shutter actuations?

[jdear]

apart from sending the cam off to canon australia, is there anyway of getting a rough idea of how many actuations my 30d has done?

Cancount would work if it was a 1D series. Opanda also if canon actually put the actuation details into the EXIF data.

Any ideas?
thinking of selling it.

thanks!

Jonathan

[petal666]

Can't be done without sending off to Canon.

[Oz_Beachside]

ummm... nikon thought this threw...

[Viz]

Nikon didn't think it though too well, my D70s currently has apparently 2,000 exposures on the clock according to EXIF... I gather it means more in the order of 52,00+ because the Nikon bloke said it is rated to 50, and I have taken it there and then some. BTW (smirk if you will Moz) Does any one know of good deals ATM on AU stock 40D bodies? I come, tail between legs... really want the D3, but I can get how many 40Ds for that?

[Andyt]

Try this:

In CS2, load last pic taken, Click File, File Info.... , Advanced,

then, fourth cross down, click http://ns.adobe.com/exif/1.0/aux/

Last item: image number. This should tell you the total number of shutter actuations for the camera that took the pic

If I am wrong, please tell me as its been awhile since I have used this function.

[Antsl]

Try this:
In CS2, load last pic taken, Click File, File Info.... , Advanced,
then, fourth cross down, click http://ns.adobe.com/exif/1.0/aux/
If I am wrong, please tell me as its been awhile since I have used this function.

Hi Andy,
thanks for this tip... just tried it and discovered it worked a treat on both camera I tried.... one was my nikon D200 (32,000 exposures) and the other was the D3 that I tested the other month...... 14,000 !!! I used PS CS3 and it was exactly where you said it would be.
cheers, Ants

[Matt. K]

Thanks for that Andy! A wonderful tip and just goes to prove the worth of the forum and the collective knowledge in it! This will be very useful to me!

[Andyt]

Thanks for that Andy! A wonderful tip and just goes to prove the worth of the forum and the collective knowledge in it! This will be very useful to me!

Hi! Matt & Antsl,

I can't claim any credit for this one, from memory I got it here on the Forum!

Glad it works O'K,

...............Mmmmm, now back to the D3 & D300 specs......... :D

[DaveB]

Most EOS bodies don't put that data there...

In fact, in many cameras the EXIF "image number" correlates to the filename (e.g. encoding the folder and image numbers: often seen when formatted as something like "100-8010"). Not the number of images this camera has taken...

[DJT]

Cool 18,597 actuations on my D70

[rah]

Or you can use this freeware if you don't have PS. It will tell you actuations.

http://www.opanda.com/en/iexif/index.html

edit : unless its a canon

Must read first post.
Its 12.30am ,I should be in bed......zzzz

[NSWESP]

NOTE TO SELF: NEVER buy a used body from people who beleive they can find the exact shutter count of a non 1D Canon... You simply cannot.

[Big Red]

try a free program called PhotoMe
even tells you the date your camera was manufactured, temperature, shutter count and a heap of other stuff.

http://www.photome.de/

[petal666]

try a free program called PhotoMe
even tells you the date your camera was manufactured, temperature, shutter count and a heap of other stuff.

http://www.photome.de/

I think you should read the post above yours, it's true.

[Big Red]

try a free program called PhotoMe
even tells you the date your camera was manufactured, temperature, shutter count and a heap of other stuff.

http://www.photome.de/

I think you should read the post above yours, it's true.

why can't that program tell me my shutter count ?...
seems to be right with my three Pentax DSLR's
all shutter counts exceed the file counts by a small amount

try it on one of your canon RAW images ?

[petal666]

try a free program called PhotoMe
even tells you the date your camera was manufactured, temperature, shutter count and a heap of other stuff.

http://www.photome.de/

I think you should read the post above yours, it's true.

why can't that program tell me my shutter count ?...
seems to be right with my three Pentax DSLR's
all shutter counts exceed the file counts by a small amount

try it on one of your canon RAW images ?

We are not talking Pentax or Nikon, we are talking non-1D series Canons. IT DOES NOT WORK.

[Big Red]

try a free program called PhotoMe
even tells you the date your camera was manufactured, temperature, shutter count and a heap of other stuff.

http://www.photome.de/

I think you should read the post above yours, it's true.

why can't that program tell me my shutter count ?...
seems to be right with my three Pentax DSLR's
all shutter counts exceed the file counts by a small amount

try it on one of your canon RAW images ?

We are not talking Pentax or Nikon, we are talking non-1D series Canons. IT DOES NOT WORK.

aah, you mean any Canon camera except the 1D ... i thought you meant any Camera except the 1D ...

just depends on how you read it

[NSWESP]

Its questionable if you can get an acurate reading out of any consumer camera however i am 100% you cant on canon;.

