Does shooting video on DSLR affect the shutter life?

Question

if so, how badly does it?

please answer only if you know, thanks.

Answer 1

Just an observation, as I don't know the answer:

Surely the curtain shutter is incapable of shooting 50 frames per second! In burst mode my EOS450D manages 3.5 frames per second. Now I realise that technology has moved on some from that but surely not 12-15x faster!

So it would make sense that the curtain opens and the mirror flips up at the start of shooting and the 50fps is handled electronically.

Answer 2

Not at all, because the physical shutter is not used at all during recording video. It just stays open all the time.



Well...i guess one could count this as a single shutter actuation for every recorded video.



I suppose you had something in mind like 25-30 shutter actuations per second, racking up an insane shutter count very quickly, but that is NOT the case.



Edit: Forgot the NOT ;)



Edit 2:

What you set for video is frame rate, not shutter speed. This is very similar to shutter speed in the sense that it limits the duration of the exposure of an individual frame. But it does not use the actual physical shutter of the camera. Instead it controls the duration of the recording on the sensor electronically.

Keep in mind, the physical shutter is a mechanical part. It makes a noise when it is used. You can't usually hear it because the mirror slap noise is even louder, but it does have a distinct clacking sound that one can hear e.g. when takes a photo with mirror lockup.

Since you don't hear a machine gun like clacking sound during recording video, you can rest assured that your camera's physical shutter is not used at all.

Answer 3

Hey there,



This is an interesting question which I've never had any idea about before. But after doing a quick research, I think/believe/assume that it does not affect your shutter life.



I quote:



"Video camera shutters work quite differently from still film camera shutters but the result is basically the same. (The technical difference is that, rather than using a mechanical device, the shutter speed is adjusted by electronically varying the amount of time the CCD is allowed to build a charge."



Thus, it's the sensor that is working when you set up the shutter speed for videos, not the actual shutter window.



Why set up shutter speed for videos? To have/not have motion blurs, just like when you take photos. Watch this video:



http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-use-shutter-speed-make-your-video-look-better-2373/



Hope that helps :)

Answer 4

There are many other ways your camera conserves power, the the most important one is YOU. NOT using live view, keeping the LCD turned off as much as possible and turning off the camera between shooting sets are just a few ways to conserve battery energy. What makes you think CMOS sensored cameras us less power? One reason CCD's are the preferred sensor for video is because the run so cool (conserving battery power) and why cameras with CMOS sensors have a protective circuit that shuts off the senor if it gets too hot. (like when people try to shoot longer takes than is really necessary if thy follow the shooting script The only way to know for sure how long a battery will last per charge is to look it up on the cameras website. My D300 can get over 950 shots on once battery charge over a week period. If I use the live view, that drops to 140 shots.