400d needs replacement shutter - any options?

[wolf]

Hi guys,

My previously trusty canon 400d (out of warranty) gave the dreaded ER99 and a tired shutter noise over the weekend (possibly caused by shooting too many long exposures in a row?).

Canon service centre have quoted $450 to replace the shutter. Are there any other reliable / more economical options for replacing the shutter available that you know of?

I've read that true shutter count can only be accessed by canon for this model and I understand that the shutter should last for 50,000 odd clicks.

However my continuous numbering (from last image EXIF) shows a file number of 8625 images - does this number count deleted shots or just those downloaded?
this figure seems a bit low.

Has anyone had success with getting Canon to repair for free/less if shutter usage is below the 50,000 mark but out of warranty?

[Nicole]

Don't forget that the continuous numbering restarts after you hit 9999.

You might try something like Jeffrey's Exif viewer (which is online so you don't need to download anything) to check your shutter actuations. Try uploading one of your most recent shots to there to see if that gives you the correct shutter release count. Edit: Look for "Shutter Count" towards the bottom of the page.

Don't have a Canon though so I can't help on those other questions. Good luck!

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Nicole

Don't forget that the continuous numbering restarts after you hit 9999.

Ah - well now i feel like Homer! thanks for the info and link, will be saving that for future use, very helpful.

it tells me that the file number is: 101-8625 - so does the 101 prefix mean its taken 9999 + 8625 shots?

Shutter count has not appeared in the list for my photo.

[Nicole]

No clue on that one, sorry.

Make sure that a photo you check is unedited (I uploaded a NEF (Nikon Raw) file) and it showed Shutter Count. You can also try Opanda iExif or Photoshop will also show the shutter count (at least on unedited files).

[wolf]

Just did some further research on file numbering..

Numbers are applied from 0001 to 9999, at which time the camera creates a new folder on the card (100,101, 102, and so forth), so you can have 0001 to 9999 in folder 100, and then numbering will start over in folder 101.

So it looks like even if I had deleted one in every two shots (which I definatley don't) my shutter count of 18,624 should still be below the canon claimed shutter count for the camera (50,000). Think i'm going to try and get them to fix this even thought its out of warranty.