Shutter count!

[Dave Williams]

My R5 died on me on the final day of a birding trip so I guess I was lucky it didn't happen before. I sent it off to Canon UK for repair and for an extra £45 it was put on fast track. The technician at Canon rang me up with the purpose not to discuss the repair but to ask if I wanted the shutter replacing as it had almost reached 500,000. The camera is 32 months old and it does spend months of inactivity so I was still surprised it was that high as the second highest I have ever recorded was 160,000 on a three year old 1DX2. The latter shoots 12fps, the R5 20fps on electronic shutter but there is the rub. 99.999% of my shots have been taken this way and I asked the technician how can that be, surely the shutter doesn't open. He didn't reply but said it was up to me to decide. The shutter , he confirmed , was working perfectly well but 500,000 was the life expectancy.
Initially I said don't bother despite the fact the cost was a very reasonable £140 including VAT at 20%. My wife overheard the conversation and told me just get it done so I did.
The question it poses it two fold though
1) Is the new count actuations or recordings? I seem to think the latter which means the 500,000 is irrelevant.
2) If it only costs a relatively small amount to replace the shutter how come it's so important when it comes to resale value. People are unnecessarily scared off by shutter counts figures and the fear it costs a fortune to replace one.
Unfortunately I got distracted by the technician and never did find out why the camera had died which is a shame. Nothing on the invoice cost to suggest what it might have been.

 

[Kwazy]

It's a scam.
Frame recording is counted as a shutter actuation, even if you're using electronic shutter when the actual shutter stays open. They probably train them to ask this to milk more money out of you. Many people are still in the SLR mindset where shutter actuations actually mean something. With mirrorless they do not, at least until the cameras start keeping track of actual mechanical shutter actuations and not the electronic shutter.

And looks like it worked, as you forked over 140 quid because why not.

 

[Dave Williams]

Not sure I'd go as far as saying it's a scam but it certainly makes you wonder when the cameras will differentiate between actuations and shots taken. Maybe they won't ever because mechanical shutters will no longer be built in to cameras as is the case with Nikon's Z9.
In the meantime though, resale values are determined by shutter count, and one with 500,000 would be devalued by a lot more than £140.

 

[Kwazy]

In the meantime though, resale values are determined by shutter count, and one with 500,000 would be devalued by a lot more than £140.

Sounds like a scam to me. I would refuse to divulge the shutter count at sale, state that it's irrelevant in a mirrorless camera and not settle for an arbitrary devalue.

 

[Dave Williams]

Depends who you are selling to of course, private sale or part ex. You might use the shutter all the time and then it's very relevant although as I say, £140 for a replacement isn't expensive but if you try and sell an R5 with 500,000 actuations you'll lose one heck of a lot more than that.