Tips for buying used camera gear

Camera gear can get very expensive very quickly, so buying used equipment can be a good move. It's especially true if you want to expand your current gear options, or buy professional level gear.

This is not an in-depth buying guide, but I wanted to share what I think are the most important considerations.

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Transcript

>> Graham: 0:08

Foreign camera equipment is usually the most expensive part of photography, whether you buy new or used equipment. So what are the what are the kind of things that you need to think about if you're buying used equipment as opposed to buying new? And I'm going to cover one or two things that equally apply to new equipment. Obviously if you're new to photography or you don't want to spend a lot of money, there are generally options available which are for, are for new equipment and particularly DSLR cameras these days and camera kits are pretty competitive. However your budget might not stretch to that or it may be that you want to try out or buy some more professional level gear for whatever reason. And you would prefer to buy used because one reason may be just the cost of buying professional ah, level equipment. It's pretty steep and you, you can definitely get through a lot of money very quickly once you start getting into that area. So if you are going to buy used there are a few things to think about and I'm just going to cover a few of them here. So this is not, this is by no means an in depth guide to buying used camera gear. I would recommend that you have a look online for sort of more in depth guidance and particularly specifically for the equipment that you're thinking of buying. So the make and model of camera, the make and model of lens that you're thinking of, just have a look online, look for any feedback from people who've used them, particularly if they bought secondhand. What are the traps that you can fall into? one of the I guess red flags, the deal breakers for buying that kind of equipment. So the first thing to look at is price just to get an idea of what you should expect to pay for that particular item. And obviously the condition of the item will have a bearing on the price but you want to get a feeling for what's a reasonable price for that gear. And also my recommendation would be to get equipment in very good condition or at least good condition once it starts getting into not so good condition you're potentially looking at having to make repairs to the kit and that can get very expensive very quickly. And it becomes, if you're buying used gear for economical reasons it becomes, you know, those reasons can disappear pretty fast if you have to start spending money on getting equipment repaired soon after you buy it. So I would always go for good or very good condition. You might even get lucky and get something that's pretty much just out of the box, someone has either bought it, not used it, or they bought it, forgot about it, or whatever happened. But there are bargains around. So you're effectively buying a new camera, but at a used camera, price or lens or whatever the, whatever it is that you're using. Now, one thing that you might notice, and this particularly applies to new gear. So, and I'm also going to say, in the past I bought gear from camera stores, but these days you're much more likely to be buying online. So I'll come back to that in a moment. But on the pricing, you might find that there are two particular ranges of prices that you're coming across when you go online. So one is going to be higher, one will be lower. And this also applies to new equipment. If you're looking at it online, the lower equipment, the lower price, I should say, is probably due to those items coming from what's known as the gray market. that gray market essentially means that whatever you're buying probably doesn't have the factory warranty on it, and that's why the prices are lower. So by all means, investigate gray market a bit more. and you're going to have to decide if you're going to go down that path, whether or not it's worth taking the risk. Now, if it's new gear, hopefully it's in the original packing. That should be pretty robust. But, you know, things do go wrong, whether it's in manufacture or in shipping, and it does leave you exposed in those situations, unless there's a method of returning, the gear, once you've received it and been able to inspect it. So do be aware of that if you, do notice those differences in price. Now when it comes to price, you will probably pay less for something if you buy it online than you would if you buy it in store. Because obviously in store there are higher overheads, but you have the advantage of being able to physically inspect, the item before you buy it. If it's a camera body, I recommend popping a lens on there, whether it's one that they have in store or maybe you bring along one of your own lenses. If you, if you have a lens and just look at the results. So when you're trying out a camera, in fact, and the lens, try to, different apertures, different shutter speeds, try the autofocus, try in continuous and single shot, but try and just sort of cycle through the things you would normally use to make sure that the camera is basically working okay. And then look at the images and if you don't have the immediate possibility of looking at the image off camera. So generally that would be popping onto a laptop and having a look where you can zoom in a lot more. But if you're doing it on the camera itself, have a look at the