High Falls, Pigeon River

by Jakub

submit your photo

Hall of Fame
View past winners from this year

Please participate in Meta
and help us grow.

Sign up ×

Does taking photo using the camera fastest shutter speed shorten the life of a camera?

Would this apply apply to all types of camera, regardless if it is a DSLR, Point & Shoot or Mirrorless? Will continuously or always shooting at the camera's fastest shutter speed shorten the camera life?

share|improve this question

2 Answers 2

No, there is no difference.

Regardless of the shutter speed selected, nothing physically moves any faster in the shutter. For a slow shutter speed it opens and then stays open for a while. For shutter speeds around 1/125 it opens and then starts to close straight away. For speeds faster than that it actually starts closing while it is still opening (there are actually two shutters, one than moves at the start to uncover the film or sensor, and one that moves at the end to cover it.)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal-plane_shutter

share|improve this answer

DSLR's have a physical shutter that opens and closes when you take a picture in the standard modes(some exceptions exist). Typically this is the figure that is quoted to show the lifespan of a camera body. Altering the shutter speed will likely have little to no effect on the wear of this piece, as it is designed to work throughout the full range of shutter speeds available on the camera.

Point and shoot cameras are different in that many have no physical shutter. This means that you don't have to worry about any wear and tear of this part of the camera. Although as a whole point and shoot cameras aren't designed to really last all that long when comparing them against a professional DSLR.

Overall, I'm sure academically speaking this could be argued that the faster the shutter speed the more wear that the camera experiences if it does have a physical shutter. But in real world usage, this is not something I think anyone is concerned about or needs to be concerned about. The biggest concern would be that if you really are shooting continuous shots at very high speed throughout the life of the camera - you probably should be using a professional grade DSLR that is designed for just that kind of speed and usage.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer


