Nearly at 10,000 photos...

[Kiwi]

Hi
I have a Pentax *ist DS and have taken over 9000 photos. Does the photo counter that shows on my photos when I view them go up into the 10's of thousands?

Also, approximately how many photos can I expect to get out of this camera? I have had it for just over 3 years - should I be getting it serviced or anything?

Thanks.

[TheWengler]

The counter on my K100D recycles back to 0001 after 9999. I don't think the counter goes up if you delete the last picture taken too, so the shutter count could be higher than the image number. I have no idea how long the camera will last, but I believe the shutter is supposed to last about 100k clicks. I don't think you need to have it serviced unless you're having problems.

[mattdm]

Hi
I have a Pentax *ist DS and have taken over 9000 photos. Does the photo counter that shows on my photos when I view them go up into the 10's of thousands?

The file name will cycle back to 0000 after 9999. But the camera still keeps track internally:

$ exiftool 20090123-k10d-imgp8631.jpg|grep 'Shutter Count'
Shutter Count : 20071

This counts not just saved pictures but preview shots, those used to set white-balance, etc. — every use of the shutter.

Also, approximately how many photos can I expect to get out of this camera? I have had it for just over 3 years - should I be getting it serviced or anything?


For a consumer-level DSLR, the shutter is probably at risk of failing anywhere past 50000 (but some will last far longer). I don't think there's any particular service that will extend this; when it fails, you either have it repaired or evaluate whether it's time to upgrade.