RefurbishedShutter Actuations?

sarahkate · Aug 28, 2011

Im going back and forth between a refurbished or used Nikon. If I buy refurbished are the shutter actuations reset? I found a refurbished and a used Nikon D90the price difference is $50, Im trying to decide whats the better move. Thank you!

IgsEMT · Aug 28, 2011

Buying from reputable dealer, I'd go for refurbished - repaired and/or brought to life by Nikon. Thus they offer some sort of warrantee on the product.
Used- used how? And I'm bot even talking about shutter count.

Dao · Aug 28, 2011

People who bought refurbished Canon DSLR from Canon directly said their camera shutter actuations were not zero when they received their them. I will assume the same with Nikon. Of course I am not 100% positive.

sarahkate · Aug 28, 2011

IgsEMT said:
Buying from reputable dealer, I'd go for refurbished - repaired and/or brought to life by Nikon. Thus they offer some sort of warrantee on the product.
Used- used how? And I'm bot even talking about shutter count.

I don't know how used, the man is a professional photographer and recently upgraded. What other questions should I ask besides the shutter actuation count? I also found a D300 for $200 more that was a back up camera for a photographer, but the actuations are unknown. Right now I'm going back and forth between the two because of the price. Thanks for you help!

IgsEMT · Aug 28, 2011

About a year ago i was at bh buying some junk happening with used debt, I asked about used vs refurbished.
Used - someone either used it and returned it OR sold it to the store.
Refurbished - it was tested/repaired by nikon and has 1year warrantee on it.

By no means any of these come with 0 shutter count but refurbished, by definition, is better then used.

IgsEMT · Aug 28, 2011

Most pro take good care of their gear. But count does matter.
Here's are simple #s:
My d70 - over 120k frames on it. It was my first digital cam.
My d200 I bought refurbished With 10k on it and later traded it in for d300.
I bought d90 in 2009 - it was my backup and 2nd - today it has 33k on it.
D300 I traded in for 300s( brand new) march of 2010 today it has 65k on it. - it was primary until 3weeks ago and I got d700.
So backup or primary are subjective definitions bc things change.
Personally I wouldn't buy used from someone i don't know personally or wasn't referred to - it's a "trust issue".
Refurbished - been there, done that

Oh and all gear can brake
D90's shutter mechanism went at 12k
D300s hotshot was replaced at 4k.
That's why I was talking about the warrantee at least then u aren't spending more $ if problem occur.

penfolderoldo · Aug 28, 2011

Can't speak for Nikon, but Dao's spot on, Canon refurb'd doesn't reset the actuations. Pro's do tend to look after their gear well, after all it's what we use to make our living, so that's not automatically a negative.

KmH · Aug 28, 2011

Nikon doesn't reset the shutter actuation count either, be it a refurb or a repair shutter replacement.

On Nikon cameras, a photo made as a JPEG shows the shutter actuation count in the EXIF data.

So the seller with the D300 just needs to make a JPEG shot and read the EXIF for the shutter count.

ulrichsd · Aug 29, 2011

My Nikon D90 Factory demo came with 200 actuations and a 3 month warranty... with used no warranty and a lot of people take more than 200 photos in a day. Heck, there was some noob here who said he had his camera a week and had already taken 8000 photos!