You can check the bottom of the main page to see if your camera manufacturer/model is listed as a confirmed working model. You can upload a picture to the site, the site will read the EXIF data, and fire back not just with the shutter count but the life cycle of the camera (based on the manufacturer’s estimated shutter life for your camera model).

It’s because of the aforementioned EXIF data that the handy website works across so many camera models. Fortunately many manufacturers embed the number of shutter cycles/actuations in the EXIF data of the pictures produced with that camera so you can examine a recent photo taken with a given camera and see how many clicks are on the shutter. There are several ways to check the shutter count of a camera and all of them rely on either having access to the camera, access to an image created by the camera, or both. Let’s look at how you check the shutter count and what to do with the data you find. In light of how catastrophic and expensive a shutter failure is it’s worth both checking the shutter count both on cameras you own (to get a rough estimate of how much life is left in the camera) and on used cameras you’re considering purchasing (after all a premium camera at rock bottom prices isn’t such a deal if it’s 20,000 shutter cycles past the average failure point). At this point the camera is rendered non-operational and you’ll either be paying for an expensive repair (easily $400-500) or if you’re a very brave do-it-yourselfer you can typically find replacement shutters on eBay for around $100 (but you’ll be responsible for taking apart your sophisticated and tiny-part-packed camera and conducting the repair yourself). The shutter, however, is like the engine of a car and eventually it will reach the end of its lifecycle and fail to actuate properly.

Practically speaking, if your camera survives the first few months without failing the electronics are solid and they will more or less last indefinitely. Watching the shutter slam open and closed in slow motion really emphasizes how much abuse such a tiny and delicate part really endures. In the video below you can see how the mirror swings up out of the way, and the shutter opens and closes to allow light to land on the digital sensor.

Camera shutter counter