Shutter life: how many frames is ok for an SLR?

[Odot]

Can this even be generally determined or does it depend on the individual model and manufacturer?

Thanks!

 

[onre]

Of course it depends. Shutters vary greatly in this regard.

 

[blockend]

Don't worry about it. Your camera is probably 20 to 50 years old and all kinds of stuff can fail, with the shutter being one of the least likely. I've only ever known one die, and that was user error when my wife trapped a film leader in a metal shutter.

 

[Odot]

Of course it depends. Shutters vary greatly in this regard.

What about a Nikon F100? I believe i read somewhere that it was 100k frames but i cannot find the link anymore.

 

[benjiboy]

The Canon F1 Titanium shutter is good according to the manufacturers for at least 150,000 exposures.

 

[shutterfinger]

Back when I bought my F4 new I was told that Nikon guaranteed their shutters for 50,000 trip cycles for amateur/user cameras and 100,000 trip cycles for pro level cameras.
Such technical information has been removed from current web sites.

 

[Leigh B]

Back when I was servicing Nikons I don't recall finding a bad shutter, although some of them were not as reliable as they should have been.
We always replaced any vertical-travel "Copal Square" ones that were not 100%, and repaired any horizontal-travel ones with issues.

Our clients were mostly pro press photographers in the Washington DC area, who expected their gear to work 100% all the time.
Their shutter counts would probably run off the end of the blackboard.

- Leigh

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I dunno, I usually quit on all SLRs before they quits, if ever. John Free hasn't quit from his Nikon SLR which is in use for decades and another one of his is in use by his son (if I'm not mistaken). I don't remember him mentioning shutter failure.

 

[BMbikerider]

I don't think that the number of times a shutter is operated with us film photographers. It is some of the digi guys, who think nothing of fireing off 40+ exposures on a single subject just in case something has moved. We are more selective! The Nikon F6 I use has a readout on a small back view window that tells me how many films have been through the camera. With my camera which I bought 'used' with around 150 films through the camera. it now is showing 243 (About a years worth) and the films used were mostly 24 exps so not an accurate record of the number of exposures. I estimate the total number of exposures my camera has done is somewhere betwen 5832 and 8748 give or take a couple of hundred. So by Nikon standards it is almost unused. Whilst I do not expect the camera to give as long a sevice as say a Nikon F2, I don't expect any bother too soon.

 

[MattKing]

Anyone who wears out a shutter on a film SLR through normal use must think he/she is the Dennis Hopper character in Apocalypse Now.*

Those recommendations are really designed for maintenance schedules (in a commercial/professional environment) not reliability estimates.

EDIT: *For those who don't remember, Dennis Hopper's character had run out of film a long time before.

 

[ic-racer]

I usually use them right up until the frame after which they stop working.

 

[GRHazelton]

I bought a Praktica LTL 1973, IIRC. I used it heavily, some abuse - not intentional - and then set it aside when I went with Pentax K mount. A few months ago I hauled it out. The excellent 50mm f1.8 Oreston or some such needs cleaning, the diaphragm is sluggish. The shutter? Sounds good at slow speeds. Gotta love those GDR cameras! A little agricultural, but tough as nails.

 

[chip j]

My Nikon Fs all developed shuttter bounce, and so did my freind"s.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The only 35mm SLR that I ever had a problem with had an occasional shutter problem when I bought it and managed to give me good service for six years until I graduated college and bought a new one to replace it. 4"x5" SLRs require more care but I can make repairs on them.

 

[mrred]

I bought a Praktica LTL 1973, IIRC. I used it heavily, some abuse - not intentional - and then set it aside when I went with Pentax K mount. A few months ago I hauled it out. The excellent 50mm f1.8 Oreston or some such needs cleaning, the diaphragm is sluggish. The shutter? Sounds good at slow speeds. Gotta love those GDR cameras! A little agricultural, but tough as nails.

You got lucky. In '76 it was my first SLR. My first taste of a camera jam that couldn't get fixed. It was cheaper to buy a new camera.

In 2005 I got all nostalgic and looked the world over for another one. That's when I realized not many survived and there were abundant stories on how unreliable they were.

Enjoy yours. Don't break it because parts will be rare.

 

[onre]

My Nikon Fs all developed shuttter bounce, and so did my freind"s.

Caused by the shutter curtain brake mechanism going out of adjustment. Easy to adjust back to specifications with a rotating-drum shutter tester.

 

[Agulliver]

My Praktica BX20S which I've had since new in 1993 has had over 1000 rolls of film through it....so at least 30,000 shutter firings given that I mostly use 36 exposure cassettes.

Come to think of it none of my SLRs have shutter failure except the little Minolta 110 SLR. My older Prakticas and Nikon F601M are all fine though the BX20S has by far had the most use. That camera has been to on several long haul flights in checked baggage, dropped on stone floors, even down a flight of stairs...it's had one major repair (after dropping on the stone floor) and keeps on going.

 

[Odot]

My Nikon Fs all developed shuttter bounce, and so did my freind"s.

For the sake of argument, if i got a F100, would i be able to recieve some servicing by Nikon? Keep in mind, the camera is 250 bucks over here so the repairing fee needs to be reasonable.

 

[chip j]

My F100's back door plastic latches broke, so I got a N80.. I sent 2 Fs out for repair, one to Nikon & the other to Marty Forscher of Professional Camera Repair. For $200 ea. neither fixed the shutter bounce!

 

[fstop]

Anyone who wears out a shutter on a film SLR through normal use must think he/she is the Dennis Hopper character in Apocalypse Now.*

Those recommendations are really designed for maintenance schedules (in a commercial/professional environment) not reliability estimates.

EDIT: *For those who don't remember, Dennis Hopper's character had run out of film a long time before.

"Dennis Hopper's character had run out of film a long time before"

I've used that euphemism to describe his character before.

 

[ic-racer]

My Nikon Fs all developed shuttter bounce, and so did my freind"s.

Interesting. Many of my old Rolleiflex 35mm SLRs have shutters where the last curtain slows way down just before closing. Can you really see the Nikon's bounce open?

 

[chip j]

Haven't looked thru the cameras (they're gone now), but there was a thin black line inside the far right edge of the print.

 

[RichardJack]

My F100's back door plastic latches broke, so I got a N80.. I sent 2 Fs out for repair, one to Nikon & the other to Marty Forscher of Professional Camera Repair. For $200 ea. neither fixed the shutter bounce!

Marty is still doing the repairs? He was doing them in the 1970's! That's good news.
I use my cameras until they break, they are cheap enough to replace with something better. In 40 years of shooting the only failures in camera bodies have been electrical, never a shutter. I was a wedding photographer and luckily my only failure on the job was a in lens leaf shutter giving out. I don't believe in posted specs on shutter life. It depends on how the camera is treated, stored, the humidity and conditions the camera is exposed to. IMO all major camera brands hold up very well. I don't own or use aftermarket lenses, those are the ones I hear break down.
Rick

 

[jimjm]

Sadly, Marty Forscher passed away in 2009.

I believe he was quoted as saying the Nikon F was built like a "hockey puck".

 

[chromacomaphoto]

It's a bit 'how long is a a piece of string' really. Honestly, on a pro or semi pro bodied SLR from a good brand, they can last decades or more. I think I recall reading that there was once a German Nikon service centre that worked on an F5 with its original shutter that had gone 1 MILLION frames without fault. I'm not saying that you'll get that mileage but just illustrating a point. Don't worry too much about stuff that hasn't happened yet, in photography or life.