What should I look out for when shopping for second-hand camera?

Question

What should I look out for when shopping for second-hand camera?

Answer 1

Instead of second hand camera, please buy new camera on  same budget. Find herewith all camera's with price comparison and specification.

http://www.infibeam.com/Cameras/

Answer 2

The best answer I can give you,  is to ask if the store/individual  will refund your money, if after you have it checked out,  it is not in perfect operational condition.    If you do not have good basic knowledge of the workings of a camera,  there is no way anyone here can guarantee their answer will give you enough information to buy a camera that is in excellent, ready to shoot condition.   If you have a friend that is well experienced with cameras,  you could ask them to go with you to check out the camera.  If not,  you have to use good judgement when buying.  There are too many internal things that could be wrong with a camera and camera repair is EXpensive.   If the person selling is willing to give you a written receipt  stating they will refund if the camera does not work,  you can take it to a camera repair shop for an evaluation.   If it is perfect...  Great!!!   If it needs repair/reconditioning/ anything requiring a repair charge...  Great!!!  because you can take it back and not lose any money on it.   It is a Win/Win for you.   I have bought used camera equipment in the past and can say I was lucky because I work at a camera repair facility.    Just remember,  Buyer Beware. ;))

Answer 3

If at all possible go through the camera's menu system and see how many shutter activations there have been. If this is a pro grade SLR then anything under 20 000 or so is good price goes down as shutter count goes up.

Also if possible, see another example of the same camera and make sure they sound the same, and have the same delay - not rough noisy, clunky etc.

Check the results, follow the process through, record a shot, view on computer or develop film as the case applies to you.

Hope this helps,

teef_au

Answer 4

If this is an SLR, inspect the mirrorbox seals, if an older camera they probably will need replacement (easy to do yourself), and if its a film SLR also inspect the film channel and door seals.