How To Buy Camera Body And Lenses

Always since I became a lensman, most of the cameras and lenses I have purchased have been used. Most cameras and lenses only come with i-twelvemonth warranties (though in that location are exceptions), and since some used gear sellers offer six-calendar month warranties, that extra half-year is oft not worth the deviation (to me). And, of class, some items — similar vintage or discontinued cameras and lenses — are just available used.

Also, if I want to try a camera out to meet how it works for me, I look for an open-box item — I am not a fan of returning make new cameras because of purely personal preference.

I have had feel with all the beneath-mentioned companies, some much more than the others.

And then, without further delay, here is our list of the summit half-dozen (in alphabetical order) places to look at when seeking out your next piece of gear. Obviously, all these places offering gear well beyond just cameras and lenses also!

At a Glance

Adorama

Adorama is my absolute favorite supplier of photograph and video products. After hundreds (if not thousands) of items purchased and tens of thousands of dollars spent with them, I tin safely say I have quite a lot of feel — including returns and dealing with its astonishing customer service squad.

Every bit far as digital cameras and lenses, its used department is my favorite of anyone on this list. Adorama has tons of used gear available at any given fourth dimension, with new gear existence added every 24-hour interval. Best of all, it has very, very good prices with some unbeatable deals popping upwards now and then.

Items are rated from X (for parts only) to F (off-white, which means it has certain malfunctions) to E+ (Excellent Plus). I have had zilch but smashing experiences with items from G (Practiced, only higher up Fair) to E+, with the solitary exception of a thirteen-year-old Sigma DP1. Since returns to Adorama are so utterly seamless, information technology was non fifty-fifty a bother.

Ane of the best features of Adorama — not just its used department but the site every bit a whole — is its VIP360 program. It costs $49.99 per twelvemonth, but if you guild a decent corporeality of photography or video equipment, it is well worth information technology. The primary benefits are: free 2-day shipping on thousands of new items, 60 day return period instead of the normal 30, 1-year "drops and spills" protection (applies to new items only, with some exclusions), dedicated customer service, and early-bird access to discounts and sales. Oh, and shipping for returns is costless with VIP360 too — then fifty-fifty if you just alter your mind only the product is not defective, yous still pay nothing for return shipping.

All of Adorama'south used photo products come up with a six-month warranty for G grade or higher and a 30-mean solar day return window. Used video and lighting gear carries a 90-twenty-four hours warranty with a thirty solar day render catamenia.

B&H Photo Video

We likely all know B&H Photo Video. It is almost certainly the largest photo and video retailer in the Usa, if non the world. While about of its seemingly endless options of products and brands are new stock, it does have a decent used department.

Based out of New York Metropolis, B&H sits less than 2 miles from its nearest competitor (both literally and figuratively) — Adorama. The retailer has a massive superstore that thousands of people visit every day. Should you lot be lucky enough to do so, you tin browse its used equipment in person. You can also drop off returns and pick upwards online orders at its concrete shop, oftentimes same-twenty-four hour period.

Different Adorama, the used section is not nearly as robust, nor are its prices as competitive. B&H'due south inventory does not rotate over every bit much, and its rating system is more opaque. It does ofttimes include a note aslope the numbered rating (which ranges from 7 to ten), e.g. "Moderate Wear," "Well Used," or "Piffling to No Signs of Wear."

Like purchasing new items from B&H, used gear will notwithstanding come with the same quality client service and free expedited delivery over $49. Used equipment may be returned for any reason inside 30 days and carries a three-month parts and labor warranty.

eBay

I am sure everyone is familiar with eBay, so non a lot needs to exist said most how it works. It is probably the nearly controversial choice on this list — some hate information technology and will never utilize it and others (like me) observe it to be a keen source for a variety of different situations.

eBay is where yous stand to get the best possible price and have the largest diversity of options at any given time for any given item. For some items, namely vintage lenses, cameras, and accessories every bit well as rare or niche items, eBay may be the only identify where you lot stand up a chance to discover what yous are looking for.

A lot of the apprehension regarding eBay is the potential for scams or dubious sellers. This is a completely valid business organisation; withal, it is far, far less something to worry almost as a heir-apparent. eBay has an incredibly robust protection system in place for buyers — to the signal that I experience the site is riskier for sellers and not the other way effectually. The retailer will side with the buyer in almost every state of affairs.

If there are whatsoever issues with your detail, you lot can just file a claim and eBay will refund your money whether the seller accepts the render or ignores your merits. Y'all should, nevertheless, thoroughly read any description and look at all bachelor photos earlier purchasing. From my extensive experience of over 15 years on the site as both a buyer and seller, I have zero reservations as a purchaser.

Dissimilar every other visitor on this list, eBay items, in full general, have no warranty — however, some sellers on the site (including several on this listing who also sell on eBay) do offer warranties on items sold via eBay. Again, you should thoroughly read the listing and/or contact the seller if you are unsure about the terms. eBay itself has a 30-day window to file a merits should your purchase be not equally described, not make it, etc.

It is worth noting that eBay, along with the beneath-mentioned MPB, is the only company on this listing that is NOT an authorized dealer for Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc. This tin be of import if you are, for example, an NPS (Nikon Professional person Services) fellow member — it also may bear on the ability to get repairs from the manufacturer, since whatever camera or lens non purchased from an authorized retailer is considered grayness market.

KEH Camera

KEH Photographic camera — the largest pre-owned camera store in the United States — is based just outside of Atlanta and is i of the most pop and highly regarded sites for used photography (and some video) gear. With great prices, fantastic customer service, warranties, and a huge catalog of used equipment, it is 1 of my go-to sites when I am looking for my next slice of gear. From 35mm to big format cameras and lenses, DSLRs, mirrorless, and tons of accompaniment gear, there is not much it doesn't accept.

