 9, 2012)

Last I checked I was over 35,000 on my 50D


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## simonxu11 (Apr 9, 2012)

around 16,000 on my 50D


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## Hill Benson (Apr 9, 2012)

Only about 5500 on my 50D :-[

Seems very insignificant to 500,000! It's great to know what the 50D is capable of (even if that figure is in the heavens). I was expecting around 100,000 (before expecting to replace components) from my 50D when I first purchased it.


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## gabfer (Apr 9, 2012)

How can I check how many actuations on a 50D?

Thank you!


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## gmrza (Apr 9, 2012)

gabfer said:


> How can I check how many actuations on a 50D?
> 
> Thank you!



For Windows users, there is EosInfo (Google is your friend). For Mac users, I think the easiest way may be to install gphoto2. I have just written a small shell script to first kill the PTPCamera daemon, and then call gphoto2:


```
#!/bin/sh

#Stop the PTPCamera daemon
killall PTPCamera

gphoto2 --get-config /main/status/shuttercounter
```

The above assumes that gphoto2 is in your path. (Yes, sloppy, I know.)


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## Tcapp (Apr 9, 2012)

90k on my 5d2. maybe 2k on my 5d3.


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## Tijn (Apr 9, 2012)

I've just over 8300 actuations on my 60D, I think.
But I've only had it since the start of february (new), so that's 8300 in just over 3 months. It was an upgrade to a 350D with an estimated 50-80k actuations (in 5,5 years). As my second DSLR ever, there were lots of test images and, after that, 'random pointless' shoots outside just for shooting's sake. I'm also usually the designated photographer of some group activities.

When I was away for one weekend recently, I shot 1000 pictures during 3 days of doing all sorts of stuff (among which 250 shots during an indoor basketball training - challenging because I'd not done lots of indoor stuff yet, and have no fast tele lens).


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## thure1982 (Apr 9, 2012)

40D
at least 100k


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## candyman (Apr 9, 2012)

I am over 10,000 actuations with my 7D. I use the EOScount.com utility


Btw After I reached 9999.CR2 the filenaming started all over from 0001. I really HATE that.
Is there a way to change that or not?


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## RAKAMRAK (Apr 9, 2012)

16957 on my 40D. When I bought it, it had around 5900. 11000 photographs in eight months.


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## JR (Apr 9, 2012)

~15,000 on my 5D mkII


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## Ew (Apr 9, 2012)

Far more GB on video than stills, but:
24030 on 7D (2 years)
4632 on 5D2 (2 months)


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## Ew (Apr 9, 2012)

For anyone having a tough time installing gphoto2 on a mac, try going the Macports route.

The tough terminal part is done via gui during macports install, then auto install of gphoto2 from terminal with the command: 

sudo apt-get install gphoto2

Details here (including link to MacPorts download):
http://blog.dcclark.net/2009/05/how-to-gphoto-primer.html

To be honest, I'd be curious to see if this matches what Canon service reports on actuation count. Just sent 7D in for service (been getting the Error 30 message in humid climates), and requested a shutter actuation count from them. I'll check with gphoto once I get it back to see if it actually reports the correct numbers.

Has anyone done this already?


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## Ew (Apr 9, 2012)

candyman said:


> I am over 10,000 actuations with my 7D. I use the EOScount.com utility
> 
> 
> Btw After I reached 9999.CR2 the filenaming started all over from 0001. I really HATE that.
> Is there a way to change that or not?



If you're using Aperture or LR, have the masters renamed to your preferred naming convention (including date, time and original file name/#)


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## candyman (Apr 9, 2012)

Ew said:


> candyman said:
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> > I am over 10,000 actuations with my 7D. I use the EOScount.com utility
> ...




I do not have LR or Aperture.


The naming convention made me think:


Currently files are named "Img_xxxx.CR2"
That is 8 positions - dot - 3 positions. This exist from the Microsoft DOS period. 
I assume that if I skip on the "Img_" there will be 4 additional character spaces that can be filled with a number. Theoratically it should allow 10001.CR2 and later 100001.CR2 and later 1000001.CR and if the camera would allow it even 10000001.CR2
Or....am I wrong in this assumption?


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## RAKAMRAK (Apr 9, 2012)

candyman said:


> Ew said:
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> > candyman said:
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Even if you do not use LR or Aperture the naming convention should not be a problem. But if you use EOS utility then the following method should help. 

Open EOS utility
Click on "Preferences" button at the bottom of the dialogue window.
Select "File Name" Tab
Click on the button which probably has "Do not Modify (Download Images)" a drop down list will appear.
You have four options to choose from.
I prefer the last "Shooting Date+Prefix+Number". But it depends on your preference.
Now you can play with the "Customize" button, number of digits, start etc. You are no longer limited by the camera's numbering system.
See what options suits your needs and what you like.
Save these preferences and then when you download your images they will be names according to your choices.
You can also change the destination folder to download the images in the first tab.

