[Rayn]

Ever wonder how long before your Pentax DSLR shutter will go out for good? It's one of the few mechanical moving parts left in a digital SLR, and as such, it WILL FAIL at some point. Manufacturers have an estimated shutter count for each DSLR, but those are rarely accurate. Luckily, someone has already made a website for this exact reason. It averages out the users shutter count to estimate an average for every DSLR out there. However, the accuracy of this depends on the number of users who actually take the 90 seconds to fill out their make,model and shutter count and enter it into the database. And as expected, Pentax charts are basically empty, making any estimate impossible. So, it you want to have a more accurate shutter life expectancy for your Pentax DSLR, take the time to enter your DSLR's data.

Instructions:

1. Shoot any JPEG photo with your DSLR (RAW/DNG will not work) and without editing it, upload it here (you can also take a JPEG you already shot, but make sure it was shot recently and not edited):
Check Shutter Count & Camera Manufacture Date Online - EXIF Reader
It will read the EXIF data from you photo and provide you with the shutter count.

2. Now that you know your shutter count, go here:
Camera Shutter Life Database
In the search field, enter you Pentax DSLR, and then add your current shutter count and whether your shutter is still working or not (add your name/email or use a fake one. doesn't matter).

If enough people do this, we will have a good estimate of real-world shutter life for each Pentax DSLR.

[enoeske]

Ever wonder how long before your Pentax DSLR shutter will go out for good? It's one of the few mechanical moving parts left in a digital SLR, and as such, it WILL FAIL at some point. Manufacturers have an estimated shutter count for each DSLR, but those are rarely accurate. Luckily, someone has already made a website for this exact reason. It averages out the users shutter count to estimate an average for every DSLR out there. However, the accuracy of this depends on the number of users who actually take the 90 seconds to fill out their make,model and shutter count and enter it into the database. And as expected, Pentax charts are basically empty, making any estimate impossible. So, it you want to have a more accurate shutter life expectancy for your Pentax DSLR, take the time to enter your DSLR's data.

Instructions:

1. Shoot any JPEG photo with your DSLR (RAW/DNG will not work) and without editing it, upload it here (you can also take a JPEG you already shot, but make sure it was shot recently and not edited):
Check Shutter Count & Camera Manufacture Date Online - EXIF Reader
It will read the EXIF data from you photo and provide you with the shutter count.

2. Now that you know your shutter count, go here:
Camera Shutter Life Database
In the search field, enter you Pentax DSLR, and then add your current shutter count and whether your shutter is still working or not (add your name/email or use a fake one. doesn't matter).

If enough people do this, we will have a good estimate of shutter life for each Pentax DSLR.

If the shutter is not working, how would one take a new photo to get the shutter count?

[Rayn]

If the shutter is not working, how would one take a new photo to get the shutter count?

You can't, but a JPEG you took just prior to the shutter malfunction will be fine, if you have one. Like a week/month old will be fine. Or if you have a good estimate of the shutter count, use that. It doesn't have to be the exact number the shutter has failed, as shutter life is measured in (tens of) thousands of photos. However, the closer you are to the actual number, the more accurate the database will be, so don't enter at random.

[Venom3300]

I think it had close to 30k when i purchased it. So perhaps 45-50k now?

I don't think about it much. I'm not being paid for shoots so when it does it dies. I probably buy a k1 before it breaks anyways.

[Wojetek]

In my K5II I have 22k and counting. I'm shooting sports mostly, often it's 300-600 photos per event. Probably at the end of the year I will have around 35k. Hopefully shutter will stand before I buy K-1 (maybe in next year ?) .

[joergens.mi]

it is an very old page, most of the modern cameras are missing

[RKKS08]

I wonder whether one can get a number of data base entries big enough to draw conclusions before production of this model will have ended. I doubt it.