image on screen and just zoom in 100% to just see what you've got. Because often when you've got that kind of thumbnail view, which we'll get on the, the LCD screen that can hide things that aren't quite right. So if the picture isn't sharp for example, that might mean assuming you set everything else up correctly, it might mean you got a problem with your autofocus, you might have a lens issue. There might be a minor alignment issue with the lens. And also be aware that at different apertures lenses perform differently. So start with F8, start somewhere in the middle and you should get the sharpest images. But if you go to either end, depending on the lens itself you might find that the quality begins to drop off and things look not quite as sharp. Now if it's a cheaper lens that's probably down to manufacturing. If it's an expensive lens though, a professional level lens, if you've got a noticeable change in quality that might point to an issue with the lens itself. So just be aware of the quality of equipment that you're looking at and what you should expect for that level of equipment when you're buying used. So if you going back to online obviously don't have the option of physically looking at the gear. So you need to then question how good is the vendor? And that's probably the next thing I would consider looking at. And definitely on things like ebay and Amazon, you have the option to, or buyers have the option to give feedback. And it's usually good vendors will encourage feedback because the more you know, five star reviews they get the better and it builds confidence in potential buyers. So do check that out, look at the reviews, get an idea of what you should expect from that particular, particular vendor. I definitely wouldn't buy from anyone with bad feedback. I mean that's just pretty common sense. If you choose to though, you know, just be aware that you're taking more of a gamble. I guess they would be cheaper but you're taking more of a gamble with what comes to you. And then also check out what the options are ah, for sending the gear back if you're not happy with. So be Very clear on that. And that applies to anyone. But obviously if you're buying remotely, if you're buying site unseen, you want some sort of, period to just fully inspect the gear when it arrives and then have the option to send it back if you're not satisfied and get your money back. So do check out what the, what the deal is basically on returns, when you buy anything, you should get a description of the item, which tells you what condition it's in. So for things like cameras, you'd expect a certain amount of wear and tear, but if you're buying pro gear, you're likely to have a much higher rate of, wear on them. And one of the key things to look at is the number of the shutter operations that's been recorded. Because on regular gear, an item that's got up to say, 50 to 100,000 to operate, well, definitely 50,000 would be okay. Once you start getting beyond that on regular gear, you, you need to be a bit wary because for, let's say, enthusiast equipment, you'd be looking at about 150,000 operations being the the sort of life you would expect from that kind of camera. If you're looking at pro gear, you're looking nearer 300,000. And to give you an idea of what you should expect for regular camera use, you're probably looking at in the region of 10,000 operations per year as a maximum. So if you're looking at a camera that's five years old, you'd expect to see a shutter count of up, to about 50,000. If it's below that, brilliant. If it's above that though, you start getting a little bit wary because you may well find other things worn as well. And that may not be obvious from the photographs that have been provided when you look online. So again, you want to have a good set of photographs of the gear and you want to know what to expect there. So other questions to ask in addition to how many shutters, ah, actuations you've had. Just ask about the sensor and are there any significant dust spots or dirt spots or definitely any damage to the sensor? Because you obviously don't want anything that has, damage to the sensor. And if you've got spots on the sensor itself, they're going to come through onto whatever image, you know, onto the images that you're shooting. So you can get mirrors cleaned. There are ways of doing it yourself, but unless you know what you're doing, I wouldn't recommend it, you can get, if you're lucky, you'll have a professional service outfit somewhere near you. And they can possibly clean the sensor for you. But if, the sensor is damaged, you are looking at replacements. So it is quite an expensive, relatively expensive thing to get done. And in those situations it's probably worth more than what you've paid for the camera body. So just be conscious of that and specifically ask that question. And if you go ahead with the sound, make sure that's one of the first things you check out. Visually inspect the sensor, but also just take photographs. that's probably the best thing you can do. Take photographs and pop them on a monitor or somewhere where you can zoom in and be looking for those kind of marks. And the best way to spot them is to shoot a very plain image. So a wall that's just painted in one color or shoot the sky or something where you've got just a single color. Because any imperfection, in terms of m, dust or marks on the sensor will then show up very clearly. And that's how you spot those things. the other thing is just general wear and tear on the body. you might have rubber starting to come away