Had a retired NASA photographer school me on shutter count yesterday

I was swapping a mirror box on a Nikon D800 at the shop and this old guy walks in with a beat up D700. He tells me he shot over 400,000 frames with it and only sent it in for cleaning twice. I told him I usually warn people once they hit 150,000 to start thinking about a new body. He laughed and said back in the film days he'd shoot a whole roll just to test a lens and never thought twice about it. It made me realize how scared we all are of shutter wear now compared to what those old pros put gear through. He showed me some prints from a 1980s Hasselblad he had and they were sharper than half the digital stuff I see come through here. Now I'm wondering if I'm babying my own cameras too much. Has anyone else had an older shooter change how you think about gear lifespan?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_craig266d ago

My buddy's dad was a war photographer in Vietnam and he still uses the same Leica M3 he bought in 1966 (it’s got dents and missing paint everywhere). He laughed at me once for keeping my camera in a padded case and told me his gear survived helicopter crashes and monsoons. Now I toss my gear in my backpack loose and somehow feel liberated (and broke when I drop it).

skyler_adams6d ago

That liberated feeling goes away real fast when you hear the crunch.