How to TEST & Buy CAMERA GEAR | Making sure it's SHARP & You are getting a GREAT DEAL!

Is your new lens SHARP? Buying used camera gear is great & often saves you tons of money, but how can you make sure it works and you're not buying a dud?
I am sharing my best way to find a great deal and my top tips on how to test the lenses & cameras you are buying quickly to make sure it works!

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This is the Equipment I recommend:
Canon EOS R5
Canon EOS R6
Nikon Z9
Sony Alpha 1
Canon RF 100-500 L IS
RF Extender 1.4x
RF Extender 2x
Sony FE 200-600
RF 800 F11
RF600 F11
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Canon 600 L IS III (I have v. II)
Canon EF 5.6/400 L
Canon 1.4x TC III
Canon 2x TC III
Canon 600 EX - RT
Wimberley Head II
Gitzo 5543LS (new version of my tripod)
Gitzo GT2545T Travel Tripod
Wimberley Flash Bracket
Wimberley M-6 Extension Post
Better Beamer (check for compatibility)
Flash Battery (Godox & Flashpoint is the same)
Power Cord
Y connector
Novoflex STA-SET
LensCoat LensHide
LensCoat Lens Hoodie
Canon 2.8/70-200 II
Canon 4/24-70
Canon 4/16-35 L IS
JBL Clip3 Speaker
Sandisk Extreme Pro CFexpress Card type B 512GB
Sandisk Extreme Pro
Panasonic Eneloop Pro
Minox 8x43
Canon LP-E6N
Manfrotto Mini Ballhead
FStop Gear Sukha Backpack
Atomos Ninja V

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:36 Is Buying Used Gear for You?
1:04 Where to Buy?
3:00 Buying Used Cameras
4:21 Checking the Camera
5:08 Buying Used Lenses
6:50 What to look out for?
9:29 How to Test the Gear BEFORE Buying it
16:32 Getting a Great Deal!
17:20 A Few More Tips!

[dimitristsagdis]

Good advice for testing de-centered lenses and front/back focus.

[hellolau]

Nice 👍 thank you for the tips 😊
What if there is some dust inside an L lens ? Is this a cause of concern since L lenses should be dust resistant to beginning with ?

[tonyblake]

Jan, valuable information even if you are having some doubts with a new lens. There are many videos with comments on faulty new lenses.

[kilohotel]

I have had good luck buying used from lots of places in the past. I got some great deals on Pentax 645 lenses from Japan that if the seller didn't list it as used I would've thought they were brand new. Here in the US KEH I found to be my favorite place out of the big stores but my local shop always has a good selection of used Canon lenses for a good price.

[janwilhelm]

Great and very helpful content. Thanks a lot!

[karlotto]

JHi Jan, Thanks for the great video about used gear.
Here are my 5 cents to it:

1. Filters introduce always optical distortions, because of two reasons:
a) Glass flatness. Only a few god suppliers have the ability to make flat glass - Hoya, B+W, Haida...
b) Tensions between glass and the mounting ring. Those are difficult machining and material choices. Bended flat glass creates a small anisotropic lens with a long focal length.
c) The focal lens of the lens mounted with a filter. The longer the focal length the bigger the impact of filter imperfections.

Conlusion: Don't use any cheap UV filters. To protect the lens always use the hood and/or an empty filter ring without glass.
The impacts of filters is extreme for long focal length lenses - Never use a filter here. The impact on short focal length is proportional less and there is very little danger between 8 - 85mm using quality manufactures.
Same is true for CPOL/ Color filters. This is not the case using filters before the sensor like Canon/Sony/Nikon 600mm f/4.

2. Used cameras: Jan you gave the perfect test procedure here as well.
All devices have a typical failure curve. A higher early failure rate and later high end of live failures rate. You want to be in the range of 15-20% of end of live usage. I would prefer to buy a rather higher shutter count above 10000 to 30000 to make sure the camera has proven itself in real use.

Last question: What means the "10Y" label on Nikon boxes? Please, let me know. Thanks

Cheers

[davidlawery]

Great Video. I always go for Sight, Sound & Smell. You’ll know Mould when you smell it. Thankfully modern Lens/Cameras do not suffer to much. Keep well & Stay safe 👍🇬🇧

[Don_from_cairns_australia]

Great video Jan I really enjoy your content. I live in far north Queensland in Cairns and I have recently purchased three Canon L-series telephoto and prime lenses from KEH in America. And I’m very happy with my purchases.

[vandamner]

Thank you Jan for all of this very useful information. You brought up a lot of valid points when buying used equipment. I am in process of buy a rf100-500 canon lens for my r6 and am unsure if I should by used with a savings of 500.00 Canadian dollar or new. I don’t believe warranty is longer valid when bought used. It is a expensive purchase at 3900.00 cdn. I think peace of mind will buy new. Keep doing what you do mate very much appreciated.

