[Leica] Re: Camera life

[lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

On Jan 23, 2007, at 11:05 PM, Slobodan wrote:

>
>> Tell me about it. I recently had a camera go out on a shoot over a
>> weekend. I wound up buying, from a local store, a Rebel XTi to finish
>> up while on location. I thought I'd just sell it afterwards, but I
>> wound up keeping it. It's quieter than my 20D, 2 more meagpixels, and
>> better smoothing without highlight wash-outs. I suppose that's the
>> new Digic III, or whatever it is, processor.
>> The best part of it, is that it has a disposable camera price tag. I
>> think that from now on I'll just buy the low end versions, burn
>> through the shutter and toss them after 12-18 months. Of course,
>> while I'm on these little junkets I've got an M or LTM body with me
>> for the private stuff. Some of it going back 70 years. Like to see my
>> Canon Oinker-matics last that long. Then again, maybe not.
>>


Years ago the rule of thumb for mechanical cameras was that an  
amateur camera was engineered to last 100,000 exposure cycles and  
that a pro quality camera was engineered to last 250,000 cycles. I  
heard this ballpark figure both from Kodak's mechanical engineers and  
from Marty Forscher but I can't cite a definitive source. Not that  
the camera would fail immediately but that parts would wear and  
reliability would decrease. For a hard working pro, this would mean  
replacing equipment every two or three years. For an amateur,  
shooting no more than a couple of rolls a week, quality equipment  
would last 20 or more years. I would imagine that the same holds true  
for the mechanical parts of digital cameras, shutters, mirrors,  
switches, focusing, etc. but I have no idea how long the electronic  
parts are engineered to last.

But the same logic applies. Nothing lasts forever. If you work your  
cameras hard, plan on replacing them every few years. Even the M8.

Larry Z