on the grips and things like that. they can be repaired pretty easily. but, if there's a lot of wear, on the outside, the chances are there's wear on the inside. Because if a camera has been very worn on the outside, obviously, well, presumably it's been used a lot. So things like the shutter, and all of that, that gear will have had a fair bit of, wear. If you're looking at lenses again, you want to ask if there are, ah, particularly one of the deal breaks is really if there is any fungus on the lens within the lens, construction in the lens body because that is really difficult to get rid of. And that that would result from being stored in a damp environment or used in a damp environment regularly. And it basically means whoever owned the equipment was not taking, care of it. I've spoken about what I do because I, when I was doing a lot of whale watching photography, I'd obviously be operating, out at sea. So you're in an environment where there's a lot of spray around you, and you can get corrosion and things like that. So I would always have my camera and lenses, the bodies and the lenses cleaned at the end of each season to make sure there was no corrosion in there. no opportunity for fungus or mold to grow, and make sure, the camera was kept in good condition. In fact, it's worth asking if the camera has been serviced. If they still have the service record. It'd be useful to get a hold of that and have sight of it. but yeah, you know, I don't know. It depends who you're talking to. They may or may not have that available. You definitely don't want any scratches on the front or rear element of a lens. Ah, so ask because, you need to know. And when you, if you do buy the lens, obviously you want to inspect it. So how. Just get the lens caps off, put a light through the lens and see what you can see. and again take photographs at different focal lengths. And that will also show you if there's any scratches that are large, enough to be visible in the images that you're taking because obviously that's something that's not acceptable. You may well find there's dust, small pieces of dust or very small scratches. they're probably not a problem because unless you're doing a lot of macro photography, they'll probably be so out of focus that they're invisible on the, on the image. So the tip though, always is before you accept anything, take some photographs at ah, different camera settings and make sure that you're happy with the results. And again, a good way to check for any thing being added by the lens is to just take a photograph against a plain, background, either white or a sort of middling color. because that will tend to show up those kind of issues pretty easily. when again looking at the lens, you need to be sure that the autofocus is working and it's working as advertised. it might have different modes of focus. So it might be continuous autofocus or single shot. there might be some tracking capability. so just make sure that if in doubt, go back to the lens spec from the manufacturer and just go through the key specs and just ask if everything's working and then you can obviously check that out when you get hold of it. Another thing is just asking about things like sand I did in very dusty environments and fine dust is really good at finding ways into your camera body. And if you're really unlucky into the lens assembly as well. So just ask whether it's the camera body or the lens. Just ask if there's any grit or sand or dust anywhere. And they will, they will tell you one way or then another and then you can check it out when you see the, when you finally see the gear. So as I say, if you're in store, it's possible to just take all the dust caps off, try things out, make sure everything works. If you're buying a body, if you have a lens that you're planning to use with it, take it along and make sure everything works. Like auto focus, the aperture all works and you can see a difference. If you're buying a lens, again, take the body along that, your normal body and make sure everything works. Because again, with some. If you're buying an independent manufacturer's lens, there is a chance that autofocus won't work as well or in every mode or you might have some loss of performance. In fact, one other thing to look at that I haven't mentioned so far are just the contacts in both the camera body and in the lens to make sure they're in good condition, they're clean, because you, that that's another kind of area of failure, that you want to be aware of. Okay, so I've sort of talked through, I've sort of bounced around a little bit, but there are some questions in there that you can ask before you pass your hand your money over again. If you're doing this remotely, really important to make sure you're clear on returns and even if you're doing it in store, be clear on returns and what the return policy is and, so that you know how much time you've got to check everything out at your leisure. once you have got the gear. So once you've got it home, if it's been shipped to you, just do as thorough inspection as you can, when you receive it, so you're looking for any obvious damage on the outside. make sure it all switches on. Check battery compartments, make sure there's no, corrosion in there. If batteries have been left in, for too long without being used, you can get corrosion in there. Make sure everything is in good condition, in reasonable condition, basically in the level of, condition or wear and tear that you're expecting. And then the next thing is just to run the gear through its paces. So take a lot