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How to check a Canon shutter count on a Mac (free, no install)

Updated

Most Canon EOS cameras don’t write the shutter count into the photos they save, so the websites that read a count from an uploaded JPEG usually can’t help with a Canon body. The count lives inside the camera and has to be read over USB. On a Mac you can do that for free in two ways: in the browser, or with the open-source gPhoto2 tool.

Option 1: in Chrome or Edge (no install)

This uses CamInfoLab’s shutter counter, which talks to the camera with WebUSB. The camera driver runs inside the browser tab, and your reading stays on your computer.

  1. Charge the battery and switch the camera on. Put it in a normal shooting mode, not movie or playback.
  2. Connect it to the Mac with a USB data cable. Some cables only charge; if the camera never shows up, try another cable. Plug straight into the Mac rather than through a hub if you can.
  3. Quit Photos, Image Capture, Preview, EOS Utility, Lightroom and any app that imports photos automatically. They can grab the camera before the browser does.
  4. Open the shutter count page in Chrome or Edge and select Connect camera.
  5. Pick your camera in the USB chooser. The page reads the number the camera reports and shows it with the time of the reading.

You can copy the result with its timestamp, for example to paste into a listing or message to a buyer.

If it doesn’t connect

  • The camera isn’t in the chooser. Check it’s switched on, try a different cable and port, and make sure the camera’s screen isn’t showing a menu that blocks USB.
  • “Another app is using the camera.” Something on the Mac already has the camera open. Quit the apps listed above, unplug the camera, wait a few seconds, and plug it back in. If it still fails, restarting the Mac releases the background camera service. Advanced users sometimes run killall -9 ptpcamerad in Terminal just before connecting.
  • It stops answering. Cameras go to sleep. Half-press the shutter to wake it, or switch it off and on, then reload the page and connect again.

Option 2: gPhoto2 in Terminal

gPhoto2 is the open-source camera library that the browser tool is built on. If you use Homebrew, you can run it natively:

brew install gphoto2
gphoto2 --auto-detect
gphoto2 --get-config /main/status/shuttercounter

The last command prints a Current: line with the counter. If gPhoto2 says it could not claim the USB device, the same macOS camera service is holding the camera; quit the apps above, and if needed run killall -9 ptpcamerad immediately before the command.

Things that catch people out

  • The number may not move right away. On some cameras, including the EOS 60D we test with, the counter the camera reports over USB doesn’t include photos taken since it was switched on. Switch it off and on, then read again. See why a shutter count doesn’t change.
  • File numbers are not shutter counts. IMG_4821.JPG only tells you the file numbering, which can be reset or roll over at 9999.
  • Not every camera exposes a counter over USB. If the camera connects but no counter is reported, that is a limitation of the camera, not your Mac. Check which cameras have been tested.

What the count tells you

A shutter count is one data point, not a health check. Read what a shutter count does and doesn’t tell you before you buy or sell on the strength of it.