YOU SAVE SO MUCH MONEY BUYING USED!!! It is possible to get absolutely obscene price to performance value on used gear. Image quality for photography maxed out around 2012 and video quality in 2018. Any camera made after those dates only has marginal improvements.
If you’re looking for your first dedicated camera, it rarely makes sense to buy new. Spening thousands of dollars on new gear doesn’t mean you’ll actually like using it. My two recommendations for camera shopping are:
Don’t discount the importance of size and weight. Smaller and lighter is better.
Think about the lenses you’ll want. Don’t spend your entire budget on a camera body to get stuck with a kit lens.
Just like all new tech, camera gear quickly depreciates. Last year’s best in class camera is often this year’s 50% off used deal. That doesn’t even mean it is worth buying because until you have experience, you don’t know what camera features are actually important to you.
The difficulty in finding deals is that there are hundreds of different camera models. Dozens of them might fit your needs. To make your life easier, I’ve been going through series of models to create used buying guides.
All lenses aren’t equal, especially when it comes to vintange and early digital camera lenses. Modern lenses will give you images that are razor sharp corner to corner. Vintage lenses can set themselves apart by how they render, the color you can get with them, interesting bokeh, or other characteristics not valued by current photographers.
On the other hand, many vintage lenses are not good. Their performance may not be good enough to set them apart from other lenses. Worse, as time has gone on some lenses have defects such as haze, fungus, balsam separation, or degraded grease, that will render them worthless because of the difficulty in repair.
I’m somewhat indiscriminate in my purchasing of gear, so I get a mix of good, bad, and average. The lens reviews will help you find a lens worth owning. These are popular film cameras that recieve frequent lens questions.
Have you ever been paranoid about the capacity of a battery? Especially if it was from a third party? I was.
I have figured out how ANYONE can inexpensively capacity test camera batteries. I have written a guide on how to capacity test camera batteries. It is a simple DIY project that only requires a screwdriver and pair of wire strippers.
Nothing Depreciates Faster Than A Camera.
Cameras are the fastest depreciating pieces of photography gear. That’s bad if you buy a new camera. If you buy used, you can get a high-end camera from 10+ years ago for pennies on the dollar.
Being able to use flagship cameras of years gone by is an interesting experience. Medium format in both film and digital become obtainable for non-professional uses. Or owning many cameras is remarkably affordable.
The camera reviews section showcases all of the cameras I have reviewed. You can also find information on camera manufacturers that are no longer in business.
Release Date, Original MSRP, and Used PriceThe EOS Rebel T2i was released in 2010 with an original MSRP of $899.99 with 18-55mm STM lens.
The EOS Rebel T2i has a used price between $100 to $175.
The lower end of the range is likely missing a battery, charger, lens, and/or memory card. Take required accessories into account when comparing used cameras to buy.
Canon EOS Rebel T2i Battery Type & ReplacementsThe Canon EOS Rebel T2i uses a Lithium-Ion LP-E8 rechargeable battery & charger.
Here is a list of camera lens mounts. The list includes both film and digital cameras.
Terms Flange Focal DistanceFlange focal distance is the distance from the front of the camera lens mount to the imaging plane. (Digital sensor or film)
Mirrorless camera has shorter flange distances than SLR cameras because they don’t have the reflex mirror. That extra space allows room for an adapter to be used to allow lenses to be mounted to a camera body it was not originally intended for.
Multiple formats and specifications of memory cards have been used in the line of Nikon Coolpix cameras. This can cause compatibility issues if a memory card is a generation older or newer than the camera it is being used with.
Old memory cards may not have fast enough write speeds. During continuous shooting, this can prevent the image buffer from clearing quickly. Video recording might quickly cut off or video files could be corrupted.
Bad news, mushrooms are growing in the lens. This can also be seen in prisms, viewfinders, digital sensor filters, and other optics.
Lens fungus is the mycelium from fungal growth. There are multiple types of fungus that can grow.
The optimal conditions for fungal growth are a temperature range of 10C to 35C, relative humidity of 70% or higher, and darkness. For instance a damp camera bag or basement during a period of heavy rain.
Original Price& Current Used PriceThe D500’s original MSRP was $2000/ £1729 (body only), $3069 / £2479 (w/16-80mm lens)
Used D500 cameras fall into a price range of $600 to $900. The difference will be due to condition and accessories included.
Nikon D500 Battery Type & ReplacementsThe Nikon D500 uses a Lithium-Ion EN-EL15 rechargeable battery & charger.
The battery can not be charged via USB. This means a battery charger will be necessary.
Nikon D1 Battery Type & ReplacementsThe Nikon D1 uses a None.
The battery can not be charged via USB. This means a battery charger will be necessary. There are third party battery chargers available.
Memory Card Compatibility & RecommendationThe Nikon D1 is compatible with Compact Flash (Type I or II) memory cards.
The differences between Type I and II Compact Flash cards is the thickness. Type II meant the slot can accommodate Microdrives, which were very small mechanical hard drives.
