Shutter Counts Followup

Looks like there are several software programs available that helps track shutter release counts:

Opanda (the program most often recommended)
PhotoMe
Preview Extractor (for Nikon cameras)

While I couldn't find any programs that were written for the Mac platform, all the PC versions can be used on an Intel Mac that has booted into Windows via Bootcamp or other Windows-emulating software.

And then there's brother Mel (Mel Russell, Captured Light Photography). He has offered to run a quick check on .jpg images that folks send him who would like a ballpark idea of how many times the shutters have been released on their cameras without going through the hassle of downloading, installing, and running Exif file programs (like those listed above). If you want Mel to do this for you, email him a low resolution .jpg image shot on the camera you want a shutter release count on.

Mel ran Opanda on two of my cameras, each of which is rated for 100,000 shutter releases:

My D80 = 7,401
My D200 = 28,192

Neither camera has ever been sent in for repairs, and I can't remember if I have updated the firmware on these cameras (remember Nikon says that trips to the repair shop and/or firmware updates can affect the accuracy of these counts). My D200 is about two years old. My D80 is about a year and a half old.

If you have any thoughts/resources that you would like to add to this discussion, click the "comments" link below.