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viewtopic.php?f=21&t=34395&p=371647#p371647

In the above thread one of our members, Tyrone, relates his experience with a retailer from whom he purchased his D300. It came with 800 "total shutter releases for camera" already on it and they tried to pass it off as standard. Many here use Iexif, available free from http://www.opanda.com to check total exposures (if your first image is a NEF, it needs to be converted to JPG to read total shutter releases). Could those who have a moment (& a D300) and are so inclined, check their first image with Iexif and report in this thread or poll what the shutter count was?

Note that Opanda's Exif tool only works on JPEG files. If the first image was raw, you'll need to convert it (using a Nikon tool - ViewNX or CaptureNX to preserve the data) to JPEG before you can use Opanda.

Another way is to use ExifTool which can read the .NEF directly. See: Total Number of Shutter Releases for Nikon dSLRs.

I dont have the first picture I took with the D300 I dont think so I have taken the last picture that I have on this computer and compared the file number (Knowing that it is about 250-300 off as I reset the file name because my counter started not at 0 and I decided to restart it after a weeks use). So I am guessing that mine probably started close to 1 and not majorly off that.

Funny that, I have never thought about checking that.

Andrew, thanks for the extra information, gives a lot more alternatives and great details in your link

Don't have a d300 but I checked the first images out of my d50 and d90 and they were both shutter count 1.

I didn't vote in the survey but I hope the mods will add mine to the tally as I feel this issue is about shonky business practice rather than just one camera body.

Cheers, John

John, I think your experience adds to the validity of the poll and if Tyrone had to use this in a consumer tribunal it somewhat contributes to the impression that Nikon may sets the counter at 0 at the factory.

Cameron, thanks for your response, again very helpful

Glen,

The pedant in me (metaphorically not physically) would rather the poll said "total shutter count" rather than exposures. It is the number of times the shutter has been actuated and an exposure isn't always the result - or at least a photograph on the CF card.

Agree Andrew

I know mine was virgin when I got it, I bought it from work and grabbed it as it came out of the box, so I know that mine was not used for demo in the shop. If it was not virgin, then it would have been to the hands of Nikon, not too fussed either way.

My file count started in the region of 400-500 from memory and I started with a freshly bought and formatted card, so I was rather amused by that. The other thing was i HAD TO set the time and date into the camera, further reassurance that it was a virgin.

So as a shortlist of how to tell if your camera is really virgin (if anyone else has any tips please add them):
-you had to set the time/date
-shutter actuation count is 1 upon firing your first shot (image or no image)
-buying one that is being unpacked from the box from Nikon

I'd love to help but my HDD has recently failed so I don't have access to photos before about a week ago. If I get it back in time I will be sure to check the first pic I took and post here.

I don't believe that 800 images is acceptable on a "new" camera, either.

For the nerds who use Windows...

I created a batch file to call exiftool to display the shutter count. I placed the batch file in a directory in the path and associated it with .NEF and .JPG files. Now all I have to do is right click on the file in Explorer and choose Open With->CheckShutterCount and it displays the count.

c:\Windows\System32\CheckShutterCount.bat

Code: Select all

@echo %1
@c:\programs\exiftool-7.06\exiftool -ShutterCount %1
@pause

It displays the file name and then the shutter count.

Obviously, you will need to change the batch file to reflect the location you have stuck exiftool.