Last Updated: February 15th, 2020

It’s pay day and you’ve been highly anticipating a new camera body upgrade.

Maybe you’ve been using a beginner’s camera for a while, and feel that now is the time to step up your game and get better quality shots that you know your technical skills are prepared for.

Whatever your reason for wanting to purchase a camera body is, the big question that will probably cross your mind at least once is: do I buy one new or used?

Having purchased several Canon 5D Mark IV’s over the past year in an effort to support our businesses photography efforts, we know the shock of looking at the price tag again and again. For a camera body of this quality, without even having a lens, we have spent $4,000 per body. We say this not for bragging rights, as we’d much rather use our money on other things, but the expense is justified in our minds because it translates into the quality photographs we are able to take.

Our purchasing decisions early on have been to buy our gear new for a few reasons – but we can definitely see the other side of things, and there are valid reasons to buy used camera bodies and other gear instead. You, of course, have to weigh the pros and cons for yourself – and that is what we are talking about today!

What to expect when buying used photography equipment?

The nature of the used equipment market is what actually turns us off of it pretty heavily. Used gear comes in many forms – some being hardly used at all (like just opened and taken out of the box), while other items have certainly seen better days.

The bigger thing is getting to know all of the variety of sellers and what kind of gear they offer, what the terms of purchase are, if there is a warranty, and so on. When purchasing used and refurbished gear through Amazon or Adorama, it’s not usually too risky – but maybe finding a hot deal on Craigslist might come with more red flags from the start.

Generally speaking, we would lean towards only purchasing equipment from a reputable seller. While there is enough of a sub-culture to be found in Facebook Groups and the aforementioned Craigslist (and similar sites), the risk when looking at spending thousands of dollars doesn’t really compute in our minds. This is especially true if you don’t have a lot of extra money lying around, and you really want something that is going to work.

5 Pros of buying used photo gear

1). Cheaper prices. Probably the most obvious reason why someone would consider buying anything used is because of the financial savings. When talking about camera equipment such as a body or a lens, the savings differential can be upwards of $1,000 dollars difference. That is a pretty significant difference, and more than you might even expect at face value.

2). Through reputable dealers, good warranties or return policies. A lot of times it is relayed that buying used instantly means you will not have any coverage if it wouldn’t work. While this is pretty much definitely true when buying from a person in a shopping mall parking lot that you met off of Craigslist, if you go through a reputable dealer of camera equipment, whether a brick-and-mortar establishment or somewhere online like Amazon or Adorama, these normally come with some level of coverage. Most common are 1 month periods where you can return the item, no questions asked, for your money back. For a lot of problems you might encounter, this is more than enough to guarantee you have something that is working for you.

3). An easy option for back up gear. While many people are looking at used gear for the purpose of saving some money on their first more expensive purchase, professional photographers (like ourselves) are more interested in used gear as a way to get back up camera bodies and lenses. We like to rely on new gear that is comprising the majority of our usage, but just to have a backup in our camera bags for occasional use – it makes a lot of sense to be used for this sort of situation.

4). Easier to recoup purchasing costs if you resell. Like when a person buys a car, as soon as you “drive off the lot”, it loses a good amount of value. In the world of used gear, you are already buying something at a discounted price because of it’s “used” status. If you end up purchasing and deciding to resell, you can usually recoup most or all of what you paid for it – and in some situations, maybe even sell it for a profit.

5). Price negotiable. In some cases, used gear can be negotiated depending on what the seller is looking for. For a camera body that runs at $4k new and 3k used, being able to talk someone down even an extra $200 can put you into a nice area of continued savings.

5 Cons of buying used photo gear

1). You can end up with a lemon. One of the largest concerns that comes with buying used anything is that that thing will not work at all once it’s in your hands. For many, being able to see the product in person and check it out often helps this process be easier to accept, but when buying from a dealer online (who may be able to be anonymous), there are more considerations to be had.

2). If buying through a private dealer, you will not have a warranty. Like we mentioned, you might have some level of coverage if going through a reputable dealer online, but if you do decide to buy from another person directly – you won’t have a warranty. These purchases can certainly be made, but you should give them a good deal of thought before doing so.

3). There can be hidden issues that may not reveal themselves until after a good amount of use. Outside of photo gear just not working at all, one of the other concerns many people have is that there is something that doesn’t work that is, more or less, hidden AND it won’t become obvious until much later through use. It’s sort of like buying a house, only to find something creepy hidden in one of the walls.

4). You can’t check everything. Even if you have pictures for online deals, or can hold the camera in your hand and check it out – there is no way you can really account for everything. This is, of course, the same as any purchase we make – but in the least buying a new camera body tends to come with coverage through the merchant you are buying from and the camera company directly.

5). If something is wrong, you end up spending more than you saved. Lastly, this is the biggest reason we don’t typically buy used. There is an inherent gamble in store for any purchasing decision. In a lot of cases, we’re fine to pay a little more money for more piece of mind that what we are buying will work (or will be protected for a good amount of time if it doesn’t). When buying a camera body, if you save $1,000 dollars but end up having to replace it sooner or bring it somewhere to be fixed, you don’t end up with a whole lot of savings in the long run.

Naturally, people tend to have a pretty strong feeling one way or another with whether or not they want to buy used photo gear. For ourselves, we are pretty skeptical people in general, and buying used often comes with a lot of uncertainty we’re not really comfortable with – especially when making business purchases. For smaller ticket items, it’s maybe not so much of a big deal, but if we’re already planning to drop a couple grand on a camera body – we may as well just get a new one.

Of course, we’d like to hear your thoughts on this as you might just have a different opinion. Feel free to chime in below in the comments!