During the last several weeks, I have received several requests from our readers about finding the total number of shutter actuations on their DSLRs. I decided to write a short article on how you can find the total shutter actuations on both Nikon and Canon DSLRs, in case you are interested in seeing how much you have been using your camera or how close your shutter speed is to the manufacturers’ rated shutter life of 150,000 (on most entry and mid-level cameras) or 300,000 (professional cameras).
Table of Contents
1) EXIF Data
The information on the total shutter actuations on your camera is preserved in file headers, known as “metadata” or “EXIF”. If you do not know what EXIF is and what it is used for, check out my “What is EXIF” article. Basically, your camera writes all exposure-related information such as date, time, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and a bunch of other important information into the header of each file. Some camera manufacturers like Nikon and Canon also add unique shutter actuations data fields that are used for seeing the total number of exposures or “shutter actuations” cameras have.
2) Switch to JPEG format
If you are shooting RAW, it is best to switch to JPEG format just for getting the required information from your camera. While the camera native RAW format preserves all of the EXIF information that is coming out of the camera, third party conversion software like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom can strip out some of the proprietary EXIF data, including the number of shutter actuations. Therefore, switching to JPEG will allow you to view EXIF data straight, without having to import the image into Lightroom or Photoshop first. It doesn’t matter what size of JPEG files you choose – even JPEG BASIC works fine. Once selected, take a picture of anything you want.
3) Download EXIF viewer
In order to view the proprietary EXIF information from files, you need to use an image EXIF viewer that does not strip out anything from the file. Unfortunately, almost all current image viewers only display generic EXIF data that most people use and ignore the rest. Instead of properly reading EXIF data from files and then parsing the results, they typically just look for generic EXIF tags within the file and display them when they are available. If something is not available, it stays blank. To reduce the number of blank items to the minimum, they only provide generic information that is more or less standardized across most camera manufacturers.
Since these kinds of image EXIF viewers are not going to work to find the total shutter count, we will need to use less popular versions of EXIF data viewers, such as Phil Harvey’s “ExifTool” and Opanda’s IExif.
4) Viewing Shutter Count EXIF Data via ExifTool
Once you download the single ExifTool executable from this website, move it to the root drive of your main drive (typically C: on Windows and / on MacOS), then open up the command prompt via Start->All Programs->Acessories->Command Prompt. If you are using a Mac, fire up the shell terminal. Type “cd c:” in Windows or “cd /” in MacOS to be in the same folder where the ExifTool executable resides. Then type:
- Nikon DSLR: exiftool source_jpeg_file.jpg | find “Shutter Count”
- Canon DSLR: exiftool source_jpeg_file.jpg | find “Image Number”
Obviously, replace “source_jpeg_file.jpg” with the name of your actual JPEG file. The program should return something like this: “Shutter Count: 19889” or “Image Number: 19889” – the number to the right of the string is the total shutter count on the camera.
5) Viewing Shutter Count EXIF Data via Opanda IExif
If you do not want to mess with command prompts, the best alternative is to use either Opanda IExif (for Windows). Just download the latest version of Opanda IExif and install using defaults.
Once the program is installed, open it up and then click the “Open” button to browse to your file. Select the JPEG file and you will see something like this:
Now scroll down until you see either “Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera” and note the number:
Simple EXIF Viewer for MacOS has a different interface, but works similarly.
If you shoot with a Canon camera and your shutter count is not displayed by any of the above images, check out this website.
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Gopi Potharlanka
Can you tell me on Nikon D7100 total shutter count As of now my shutter cont was 3996
I have to watch my shutter .
Please let me know my total shutter count on Nikon D7100 or Please let me know how to look up
Thank you
Why isn’t shutter count/release information available in camera ? I take a lot of pictures and life expectancy is very important. Some people may even use this in making a choice as to which camera to buy. Thanks,Butch
Hi Nasim,
In respect of the exif data software, I found that Irfanview also shows the number of photos taken. If one goes to the EXIF menu under information , one is able to get the info from there.
I have tested my D750 and D7100 by this method and compared it with the online resources you have mentioned. It is 100% accurate.
Irfanview can be downloaded here: www.irfanview.com/main_…d_engl.htm
Thank you for providing us with such fantastic info and advice! :)
Dear Nasim,
I have been following your publication for last 5 years, and my compliments to you for your effort.
I am an avid armature photographer by hobby and engineer by profession retired after 51 years of service.
Although many such resources are available in the net ,personally I find yours is strikingly expressive.
Best wishes
Jayanta
I have done a bit more research and later Canon Cameras such as the 70D appear to use a slightly different version – they seem to allow more files in each folder below DCIM. It looks as though 9999 files are allowed in a sub-folder. Thus the numbers are something like 1017890 which split as above gives 101-7890. Conversion to shutter is easier as all one has to do is drop the leading 1 i.e. subtract 1 million so the above number gives 17890 shutter operations. Some Canon cameras such as the Canon Ixus seem to use the older method. The best way of determining is to see how many directories are under DCIM and what the numbers are if… Read more »
The assertion above that ‘image Number’ on a Canon camera shows the shutter count is only partially correct. On my 10D it shows 2929222 approaching 3 million shots which is clearly wrong. One EXIF data tool reports the number as 292-9222. That makes more sense – the last image was IMG_9222.JPG. I then realised that the first 3 digits are in fact the folder number on the memory card. Under DCIM there are two folders at present 291CANON and 292CANON. The folders each hold 100 files so the first 3 digits increment once every 100 images to reflect the new folder number while the last 4 digits increase to 9999 then rollover to 0. A twist is that looking at… Read more »
Hi photographylife,
Thanks for this awesome article, have been waiting for such kind article for long day
If you upload your photos to an iOS device you can download “EXIF Viewer LITE by Fluntro” for free on the Apple App Store. Then you go to your photo album and select an uploaded photo. Scroll towards the bottom of the screen and it will tell you “shutter count”. Couldn’t be any easier!
Hi Nasim,
thanks for your help.
I just found a super easy way to locate the shutter count data – I assume this would work for numerous cameras/browsers etc as it is an online tool that reads the full metadata.
Step 1
take a JPG image (not raw as previously discussed)
Step 2
load photopixreview.com/shutt…on-camera/ onto your browser of choice
Step 3
drag & drop your jpg file, click through to process the image then scroll down the list to “shutter count”
This just worked for me on a very old but still reliable Nikon D300 that I wish to sell.
If you use the free downloaded Google’s Picasa, you can simply open the file in Picasa, right click on the file properties. Near the bottom of the properties you can see the shutter count. Very simple.