Used digital camera - £100 - any point?

[205alive]

In terms of best results for the outlay, will an older used digital camera give better results than new for the same value?

I'm not looking to capture fast moving subjects - primarily to be used for indoor still items with close ups - ie, product shot-type situation, non studio, just at home.

Any suggestions, please?

[MysteryLemon]

Depends what camera it is.

If its just a consumer compact, it's probably not going to make much difference. An older camera with less mega pixels might actually produce better quality images than a new camera with more.

Edited by MysteryLemon on Sunday 30th June 15:25

[205alive]

I should clarify, I'm looking for suggestions on which used cameras at that price are worth considering.

If for instance, a £400 camera from 2008 is still a good buy @ £100 today, will it be better than a 2013 £100 camera - and if so, which model/s would be recommended?

Perhaps that's a better way of putting it...?

[MysteryLemon]

Hmm well that still depends on model to model.

But in general, I would say that a camera that cost £400 4 years ago would probably be better than a £100 new camera today.

Simply because the £400 camera would have been aimed at the entry level pro/enthusiast market where as a £100 camera will be nothing but a consumer point and shoot.

[205alive]

I suppose I was wondering perhaps if there had been some recent development of CCDs/sensors etc.

Thanks for your input - feel free to suggest any particular older cameras if anything springs to mind.

[DibblyDobbler]

Canon 400D + 50mm prime? You'd need around £150 though (£120ish for the body and £30ish for the lens). The 50mm lens can do close up stuff well and is nice and sharp.

[205alive]

DibblyDobbler said:

Canon 400D + 50mm prime? You'd need around £150 though (£120ish for the body and £30ish for the lens). The 50mm lens can do close up stuff well and is nice and sharp.

Thanks for the suggestion - outside of the budget but may be able to stretch if there are no other alternatives.

[DibblyDobbler]

205alive said:

DibblyDobbler said:

Canon 400D + 50mm prime? You'd need around £150 though (£120ish for the body and £30ish for the lens). The 50mm lens can do close up stuff well and is nice and sharp.

Thanks for the suggestion - outside of the budget but may be able to stretch if there are no other alternatives.

The one before the 400D would be the 350 - bit cheaper but also older and not as good. Depends how much you want to stick to your budget I suppose

[NITO]

You can get a used Canon EOS 20D for £100 off ebay which is an absolute bargain, I paid over £1k for mine in 2004!

[GetCarter]

I'd keep an eye on this - currently £32: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nikon-D50-6-1-MP-Digital...

From the description "To be honest it has barely been used. Perhaps half a dozen times for quick short periods. I bought it new as a way in to photography but have not had the opportunity to take it up as a hobby. It seems a shame to see it unused."

[DJWuk]

If a bridge camera is of interest then can recommend the Fuji S9500, with one going on eBay for £110 at the mo.

Actually bought one years ago as an experiment to see what you could produce from £100 camera.

Examples from a shoot with said camera





Dave

Edited by DJWuk on Tuesday 2nd July 14:26

[205alive]

£1k camera for £100, love the sound of that...! Will definitely give al of these serious consideration - but I have to say, the Fuji images are a big seller - I would be more than happy with a used camera capable of producing those sort of images in the right hands.

Another thing I'll be taking into account is USB connectivity (/lack of), and memory card types as I want an easy life when it comes to transferring images.

Many thanks guys - if anything else comes to mind which is also worth consideration I would love to hear about it. Now I'd better start learning about RAW, which is a new format for me.

[JDRoest]

205alive said:

Many thanks guys - if anything else comes to mind which is also worth consideration I would love to hear about it. Now I'd better start learning about RAW, which is a new format for me.

Not much to learn really. Consider it the same as a jpeg except with a lot more detail. I can't talk for PC, but a Mac will open and fiddle with a Canon RAW file much like it will with a jpeg. However, any changes and the raw file needs to be converted to a TIFF or JPEG (which a Mac will do for you).

The best thing about a RAW file is that you can correct problems after the shot was taken, eg white balance, and pull out details in shadows and highlights. The downside is that it's a huge file compared to a jpeg.

[205alive]

So getting slightly off topic, I'm on a mac using Photoshop from the original CS suite - as in CS1 - will this let me edit RAWs? or should I look for an old version of Capture One (I'm on Snow Leopard)?

[LongQ]

205alive said:

So getting slightly off topic, I'm on a mac using Photoshop from the original CS suite - as in CS1 - will this let me edit RAWs? or should I look for an old version of Capture One (I'm on Snow Leopard)?

Basically any image editor is lkely to be able to deal with any jpg file (almost) no matter the age of the camera that produces it BUT an older editor's abilities may not be as competent as a newer one.

RAW is a different game and typically there are no backward updates for obsolete products to cater for new cameras. The may be very rare exceptions if a new software release overlaps new body releases.

On modern compact cameras that offer RAW you may well find that Lens correction is an absolute must have requirement. The camera's jpgs will likely have been corrected in cameras, but the RAW's not and lens correction , as with RAWs, may not be supported by old software.

On the other hand there are some prtty good free RAW converters out there that may, or may not. offer full capabilities for the latest technologies (currently out of your budget) but ought to be enough for whatever you are likely to buy in budget.

However it may be that what you really need is a basic sort of body on which to hang a few great lenses for various purposes. In which case the start up cost may only be the tip of the iceberg.

Edited by LongQ on Wednesday 3rd July 12:13

[Xaero]

This is a bit of a general answer, but I would recommend an older camera over a £100 new one. £100 cameras are usually pretty bad and have a very cheap soft lens. A lot more care goes into the more expensive models and it makes a big difference.

Of course if you get an old one which is damaged or with a scratch on the lens then it's going to be compromised, but in general go with the older camera. I'd rather use my phone (2012 model) than a £100 2013 camera for photos.

[JDRoest]

205alive said:

In terms of best results for the outlay, will an older used digital camera give better results than new for the same value?

I'm not looking to capture fast moving subjects - primarily to be used for indoor still items with close ups - ie, product shot-type situation, non studio, just at home.

Any suggestions, please?

Yes to your question.

Any SLR will be better at the example you give because you have more options to play with to get a decent image.

We had a speech at a camera club a couple of years ago, some guy had developed a book for kids using Playmobile characters, and he used a compact camera for the most part. He showed some of his photographs that he had worked on and how he had spent hours upon hours stitching together photographs in Photoshop - when all he needed was a s/h digital slr. All of the difficult optical effects that he spent hours on, could have been done with an SLR and a bit of trial and error, and saved himself a bucket load of time.

However, using a DSLR takes a little bit of patience to get the image right.

[99t]

I bought my stepdaughter-to-be a very cheap Canon 10D from ebay to learn with, and despite a pixel count shamed by most phones these days, some of the pictures she has taken are stunningly clear and sharp.

It also feels incredibly solid, much more so than my 650D, and will almost certainly handle whatever teenager style abuse that gets dished out to it!!