Discovered an easy way to get the shutter count for my camera (for Mac users)

[James C.]

I was curious about getting a shutter count (i.e., actuations) for my 5-month old D500, so I did a Google search and discovered this simple procedure that Mac users can do using the Preview app. I'm assuming this may work for any DSLR camera. If you have a mirrorless camera, please try it and let us know if this works for you, too.

NOTE: This procedure assumes that the LAST photo that you took with your camera is currently on your Mac somewhere.

1. Open the "Preview" app on your Mac.
2. Drop/open the LAST photo you took with your camera in the Preview app.
3. With that photo as your active photo, click on the "Tools" menu.
4. Select "Show Inspector."
5. Click on the "i" button in the Inspector window.
6. Click on the "Exif" button.
7. Scroll down to to where you see "Image number."
   NOTE: That number indicates how many shutter actuations you have made on your camera as of THAT photo.

I hope you find this useful.

p.s. I read on a couple of sites that the "mean time before failure" (MTBF) for many cameras' shutter is ~150,000 to ~200,000 actuations.

UPDATE: This method seems to work for Nikons, but not Canons from the feedback I've received here and on another site that I'm on.

 

[jhallettbc]

Very cool. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Tom-Neth]

Thanks for the tip, tried it and works great.

 

[Robin]

Thank you for the tip got my count for the D500, tried to get a count for my Canon 7D2 but came up with 0’
Would be great if anyone knows how to do that ? Cheerz Robin.

 

[soundbyte]

Whilst I use Windows jExifToolGUI works on most OS's including MAC and can show you many and varied EXIF information.
Open jExifToolGUI, add an image file/s or directory, select "By Group" select "Nikon" (or another camera type) once his is done, scroll down to "Shutter Count", read the information.
jExifToolGUI will do LOTS more that just read EXIF data.
I have found that if I copy files around that they can sometimes change attributes, "Date/Time" can reset time to original settings.
@Robin jExifToolGUI might be worth a try?

 

[Jamie Baker]

Worked for me, thanks for the tip! I was shocked to see 145,000 on my D500.

 

[Backdoor Arts]

Assuming this only works with jpegs since I can't seem to open a raw file in Preview.

Generally I'll just open it in Photoshop and then go File -> File Info and choose the Raw tab and scroll down to ImageNumber. That'll work on any computer.

 

[Shootist]

I was curious about getting a shutter count (i.e., actuations) for my 5-month old D500, so I did a Google search and discovered this simple procedure that Mac users can do using the Preview app. I'm assuming this may work for any DSLR camera. If you have a mirrorless camera, please try it and let us know if this works for you, too.

NOTE: This procedure assumes that the LAST photo that you took with your camera is currently on your Mac somewhere.

1. Open the "Preview" app on your Mac.
2. Drop/open the LAST photo you took with your camera in the Preview app.
3. With that photo as your active photo, click on the "Tools" menu.
4. Select "Show Inspector."
5. Click on the "i" button in the Inspector window.
6. Click on the "Exif" button.
7. Scroll down to to where you see "Image number."
   NOTE: That number indicates how many shutter actuations you have made on your camera as of THAT photo.

I hope you find this useful.

p.s. I read on a couple of sites that the "mean time before failure" (MTBF) for many cameras' shutter is ~150,000 to ~200,000 actuations.

UPDATE: This method seems to work for Nikons, but not Canons from the feedback I've received here and on another site that I'm on.

Thank you for the info! Much easier than using online sites!!

 

[JAJohnson]

NOTE: This procedure assumes that the LAST photo that you took with your camera is currently on your Mac somewhere.

1. Open the "Preview" app on your Mac.
2. Drop/open the LAST photo you took with your camera in the Preview app.
3. With that photo as your active photo, click on the "Tools" menu.
4. Select "Show Inspector."
5. Click on the "i" button in the Inspector window.
6. Click on the "Exif" button.
7. Scroll down to to where you see "Image number."
   NOTE: That number indicates how many shutter actuations you have made on your camera as of THAT photo

UPDATE: This method seems to work for Nikons, but not Canons from the feedback I've received here and on another site that I'm on.

For Nikon mirrorless cameras, raw files are not supported by the Preview app on Mac. Use a jpg file instead.