How do I get the shutter count for the 7d mark ii on windows 10

[Isac]

I'm looking for the shutter count on the 7Dii but am having a problem finding something that works. I would also like to know why Canon try their best to keep this a secret. This confuses me, as other manufacturers are onboard with having this important information easily available. Why would they be hesitant to share this vital information? It's extremely puzzling to me. Cheers.

[TCampbell]

DireStudio's "ShutterCount" used to be availble for both Mac & Windows.  I know it is still offerred on Mac, but I don't see it offerred on Windows (or maybe it's just not showing me that version since I'm viewing their webpage on a Mac).

Anyway, they now also offer a version that runs on iPhone & iPad.   The software will give you the normal shutter count and they also have add-on packs that will also show you the number of videos *and* live-view activations.

It only costs a few dollars.  I bought it years ago and it's worked on each of my cameras (but they supply a list on their website of all the cameras they support).

Canon's official answer is that they'll tell you the count if you bring it to one of their service centers (or if you send it for service or cleaning you can ask them to also provide you with the shutter count).  They don't have any official method available to the consumer.  I agree that it would be nice to have the info easily displayable on the camera without the need to do anything special.  

If you are "selling" a camera, you can retrieve your shutter count and offer that info to perspective buyers.  But if you're "buying" a camera, you can't easily check to see how heavily the camera was used (it would be up to the seller to send the camera in).  

[Isac]

Thank you for that Tim. I have been made aware of the various methods to get the shutter count and I am a PC operator and never use Mac anything. I agree it would be great to have it available via a menu function as a lot of other manufacturers do, because to me and many others I consider it an important piece of information. Obviously Canon don't think it's needed so why do they bother to rate their shutter actuations? Got me puzzled. There is one solution, and that's to upgrade to another maker. Cheers.

[stebo]

Much discussion about "does shutter count matter". 

Let the oldtimer fill you in, sometimes we are good for something:) 

I read "when it comes to video only hours matter"  Somewhat true.  Back in the film days mechanical shutters where used.  When you have mechanical moving parts hours or shutter counts do matter because the moving parts will wear down almost like clock work.  For the 7D mark ii there are no moving parts when recoding video so video recording hours do not adversely affect the useful life span of the camera.  For a still photographer on this camra the more actuations of the mirror moving out of the way of the sensor will wear those moving parts at the points of contact.  The camera can be rebuilt but I would rather buy a camera used for video knowing the mechanical moving parts of the camera are still pristine.  Sure electronic parts could fail but not likely vs mechanical parts will fail inevitably.  So I think it it is still important for now.  Give it a few years and it really won't matter when its all electronic mirrorless equipment.  Some may still think so becuease it has been a point of concern in the past, but I would never ask how many hours did you watch this television if I were to buy a used TV.

[Isac]

Thanks for the reply stebo. I don't do video, I am a photographer. I still haven't got an answer to my original question, so I would assume it's a difficult problem to solve. After all it's only 2020 so I guess someone will come up with something in time. Cheers

[Waddizzle]

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@stebo wrote:

Much discussion about "does shutter count matter". 

Let the oldtimer fill you in, sometimes we are good for something:) 

I read "when it comes to video only hours matter"  Somewhat true.  Back in the film days mechanical shutters where used.  When you have mechanical moving parts hours or shutter counts do matter because the moving parts will wear down almost like clock work.  For the 7D mark ii there are no moving parts when recoding video so video recording hours do not adversely affect the useful life span of the camera. 

For a still photographer on this camra the more actuations of the mirror moving out of the way of the sensor will wear those moving parts at the points of contact.  The camera can be rebuilt but I would rather buy a camera used for video knowing the mechanical moving parts of the camera are still pristine.  Sure electronic parts could fail but not likely vs mechanical parts will fail inevitably.  So I think it it is still important for now.  Give it a few years and it really won't matter when its all electronic mirrorless equipment.  Some may still think so becuease it has been a point of concern in the past, but I would never ask how many hours did you watch this television if I were to buy a used TV.

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If total runtime on the image sensor were not important, then why [do] professional video cameras have meters to track it?

[ebiggs1]

"... I would rather buy a camera used for video knowing the mechanical moving parts of the camera are still pristine."

Maybe so but that is no indication the rest of the camera is "pristine".  Shutter count is just an interesting subject. It really tells you little about the camera. I will agree, if given the choice, all else being equal, I would choose the lower shutter count if I was certain it was an accurate count.  The apps and software are proven to be inaccurate at times.

[Isac]

If a camera has 150,000 shutter actuations then I could assume it has been well used and is coming to it's life's end and one that has had 5000, will probably tell me that it is relatively unused. Same a a speedo in a car, it doesn't tell the whole story but gives an indication of its use. To me, it's a good thing to know but others probably couldn't care less - and that's OK with me. Cheers. PS I found a way to see the shutter count so I'm a happy chappy!

[wq9nsc]

Glad you found the shutter count!

As to video hours, heat management is an issue shooting video with a DSLR because video generates far more internal heat buildup than still photography with the sensor, A to D converter, and associated processors running effectively at a continuous duty cycle while shooting video instead of the low duty cycle imposed by photography.  Mirrorless is a hybrid between the two designs and has some of the same thermal management concerns as shooting video (and shares some of the same hazards due to a sensor constantly exposed to sunlight/laser damage when in operation). Reviewers tend to attribute the electronic viewing screen in mirrorless setups as the reason for reduced battery life but the bigger current drain is from constantly reading the sensor and doing A to D conversion along with powering the supporting cast needed to provide the data capture, conversion, and processing functions.  That increased battery draw is converted into internal heat that has to be managed.

Canon's 1DX series are the best of their DSLR bodies at video heat management with their heat pipe design but even these bodies will get very hot in higher ambient conditions shooting sustained video clips.  A DSLR that has been used a lot for video will have a greatly increased rate of internal component aging.

Purpose built better video cameras and camcorders use forced air cooling to manage this heat buildup giving up some of the weather resistance of most DSLR bodies to provide sustained video capability without cooking the internals.  I use a Canon XF-400 camcorder for sports video and leave its fan set in the default mode of continuous rather than temperature triggered operation which comes at the cost of slightly reduced battery life but keeps the electronics running at a temperature far more conducive to a long life.

I would rather have a used DSLR with 50% of its expected shutter life used than one that had been used for hundreds of hours of video recording.

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

happy chappy!

Here is my point, I agree with you to a point, consider would you rather buy a used car with 150,000 miles on it or a car with 5000 miles on it?  Well of course you want the car with the much lower mileage. Right?  However, the odometer didn't tell you the low mileage car went through a flood.  It was submerged in swamp water for a week in New Orleans.

"I found a way to see the shutter count"

If the "way' was not a Canon Service Center it is probably wrong and/or inaccurate.

[stebo]

Waddizzle

Good question!   I have not seen anything that limits the sensor to a certain number of hours of use, but I would probably pick the camera with 20 hours of video use over the one with 20,000 hours of use.  But that is not to say the one with 20,000 hours is more likely to be the one to fail on the next shoot.  Maybe they have it there because that is the way it has always been done, or some one might find it useful to log that information. 

If there were two 30 year old vehicles for sale and one had an AM radio that was on and used everyday and the other had never been used I still would not be able to say with certainty which would fail first.  But if one car had just had the wheel bearings and brakes done I could tell you that this car is most likely not going to need the brakes or wheel bearings done first.

You do make a good point here:  Why do we not get easy access to a shutter count when the camera is recommended for service at 200,000 actuations, but we do get an hour meter for video when there is no life expectation set on the sensor.