[Duade]

Great video mate, I got my 500 f4 second hand 7 years ago and could sell it now for close to what I paid for it. I guess with the RF mount coming there is a lot of very good EF gear going cheap at the moment. Cheers, Duade

[WernerBirdNature]

Ganz klar: Deutsche Grundlichkeit 😛 And now I know a purpose for my UV's which became obsolete after watching some of your earlier YT's: just screw them on before selling a lens ;-)
For me the easiest way to sell and buy used gear is via my Canon store in Dueren. It's a 150km drive, but I know I can trust him for an honest price and good judgement.

[RussellRomarate]

great video man, nothing arti...superficial,

[chrisgrylls]

Great video with lots of great advice, but seemed largely predicated on being able to see and test before buying. I have bought some great gear, both bodies and lenses on eBay, which is generally fairly safe and backed up by both eBay and PayPal. However, it is very important that you know what you are buying. Price is a key one and really good used equipment, lenses in particular should be around 60% of new price. You see people advertising at near new or even more than new price. Always look for equipment that is very well described and has really good photos so you can get a good idea of the condition. As you suggested if it has all its original packaging and accessories, it is likely to have been looked after. Also, it may help you get a better price if you decide to move it on. Check out the history of the seller and see what else they have for sale and what their feedback rating is. Being a perfectionist, I am very fussy about what I buy, but have only had very superficial disappointments with gear bought on eBay. Also, the other option for saving money you did not mention, is to watch the sales. Companies like digiDirect are always having discounts, often around 20% so you can save money and get new gear. I saved 40% on a brand new lens at one stage by knowing what I wanted and watching.

[techtalksintibetan]

Thanks for sharing your nice advice. To my experience or thought if you are a beginner or a learner of any types photography, buying secondhand gears is better than buying expensive new ones. If your photographing level is higher than a learner or more then buying new gears according to your budgets.

[janinacooper]

Hey Jan, great Video!
I bought all of my first gear set up used and I had pretty good luck buying a used Nikon D7100, a Nikon 12-24mm, separately on FB Marketplace, a Tamron 180mm from a local shop in spring 2021 they were fantastic and I loved that kit.
But I soon found out that I really wanted to get more into wildlife photography, mainly whales. They tend to be far away and pretty fast.
So I did some research to find out what would work for me.
I came across a Nikon D500 with a Nikon 80-400mm lens on FB marketplace for a reasonable price.
And separately a Nikon 200-500mm also on marketplace (kind of on the higher end for a used lens).
All three items where listed in excellent used condition and all three were duds.
The D500 has a lot of spots on the sensor that won’t come off, I had professional sensor cleaning done but otherwise works great.
The 80-400mm is blurry and the 200-500mm is very soft as well.
The lenses were not usable even though I tried the items before buying and I asked the sellers a bunch of questions, but it was hard to see that something was wrong on the back screen of the camera.
I took a significant financial hit, because of course when reselling the gear I disclosed all my findings in the listings and only got a fraction of my investment back as expected (which was all my savings at the time).

This was so frustrating to me that I decided to never buy used gear from a private person again.

And even though Nikon gear has served me well
(when it was functional and didn’t come from a shady buyer)
it caused me to turn my back on Nikon (mainly because their long telephoto lenses are way to expensive for me).
So Canon mirrorless cameras caught my attention....
Which is what I have now and it’s still new to me, getting used to the different button location and all that stuff.

So I can’t really say that I have arrived back in my photographic comfort zone yet, but so far the canon lenses are excellent and sharp. I appreciate canons budget telephoto options that are sharp enough for a lens snob like me.

The only time I would consider buying a used Item from a private seller now is if it’s a low risk investment.
From my local photo store I would buy used lenses any time.
About that big place KEH, I’m not sure 🤔, ...they have not been very reliable in responding and I’m still waiting for them to send me a shipping label for one of my lenses. So I’m not sure if I would trust buying used gear from them.
Thanks again for the video!

[jameshazell]

Hey Jan! Love the content! Im just getting into bird photography and am also located in Queensland, would you mind sharing some of the locations you’ve had success in so far? Im really enjoying the chase so far but not sure the best places to go.

[ottokite]

I'm quite lucky that we have a local Camera Shop where I live. As a loyal customer I can quite often get a good discount on their used gear - this can save you a lot over the cost for the new item. They also provide a 6 month warranty on their used items too.

[jeandorais]

Great tips Jan, thanks for the video. I've had great success using FB marketplace...but also LOTS of bad experiences. The general rule of "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" applies to used gear. Ebay has also been solid for me, but make sure that the seller has a return policy that won't fleece you should something goes wrong. I had a trusted seller (very high # of positive reviews) from Japan sell me a 'bait and switch' lens (serial # didn't match images on post, lens had fungus and a completely cracked front lens element...thankfully, PayPal and Ebay both stepped in when this seller tried to say it was my fault. Seller is no longer on Ebay, btw. Be safe out there!

[davidmb]

Hello Jan Love your videos. I have a 600mm rf f4 lens should I remove the drop in filter ?

[KurtisPape]

After a year my Sony 200-600mm and 24-105mm both are getting a few specs of dust internally, my gear is used in pretty dusty conditions but I'm most surprised by the 600mm lens, it zooms internally so I thought would be pretty dust proof. Not impacting photos though.