How to know my D200 is NEW

My D200 has been shipped from BestBuy.com and scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. I've been curious why BB have D200s in stock. Could it be returned? So, my question is: After I receive my D200 how will I know its NEW, never been used? Thanks.

Leslie

The camera's shutter-use count should be encoded in the EXIF data of each image ("Shutter Count"), so after you take a picture, look at the EXIF data and see what the value is. (I'll be able to tell you soon what the value is on a new camera, as I'm pulling mine out of the box now

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Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

Please pardon my ignorance, is the EXIF data embedded into the raw file? Is EXIF data can also be viewed with JPG files? Sorry, maybe I should wait for my camera and read the manual first. Thanks.

BryanKenneth1999 said:

Please pardon my ignorance, is the EXIF data embedded into the raw
file? Is EXIF data can also be viewed with JPG files? Sorry

Click to expand...

The camera embeds it in every file it produces (JPG or Raw/NEF), along with a multitude of other data. If you use software to manipulate the file (e.g. Photoshop), it will likely add/modify/remove the data, but at least you know it's there when it leaves the camera.

You can use something like my online exif-viewer to view the data, such as this, the first (and so far only) shot I've taken with my D200:

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FDSC_0001.JPG

If you scroll down to the "Maker Notes", you'll see a "Shutter Count" of zero. (I went and took another shot, and confirmed that its "Shutter Count" is "1", so I guess "Shutter Count" is the number of prior shutter releases...)

Anyway, I'd had the camera write a raw file, and a small JPG as well, which is shown above.

I feel silly, but I spent more time wandering around the house trying to decide what my first picture should be than I did getting the camera ready! It's been 20+ years since I've used an SLR, and it's night here (I'm in Kyoto, Japan), so there's only the indoor lighting, and (add more excuses for not knowing what to take).... In the end, I thought a table strewn with my 3yr-old's toys might be slightly unboring, so that's what I took. It's 1/30th of a sec handheld. I think it came out okay.

Jeffrey

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Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

Downloadand install iEXIF from Opanda here:

http://www.opanda.com .

Shoot a JPG (an NEF won't show shutter actuations) and open it with the program. Scroll down to the bottom and you'll see the field for shutter releases.

It's that easy!
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broonzbane

http://www.pbase.com/mudshark_artworks

Thanks a lot sir.

I suspect that with a 15% restock fee that they will use that to reduce the price for "opened box" items, and not sell returned items as new items. That would be good retailing anyway, hope that they follow that practice.
--
John Power
Racehorse in the Desert

I don't know about other cameras, but the D200's NEF do include the shutter count. (I don't see why any of the EXIF data should differ, but I've not compared every field, but I do know that the shutter stuff is there because I'd checked before posting a few min ago)

But, you're right that using something on your local machine would be much faster than an online tool like mine (which I wrote so that I could peek at EXIF data of random pictures already online).

Jeffrey

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Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

One thing I just noticed is that the timezone is not encoded in the EXIF data (at least not where I can find it). That unfortunate. That's why the photo that I took a few minutes ago (here in Japan) when viewed with my exif viewer

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FDSC_0001.JPG

(which is hosted on a server in California) shows wonky date arithmetic. )-:

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Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

I just download opanda powerexif program, but I don't see shutter release
field. Which version are you using?

...1st powered on. If you receive notice it should be new. If not check shutter count as noted.

BryanKenneth1999 said:

My D200 has been shipped from BestBuy.com and scheduled to arrive
on Wednesday. I've been curious why BB have D200s in stock. Could
it be returned? So, my question is: After I receive my D200 how
will I know its NEW, never been used? Thanks.

Leslie

Click to expand...

SHL1105 said:

I just download opanda powerexif program, but I don't see shutter
release
field. Which version are you using?

Click to expand...

I'm not using PowerEXIF by Opanda, I'm using IExif 2.2 by Opanda. The number of shutter releases is toward the bottom, and the field tag is '00A7.'

Give IExif a try instead.

--
broonzbane

http://www.pbase.com/mudshark_artworks

What if they didn't set the world clock?

Opanda IExif:

Last shot: DSC_0259.JPG
Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera = 295

Difference=36

Shot: DSC0034
Total Number of Shutter Releases for Camera = 38

Difference=4

why the difference?

If you delete an image directly after taking it, the numbering of pictures will continue with the number after the last picture you kept, the shooter counts just on.
The difference should be the number of pictures you deleted.

Regards,
Thomas

I am not sure if I guess it right, but if the D200 is new, is it fair to expect that the first filename ends with something like 001.JPG ??

thanks...

You can't go by the file numbering, since that can be dependent on what happens to already be on the memory card, and can even be reset back to one while you're shooting (see page 159 of the English manual).

The shutter-release count in the EXIF is the number of shutter releases prior to the one used for the picture in which the count is encoded. It goes up one every time you take a picture, of course, but also when the shutter is released for sensor cleaning, and for the dust-reference photo.

Out of the box, the first photo's shutter-release count should be zero.

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Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/