Shutter Cycle Limit

[Vuorilla]

I don't know if this is "beyond basics" or if it's simply a basic question.

I have heard of a property called "shutter cycle durability", or something like that... I am not really sure about the exact name of it, but it basically puts a limit on the number of time a camera can be used until it breaks down.. or at least a part of it...

But what I don't understand is, if the shutter is inside the lens, why does it affect the camera?

Can someone explain to me this limit?

Thank you!

 

[nickisonfire]

The shutter is inside the body...

 

[Overread]

Because the shutter is not inside the lens. I think you are getting the aperture blades (which are inside the lens) confused with the shutter.

The aperture blades are what open and close when you take a photo and control the amount of light which gets through the lens as well as the depth of field of the end shot - as shown by the aperture of the shot.

The shutter curtain/blades are inside the camera body and are what control the exposure of the sensor to light in the camera - essentailly they do have a limited number of uses before they will break, however the actual life expctancy for any camera is only based on test data - they might break way before or way after their expected lifespan. And as is typical the higher range camera bodies do have better overall performance.

Further the shutter can be replaced in the camera - at cost though - and often with lower end models, as they get older it becomes more cost effective to upgrade or find a working 2nd hand model since the repair cost becomes more than the worth of the working unit

 

[KmH]

 

[GeneralBenson]

That guys sounds like a robot.

Also, with the shutter video, at the end, the shutter is different than at the beginning. I've always wondering how the shutters reset back to original position.

 

[Josh66]

That guys sounds like a robot.

Also, with the shutter video, at the end, the shutter is different than at the beginning. I've always wondering how the shutters reset back to original position.

I think it just alternates between going up and down, but I could be wrong...

 

[KmH]

That guys sounds like a robot.

Also, with the shutter video, at the end, the shutter is different than at the beginning. I've always wondering how the shutters reset back to original position.

I think it just alternates between going up and down, but I could be wrong...

Nikon shutters reset. They start in the up position. after an exposure both curtains move back up at the same time so the image sensor doesn't get exposed during reset.

Here's a stop motion sequence you can watch 1 frame at a time: http://regex.info/blog/2008-09-04/925

You can see the curtain reset as the mirror comes back down.

 

[Vuorilla]

Thank you! Yes, I got the aperture blades confused with the shutter. Unfortunately, Youtube is blocked here in China, so I cannot watch the video... :-( But I will try to find some documentation about the shutter and the inner workings of a camera.

 

[Garbz]

Photography 101.6 – Shutter Also lesson 5 was talking about the aperture, may be worth diving in and reading over a bit of this website.

Note that not all shutters follow this order. Some don't reset and just travel back the opposite direction from what I have heard. But the principle is essentially the same.

 

[Big Mike]

To be fair, some cameras do have the shutter as part of the lens and not the camera body. My Mamiya RB67 is like that.