At some point, you may need to know how many times the shutter of your Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) digital camera has been opened and closed. Sure if you bought your camera new, then you may be able to look at the number of pictures on your PC and guess roughly how many times the shutter has been triggered. But this method is crude at best. This information is logged however in the camera and certain utilities can be used to access it.
After having my Canon EOS 7D for over a year, I decided to sell my Canon EOS 40D. Great camera, but it ended up just sitting on my shelf for too long after having the 7D and I came to the realization that I just didn’t need it now or in the near future. So, I decided to sell it through Amazon. As part of that though, I did feel that it was important that I accurately present the usage of the camera, specifically the shutter count as the body was in good shape. Thus, I sought out a program that could read the shutter count of the Canon EOS 40D (review from DP Review).
After a good deal of research, I found the program EOSInfo which works really well with the older camera bodies, such as the Canon 40D. The Canon 40D has an estimated shutter life of 100,000 cycles, which is a ton of captures. My Canon 40D came in at less than 8% of that with a shutter count of 7411. Sadly, I thought I took more pictures than that. Here’s a screenshot of the EOSInfo program though.
My Canon EOS 40D Shutter Count from EOSInfo
After selling the Canon 40D, I was a bit curious if there was a program that also worked with the Canon EOS 7D. The DP Review mentioned EOS Count as an online alternative for measuring the shutter count of some of the newer EOS bodies, such as the 60D and 7D. I have not used it personally at this time, but it may be worth checking it out if you are interested as the reviews did indicate success with them.
You would think that this information would be available through the camera, so hopefully this helps you obtain the shutter counts of your digital SLRs. Happy shooting friends.