Shutter Life

So I'm wondering...for the D300 it shows a shutter life of about 150,000 and

the D3 about 300,000. My question is, when your shutter 'dies' how do you get

this repaired? I'm assuming a new shutter can be placed in the camera, but is

this feasable, meaning would it make the camera new again (or as new as it'll

be given the circumstances) Also, does anyone have an estimated price to get a

shutter replaced? Will the new shutter affect anything such as image quality or

can you simple replace the shutter and shoot for another 150,000 or whatever

the case is for the particular camera? Thanks in advance!

I don't know the answer to Brendan's question but I find the question of shutter life very interesting. 150,000 shots sounds like a lot, and would probably last the average shooter many years. But there are many PJ-style wedding photographers, for example, who talk about routinely shooting 1,000 images at a wedding (even if they say they're giving the bride 500, there's the frames shot to frames delivered ratio to consider). For thsoe kinds of numbers, that means the camera is good for only 150 weddings. If you're shooting 50 weddings a year, that's three years. Never heard of having to toss a Hasselblad after three years. I wonder what the shutter cycle ratings were on film cameras?

Film cameras are about the same except for Leica M with cloth shutter curtains. These last 400,000 without showing signs of wear by design.

I know people who put 250,000 on them and they still work.

 

The Canon rep said their camerras come in sometimes with 1,000,000 actuations on them, pro cameras that is, not Rebels.

Craig

 

If you shot a Hassy that much in three years you would be replacing parts on it.That would be 12500 rolls of film at a cost of somewhere around $52000. Thats for the film alone...

 

So I can see where replacing the shutter in a DSLR ofter 3 years of use is cheep compared to film.

 

Right now a lot of people are changing cameras faster then every Three years.

 

Michael

Hasselblads and other cameras used by pros are overhauled once a year. There are 40+ year old Hasselblads still out there clicking away. As for digital cameras, yes, the shutter unit can be replaced.

^^thanks for the replies, any idea on costs?

Why not call Nikon Service and ask? No doubt they have a repair schedule for each of their cameras, for this issue.

Probably some where in the $250 to $350 range.

Wearing the shutter out is not something I would be worried about.

 

Michael

Awesome, thanks a lot guys, I appreciate it.

You can be sure that whatever it costs to replace the shutter it will exceed the value of your

old camera.

Planned obsolescence comes to mind....

Someone sent an F5 to Nikon and the shutter had over a million actuations on it. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but yes, you can get the shutters replaced on them. But I'd only do it on a pro-level camera.

 

Yes, I routinely put over 700 images on my D2H at an event. No problem at all. But I don't do that *every* day.

 

No idea on the cost.

 

To quote the D2H Magic Lantern Guide quoting a press realease:

 

"Service engineers at a Nikon Service Centre were amazed to discover during routine servicing recently that a Nikon F5 had achieved 1,092,904 shutter releases without fault. Translating into about 35 kilometers of film, this figure is a testament to the durable design of the mechanism, now also shared by the D2H digital SLR. To put the 1,092,904 shutter releases into context, it equates to 34 hours of continuous shooting at 8 frames per second."

I don't know specifically what a shutter costs but the most expensive replacement possible on a D2H according to Nikon Service Center is right at $450.00. At that price they replace anything needed, CLA, replace the rubber as needed and warrent the repairs for 6 months. I think the CLA and rubber stuff costs about $250.00. Putting this into perspective, the D300 is $1800.00. Spending a couple of hundred dollars every other year seems very reasonable to me.

 

Another pro I know sends each of his three bodies (2XD2X and 1 D2H) to Nikon for CLA every year. He considers this a reasonable cost of doing business. I suspect he is right.

A few years ago I met a free lance photojournalist who used a pair of Canon EOS-1 bodies. After a few years of hard use he sent one in for an overhaul, even tho' nothing was wrong with the camera. He just didn't want it to fail on the job.

 

He was surprised to learn that the camera had over 250,000 shutter cycles on it. Canon went ahead and rebuilt it since the fellow subscribed to their pro service.

 

I've heard similar stories about Nikons and top of the line Minoltas, Pentaxes and Olympus (OM series) bodies. These puppies were designed for long life and they all seem to live up to the hype.

I had a blown shutter replaced on an F100 a couple of years ago. It was around $250 as I recall. Any qualified repair shop can do this.

 

 

Kent in SD