At the time of writing, if you searched “How often should you replace your digital camera” on Google, it will tell you: Every 3-5 years.
It seems reasonable, five years certainly more reasonable than three.
I was curious and also asked on Twitter (followers interested in photography).
It’s a small sample of 135 people but fairly in line with the higher-end of the 3-5 years given in the initial search.
Times have changed, I have anyway.
When I began shooting I was obsessed with getting a new camera almost yearly. I now acknowledge I had a problem, I could not resist the appeal of a new camera, possibly falsely assuming it’d make me a better photographer.
But practice is what really makes you a better photographer. This I learnt with time.
Fast forward a few years later and I’ve now had my Sony A7RII for nearly 6 years, I bought it in August 2015.
Here it is pictured just last week after a deep-clean sitting pretty next to the Fuji X100V. For those of you curious about the beauty of a lens on the A7RII, it is the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 fitted with a metabones close-up adaptor (link to the full review at the end of this article).
It is the longest I’ve owned a digital camera. It cost me £2590 for the body only. I would expect a camera like this to last me 10 years, I’m extremely careful with my gear as I’m not made of gold.
It only has 16,000 shutter actuations (photos) so really very low. However these are mechanical actuations, I do use the electronic shutter, aka the silent shutter, a fair bit, especially for things such as timelapse photography which requires me to shoot thousands of photos over a certain period of time for a single video sequence.
A little too hard-wearing for a mechanical shutter.
Sony claims these cameras should last 500,000 but do not guarantee it.
At the beginning I used to shoot 10 times more photos, it was necessary in order to learn but it also quickly taught me how ridiculous it is to over-shoot.
As my fellow French countryman said it perfectly:
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst”
These days I am very careful not to shoot an unreasonable number of images of the same thing, it saves me time sifting through excessive amounts of shots, makes me a better photographer because I am more mindful and conscious of getting fewer, better shots.
Ultimately this saves me hard-drive space which is important after over a decade shooting. Also important to consider is that with every new camera model and higher resolution the size of files becomes larger and larger.
I do feel like my A7RII is being at times a little temperamental but I guess it’s old age. I often shoot with the Electronic shutter (Silent Shutter) in order to save a bit the mechanical one.
It’s all good, I’ve got a couple other cameras I can use worst comes to worst.
OK, I didn’t quite answer the question “How often should you replace your digital camera?”.
That’s because it’s in fact hard to tell without knowing your personal circumstances.
Digital cameras are not disposable cameras, they are expensive and now more than ever, people just can’t afford to splash the cash carelessly.
We are all practising photography at a different level, we all shoot different volumes of photographs daily, weekly, monthly, yearly… The camera will wear out at varying degrees depending on how intense is its use and in what environment you shoot (in a clean studio or in a hot dusty desert).
Some people will care for their cameras, others not so much. Neglect and lack of care will affect its longevity.
And of course there is gear envy.
The near-impossible task of resisting the constant marketing from camera companies, at times making us feel almost “inadequate” should we not own the latest 50mp camera, as if 42.4mp wasn’t quite enough already.
So here’s how perhaps I can help.
The first thing you can do to reduce the need to replace your digital camera is by making it last and caring for it.
I know it seems obvious but here’s what you can do:
How To Take Care Of Your Digital Camera:
Dedicated storage for your camera gear when not in use:
OK, this one, I have to say is tough because I always have my camera handy, I don’t want it buried in a cupboard. But for extended times of non-use, I recommend storing it away from dust to save your sensor from requiring constant cleaning.
Dust is the enemy, keep it clean!
It’s a good place to store all your lenses, microphones, chargers, extra batteries, drone, lens filters…
Dedicated camera bag to transport your camera:
If you do not have a dedicated camera bag with padding but use just any bag, you run the risk of banging the camera, scratching it with other objects within the bag and you probably will give it a good dusting of good bag dust.
A camera is an expensive thing which requires care and protection. Like any artist would look after its tools, a photographer should look after its camera.
I wrote a couple of bag reviews:
Photo © Hawkesmill England
Regular Camera Cleaning:
Show your camera some love. Use an air blower (the rocket shape kind) to powerfully and precisely blow away dust and other unwanted bits.
I use a lens cloth to wipe my camera body regularly and to get right into the hard to reach corners I use a tiny bit of cotton (the size of a small pea) and a toothpick (which won’t scratch the body) to guide the cotton around buttons, dials and behind the flip-screen.
I use this technique also to clean my viewfinder’s hard to reach corners.
It’s pretty incredible the muck that comes out from there, especially if you’re an urban shooter and face heavy pollution. Nice, imagine our lungs!
Pay attention to the rim of the lens mount, this can get dirty too and due to its proximity to the sensor is better kept spotless.
Avoid cleaning the sensor yourself:
I would not recommend it unless a professional showed you the proper way. Your sensor is just too fragile and important to mess with.
Instead I recommend you head to a specialist to have it done professionally or learn to do it yourself but at your own risk.
Buy a sturdy leather camera strap:
It’s leather all the way baby!
My advice is always to dump the strap that comes right out of the box. They’re ugly and advertise camera brands who after all don’t give you discounts.
Instead I recommend leather camera straps. Leather is comfortable, stylish, ages well and it’s very strong.
In fact I wrote two reviews where I selected only the best few out of over 20 samples I was sent.
Photo © Hawkesmill England
Update your camera firmware:
Just like phones or laptops, camera firmwares are updated on a regular basis.
Often the first version, installed in your camera before it leaves the factory, may still have a few glitches or areas for improvement often due to pressures getting it to retail ASAP.
For this reason camera manufacturers release updates which not only fix some glitches but often add new improved features.
If your camera acts weird, try a factory reset and update the firmware, it can do wonders.
To learn how to update your camera firmware, refer to your user manual or do a quick Google search.
So although it is not really possible to predict how long a camera will last, at least I hope some of my tips to take care of your camera will prove useful in increasing its lifespan.
How about you? How often do you think one should replace their camera? Do you take particular care of your gear?
Leave a comment below, I’m interested in hearing your opinions.
Until next time,