Shutter Actuations on a Canon EOS 20D
Apparently you can find the number of shutter actuations on a Canon EOS 20D by opening a RAW file in a hex editor and reading off the numbers at positions 95D and 95E. I just tried it with the last photo I took last night (well, actually about 7am… it was a long night). It reads “C2 1D”. I make that 49,693 in decimal. Ouch! I knew I had taken a lot of photos, but I thought it was about 10,000 less than that.
Canon don’t publicise the expected shutter life of the 20D, but for the 30D it is 100,000 and Canon say that is “more durable than the 20D”. My camera’s first birthday is today (happy birthday dear EOS!) - one year in and it’s more than half-way through its expected life. This could turn out to be quite an expensive (though very useful) disposable camera. Of course, the shutters are replaceable, but I believe it costs about £200 a pop, and for that I’m almost better off buying a new camera when the inevitable happens. I’d planned on spending a couple more years with this one before moving up to a better model, but it may not last me that long.