Help with shutter count?

patterson94t · Jan 17, 2012

Hello all. I am looking at a Nikon D90, among other cameras, and had a question about shutter count. The individual I am interacting with through email stated that they have owned this camera for a year and used it 4x. Claimed to not understand it at all and grade it as mint. When asking them about the shutter count, they were able to respond with the following information regarding the last picture they took: DSC_0022-3 Would this indicate little use on the camera? I'm not as familiar with digital (old film guy here...lol), so I'm not interested in getting burned. It's my understanding that this number may tell the story...but I wasn't sure...thanks!

pashabelman · Jan 17, 2012

No, the information that they provided is not enough... If they can send you a nice RAW file and you can send it over my way.. THE LAST RAW file that they took YESTARDAY than I could tell you what is the shutter count of that image. Depending where you are buying this camera please be careful and do find more information before you buy this. Or Save some more money and buy on BH photo and video.. they always have great deals..

patterson94t · Jan 17, 2012

Thanks for the guidance...much appreciated!

480sparky · Jan 17, 2012

Have 'em take a photo of today's newspaper, and email it to you.

Run the photo through here.

Mach0 · Jan 17, 2012

480sparky said:
Have 'em take a photo of today's newspaper, and email it to you.Run the photo through here.

Great idea.

FocusDave · Jan 17, 2012

480sparky said:
Have 'em take a photo of today's newspaper, and email it to you.

Run the photo through here.

This is a great idea and you should do that. I had a similar transaction with someone who was letting their D90 with 18-55 VR go for $500. I was wary about shutter count, but it ended up only being 2,800.

KmH · Jan 17, 2012

Nikon DSLR cameras write the shutter count to the EXIF data of every JPEG they shoot, but they don't write the shutter count to the EXIF of Raw files.

So any decent EXIF reader should be able to read the shutter count: