just brew it! wrote:Why do people care about shutter count? Is there something that wears out fast enough to be a concern? I'm genuinely curious here, as I don't know much about DSLRs.
It very much depends on the tier of dSLR you have, and how many photos you take. For pros? Yeah, it matters quite a bit.
For instance, the dSLR I own (a Canon EOS 80D) is a relatively entry level dSLR, and it's "rated" (manufacturer specified) shutter actuations is ~100K. It could wear out before then, but it's not super likely. It might last way longer than that too though. Taking care of your stuff helps. Keep it clean and such.
However, for a more pro level kit like say...the Nikon D850 we're talking about here -- it's rated at ~200K actuations.
Think about that though. The 80D can shoot 7fps in high-speed with AF, and the D850 can shoot 7fps continuous, and 9fps depending on some accessories you can buy for it. That's a lot of actuations really quickly. Pros take a tonnnnnnn of pictures. Now, I'm not saying everyone is shooting at 7-9fps all the time, they're not, but you can see how quickly you could eat up those actuations this way. Another example, of the pro or at least semi-pro photogs I know, they say they can take anywhere from 400-700 photos at a wedding (let's say over...5? hours). Of course not everyone is a wedding photographer, but let's use an average here and say a lot of people take ~550 photos at a single wedding. In five hours.
Anyway, the answer to your question is yeah, the shutter can wear out. Especially for pros that take photos all day every day. The shutter count definitely matters if you're buying used too. Don't wanna buy a camera that already has 3/4 of it's expected life (at least for the shutter) already gone.