350D Life Time

Hello dear users...
Dany here..
Want to ask you something about this old but but great camera!
I know this cam doesnt have a shutter count,but its there a way or something to find out how many photos last owner did with my camera???

There's no reliable way to determine the shutter count. But then, it really doesn't matter. The shutter will last for however long it lasts.

Unless you're planning to be very hard on the shutter, like time-lapse movie making, it's unlikely you'll see a shutter failure. Most DSLRs die from something else (like being dropped). I've been reading photo forums since I got my XT/350D ten years ago, and I've never read of an XT/350D suffering shutter failure. I'm sure it happens, but so does getting struck by lightning.

If the camera looks beat-up and worn, it's probably seen a lot of use. If it doesn't, it probably hasn't. That's your best indicator. (The coating on the grip area deteriorates over time, not necessarily with use, so don't go just by that.)

Shutter failure is not a rare event.  The shutters on the older Rebel series last in the vicinity of 30k-60k actuations.  The shutter on my XSi burned out at the high end of that range.

jrkliny wrote:

The shutters on the older Rebel series last in the vicinity of 30k-60k actuations. The shutter on my XSi burned out at the high end of that range.

It depends on the shutter. The XT/350D has a very reliable shutter, perhaps in part due to the slow burst speed of that model. Or perhaps in part due to the camera dying from other problems; one person I know went through two XTs that both experienced circuit-board failures early on. Interestingly, the 20D which came out at almost the same time has one of the least reliable shutters that Canon's ever put into a DSLR; at one point a law firm was trying to put together a class action about it but that never came to fruition.

Of course, regardless of the model and the shutter design/manufacture, the shutter in any camera can fail at any time.

In any event, the XT/350D is an obsolescent piece of equipment. It seems unlikely to me that anyone would be buying one today with the intention of taking tens of thousands of pictures with it. I'd be more concerned about sensor dust (due to the design of the case and the sensor) than shutter failure. While sensor dust is much much cheaper to deal with than a broken shutter, after a while the aggravation of repeated cleanings — and spotted pictures — can take its toll.

Doug Pardee wrote:

There's no reliable way to determine the shutter count. But then, it really doesn't matter. The shutter will last for however long it lasts.

Unless you're planning to be very hard on the shutter, like time-lapse movie making, it's unlikely you'll see a shutter failure. Most DSLRs die from something else (like being dropped). I've been reading photo forums since I got my XT/350D ten years ago, and I've never read of an XT/350D suffering shutter failure. I'm sure it happens, but so does getting struck by lightning.

Agreed, I dropped mine but the shutter has never failed. I think I did about 100.000+ shots with it before I sold it. I've heared from others that they did similar amounts of shots without failure. There were more bent pins in the CF card slot though, I'd look for that when buying second hand.

On the 40D, I owned two and on both the shutter failed. One at around 15.000 shots and the other around 25.000. After they were fix under warranty, no problems, even after 50.000+ each.

If the camera looks beat-up and worn, it's probably seen a lot of use. If it doesn't, it probably hasn't. That's your best indicator. (The coating on the grip area deteriorates over time, not necessarily with use, so don't go just by that.)

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imqqmi wrote:

There were more bent pins in the CF card slot though, I'd look for that when buying second hand.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. That's a big failure mode on the XT/350D.