Sony Alpha Zero

[Kandy Swartzel]

Igot my a7r iii delivered today from an authorized dealer. Initially I was shocked that none of the boxes were sealed. A quick googling said that sony usa never seals the boxes. Then I took few test shots and looked at the shutter count which says 50. Is this normal? Should I expect a zero here?

No camera comes with a shutter count of zero. They always trigger the shutter count a few times at the factory as part of their quality control. Usually that number is below 10. My understanding is, that occasionally Sony takes a camera off the production line and tests it more thoroughly, giving a higher count. This is also part of their quality control.

In fact, you can take thousands of photos, then simply reset the camera to factory default, and your file numbers will begin at 1 again (unless you put in a used SD card, in which case the file numbering will continue at the last file found on the card). The only way to see the actual number of shutter releases is with EXIF TOOL, or similar.

I personally like buying "open box" cameras because as long as someone has fired a couple hundred shots through one, it eliminates the possibility that it was faulty out of the box. Plus, they are usually 5-10% cheaper.

To OP, as long as you bought from a reputable authorized dealer and all items come look like brand new, nothing to worry about. Yes, none of Sony boxes are sealed. Zeiss boxes also not, but Sigma box (Art 35 for example) is sealed.

All the Sony cameras I've purchased in Australia, are sealed with the Sony tamper proof tape. I would never buy a Sony camera that wasn't sealed, otherwise you risk buying someone else's returned unit.

You can have a good relationship with a retailer though and make sure that you are getting a brand new body, which was not previously returned. I recently purchased a A7rii body with a rather high shutter count (300+), which had some other issues, but the stock was low, and only one store from the chain had a really brand new never returned one.

I had to travel there and indeed it showed an EXIF shutter count of 1 on the first shot. A quick way to test if a body is unreturned is to look for a presentation screen and a date/time prompt when you turn the camera on for the first time.

That's true for Australia and Europe. In US, these boxes are NEVER sealed. You will not find a single US official Sony dealer that sells Sony cameras or lenses with a seal on it. It may be part of the very generous 30-days no questions asked return policy we have in US. Bot sure, but that's the way it is.

I am fully prepared to accept that my understanding of this is wrong, and it probably is, but I thought that for default settings, with mechanical first and second shutter curtains, the shutter count would increment by 2 for each shot, making it difficult to understand how one could ever achieve a shutter count of 1 unless it is being massaged by the EXIF reader.

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