Hope this helps.


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## Raddy (Apr 9, 2012)

The topic just reminded me of this website:

http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/
http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/sitemap.php

I guess not really up to date but still quite interesting.


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## Marsu42 (Apr 9, 2012)

Raddy said:


> The topic just reminded me of this website



Thanks - this is just what I was looking for. My 60d now has ~60k actuations, and I'm thinking about saving shutter cycles by taking less high speed bursts, focus stacks and so on. Pity this site doesn't say anything about the 60d - but looking at the other bodies, it seems life expectancy of a shutter is at least 2 times the warranty number?


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## RLPhoto (Apr 9, 2012)

7D - 75,000 Actuations

5Dc - 160,000 Acutations  - Its bound to die soon, and I'll Mourn it...

Hmmm, Should I send in the 5D to CPS for repair or Does that 5D3 look more attractive?


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## Bosman (Apr 9, 2012)

RLPhoto said:


> 7D - 75,000 Actuations
> 
> 5Dc - 160,000 Acutations  - Its bound to die soon, and I'll Mourn it...
> 
> Hmmm, Should I send in the 5D to CPS for repair or Does that 5D3 look more attractive?


Selling your 5d is like selling a child, dont sell it! Buy a 5d3 when you get the cash but the 5d Classic is still better than any new camera below the 5d3 level IMO.


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## Bosman (Apr 9, 2012)

On May 6th, next month i will shoot approx. 10,000 images in that day alone. I have a marathon to shoot and hired 5 other guys that usually bring in 7-10,000 also. There are around 8,000 participants and we try to get 2 or 3 of each person if possible. Of course we miss people but we try.


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## candyman (Apr 9, 2012)

RAKAMRAK said:


> candyman said:
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> > Ew said:
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Great! Thanks for your help. I just didn't explore the EOS utility in that way. Sloppy of me!


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## Positron (Apr 9, 2012)

candyman said:


> The naming convention made me think:
> 
> 
> Currently files are named "Img_xxxx.CR2"
> ...



You're almost correct. The reason that they are named IMG_xxxx.CR2 is indeed an archaism from the DOS days when files were limited to 8 bytes of name and 3 bytes of extension. However, that restriction exists only as an archaism/compatibility issue, and therefore, there's practically no limit to what you can rename your files. Older versions of Windows allowed names and extensions up to 255 characters each, and I believe newer versions, as well as modern Mac and Linux implementations, allow even more than that, so for practical purposes you can rename the file whatever you want.

There's a side-issue at work here, which is that due to long-entrenched standards, CF and SD both use FAT (usually 32, occasionally 16) for their file system. These exceptionally old filesystems (FAT16 was finalized in 1984, positively ancient by computing standards) are basically still used because they work and the industry is allergic to change. They do allow longer filenames than 8 characters, but because of the way they are represented internally, file corruption is not impossible if you use names longer than that, and they're more interested in being reliable than being pretty. It's also cheaper since the firmware backbone to deal with it already exists. If they switched to a modern file system like ext4 or even NTFS, all of these issues would evaporate, and it would become trivial to add to the firmware options to let you format your filenames however you please, so the camera would be able to let you do something like Positron_[YYYYMMDD]_[shuttercount].cr2 or whatever else you wanted.

The reason they don't do this is because they haven't done it yet, and if a new camera supported ext4, anyone who used it would have a card incompatible with any camera before it, people would try to put their card into the other camera, it would say it needs to be formatted, and they'd lose shots since they'd need to find and format a card without pictures on it already, assuming they even have one. And then they'd complain, and Canon would look bad for trying to make a step into the future.

Bottom line: When you're trying to make money, sometimes you have to do things that are patently retarded to keep your competitive edge.


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## 7enderbender (Apr 9, 2012)

Related question only less technical:

How many pictures per event does all this translate to? I don't do any this for a living but have been covering several events lately. Mostly live music and fundraisers etc.
I figure that I shoot about 500 pictures per event of which 100 or so make it into a final selection for processing and for the client to use and/or pick from.

And even if I did one of those once a week it would only come out to 26,000 actuations per year. My 5DII is now two years old and has about 9000 or so actuations on it. It's like brand new. And to me it feels like I have used it a lot. Maybe it's coming more or less directly from film. But I can't get myself just clicking away.


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## RLPhoto (Apr 10, 2012)

7enderbender said:


> Related question only less technical:
> 
> How many pictures per event does all this translate to? I don't do any this for a living but have been covering several events lately. Mostly live music and fundraisers etc.
> I figure that I shoot about 500 pictures per event of which 100 or so make it into a final selection for processing and for the client to use and/or pick from.
> ...