If enough people do this, we will have a good estimate of real-world shutter life for each Pentax DSLR

What can you do with this? If the distribution turns out to be very flat, it wouldn't make any sense to use the mean as an "estimate", you could use any value depending whether you are an optimist, or not.
And if the camera uses motor or part of the power train also for servicing the lens, failing of the shutter mechanism as a whole may also depend on the lenses which were used.

Don't get me wrong, I also would like to see such a data base. But just out of curiousity.
And I heard of K200Ds where the shutter failed after <8.000 actuations, as well as after >150.000 actuations. So what?

Even repair services and Ricoh will not get reliable data, as they will see only bodies where a repair would make sense (early shutter failure).
And comparing these numbers with production won't make much sense either, as older bodies with such failure will rarely see service.

[automorphism]

What can you do with this? If the distribution turns out to be very flat, it wouldn't make any sense to use the mean as an "estimate", you could use any value depending whether you are an optimist, or not.

Given enough data points for shutter actuation failure, you can write down a probability distribution function and estimate the probability that any given unit will fail, which will provide more information than the mean.

[SharkyCA]

I liked the idea of creating a database for camera shutter counts as the Pentax community seams to be having some issues.

Unfortunately the K-70 is not listed and there does not appear to be a way to add it.

My camera is a k-70 and the photo I checked gave me a shutter count of 3,797 w/manufacture date of 2017 08 14 on a 18-135 lens.

[reh321]

My first film camera died of shutter failure - but it was an Instamatic 100.

I used my last film camera for 11 years - the one before it I used for 12 years - as far as I know both work.

Of course, I don't have a shutter count for either one, but looking at data from my digital cameras, I seem to average not much more than 1K shutter actuations annually. I doubt if i will ever have another shutter fail me.

[monochrome]

Pentax tells me my K-1 has a shutter life expectancy of 300,000 actuations. That’s all I need to know.

[moe mountain mike]

i downloaded photome and checked a k200d i bought used in 9+ condition. the files are incrementing at 7707 [the last jpeg i took] but photome says shutter count 985. has anyone else seen this discrepancy? what i am saying is, isnt file count the same or close to shutter count? photme also indicated the "repaired bit" hasnt been set. it gave the date of manufacture as january 2008.

[SharkyCA]

Ever wonder how long before your Pentax DSLR shutter will go out for good? It's one of the few mechanical moving parts left in a digital SLR, and as such, it WILL FAIL at some point. Manufacturers have an estimated shutter count for each DSLR, but those are rarely accurate. Luckily, someone has already made a website for this exact reason. It averages out the users shutter count to estimate an average for every DSLR out there. However, the accuracy of this depends on the number of users who actually take the 90 seconds to fill out their make,model and shutter count and enter it into the database. And as expected, Pentax charts are basically empty, making any estimate impossible. So, it you want to have a more accurate shutter life expectancy for your Pentax DSLR, take the time to enter your DSLR's data.

Instructions:

1. Shoot any JPEG photo with your DSLR (RAW/DNG will not work) and without editing it, upload it here (you can also take a JPEG you already shot, but make sure it was shot recently and not edited):
Check Shutter Count & Camera Manufacture Date Online - EXIF Reader
It will read the EXIF data from you photo and provide you with the shutter count.

2. Now that you know your shutter count, go here:
Camera Shutter Life Database
In the search field, enter you Pentax DSLR, and then add your current shutter count and whether your shutter is still working or not (add your name/email or use a fake one. doesn't matter).

If enough people do this, we will have a good estimate of real-world shutter life for each Pentax DSLR.

Pentax k-70 is not on the list!

[Sandy Hancock]

My second hand 635Z is well over 140K. Still going strong.

My two K-1 bodies and my KP have had plenty of use too, but like monochrome I'm happy to just roll with it.

If I wanted to sell any of them I'd check, but I don't

[Joseph Papeika]

I purchased used about 3 weeks ago. The camera was manufactured on 11-11-2013. Building up the database increases the accuracy of the expected shutter life of our cameras. Easy to check count and upload.