[petemc]

Originally Posted by Venomator

Sorry to read about your woes Pete ... must be a right blow ?

Hope it gets sorted quickly for you as it sounds like you rely on it !

Yer I really do. I'm trying to make it as a pro photographer so its a little tricky without a camera

[shiato storm]

if you get it replaced they may give it a 20D one rated slightly longer life...?
it seems now shutter life span is the limiting factor on dSLRs now that people are snapping away rather a lot. film cameras obviously suffered similar failures but you'd have to go through a hell of a lot of film first!

[CT]

Originally Posted by shiato storm

it seems now shutter life span is the limiting factor on dSLRs now that people are snapping away rather a lot. film cameras obviously suffered similar failures but you'd have to go through a hell of a lot of film first!

Actually, Pete's bad luck apart, that's an interesting observation. Modern DSLRs have far less moving parts than their film counterparts. There's no film transport system, and the auto diaphragm linkage is now a simple electrical connection, but we're stuck with basically the same old focal plane shutter we've always had, and it's a pretty violent mechanism. It's commonplace now for people to go out with 1gig and 2gig cards and fill them completely, It would have been an extremely busy pro who would have put a film camera to that sort of use, so it's not surpising that the shutter is the component which will suffer most in a heavily - used modern DSLR.

It will be interesting see what the longevity is of modern DSLRs. If Pete's shutter is properly replaced, the camera gets a new lease of life - I don't see a great deal else likely to go wrong. The LCD screens have a finite life, but can be replaced, in fact Canon will supply you with one on a fit -it - yourself basis, which other manufacturers wont, and from what I can understand, it's not a particularly daunting job.

Shutter life is something to think about though before you start banging away in Hi Speed Continuous mode. The Canon 1D has a shutter life of 200K exposures, which is roughly the equivalent of shooting a 36 exposure roll of film every day for around 17 years. At 8 frames per second you'd shoot those 36 exposures in a little over 4 seconds!

[petemc]

Thats what hit me too CT. Unless you buy a new DSLR every 18 months everyone is probably going to run into this eventually simply because of the nature of digital. We can go out and shoot 1000 pics a day if we want. What it does mean is that within the next 2 years I'll have to do this again due to the way I use my camera. A 30D upgrade would be a good idea simply to get something that will last 4 years, plus the 10D as a backup.

[markgray]

I know what you mean about the amount of pictures taken on a DSLR, i went out this morning and within the space of less than an hour had taken 30 pictures.

Never dreamt of doing that with the old film cameras.

[CT]

Originally Posted by petemc

A 30D upgrade would be a good idea simply to get something that will last 4 years, plus the 10D as a backup.

Makes sense to me and if you're a pro you're really pushing your luck without a spare body.

I dunno if it will come to pass, but I read that the next big development might be diaphragms which are just liquid crystal, and the same technology could replace the metal blinds in focal plane shutters. The last I heard they were just having problems getting the liquid crystal to be opaque enough not to transmit light. How cool would that be - no more shutter noise!

[dod]

Originally Posted by petemc

We can go out and shoot 1000 pics a day if we want.

It's surprisingly easy. Most I've done in a day was about 1400 in a 5 hour stint.

[Warspite]

Its soo easily done, even on my 350D - when I first got this I would usually go out for half days here, there and everywhere with the only limiting factor being storage. Once I filled my cards that was when it was time to go home, would typically shoot 400+ shots in a session.

When you now combine this with the availability of photo downloaders, with 40Gb HDD, even filling cards is no longer a limit.

[daveyuk]

Daft question here, what's the shutter life for the 300/350D?

[Warspite]

For the 350D I have heard it was about 50K, although I have also heard 25K.

[CT]

I'm pretty sure it's ...

350D 50K
20D 100K
1D 200K

[Mark Grant]

Originally Posted by petemc

What it does mean is that within the next 2 years I'll have to do this again due to the way I use my camera.

If the 50,000 shutter count lasts you 2 years and costs £200 to replace that's a bargain

In old fashioned rolls of film, that would be 1,388 x 36 exposure rolls.

If you allowed £5 per 36 exp for film + developing costs thats around £6,940 !

So £200 to £300 is cheap for 50,000 shots

And think of all the fun you have had for that £200


Mark.

[Warspite]

Suppose the problem these days is that reliability (in general) is actually soo high that when things do fail/go wrong it feels like the sky has fallen. Im not going to understate the problem Pete is having - but considering the heavy use he puts his gear through probably puts him in a niche position as a rare group of users that really do push their kit to within its design limits.

Not much help unfortunately but certainly serves to prove that even something less rugid than a 1D can survive that kind of work load.

[ASH]

Originally Posted by CT

I'm pretty sure it's ...

350D 50K
20D 100K
1D 200K

So if all shutters are made the same or of the same material, with the exception of size. Why do they have different life expectancies?. That's if they are made of the same material.

[CT]

Originally Posted by ASH

So if all shutters are made the same or of the same material, with the exception of size. Why do they have different life expectancies?. That's if they are made of the same material.

Well they're not necessarily made of the same material, they can use good old steel, magnesium, titanium and heaven knows what else, although a quick look at the specs of the 1D and 20D doesn't give any clue to materials used. I'd guess there must be a significant difference in damping at the least, for the variations in shutter life from model to model.

If you really want to get your cynical head on though, it's purely about keeping the price differential, which is why many of the 20D features are simply disabled in firmware in the 350D.