Let's say I do some photoshoots per week. 1000 photos all together per week and that times 52 weeks is 52,000 photos a year. That over a 3 year life of a camera is about 150,000 shutter actuations. 

It can add up quickly over time.


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## DHL1313 (Apr 10, 2012)

2008 50D 68,000
2007 40D 11,000

40D shutter count worked fine on a mac


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## candyman (Apr 10, 2012)

Positron said:


> candyman said:
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> > The naming convention made me think:
> ...




Ok. Just a check: so if I name my files: [shooting date][prefix][number (6 digits)].CR2 is that too long with risk of filecorruption or damage to the memorycard? Especially shooting AI-servo 8fps?


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## prestonpalmer (Apr 10, 2012)

Bosman said:


> On May 6th, next month i will shoot approx. 10,000 images in that day alone. I have a marathon to shoot and hired 5 other guys that usually bring in 7-10,000 also. There are around 8,000 participants and we try to get 2 or 3 of each person if possible. Of course we miss people but we try.



Yikes. That's A LOT of photos!!!


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## Positron (Apr 10, 2012)

candyman said:


> Positron said:
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There's no risk once the images are off the card, and there's no way to set the camera to write the filenames like that while they're still on the card, so no. The only risk I could think of is if you had more than 999,999 such images and put them all on one card at the same time (which is when the card would no longer be able to tell them apart and you'd get corruption).


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## AnselA (Apr 10, 2012)

Remind me never to buy a body from any of you.


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## phemark (Apr 10, 2012)

AnselA said:


> Remind me never to buy a body from any of you.


Exactly my thoughts  - although they will look perfect and well kept (probably  ) on the outside, in the inside shutter has done a billion ups and downs


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## birdman (Apr 11, 2012)

5d2 bought in July 2010. Less than 8,000 actuations!!

It is practically new!! If I change over to D800, someone will be getting a flawless camera for a REAL BARGAIN!!

All my gear is well taken care of. There's no doubt that DSLR would last me 10 solid years. Great quality. Heck, I met a guy who used his 5d2 for wildlife shooting and it was so beat up the LCD had glass chunks missing on two of the outer edges!! I shot it a little (before I bought mine) and that wonderful Canon 5d shutter sound was still perfect. I'm willing to bet he had 150,000+ actuations on that camera!!


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## bvukich (Apr 11, 2012)

My old XSi was at about 50k last time I checked. And my 60D is somewhere north of 30k (I haven't actually checked the count, but the file numbering recently rolled over a third time).


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## Bosman (Apr 11, 2012)

AnselA said:


> Remind me never to buy a body from any of you.


LOL! I tried parting with my 1dm3 to get another 5dm3 but i couldn't get enough for it and it is a heck of a lot more valuable to me than some shmo asking how many actuations before buying it haha. Beside The internals getting replaced pretty much means new every time because my body has minimal scuffing, looks new cept the bottom where i used to attach my monopod, now i use a RRS plate and Tilt head. All the buttons and dials are D series quality, still about as snappy and responsive as when i bought it new in 2007.


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## Bosman (Apr 11, 2012)

prestonpalmer said:


> Bosman said:
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> > On May 6th, next month i will shoot approx. 10,000 images in that day alone. I have a marathon to shoot and hired 5 other guys that usually bring in 7-10,000 also. There are around 8,000 participants and we try to get 2 or 3 of each person if possible. Of course we miss people but we try.
> ...


Ha! The real ouch will be with my eyes from going thru 60,000 images in a weeks time while living on monster energy drink lol.


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## gmrza (Apr 11, 2012)

Bosman said:


> prestonpalmer said:
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I take my hat off to you on that one! My wife did some jobs last year which each involved shooting between 5000 and 6000 images in 5 days each. Living with her while she was doing the post work was a challenge! Shooting over 1000 images per day with a gripped 5DII, 70-200mm f/2.8 and 580EXII for 5 days also did wonders for her upper body muscle tone!


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## Bosman (Apr 11, 2012)

gmrza said:


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;D


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## RAKAMRAK (Apr 11, 2012)

candyman said:


> Positron said:
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Do not worry, you are not changing the file naming within the camera. Camera will still name is as _MG_XXXX.CR2 or IMG_XXXX.CR2. It is only when you are transferring the pictures to your computer that they get renames. Moreover, why use 6 digits? if you are adding [shooting date] to the then 6 digits are superfluous. Are you a professional who might capture more than 10,000 pictures on a single day, ever? If your answer is no to both then 4 digits are enough, if your answer is yes to the second part (more than 10,000 picture on a single day) then 5 digits will be enough (even if you are a professional you cannot possibly take more than or equal to 100,000 photographs a day).


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