Shutter count: how to check the number of clicks on your camera

Clicks or shutter count

A camera shutter does not last forever. The number of photographs that a mechanical shutter can take is therefore limited.

This may sound alarming, but in practice there is usually little reason to worry. Camera shutters are designed for a very large number of actuations. Depending on the camera, the manufacturer's expected shutter life may range from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand actuations. These are commonly referred to as shutter actuations, clicks or the shutter count.

If you want to know how many shutter actuations your camera has already made, you may be able to find an ImageNumber or similar value in the EXIF metadata of a recent photograph, provided your camera stores this information.

RAW data

Take a photograph and open it in Photoshop. Go to File and select File Info, or use the shortcut Alt+Shift+Ctrl+I. Search the metadata for “ImageNumber”. If your camera records this information, it may appear as shown in the example below.

Example of metadata showing an image number

Why check the shutter count?

A camera's shutter count can be compared with the mileage of a used car. If you are buying a second-hand camera, it is useful to know how many shutter actuations it has already made. Some cameras may be rated for around 50,000 to 100,000 actuations, while professional models can be rated for 200,000, 300,000 or more.

Unfortunately, finding the exact shutter count is not always straightforward.

No shutter count available?

Many Nikon and Pentax cameras store shutter-related information in their EXIF metadata. This is not true for every camera brand or model. With some Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus and other cameras, special software or a model-specific procedure may be required.

If the shutter count is not stored in metadata that is accessible to the user, search for a method specifically intended for your camera brand and model.

EXIF data

There are many tools for reading and displaying EXIF metadata. One of the more comprehensive programs is PhotoME. It is a free tool that can display a large amount of information stored in image files. It can also display colour profile information based on standards from the International Color Consortium.

Whether a shutter count or ImageNumber is available depends on the camera brand, model and the metadata written to the image file.

EXIF and shutter count tools

Below is a short list of websites and free programs that can read EXIF data or explain shutter count procedures for particular camera brands. Some cameras do not make shutter count information directly available to the user.