The site is like shooting fish in a barrel to navigate and browse, with everything broken down into clear and specific categories, plus plenty of search filters along the left-hand side of the folio. Its ratings range from "Like New" to "Ugly" — at that place is also an "Every bit Is" rating, which essentially means "for parts only." And its rating organization is one of the strictest out there — "bargain" course, which is merely to a higher place "ugly" is frequently equivalent to what many eBay sellers would list as "Excellent++" or "Near Mint." I take even bought dozens of "ugly" lenses — well-nigh of which merely had cosmetic issues but were optically good or excellent.

Unfortunately, KEH'due south site does not have photos of each particular, and so you can just guess its items based on the rating arrangement.

KEH offers a 180-day warranty and 21-day render window on bargain grade or higher items and free aircraft for orders over $49.

LensRentals

Our original selection here was LensAuthority, a subsidiary of LensRentals, however as Petapixel reported in November of concluding yr, Lensrentals chose to integrate the two into one site. This is certainly a good move considering it was somewhat hard to notice LensAuthority unless you were straight familiar with it, even if you knew well-nigh LensRentals.

Every piece of equipment at LensRentals goes through a rigorous X bespeak inspection, cleaning, and provision programme later each loan, which allows them to achieve what is purported to exist the everyman failure rate in the rental business. Equipment naturally goes through the same proprietary inspection process before being put upwardly for sale.

You can scan the LensRentals site as you unremarkably would if you want to rent something, and if you're interested in buying or seeing what'south available to buy, each product page has a "Buy" button in the height correct. Clicking that will accept you to a page that lists all of the available bodies/lenses for sale.

Each item will have an overall rating like "first-class" or "good," along with sub-ratings for Cosmetics, Functioning, and Shutter Count (for cameras). Lenses will, in place of Shutter Count, have a "Glass" rating.

LensRentals does provide some other very squeamish options that you don't see elsewhere. Chief among them is its incredibly affordable extended warranty options. For example, you can go a 1-year extended warranty on any photographic camera priced from $1,000 to $3,000 for an additional $25! A 2-year extended warranty on a lens from $500 to $i,500 is $xiv. I don't know any other company that offers extended warranties anywhere close to those prices if they're even offered at all.

I do wish the site was easier to navigate for potential buyers who are not interested in renting — similar to how LensAuthority worked, or every other site on this list. As it stands, you lot have to notice the item you're interested in, click "Buy" and and so see what's available (if annihilation is). A somewhat divide section of the site with navigation for all products currently for sale, along with filters and the ability to organize lists (due east.k. from Low to High toll) would be incredibly overnice. But again, the transition away from LensAuthority is very recent, so it's highly possible updates to the site are in the works or planned.

Lastly, if y'all rent an detail from LensRentals, you lot can opt to purchase it after your rental and LensRentals will credit 100% of the rental fees for upwards to 7 days toward the purchase as part of its "Keeper Test Drive" program.

MPB

MPB is probably the least well-known on this list, but it has grown quite a lot during the COVID-nineteen era and are admittedly worth a look. Not different the others on this list (except eBay), MPB purchases and resells used camera gear afterwards thoroughly inspecting and testing the equipment. With two offices in the UK and ane in Brooklyn, New York, MPB serves even more than markets than several others on this list, and in April of this yr, it caused Series D funding of $69 1000000 to expand to other markets.

The 2 best things about MPB are its massive catalog of available products and its very good prices. For example, at the time of writing there are twenty Nikon Z6 (starting at $1059), 30-four Canon 5D Marking IV (starting at $1959), and 20-seven Sony a7R Mark 3 (starting at $1889) cameras available to buy. I do not know of anywhere else, except eBay, with that kind of inventory.

The company offers a 7-day return window with a vi-month warranty on all the retailer'southward products.

As mentioned above for eBay, MPB is non an authorized dealer for Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc.

Robert's Photographic camera (Used Photograph Pro)

Robert'southward Photographic camera (hereafter referred to as Used Photograph Pro), based out of Indianapolis is one of the largest suppliers of both new and used gear in the U.s.a.. Its used section, which exists on a separate website and with its own customer service line, is one of the all-time in the country.

Over the years, I have purchased thousands of items from Robert'due south, visited its store dozens of times, and it has been nothing but the kindest, most helpful company I have always dealt with. Customer service resolves issues with lightning speed and without hassle.

Used Photograph Pro sells everything from modern digital cameras and lenses to vintage 35mm, medium format, and large format cameras and lenses — as well as the expected accessories like tripods, camera bags, etc.

While its inventory is not as all-encompassing as KEH, the prices are just as competitive and, unlike KEH, each detail on the site has photos of the actual product.

Grades range from Inoperable to Mint. The clarification of what each grade means is listed on every detail's page and, as mentioned, photos are bachelor for you to inspect. The retailer is equally transparent as it gets equally far equally what you are ownership — in fact, out of the thousands of items I purchased from them, merely one had an issue and the return was seamless.

Used Photo Pro offers a six-month warranty on all items, except for those graded "poor" or "inoperable." Free shipping is offered on all items except those graded Inoperable, Poor, or Fair.

If there is 1 niggle with Used Photo Pro, it is that ever since its redesign, the website is achingly slow to load each folio — it is deadline unacceptably ho-hum. But, have patience because it is a wonderful resource. I do hope the retailer fixes that upshot, though — it would go far a lot more than pleasant for me, as I cheque it several times a day.

Full disclosure: Adorama has been a long-fourth dimension PetaPixel sponsor, merely the camera shop was not involved in the creation of this article.

Prototype credits: Header photograph licensed from Depositphotos

Source: https://petapixel.com/best-places-buy-used-cameras-lenses/

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