[gstark]

Its questionable if you can get an acurate reading out of any consumer camera

No, it is not questionable at all.

It is a fact that this can be done on any Nikon DSLR. Nikon provide the capability. Opanda software, amongst others, provides a facility to read the data.

No question about it at all.

however i am 100% you cant on canon;.

Please take a moment to read, reread, and comprehend Petal666's words. Canon do not provide this ability on their lower end DSLR cameras. They do on their higher end DSLR cameras.

[Jens D.]

Hello!

IT DOES NOT WORK.

however i am 100% you cant on canon;.

Please take a moment to read, reread, and comprehend Petal666's words. Canon do not provide this ability on their lower end DSLR cameras. They do on their higher end DSLR cameras.

I wouldn't be too sure about that.
That it isn't shown by any software yet, doesn't mean it isn't included in the maker notes (section of the Exif data).

I'm author of PhotoME and currently analyse images of the PowerShot A710IS.
Till now, no software show the shutter count for the PowerShot models - but I've figured out that Canon save the shutter count for atleast the latest PowerShots to the maker notes in an encrypted form.

The A710IS isn't a DSLR - but since Canon write the shutter count encrypted into the maker notes for these models, I don't see a reason why they shouldn't do that for their DSLRs too.
There are still many maker note tags which are currently not decoded - until all tags are known, I wouldn't say "it's not written into the maker notes".

Cu, Jens
Author of PhotoME

[gstark]

Hi Jens, and welcome.

Hello!

IT DOES NOT WORK.

however i am 100% you cant on canon;.

Please take a moment to read, reread, and comprehend Petal666's words. Canon do not provide this ability on their lower end DSLR cameras. They do on their higher end DSLR cameras.

I wouldn't be too sure about that.
That it isn't shown by any software yet, doesn't mean it isn't included in the maker notes.

Fair point, except of course that nobody has yet been able to decode this. That includes people like Opanda, whom one might expect to have already done this by now. Certainly for some of the older Canon models.

What, from your point of view, might it take (apart from time) to accomplish this? some sample images from some of the cameras?

[Travy]

On my 400D my files are numbered.. IMG_ xxxx
thats how i know.. yay 1724 pics taken in 13 months..

Clearly i dont use it much compared to all of you..

Maybe time to sell it i rekon..

[Big Red]

On my 400D my files are numbered.. IMG_ xxxx
thats how i know.. yay 1724 pics taken in 13 months..

Clearly i dont use it much compared to all of you..

Maybe time to sell it i rekon..

you might find the shutter count is different from the image numbers...
30 or 40 for testing ,demos etc.

you can probably reset back to 0 so someone else may have already done that.

[Big Red]

Hello!

IT DOES NOT WORK.

however i am 100% you cant on canon;.

Please take a moment to read, reread, and comprehend Petal666's words. Canon do not provide this ability on their lower end DSLR cameras. They do on their higher end DSLR cameras.

I wouldn't be too sure about that.
That it isn't shown by any software yet, doesn't mean it isn't included in the maker notes (section of the Exif data).

I'm author of PhotoME and currently analyse images of the PowerShot A710IS.
Till now, no software show the shutter count for the PowerShot models - but I've figured out that Canon save the shutter count for atleast the latest PowerShots to the maker notes in an encrypted form.

The A710IS isn't a DSLR - but since Canon write the shutter count encrypted into the maker notes for these models, I don't see a reason why they shouldn't do that for their DSLRs too.
There are still many maker note tags which are currently not decoded - until all tags are known, I wouldn't say "it's not written into the maker notes".

Cu, Jens
Author of PhotoME

Hi Jens,

Thank you for the PhotoME program which i have found the most detailed of all the ones i have tried ... much appreciated

[Jens D.]

Hello Gary,

Opanda wasn't updated since months, and isn't very complete - I'm sure they doesn't decode the data themself - there are many sources in the web, with tag descriptions. There is no need (and it's not possible) that every software author decode all tags themself.

Big Red wrote that PhotoME is able to show the shutter count of the Pentax DSLRs.
This is possible since a few months. It wasn't possible before, because the shutter count of newer Pentax models is encrypted too, and noone thought about an encryption before.
Using hundreds of sample images, I've figured out that the shutter count of the Pentax DSLRs is encrypted.
Thanks to the help of Phil Harvey (ExifTool) it was possible to find the algorithm and to decode the shutter count. We've analysed the images, found that it use the date of the camera to encrypt the shutter count and Phil was able to find a formula to decode it.

Just because noone found it before, doesn't mean that it isn't there - maybe they just havn't looked close enough.
The Pentax shutter count is encrypted using the date and time. If you just search for values which increase by one for each photo, you have no luck - because as soon as the second of the time change, the encrypted value could look totally different.

