I get a touch of buyer’s remorse whenever I buy new gear.
It’s usually proportional to how much I spend, isn’t that how it is with you?
The further right the decimal place moves, the stronger the feeling.
My refurbished Canon 5D Mark II has more megapixels, ridiculously obscene low light capabilities, huge 3″ LCD monitor, high resolution video and a host of other refinements which I’ve yet to discover.
Barring any mishaps and bad luck, it will be a while before I get another DSLR body. (Just in case the General is reading this)
Now that the fancy camera is in my hands and all, what is it going to enable me to do?
I usually ask myself what will this new purchase allow me to do that I can’t with what I presently own.
My Canon 40D is a great camera. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, although I fear I will have to send it in soon for a repair.
It just doesn’t sound right and I suspect before long, something will need to be replaced on it.
So the 40D doesn’t do video. Also, it isn’t a full frame camera so every lens I stick on there is multiplied by 1.6x.
With this new purchase, I have a nice wide angle once again when I put on my 17-35 mm zoom lens.
The other side benefit to this is now I can handhold the camera at lower shutter speeds just like the film days before there was such things as image stabilization.
I’m seldom an early adopter and there are distinct advantages. There have been several firmware updates since this camera was first released.
One of the 1st things I did was to check on the firmware version of the camera.
It’s showing the latest– 2.0.7
It’s a complicated camera but I’m looking forward to learning how to get the most out of it especially  its video capture capability.
Looks
As far as I can tell, there are no scuff marks or any sign of wear and tear on this body, not even on the underside.
The LCD monitor also looks pristine. I am extremely pleased with my purchase.
Later I’ll have to fire up my wife’s old Windows laptop, download a piece of software to see how many shutter actuations have been made.
There is no information about what Canon did to this when they say it’s refurbished. Did they roll back the odometer like in a automobile? 😉
If you’re have about $2K sitting around and you want to get one,  read more about  Canon’s Loyalty program,  from my previous post.
I tried using EOSInfo for my 5D but it just says no camera connected. Does anyone know how to get the shutter actuations on a 5D?
Khai,
It’s too bad the app won’t work with your 7D. But what do you need to worry about? I bought my 5D Mark 2 refurbished, remember? Thanks for posting back.
I’m sure this info about that app EOS info will be of use to anyone considering buying or selling a used 5DMark 2.
Thanks for the link Peter. It says my 5D Mk II has 48,638 actuations. Won’t work on 7D though.
Paul,
You’re right about how exciting this is. I had to get a 1.5 TB hard drive to replace my startup 500GB hard drive on my MacPro. With a file size that’s double my 40D, storage is going get sucked up very quickly especially if I’m going to dabble with video as wel.
I’m excited for you buddy. Pinching my pennies now to buy some 16GB CF cards. 🙁
Ooooooo. Shiny. So Shiny
Look at us: Two old Farts with Two new Cameras.
And I’ve never had buyers remorse. Got my new (brand spanking) D300s and almost peed myself I was so excited. I felt like a 3 year old and his new trike on Christmas.
You must show us how it shoots.
Thanks for the post.
Khai,
So I went online and found a utility called EOS info that supposedly reads the shutter actuations. Here’s a screenshot:
Now whether or not, it’s accurate is another story. According to the app, my refurbished 5DMark II has had 925 shutter actuations.
Let’s face it: I didn’t expect it to be zero, 😉
According to this webpage, I can expect my shutter to last 150,000 actuations.
So I’ll have 150,000 minus 925 to go? 🙂
Hi Jude,
That is very sweet of you to stop by and leave your comment. Things have been a little hectic because I’m teaching a traditional BW film class in addition to the digital photography class.
A definite change of pace because it’s forcing me to slow down once again. There is after all a maximum of 36 exposures compared to ∞?
I need to check on your Flickr photostream. Haven’t done that in a while. Thanks
Khai,
I inclined to think your are correct about this. But I have a feeling there’s got to be a hack there to read this info. I’ll post back here when I’ve exhausted my research about this to share my findings.
As usual, great to hear from you!
Congratulations on the new camera Peter!! I’m sure as you discover more about it’s capabilities it will bring you just as much joy as your 40D!
All the best……….
Sorry Peter the shutter count is only made publicly available on 1-series bodies. Only the Canon Service Center will know the true count.
Enjoy the new camera!