Life of a DSLR

I have now bought a Nikon D70, and am really shooting day-in day out.

Obviously there is going to be wear and tear . But i have heard that

a D70 shutter life is about 50000 clicks and that roughly translates

into 4-5 yrs after which u have to change the shutter....which is as

costly as buying a new camera???? any one who can shed light on this?

 

Thanx for the response...

After 4-5 years, if the shutter fails in your D70 you probably won't mind buying a whole new DSLR. In that time they'll become much better and cheaper than your D70.

guess...it is true.....

I have to agree with Conrad...I also would assume the 50k actuations to be a conservative estimate. Look at it this way...it's the equivalent of roughly 1,400 rolls of film. If you figure $10 a pop for a processed roll of slides it's not costly at all.

50000 shots over 5 years means 10K images a year or about 200 per week, week after week. Do you really shoot that much? That is the equivalent of over 5 rolls of 36 per week, for every week over 5 years.

 

I have had a D100 for close to 3 years and certainly haven't shot nearly that much.

My D100 shutter died around 30K cycles (10 months after I bought it). A technician told me that published numbers are meaningless - they shutter can go at any time.

And how much did it cost to replace it...Rich???

As far as i know, here in Portugal, shutter replacement will cost around 200 USD. And yes, both equipment and assistance is expensive here, at least compared to prices in other European countries.

 

Still, it is cheaper than buying a new D70.

I'm in the same shoes as Rich - my d100 blew it waaaaay before 50,000 cycles. But, had shutter replaced (mirror too) for something like 150 Euros.

It was still under a one year warranty. This isn't a DSLR thing. I've blown shutters on three film SLRs.

Well, in a way, it is a bigger problem for DSLRs because there is no more film and processing cost. Therefore, people tend to shoot at will with their DSLRs. With film, when you know that every time you take a shot it costs 30 cents (or whatever it is), most people won't shoot as much.

This has been my option. Shoot the pictures and don't worry about the shutter. It will break when it breaks and there is nothing you can do about it. If it breaks while it's still under warrenty then that is great. If it breaks off of warrenty, look at the cost of getting it repaired vs getting it replaced. Just think of it as the "cost of doing business." Like owning a car, something is going to break soon or later and your going to have to pony up and pay to have it fixed.

 

On the other hand if it breaks after 4 or 5 years of use, then its had a good life and you might want to look at upgrading to a more current model.

At the rate I was shooting my D2H for the first couple of weeks - around 500 shots a day - I figured mine would wear out in a year or so, assuming the 150,000-250,000 cycle estimate for pro bodies is correct.

 

Since the first couple of weeks, tho', I've slowed down to a more sensible rate of 100 frames or less per day. So now I'm worried that my D2H won't wear out fast enough to justify buying a significantly better model within five years.

Perhaps a lot of shots taken during the warranty period is not such a bad thing. Although there is a statistical/theoretical mean average of shutter life, a percentage of cameras fail early on and some last longer than expected. Would rather put some milage on the shutter during warranty and weed out a potential weak one. :)

Do you people have time to work?

Ansel Adams noted he had about fourty negatives worth a damn.

Rich: do you release the shutter with you fingers? didn't they tell you there is a button to do it? ;-)

All mechanical things vary from sample to sample. Some live WAY past their design life,

some don't.

<p>

My personal experience is:

<p>

<ul>

<li>D100: 25,000 shots in 18 months

<li>D100: 70,000 shots in 2 years

<li>D100: 50,000 shots in a year

<li>D70; 40,000 shots in 6 months

<li>D2H: 28,000 shots in 1 year

</ul>

<p>

Daily shots range from 50 to 2,500 (long days, continuous shooting).

<p>

After 30,000 cycles I extected the D70 & D100s to die at any time, but they keep on

working (I sold one of the D100s).

<p>

So far, I am <b>very</b> impressed with how long the shutters (and everything else)

have held up on the cameras I use on a daily basis.

<p>

Your milage may vary.

Matt, may I asked why you shoot so many picture. What do you do with them? Just curious...

 

Remco Jan Woldhuis

i've blatted off about 15,500 frames since last September when i got my D70.

i'm hopeing it'll last as well as the shutter in my F5, something around the 220,000 frames mark last time i checked.

if it packs it in at 50,000 frames, i will be muchos pissed off.