Canon seems to use a similar system - they are mixing the shutter count with the date and time and most likely some other informations too. That's why it isn't easily possible to identify the value as counter.

What, from your point of view, might it take (apart from time) to accomplish this? some sample images from some of the cameras?

For the Pentax shutter count, a user has sent me 650 shots in a row - which helped to decode the value.
I already took 600 shots in a row with my A710IS, to see how the values change. I'm in contact with Phil Harvey, he has a PowerShot too and will also try to figure out how the encryption works.

I have the hope that Canon use the same algorithm for their DSLR models, which they use for the PowerShot. In that case, it should be easily possible to decode the value for the DSLRs too.
Otherwise we'll need hundreds of samples too, depending on the complexity of the algorithm.

To check if the shutter count is there or not, I assume 30 or 50 images taken in a row should be enough - but even if you don't find anything by comparing 50 images you can't be sure that it isn't there, maybe the algorithm is just very complex.

After the shutter count of the PowerShots is decoded, I'll try find one for Canon DSLRs too.

Cu, Jens

[Travy]

On my 400D my files are numbered.. IMG_ xxxx
thats how i know.. yay 1724 pics taken in 13 months..

Clearly i dont use it much compared to all of you..

Maybe time to sell it i rekon..

you might find the shutter count is different from the image numbers...
30 or 40 for testing ,demos etc.

you can probably reset back to 0 so someone else may have already done that.

I bought it new.
I dont do tests etc
I may have deleted a few.. be a max of about 1770-1800 absolute max.
Im just a happy snapper

[firsty]

the fact that canon can tell you the shutter actuations means that the camera must record them some how and you must be able to get them out of the camera
what are the ways to get data out of the camera???
1. in an image file (most likely)
2. recorded in the cameras firmware (backup the firmware, take a few shots, re backup and look for changes)
3. maybe using some software to talk to the camera like tethered shooting dose
4. anyone have any other ideas on how to get data out of a camera ????

[gstark]

On my 400D my files are numbered.. IMG_ xxxx
thats how i know.. yay 1724 pics taken in 13 months..

Clearly i dont use it much compared to all of you..

Maybe time to sell it i rekon..

you might find the shutter count is different from the image numbers...
30 or 40 for testing ,demos etc.

you can probably reset back to 0 so someone else may have already done that.

I bought it new.
I dont do tests etc
I may have deleted a few.. be a max of about 1770-1800 absolute max.
Im just a happy snapper

And when you get to 9999 the first time, the counter resets itself to zero.

And when you get to 9999 the second time, the counter resets itself to zero

And if, somewhere along the way, you change the in-camera setting from continuous numbering to one that resets the counter every time that you format at the card, then each time you start shooting on a newly formated card you'll be starting from #1

And if you have x as your current image count in the camera, but you insert a card that has a value of y as its current image count, the next filename written will be y+1.

The image numbering system is a totally unreliable method of trying to determine the shutter actuations count.

[gstark]

I have the hope that Canon use the same algorithm for their DSLR models, which they use for the PowerShot. In that case, it should be easily possible to decode the value for the DSLRs too.
Otherwise we'll need hundreds of samples too, depending on the complexity of the algorithm.

To check if the shutter count is there or not, I assume 30 or 50 images taken in a row should be enough - but even if you don't find anything by comparing 50 images you can't be sure that it isn't there, maybe the algorithm is just very complex.

After the shutter count of the PowerShots is decoded, I'll try find one for Canon DSLRs too.

Please, as and when you're ready, feel free to ask amongst our members here.

I'll be happy to send you some files from my D30, and I'm sure that there's more than a few members here with other Canon models that will be willing to assist you in order that this data be made more readily accessible.

[moz]

4. anyone have any other ideas on how to get data out of a camera ????

There is a data port inside the battery compartment if I recall correctly, and I don't think anyone has managed to make that work.

The hacking that has been done has all revolved around stuff that is readily available - image files, firmware updates, published specs for various chips in the camera. Part of the reason the 300D was so hackable was that half the logic was running in a stock x86 chip so people found it easy to understand the decrypted firmware. I believe Canon has moved away from that approach for some reason.

[NSWESP]

On my 400D my files are numbered.. IMG_ xxxx
thats how i know.. yay 1724 pics taken in 13 months..

Clearly i dont use it much compared to all of you..

Maybe time to sell it i rekon..

you might find the shutter count is different from the image numbers...
30 or 40 for testing ,demos etc.

you can probably reset back to 0 so someone else may have already done that.

I bought it new.
I dont do tests etc
I may have deleted a few.. be a max of about 1770-1800 absolute max.
Im just a happy snapper

When you get to IMG_9999 it sets to zero.

I reinforce my old post NB DONT BUY USED BODIES.