Learn from me - Refurb Camera

[Ron Hunter]

I bought a Canon Rebel T4i DSLR as a refurb directly from Canon in Dec'2013. The price was great and I was excited to get a new toy! Back then it never occurred to me to check the number of shutter actuations during my return window.

Last night I finally checked the shutter actuation count and was shocked to learn the camera has almost 45k actuations!! The camera should be good for at least 50k actuations and I can always have another shutter installed, but clearly the lifetime of this camera will be dramatically shorter than I had planned.

I've done a few time lapses with image counts > 1000 so I know some of those actuations are mine. I have probably put no more than 15k actuations myself, and that is being "generous". That means the camera had about 30k actuations on it when I got it.

I'm not complaining about the camera, it is great and I love using it. I knew the camera was used so I went into this with my eyes open. However, if I had checked the actuation count when I bought it and learned it had already taken over 30k pictures, I would have returned it immediately.

So, if you are in the market for a DSLR and are thinking used/refurb, plan to check the shutter actuation count before you seal the deal. Some cameras will display this in their menus but Canon requires external software on a PC/Mac to do this. Do some research on this before you buy.

Or just save yourself the hassle and buy a new one!

[Peru]

That's good to know. Thanks for the tip.

[TreeTopsRanch]

I suspect the seller will not tell you the shutter count so you will have to buy the camera, then try to determine the count. Not worth the hassle for me.