How do you find out your Nikon shutter count… and why would you even want to know it?

Well, I’m thinking of selling one of my D800 cameras, and knowing your Nikon's shutter count (or shutter actuations) is an important piece of information when selling a DSLR camera. Any camera with a mechanical shutter is susceptible to the mechanism wearing out over time, and many will have an estimated lifespan.

For example, the lifespan of the legendary Nikon D850’s shutter is 200,000 actuations, but that’s not to say it’ll give up the ghost as soon as that milestone is reached. Right now, there’s a ‘good’ condition D850 over at MPB with 397,890 shutter actuations.

I like to think of shutter count as a camera’s mileage. It’s not a super accurate indicator of wear, but it’s a more reliable indicator than age.

Mirrorless cameras have muddied the water a little in terms of camera lifespan, since their lack of a reflex mirror is one less mechanism to fail – and the Nikon Z8 and Z9 don’t even have a shutter mechanism to fail.

But since your shutter count is an at-a-glance indicator of usage, it’s still worth knowing if you want to sell your camera. It’s also an awful lot of fun just finding out how trigger-happy you are. Thankfully, checking your Nikon’s shutter count isn’t difficult. Here’s how to do it in just two simple steps.