Ok, I admit that this might be mostly just a rant, but I had to get it off my chest...
I've been trying to sell a 5D MkIV recently. Based on the shutter count I bought it at, I knew it was probably around 80,000. Cosmetically it's in great shape, and all the buttons and dials work perfectly. I didn't have the one (paid) program that seems to read the shutter count on the MkIV, so I started off just listing it for sale as is with no shutter count mentioned. Just about every person asking about the camera has asked about the shutter count, which is understandable and I somewhat predicted. At first I told them I estimated it was around 80,000, but then as the inquires piled up, I broke down and spent the few bucks to get the program to actually read it.
Sure enough, shutter count is 80,081. It is ridiculous to me how many people are taken aback at how many clicks are on the shutter. People treat it like the camera is on its last legs and should be steeply discounted just because it has somewhat more clicks than a lot of cameras. I had one lady tell me that a shop quoted her $450 to replace the shutter, and she didn't want a camera where she would have to "put another $500 in it this summer in case things start to go downhill." (Somehow the supposed $450 cost to replace the shutter suddenly became $500.) This was after she already stated that her use of the camera would be relatively low compared to most people.
I informed her that the camera is rated to 150,000, so it's unlikely with low use she would hit that for many years. Even so, I offered to come down a little less than half the cost of a shutter replacement ($200) since the shutter still had half its life left, and even on a used camera with light use, you would still have some wear on the shutter.
Ultimately I know this is just the camera equivalent of kicking tires on a car, but it's ridiculous how fixated people are on shutter count, how unreasonable people seem to be when it's really just a $400 service to take it back to zero, and how shocked they are that a pro level camera would reach into the tens of thousands of clicks. All from people who I'm willing to bet have never actually used a camera enough to experience a shutter failure themselves.
I've been trying to sell a 5D MkIV recently. Based on the shutter count I bought it at, I knew it was probably around 80,000. Cosmetically it's in great shape, and all the buttons and dials work perfectly. I didn't have the one (paid) program that seems to read the shutter count on the MkIV, so I started off just listing it for sale as is with no shutter count mentioned. Just about every person asking about the camera has asked about the shutter count, which is understandable and I somewhat predicted. At first I told them I estimated it was around 80,000, but then as the inquires piled up, I broke down and spent the few bucks to get the program to actually read it.
Sure enough, shutter count is 80,081. It is ridiculous to me how many people are taken aback at how many clicks are on the shutter. People treat it like the camera is on its last legs and should be steeply discounted just because it has somewhat more clicks than a lot of cameras. I had one lady tell me that a shop quoted her $450 to replace the shutter, and she didn't want a camera where she would have to "put another $500 in it this summer in case things start to go downhill." (Somehow the supposed $450 cost to replace the shutter suddenly became $500.) This was after she already stated that her use of the camera would be relatively low compared to most people.
I informed her that the camera is rated to 150,000, so it's unlikely with low use she would hit that for many years. Even so, I offered to come down a little less than half the cost of a shutter replacement ($200) since the shutter still had half its life left, and even on a used camera with light use, you would still have some wear on the shutter.
Ultimately I know this is just the camera equivalent of kicking tires on a car, but it's ridiculous how fixated people are on shutter count, how unreasonable people seem to be when it's really just a $400 service to take it back to zero, and how shocked they are that a pro level camera would reach into the tens of thousands of clicks. All from people who I'm willing to bet have never actually used a camera enough to experience a shutter failure themselves.
