Refurbished Cameras - Shutter Count?

In thinking about going to refurbished camera body route - I got to wondering about refurbished cameras and shutter actuations.

In reading up a bit - I see people report as few and 5 actuations and some in the thousands on a refurbished camera.

I assume that the refurbished cameras are returns (within 30 days?) and others might be manufacturer loaners / demos - but am not sure. I guess some could buy a camera and return it - instead of renting and it might get heavy use for that initial period.

Anyone have insight on outer limits of the acceptable shutter count on a refurbished camera? That's one thing you cannot know prior to buying - so I'm curious.

Ι wouldn't blink for anything under a thousand.

Anyway, if you don't like what you got, you can return it and try your luck again. Easy as pie!

I have gotten 3 DSLRs refurb from Canon Direct and will most likely get one more this year or early next year. Every one of them have looked brand new and the only way to tell they weren't was that they came in a refurbished box. Practically no shutter counts. Yes there are some out there that will have higher counts, but like Gerry said, if under 1000 I wouldn't even care.

Go "beyond" refurb if you live in the States. Search this forum for Canon Loyalty Program . Sometimes as much as an extra 20% off depending on camera choice.

I wouldn't even worry about it. Shutter actuations don't tell you much of anything. Even a 5000 count doesn't mean that is doesn't have a brand new shutter in it. Shutter counts can be from testing done while working on it.

The shutter life expectation is kind of misleading. If you have a body rated at 150k clicks, it just means that just as many fail before 150k clicks as they do after. And you have absolutely no way of knowing which one yours is going to be. The brand new zero click camera could fail at 10k clicks 1 day after the end of the warranty while your refurb at 5k clicks could run for 300k.

If you get the same warranty that a new one gets, I wouldn't worry about it at all. If the shutter fails in the warranty period, it gets replaced. If the shutter fails after the warranty period, your odds aren't going to be any higher and it won't fail any sooner really than if you started with a 0 count new body. On either you have the same likelihood of failure at any given point. But on the refurb you hopefully saved more than enough to cover the cost of a new shutter.

My advice is to just get it and don't even worry yourself by doing a shutter count. If it really worries you, just get a mack warranty and be done with it.
Don't get me wrong. Shutter counts aren't useless. They are useful along with many other factors to go together in helping you determine the value of a used camera. A body with a 250k count is obviously worth less than the same body with a 10k count if all other conditions are equal. But that's about all it's useful for.

I recently got a 5D Mark III for $2662 after tax using the CLP and it arrived with only 31 shutter actuations.

I went Canon Loyalty program on both my 60d and 6d, and I couldn't be happier. Both came with a 1 year warranty as a new one would. Actually I was pretty comfortable going that route, since I'm sure canon goes through the camera quite well before selling it as a refurbished.

I use my 60d more then my 6d, I just love that camera!

I bought my 60D as a Canon refurb, and the EOS program showed that it already had 4k actuations on it when I received it. This was rather high compared to most of the stories I've read from others, and I was disappointed by that at first.

However, 2 years later and 25k+ actuations and the camera has been flawless for me. It looked brand new, works perfectly, and showed zero signs of being anything but brand new. I'll be buying my next camera as a Canon refurb again, it's a fantastic deal.

GoHokiesGo wrote in post #16964999
I bought my 60D as a Canon refurb, and the EOS program showed that it already had 4k actuations on it when I received it. This was rather high compared to most of the stories I've read from others, and I was disappointed by that at first.

However, 2 years later and 25k+ actuations and the camera has been flawless for me. It looked brand new, works perfectly, and showed zero signs of being anything but brand new. I'll be buying my next camera as a Canon refurb again, it's a fantastic deal.

^Exactly this

How do you know the shutter actuations when you buy refurbished - specifically, a 7D ...

monkey44 wrote in post #16969799
How do you know the shutter actuations when you buy refurbished - specifically, a 7D ...

Many ways, one at http://www.eoscount.co​m/.

John from PA wrote in post #16969817
Many ways, one at http://www.eoscount.co​m/.

OK, thanks -- was thinking some file notes in the camera would tell you ... looks like you have to download something to do it instead.

GoHokiesGo wrote in post #16964999
I bought my 60D as a Canon refurb, and the EOS program showed that it already had 4k actuations on it when I received it. This was rather high compared to most of the stories I've read from others, and I was disappointed by that at first.

However, 2 years later and 25k+ actuations and the camera has been flawless for me. It looked brand new, works perfectly, and showed zero signs of being anything but brand new. I'll be buying my next camera as a Canon refurb again, it's a fantastic deal.

My 50D from CLP had 9K shots on it. Didn't bother me a bit. It's been flawless.

-js

i bought my t4i refurbed and haven't had any issues, although I've only had it a few months.

My brand new 5D3 had over 500 actuations