DSLRUsers.com

I read on another Nikon based forum (no names ) that a particular individual believed that the life expectancy of a D70, or its shutter to be precise was 15'000 shots.

I was curious to know how many shots people had got out of their D70 to date, plus is it possible for an item like the shutter to wear out excessively? There seems to be heaps of classic Nikon camera equipment out there but I have never encountered problems such as this. Is it a dSLR problem only, if at all?

Ed.

I'm on about 7-8000 shutter releases, although to answer your question it all depends on how your camera was manufactured, as in was it it carefully constructed with the best tolerance parts fitted, was the packaging and transport to the best of Nikon service? Do you keep your D70 in a clean safe and dust free enviroment and service it when required?
As you can see there are a lot of factors involved and it only takes one small aspect to go wrong for something to fail.
In other words anywhere between 1 shutter release to approx 100,000 I "guesstimate" would be normal.

Ed,

From memory the only member here I recall having a shutter problem was Matt K and that was with about 20K shots.

time to get insurance policy on contents that covers accidentl breakage.

Then drop when the shutter goes ... drop the camera from balcony into pool . OOPS!

Is it considered end of life when the shutter's gone?! Didn't MattK get his fixed by Maxwell outside of warranty (just barely) free of cost?

With all the reports of green LED light lockup error elsewhere online, I'm more inclined to believe the D70 will likely die of other causes than a worn out shutter.

It's a fragile item. Store, use, play it with care.
Put it in a warm bed in winter and have A/C in summer

I have decided to be diligent with my camera - all these reports of 15k shutter cycles have me concerned.
I am now only going to take photos on long exposure - I am convinced, after careful research, that the slower movement of a long exposure will allow my shutter to take 20% more photos.

Sadly this is one reason why I'm okay getting bought out of my d70 for a new one. Brand new shutter count. (I'm at about 8500 I think right now). i'm also a little more prudent about my shots now. When I first got it I simply clicked away, many of them throwaways. Now my eye is a little more disciplined, I know a little better about what I want. I hope to use it for a very long time as the quality is pretty great.

Look at it this way guys...
My shutter died at about 23000 shots which is equal to about 638 rolls of 36 exposure colour film. Cost of that film is around $3800 and cost of getting it printed at around $12 per roll conservarively is $7680. So total value of pics is around $11480. Who's complaining now?

Matt. K wrote:Look at it this way guys...
My shutter died at about 23000 shots which is equal to about 638 rolls of 36 exposure colour film. Cost of that film is around $3800 and cost of getting it printed at around $12 per roll conservarively is $7680. So total value of pics is around $11480. Who's complaining now?

I can afford a D2X!! - thanks Matt

My understanding is that a typical Nikon shutter life should be around 100K exposures; why would the D70 be any different?

We need to remember that a camera is a precision electro-mechanical device, and it needs to be treatged with some respect in order to garner the best possible life from the device. I'm at around 8K exposures after 12 months, and my experience thus far with digicams is that I'll update every 30 months or so, despite the fact that the older cam is still perfectly serviceable.

My expectations regarding the D70 are unchanged.