I just received a brand new D800E. Using a reformatted compact flash card, I took 45 shots to test things out. Most were JPEGs, several were RAW. Total pictures taken were 45 according to the _DSC file information.

I then went to Photoshop and looked up the actual actuations of the camera. The number was 64...19 additional pictures taken by the camera, but not by me.

Do cameras come off the assembly line and then some test pictures are taken to make sure everything is working OK.?

Thanks.

Nick (Roxbury, Connecticut Nikonian)

What difference does it make? Does the camera work properly?

Russ Lewis
www.FineArtSnaps.com

Camera works fine, Russ. I'm just trying to add to my knowledge base with some answers that others might have experience with.

Nick (Roxbury, Connecticut Nikonian)

Straight from the factory all Nikon DSLRs will show zero exposures and require setting the timezone when you first power it up. Your camera has obviously been used; maybe as an in store demo or by a user who decided to return it.

Note that the number in the EXIF data is shutter cycles. Shutter cycles can be more than the number of pictures. Things like going into and out of LiveView without taking a picture, in camera HDR, multiple exposure images, or setting a preset WB can all cause extra shutter cycles.

As Russ says, if everything is OK, why worry.

Gary in SE Michigan, USA. Co-organizer of the Southern Michigan Chapter
Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the camera.
D4, D800e, D300, D90, F6, FM3a (black), FM2n (chrome)
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Gary, that was very helpful. It may have something to do with going in and out of live view to learn how to use it (no pictures taken) prior to doing my focus point testing.

Also, I did get a blinking message to set the time zone after turning the camera on the first time. However, I did not address this until I took about 45 pictures in P mode to make sure the camera worked, no focus issues, etc.

Thanks for the feedback. It was helpful.

Nick (Roxbury, Connecticut Nikonian)

After thinking about it more, I realized that LiveView always creates more extra cycles than I mentioned above. In LiveView you have to open the shutter to start LiveView, then for each LiveView image, the shutter must close before the exposure, then open and close for the exposure, then open again. Finally when you exit LiveView the shutter must close again. This makes the shutter cycles in LiveView equal to 2 times the LiveView images plus 1.

Opening the shutter for sensor cleaning is another extra cycle.

Gary in SE Michigan, USA. Co-organizer of the Southern Michigan Chapter
Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the camera.
D4, D800e, D300, D90, F6, FM3a (black), FM2n (chrome)
YashicaMat 124, Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5
My Nikonians Gallery & Our Chapter Gallery

>After thinking about it more, I realized that LiveView always
>creates more extra cycles than I mentioned above. In LiveView
>you have to open the shutter to start LiveView, then for each
>LiveView image, the shutter must close before the exposure,
>then open and close for the exposure, then open again.
>Finally when you exit LiveView the shutter must close again.
>This makes the shutter cycles in LiveView equal to 2 times the
>LiveView images plus 1.

Don't think this is true for the D800 and other recent Nikon DSLRs. My understanding is that the mirror remains up during exposure rather than cycling back and forth so that in LV you're essentially shooting MUP.

John

John,

Yes the mirror stays up when making images in LiveView, but the shutter still cycles as I described.

Because the mirror stays up LiveView is a lot quieter on the D800 than the D300. There's only one LV mode too, none of this tripod and handheld mode differences.

Gary in SE Michigan, USA. Co-organizer of the Southern Michigan Chapter
Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the camera.
D4, D800e, D300, D90, F6, FM3a (black), FM2n (chrome)
YashicaMat 124, Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5
My Nikonians Gallery & Our Chapter Gallery

Ah you're right. I read something into your reply that wasn't there.

John

>After thinking about it more, I realized that LiveView always
>creates more extra cycles than I mentioned above. In LiveView
>you have to open the shutter to start LiveView, then for each
>LiveView image, the shutter must close before the exposure,
>then open and close for the exposure, then open again.
>Finally when you exit LiveView the shutter must close again.
>This makes the shutter cycles in LiveView equal to 2 times the
>LiveView images plus 1.

Gary, I don't understand the rationale for the +1 ' ... The shutter must close before the exposure'. The mirror is up (unless you're using flash) according to Thom and from everything I read the D800 and Nikon do not have an 'electronic first shutter curtain'. So I don't see a rationale or a reference for why this extra shutter closure is necessary?

David

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Before you go into LiveView, the shutter is closed. When you start LiveView the shutter opens to expose the sensor. When you finish LiveView the shutter must close again because the shutter covers the sensor during normal viewing. That's the +1.

For each exposure in LiveView the shutter closes before the exposure. At this point the sensor is cleared to make it ready to record the image. Then the shutter opens and closes for the exposure. The sensor data is recorded and then the shutter opens again to resume LiveView. That's the 2x

For LiveView mirror only makes one cycle regardless of the number of exposures made during LiveView. It flips up out of the way of the sensor at the beginning and flips back down for normal viewfinder use ant the end of LiveView.

Gary in SE Michigan, USA. Co-organizer of the Southern Michigan Chapter
Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the camera.
D4, D800e, D300, D90, F6, FM3a (black), FM2n (chrome)
YashicaMat 124, Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5
My Nikonians Gallery & Our Chapter Gallery

Gary,

Nick was happy with responses he received here re his camera, so this shutter count explanation became a side topic. I posted some observed shutter counts, still in need of explanation, here

http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=430&topic_id=17725&mesg_id=17725&page=

David

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

To take the guesswork out, look at the very first image that you took with this camera. See how many actuations are in the EXIF for that image. Reviewing the EXIF of later images doesn't really tell you anything, as was already posted it includes life view actuations.

Tom
Bay Area Nikonian

http://www.tkphoto.me/

Thanks to all of you who have made contributions.

I just evaluated the very first image taken with the camera using Opanda and myshuttercount.com. Both confirm a shutter count of 1.

I'm going to leave it at that.

Most importantly, the camera is working fine. As I accustom myself to its functions and capabilities, I have to admit that the D800E (and the D800) are remarkable technological achievements of human creativity crammed into a relatively small package.

Nick (Roxbury, Connecticut Nikonian)

Great. If the camera works fine and shows no sign of wear and tear, I would just enjoy it.
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