Currently, one of my cameras, an A7r2, is getting its shutter replaced after just 70k clicks. It started failing. I think it started failing in part because it was previously repaired and not replaced, and that has me suspicious. The repair was due to impact of the camera onto a concrete floor, so that was my fault. However, it got me wondering about Sony shutter life in general with these cameras.
So have you ever had to replace the shutter on a Sony A7 series camera? If so at what point did it fail? Or have you shot a ton of shots and it has not failed? I've seen some claims that mirrorless shutters are supposed to last 500k clicks but I don't think that's realistic. 70k seems like an awfully low number to me, and I am mightily annoyed to the tune of hundreds of dollars.
Had the original A7 and used it daily for a couple of years without problems.
Still using the original A7s daily at more than three years and sometimes hundreds of shots at a time. No shutter problems.
Hmm, just looked and the shutter count is around 90,000 (thought it would be more than that) but I guess that still averages out to around 90 to 100 per day give or take.
I would change my vote but it wont be that long and I will be right.
I've had the good fortune of being a full-time and part-time photographer and camera reviewer for the last 10-15 years, so I've owned I think 15 different Nikon DSLRs. Almost all of them have shot over 100K clicks, many have gone to over 400K and 500K clicks.
I almost always have shutters break after about 200K or so. Mind you, these are all the Nikon cameras which only promise a lifespan of 100K, 150K, or 200K, NOT the expensive flagships that IIRC promise 200K or 300K.
worldexclus1ve wrote:
Cheaper a7's have been rated around 200,000 - a7II & a7III
More expensive a7's have been rated around 500,000 - a7RIII
I'm aware of the rating, but that's all theory until people really reach those numbers. My a7r2 should not have had a failure at 70k given that it is also theoretically "rated" for 500k.
My first A7r II is sitting at ~55,000 with zero issues.
I had a NEX-7 which I did a ton of reportage type stuff on, and it was pushing 200,000 clicks by the time I got rid of it. Shutter was fine but the LCD connector material failed and the built-in flash mysteriously died (despite me never actually using it).
Had shutter fail at 20k actuations on my old A7ii (shutter curtain would occasionally not close completely resulting in an overexposed strip on the bottom edge of the frame. One of my A7rii bodies would get the dreaded “camera error, turn camera off and on” which typically means IBIS or main circuit board issue, which thankfully was still within the return window. My other A7rii body would often do that strange pause then shutter release when I’d turn it off, which made me a bit nervous and you could definitely hear the difference in the shutter sound as they surpassed 50-60k actuations.
I m curious on how to accurately determine the shutter count? I have a a7iii, when the electronic front curtain is set to ON, tools such as exiftool would report no image count increments, no matter how many times you press the shutter.
Nov 24, 2018 at 10:33 PM
imagesfromobjects Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Time will tell. I just passed 10,000 from about 6 months on my a7S, but I use 99% silent (fully electronic) shutter. I've heard it speculated that EFCS can put uneven wear on the mechanical shutter, but no one has confirmed a failure specific to that to my knowledge
Nov 25, 2018 at 12:41 AM
imagesfromobjects Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
The strange pause freaked me out at first. However, it's actually programmed in to do that every month. Camera takes a pic to map dead pixels. True story.
sungphoto wrote:
Had shutter fail at 20k actuations on my old A7ii (shutter curtain would occasionally not close completely resulting in an overexposed strip on the bottom edge of the frame. One of my A7rii bodies would get the dreaded “camera error, turn camera off and on” which typically means IBIS or main circuit board issue, which thankfully was still within the return window. My other A7rii body would often do that strange pause then shutter release when I’d turn it off, which made me a bit nervous and you could definitely hear the difference in the shutter sound as they surpassed 50-60k actuations....Show more →
kurt765 wrote:
My a7r2 should not have had a failure at 70k given that it is also theoretically "rated" for 500k.
Well theoretically, your A7RII should have failed when it did:
I think it started failing in part because it was previously repaired and not replaced, and that has me suspicious. The repair was due to impact of the camera onto a concrete floor,....
I am using my A7R now since 2014, and I just finished 10K shutter count - far below the maximum before the mechanical shutter could be failing. I am not shooting events and use other cameras in parallel in my photography, therefore this camera doesn't see too heavy usage.
I had Canon D30 purchased, the grand daddy of digital cameras that I purchased in 2000 and a lot of Canon cameras afterwards until 2015 or so. I switched to Sony in 2013 and had every iteration of the A7r line, A7II, A9, etc. since then. Not a single camera had any issues with the shutter. Knock, knock, knock. Well, I sold them when the successor came out .
Imagemaster wrote: Well theoretically, your A7RII should have failed when it did:
Yes, I said I figured it failed early because of the previous damage and subsequent repair.The failure that prompted this thread was 10's of thousands of clicks after the shutter was repaired. I was suspecting that the shutter would have lasted much longer if it did not have that prior history. I was curious about shutter life in general with these cameras, so I made a thread.
Well theoretically, your A7RII should have failed when it did:
.