Does anybody know how many frames is considered the life of the camera?
I'm thinking about buying a used 5D on e bay, it has 3,000 to 7,000 frames in 10 days.

I bought a used EOS-10D through eBay as a backup to my first 10D which I bought new when it was first out. The used one had only 700 frames on it, and it's been working fine. I got a good deal on the used one, but that was because the 20D was the latest model at the time.

The auctions on eBay for the EOS-5D have been going for around $2200 to $2300 - sometimes higher. Unless I'm mistaken, the Canon factory warranty only extends to the original owner, so take statements like "bought it last May, so still plenty of warranty left" with a grain of salt.

Right now B&H has the 5D for $2800, and there's a $300 Canon rebate, which brings the price down to within just two or three hundred dollars of what some of the used ones have been selling for, and you don't have to worry about the condition.

I've decided to wait and see what Canon comes out with to replace the 5D.

The life of a camera is usually limited by the life of the shutter.
I don't know how the 5d is rated, but professional cameras are
often designed for 150,000 frames or more. I have a retired
Nikon n90 with nearly 50,000 frames on it. It only misfired a few times
a year after that much use. I think the n90 was only rated for
50,000 frames. I would expect the 5d to be much better than
that since it's a higher end camera. So, if you assume you've
got a 150,000 frame rating on the 5d, your ebay sample
probably has quite a lot of life left in it.
Tony

Somewhere I read that the 5D is rated for 100,000 frames

5D is rated to 100,000 frames.

Hi.

My 10D was sold after 44.000 frames with no issues, the 20D went to 50.000 and now my 5D is at 30.000. I've never had any problems... in that regard.

Sincerely

Sune Wendelboe
www.globalphotographic.net

I know that my Olympus E-1 is prominently rated for 150,00 shutter actuations, and after 3 years and about half of that, some in soaking rainforest, and some in broiling, sand-blown Galapagos calderas, the shutter is as quiet and the actuation as smooth as ever.

With mechanical cameras, including a leica M4 and Olympus Pen F's and OM's, one used to worry about and periodically test and adjust shutters.

Michael, or whoever knows: is there any reason to worry about such things with either the 5D or the E-1? Can we assume that these electronically-timed and magnetically (?) activated shutters do not have mechanical parts (springs, etc.) that fatigue, stretch, or wear out.