Actuation count

Q I am buying a second-hand Canon EOS 5D Mk II. What would be an acceptable actuation count? Cherry Kraus A It’s impossible to give a definitive answer to this question, because some camera shutters will go on longer than others – just like old cars!

The Canon EOS 5D Mk II has an expected shutter life of 150,000 actuations. This is reasonably high but not as high as, for example, the more expensive and robust 1D X, which has a shutter life of 400,000. Both could continue to work way above these figures, though.

At some point, a shutter will fail because it is mechanical and it will wear out. When you are buying a second-hand camera model, naturally you want to find one that has an actuation count as far below that shutter life-expectancy figure as possible. However, it doesn’t really take that long in today’s trigger-happy digital world to get the shutter count quite high, so low-actuation used cameras are hard to come by.

One thing you might like to do is work out your own annual shutter count. Find out the actuation of your current camera, then divide it by the number of years you’ve owned it. It’s a rough guide but if, for example, it shows you shoot about 10,000 frames a year with your current camera and the camera you are wanting to buy is 40,000 below its shutter life then you can expect (although it’s not guaranteed) a minimum of four years’ service from your new purchase – but probably even more. In an ideal world, you’ll find a model that has the camera world’s equivalent of one careful owner.