Be Careful When Buying Used Cameras

Thinking of saving a few bucks purchasing an older, used digital camera instead of a new top-of-the-line model? While saving a few bucks is always a good idea, caveat emptor when purchasing a used digital camera, especially one online:

* Connectors can be worn or broken on used digital cameras. If possible, try to examine the camera to ensure it is easy to insert and remove digital camera memory, watching out for broken pins. If the camera is a dSLR, see how easy it is to attach and de-attach lenses.

* Although this problem is rare, digital camera LCDs can have a dead, or stuck, pixel. While this won't affect taken photographs, an off-color pixel can be annoying when composing photos or reviewing taken pictures.

* However, in some cases stuck or hot pixels may appear in the photos themselves, due to a sensor defect, or in some cases due to the camera getting older. These may vary between photos and may also only appear depending on the exposure length.

* Check for dings, scratches, etc. - these may not affect your photography but it will affect how you and others look at your camera. More importantly, ensure there is no corrosion where you insert the camera battery.

Obviously, the more you can test out a used digital camera before purchase, the better, especially since used digital cameras most likely will not come with warranties. And of course, even new digital cameras may come with defects.

One option is to purchase a refurbished digital camera directly from the manufacturer. These should have been examined for dings and other technical defects, and in many cases come with a limited warranty.

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1. Camera Guy 1 (09/30/2009 22:13:01)

Hi Andrew,

I've been a passive reader for a little while now. This article caught my eye. I deal with used cameras all the time. Usually I'm dealing with *film*-based SLRs and rangefinders, but many of the same caveats apply -- and a few others I'd add:

1. The built-in flash should be checked.

2. The shoe for external flash should be checked.

3. Lenses are often dropped, and while they may even couple/work, it can have pretty awful effects on image quality.

4. Lenses can have fungus in them; more rarely the aperture blades get sticky/oily and this causes overexposure.

5. Anything that says it is broken, but "may be fixable" means it was already looked at, isn't fixable, and you should run far far away (if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is). It was probably under water or peed on by their dog.

6. Sometimes people pack things stupidly on eBay, and then it becomes a long protracted process of resolution.

7. Accessories, esp. power supplies are often misrepresented as OEM on eBay.

8. Sometimes eBayers take awhile to send, or completely defraud you.

9. If it says it's "AS-IS" but it ends up totally misrepresented (i.e. represented as working, but was under water), you'll usually win, but it's a long protracted process.

Of course this is my hobby, and part of my business. If you're willing to heed the warning and take some risks for fun, great.

But ...

If you need to know it works, buy it from a store new. Even used is OK. Used cameras carry a bit more risk, but a store will (generally) be a less risky and less protracted process if and when a problem does occur.

On eBay there are a lot of gray areas re: misrepresented, as-is, etc.

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