topic Re: EOS R50 Shutter Count? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R50 Shutter Count?

kionlua — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 14:33:45 GMT

I recently bought my wife a refurbished R50 directly from Canon’s website. When I gave it to her she asked what the shutter count was? After some research online I tried uploading an image to a few websites that advertised providing the shutter count with photo data and the websites stated that the image didn’t have the data. I also tried downloading the EOS program from Canon’s website and couldn’t find it there either. Am I missing something?

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

shadowsports — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 12:58:36 GMT

Greetings,

While mirrorless camera do have a shutter, they do not have a mirror. Shutter count is not really important. The care and overall condition of the camera is. A refurbished camera sold by Canon comes with the same 1 yr warranty as new.

Shutters are usually rated for 200k-500k on average. Most operate much more. Also note that video only counts as one actuation, regardless of length. I think your wife is looking at it from the perspective of DSLR's. Mirrorless cameras do not have the same number of moving parts. They are by nature a better design.

If you want to know a camera's shutter count, you'll have to send the camera to Canon. Only they can provide the shutter count.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

ctitanic — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 13:41:49 GMT

If you are an iPhone owner or iPad owner you can use this application. It will tell you what is the shutter count.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

ebiggs1 — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 14:38:17 GMT

"It will tell you what is the shutter count."

These apps are highly unreliable. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't so as to make them useless.

"If you want to know a camera's shutter count, you'll have to send the camera to Canon. Only they can provide the shutter count."

What Rick said.

"... video only counts as one actuation, regardless of length."

Also true especially with the advent of more and more video and more folks doing video. Electro magnets hold the shutter open so a video can be far more tasking on the components of a camera as heat builds up from being energized for longer periods of time. It unlikely the Canon refurb is very old or very used.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

John_SD — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 14:49:13 GMT

The shutter count? That's about as meaningful a number as knowing the number of times you've opened your refrigerator door. More important is the fact that the camera has been refurbished.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

p4pictures — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 16:21:33 GMT

One thing to be aware of is that shutter counts are usually tracking the operation of the shutter curtains, so if you shoot in electronic shutter then the conventional shutter count is not increased.

You can have a camera which reports a shutter count of 1,000 actuations using the different software tools out on the internet, but know that you have 10,000 images in your catalogue from the same camera, as you almost always used electronic shutter.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

ctitanic — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 20:29:20 GMT

That’s correct but it’s the mechanical parts the ones that fail commonly.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

Waddizzle — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 00:15:07 GMT

I would think the most correct answer would be zero.

With that in mind, shutter count was a metric of dubious value on a DSLR, shutter count is probably less useful for a MILC body.

A more useful metric is how many hours of operation are on the image sensor.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

ctitanic — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 01:07:56 GMT

“A more useful metric is how many hours of operation are on the image sensor. “

Correct, but… I have not seen any way, app or method to find that out. The only metric that we have is how many time the mechanical shutter has been used. My guess is that if that metrics is high then the hours of operation of the sensor will be even higher because you need to add to the mechanical count the electronic shots.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

Waddizzle — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 02:04:39 GMT

The R10 doesn’t collect runtime data on the image sensor. Shutter count on an MILC body is arguably meaningless. I suggest that you contact Canon Support directly. There are no apps that can provide the answers you seek.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

Tronhard — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 04:05:35 GMT

Hi and welcome:

Given, as you have heard from my associates that a shutter count on its own is challenging to get and not necessarily an accurate indication of wear, and that you got the camera from the Canon Refurb site., then your best bet is to contact Canon's refurb site and give them the reference info: Invoice/Receipt #, and camera serial #, and ask about the condition and/or shutter count - I would expect them to have information like that on record. If anyone can give you pertinent information, they are the ones to do so. Note that if you get a refurb Canon camera from the Canon site, it comes with a warranty, so it should be good as new, and supported.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

ebiggs1 — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 14:32:29 GMT

"Shutter count on an MILC body is arguably meaningless."

Agreed at least any that are not provided by Canon itself. People still put high value on it, however, even though they don't confirm the mechanical state of the camera.

"More important is the fact that the camera has been refurbished. "

Bingo! 🙄 It is a refurb, it is not a new camera.

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

John_SD — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 15:11:13 GMT

"That’s correct but it’s the mechanical parts the ones that fail commonly."

You are worrying needlessly. Get out there and enjoy the hobby. Sure, if the camera "fails" in 25 or 30 years, you can come back to the forum and tell us "See! I told you idiots these things are prone to failure!"

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

wq9nsc — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 03:45:40 GMT

Image sensor "wear" due to operation is insignificant. Damage can be immediate from exposure to excessive energy (laser, focused sunlight) but longer term degradation is about the same whether the sensor is being read or if it is sitting on a shelf getting bombarded by cosmic radiation.

With current Canon mirrorless offerings, it seems the camera is most likely to become inoperable and economically unfeasible to repair due to failure of controls/encoders or an overheated main board. Whether the market wants it or not, the days of keeping a camera and expecting to use it for a decade or more is rapidly going away. Increased complexity combined with the goal of cost containment results in products less likely to age gracefully with their owner.

Rodger

Re: R50 Shutter Count?

Waddizzle — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 07:22:01 GMT

“

My cinema cameras keep track of runtime. You can call it up just as easily as you can call up remaining charge on a battery.

Re: EOS R50 Shutter Count?

ibmsoft — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 01:49:19 GMT

Try eosmsg mirrorless version, which can accurately display mechanical and electronic shutters as well as the total number of shots taken. eosmsg support EOS R EOS RP EOS R3 R5 R1 R5m2 R6 R7 R10 R6m2 R8 R50 R100.

Re: EOS R50 Shutter Count?

ibmsoft — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 02:16:11 GMT

Try eosmsg mirrorless version, I just verified it with my camera.

Re: EOS R50 Shutter Count?

ebiggs1 — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 15:13:35 GMT

EOSMSG can provide an estimate of a camera's shutter count but it's not always accurate so it cannot be relied on to give any meaningful number.

Re: EOS R50 Shutter Count?

ebiggs1 — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 15:16:44 GMT

Re-read this.................

"With current Canon mirrorless offerings, it seems the camera is most likely to become inoperable and economically unfeasible to repair due to failure of controls/encoders or an overheated main board. Whether the market wants it or not, the days of keeping a camera and expecting to use it for a decade or more is rapidly going away. Increased complexity combined with the goal of cost containment results in products less likely to age gracefully with their owner."

Re: EOS R50 Shutter Count?

Peter — Tue, 06 May 2025 01:29:32 GMT

I decoded the exposure count for R50 about two weeks ago. You can try again with Exiftool and raw files from your wife's camera.

This will read the total count, mechanical and electronic shutter mode, so it is not a good measurent of the shutter life.

My R6 reports total count and mechanical count. It also reports the time it has been powered on. I don't know if R50 also saves that.

Cosmic rays are one source of sensor degradation. If the camera has been in space or has been in a plane at cruising altitude during long time you may have more bad pixels than a camera that has been kept on the Earth's surface. R50 has a sensor mapping feature to deal with this.