of photographs, do some test photographs against plain background for the reasons I've already explained, and then start photographing what you would normally photograph if you can, or shoot out in the garden or at home, whatever you normally do, or portraits. And the important thing is to vary the aperture, and vary the focal length. So with aperture depending on the lens you've bought if it's a cheaper lens, you may well find that the quality tails off a little bit when you get to the extremes of the aperture settings. So basically if you're in the middle something like f8 you would most lenses that's where they'll operate the best. So sort of straight down the middle of the aperture range. So F8 if you go to the extremes though. So let's say F22 or F2 or F2. Eight, whatever it is that the extremes are for you, you might see some change in quality, some loss of quality with a cheaper lens. But if you're buying a pro lens really it shouldn't be noticeable. and again for a benchmark just go online and look at reviews of that equipment so that you know what to expect because some reviewers might have found that there is noticeable so therefore an expected tail off in quality when you go to either end of the aperture range. equally they might comment on how consistent the lens is. So if what you're seeing doesn't match what you're reading then the chances are you've got a problem with the lens. So if it was me I, you know, probably return it if I wasn't happy. If I'm not getting what I was expecting. for autofocus as I've said, just check that continuous and single operate and any other features as some newer cameras have a tracking feature for tracking a ah, certain subject within the viewfinder as it's moving towards you in a way. So things like that, make sure they're all working and yeah, you know, go through the obvious really make sure that the, the quality of photograph is good. So as I said things like minor scratches on lenses you could probably get away with. But to be sure, always, always do test shots. That's the best way of testing if you're looking at lens if you can. And this may or may not be possible with current lenses that are sort of driven from the camera electronically. But ideally certainly with older lenses you could do it using the ring on the outside of the lens. Just make sure everything moves. All the lens leaves are moving, the little blades there are moving freely. everything's moving as it should. If it is a I mean for example focus, it might be a little bit stiff or you might even be able to vary the focus, how smooth it is. but make sure that works well. Everything, everything focuses and you're not having to really heed the focus ring around Same with zoom lenses in and out. It'll be basically work as advertised. So with my 100400 you can vary how, how much friction there is when you zoom. So it means it's either zooms incredibly freely, it will just drop or you have to apply a little bit of effort to get it moving. But just make sure those sort of things are working as well. That pretty much covers the key things that I wanted to talk about. As I said I could go in, try and go more in depth about things to do but I, the main reason for doing that is that or not doing that. It's a lot easier I think to Google online because you can google the camera type or the lens type that you want to look at and then you can get specifics. And obviously this kind of a podcast is generic by nature so I can't go into that sort of detail. but you've got a great asset with what you can get online by just googling and looking at what to expect from different people. Some camera magazines do some really good review material. They do some really good buying guides, those sorts of things. Have a look at those. as I say things like the shutter count are a really important thing to look at though. And if you can get a heads up on what the current shutter count is that might give you. Well it will point to how often or in often, if that's a word the camera has been used and you can go from there. Okay, so that is pretty much it. you know I'm a big believer in getting the best value for money that I can from things and as I've said, particularly when I was getting into photography I would buy a lot of second hand gear. I would be you know, have a, in those days it was just buying from used camera stores or you know the regular camera stores that have a used area. in fact some stores online they will also have used gear available. my own look, I would definitely recommend that you buy from someone reputable. that way if there is a problem you've got some way of getting back and getting things fixed. being a bit old fashioned I like to buy from places I can physically go to and sort things out with them. So that's my preference. But I have bought online as well and that's worked out pretty well for me so I've been lucky in that regard. yeah. So there's a few thoughts for you. Whatever you do, hope you enjoy your Photography, and I will speak to you on the next podcast. So bye for now. Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Now, I just want to say thank you for tuning in and joining me in, the Wildlife and Adventure Photography podcast. If you have enjoyed today's episode, please give me a like a subscribe, maybe tell your friends. And, and by all means leave a comment. And if there is a subject you would like me to cover in the future, please let me know. And I'll, be very happy to do my best. So thanks again for, joining me, and I look forward to seeing you again. Next podcast. Bye for now.