Buying Used Gear
With permission, I’m going to share a little story that I think we can all learn from.
On a recent photo outing with a student of mine, we were discussing a rather expensive camera he had just purchased a couple of months ago. In preparation for an important trip, possibly a “once in a lifetime” trip, he did all his homework and research, found a good deal on a used camera and lens, and made the investment. The seller of the camera said he’d only used it a few times. So GREAT! It’s practically new. Then he found out about a little thing called Shutter Actuations.
If you haven’t heard of it, it’s the cameras’ shutter count. Every cameras’ shutter will eventually fail. It’s just a piece of equipment and sooner or later, it’s going to give out. Knowing how much a previously owned camera has already been used prior to purchasing is important. It’s an easy number to find out. When I sold my last camera, I checked the shutter count before advertising it…to determine a fair price and to have that information available just in case the future buyer wanted to know. I didn’t take a single photo with it after looking that info up.
It’s a fairly easy thing to check. You can take the last image you shot and upload it to a site like camerashuttercount.com. Each camera will have an estimated shutter lifespan and you can look these up on line as well. Mid level cameras have shutter lives in the range of 50,000 to 100,000 clicks. Higher end cameras…more like 200,000 or higher.
Unfortunately, my student was lied to. The shutter count of his camera was 250,000!!! So it’s nearly done with the life of the shutter. And having this knowledge…prior to his big trip, he’s inclined to just buy a new camera. It breaks my heart to hear stories like this. It’s just not right to deceive people like that and photographers, especially new photographers, don’t have the experience to know to ask these questions prior to a purchase of used gear. If a cameras’ shutter count is over 100,000, it’s best to just avoid it. It tells you that the camera has been used quite a bit and there may even be other issues with it.
With his permission, I chose to share this story with you in the hopes that it will help others to avoid being sold something that is not nearly worth the money. Some websites that I would consider safe to buy used gear from are KEH and MPB. They have return policies if you find that the camera or lens is not up to your expectations.
Some other things to look out for…scratched sensors. Take a test shot at f/22 of a blank piece of paper. Dust spots are okay and can be cleaned but lines are possibly actual scratches in the sensor that will ruin every image you take.
It’s a classic case of “Buyer Beware”…but hopefully this will help you in the future if you decide to buy some used gear.
Take care. Thanks, as always, for your support.
Kate
