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The alpha shutter count tool

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Guy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Guy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: The alpha shutter count tool
    Posted: 16 April 2013 at 11:49
Greetings!

I am proud to announce the launch of a tool for reading the number of shutter actuations a SONY alpha camera has made!
The method for A850/A900 was discovered by people on the mi-fo.de forum, so cheers to them! (Thanks Micholand for providing the starting info!)
http://tools.science.si/index.php
Since I was searching for a way to do this on SONY cameras for a couple of years now, this was all that I needed, and my breakthrough was fast.
I can now successfully read the number from ORIGINAL RAW, CRAW or JPEG (re-sizing breaks the exif for example) images from the following cameras:
- A55
- A850/A900
- A99
Support for the following cameras will be added very soon (a week or so):
- A500
- A700
- A77

For other cameras I will require sequential shots from that model (at least 5 or preferably more).
I will publish instructions later, but you can PM me already with questions.

There are some interesting discoveries:
1) The shutter count in a file shows the number of actuations before the current image was taken
2) first curtain on/off makes no difference, the counter always counts only one actuation
3) Panoramas in the DSLTs make from 33 to 50 (or maybe more) actuations for a single image!
4) Multi shot iso mode and hand-held twilight also make multiple actuations (this is clearly audible)
5) If your shutter was changed (due to being broken for example), the counter is reset to 0.

http://tools.science.si/index.php
Please don't abuse the tool too much, as it currently sits on a not-so-powerful server and with relatively slow upload speed (about 20Mps).
Any info is available if anyone wants to make offline applications.

Regards,
Borut

.........................................
UPDATE OCT. 2018

So, another update, pretty significant one as well.

The good stuff first:
- expanded support for new E and A-mount (7rm3, 9, 99m2, etc ...)
- up to 1000x faster (read below for more info)
- source code now completely free and open

The bad stuff:
- no more option of providing a link (you need to download the photo to your computer and "upload" it to the tool

The 'meh' stuff:
- old tool will still be available for a while

The gruesome details
I've rewritten the whole application, so that it now runs on your computer - in the internet browser - instead of on the server.
The benefits are:
- files no longer need to be uploaded, saving bandwidth on both ends.
- only the file header is read and processed, which is blazingly fast
- many files can be processed simultaneously
- code for reading is "readable" in the source html of the tool, if people want to "roll their own"
- no more exploits trying to infest my server

The tool should work on all modern browsers. If you have any specific issues or requests, let me know here or via a private message.

Best regards,
Guy

Edited by stiuskr - 13 October 2018 at 12:42
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Tricky01 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Tricky01 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:03
Great news, well done Guy! Such a shame Sony have never shared such information but great that we now have it.

Now to test if my circa 12-15k esitmate per body is about right!
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Post Options Post Options   Quote harveyzone Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:07
Excellent - I haven't tried it, as I don't have any of the supported cameras, but have been following the discussion and am looking forward to the A77 version. I can probably supply some A100 and A350 images if you want to try and add those (assuming they were included back then).

As an aside, any sign of the camera serial number hidden in the Exif yet? :-)

Tom Harvey

Sony A77; Sony A100; Minolta Dimage 7Hi; Minolta Dynax 5; Minolta Dynax 7000i
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Kilkry View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Kilkry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:10
That's great!

Useful for people wanting to see the mileage of their recently broken shutter and will likely become a demand of several buyers of second hand Alphas.

Edited by Kilkry - 16 April 2013 at 12:13
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sybersitizen View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote sybersitizen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:11
I tried it with my A55 and received a believable result. (How did you make that work? The exiftool method does not work with this camera model.)

For further study: I wonder how the count is incremented for various modes that require multiple exposures but only produce one file, such as HDR and Multi-Frame NR, and for custom WB exposures.
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Kilkry View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Kilkry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:15
Originally posted by sybersitizen sybersitizen wrote:


For further study: I wonder how the count is incremented for various modes that require multiple exposures but only produce one file, such as HDR and Multi-Frame NR, and for custom WB exposures.


He mentions in the OP that every automatic multi-exposure mode raises the count by several :)
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sybersitizen View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote sybersitizen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:16
Originally posted by Kilkry Kilkry wrote:

He mentions in the OP that every automatic multi-exposure mode raises the count by several :)

Oops - missed that.

Originally posted by sybersitizen sybersitizen wrote:

(How did you make that work? The exiftool method does not work with this camera model.)

Ah, never mind. The answer is right there on the output page... cool!
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Post Options Post Options   Quote homeranger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:24
Borut, thank you for your good work on this. I know everyone here appreciates your efforts and generosity in sharing what you've discovered.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote ricardovaste Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:25
I got this result:

Originally posted by shutter count tool shutter count tool wrote:


(65536 * ) + (256 * ) + = 0


Any ideas?
I photograph the moments in people's lives that mean the most to them: Richard Harris Photography
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Post Options Post Options   Quote godsakes Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:30
the craw from my a850 I uploaded with came back with 0 for some reason
Comments welcome on My Flickr pics

A850, A700, 58am, CZ 16-35 Sig 50, 70-200 tam 28-75, 90 min 28-135, 35, 85, Gitzo G1227
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Kilkry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 12:31
Missing multiplier?
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Post Options Post Options   Quote ABDurbs Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 13:14
Originally posted by homeranger homeranger wrote:

Borut, thank you for your good work on this. I know everyone here appreciates your efforts and generosity in sharing what you've discovered.


Regards
Allan
A99, A77ii but SAVING FOR A CHANGE
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Post Options Post Options   Quote ricardovaste Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 13:23
Originally posted by ABDurbs ABDurbs wrote:

Originally posted by homeranger homeranger wrote:

Borut, thank you for your good work on this. I know everyone here appreciates your efforts and generosity in sharing what you've discovered.




+1

Oh yes, sorry, I didn't mean to be negative! Really, this could be a huge asset for the entire mount as far as I'm concerned. But it would need to work, I'm not sure it works yet, or at least not for me.
I photograph the moments in people's lives that mean the most to them: Richard Harris Photography
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abkan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote abkan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 April 2013 at 13:38
I uploaded an out-of-cam jpeg taken with A900 with filename DSC08298 and it gave me a shutter count of 10051 or something like that. This is not correct, I estimate the shutter count by simply how many times I got past 9999 to be on the order of 30,000 or so. Shutter has not been changed, but the cam has been serviced twice for sensor claning and soon after that for broken wheels of the mirror return mechanism (or something of that nature).

The same thing form my A55: file number was 1070, this is what came out:
Detected Camera model : SLT-A55V
| | | | | Sony_MoreInfo0201_0x011b = 128
| | | | | Sony_MoreInfo0201_0x011c = 47
| | | | | Sony_MoreInfo0201_0x011d = 0
(65536 * 0) + (256 * 47) + 128 = 12160

Total shutter count for file DSC01070.JPG: 12160

I think I have turned the 9999 at least once if not twice before.This camera has never been serviced by Sony.

I think perhaps more work is needed? Otherwise, it worked great, it accepted my jpegs without the problems I had with EOS shutter count before.
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