Dinkshooter,
Nice pics for point and shoot.
I purchased one dslr from a camera shop to use as a back up body. Buying from a camera shop you will probably pay a little more for it rather than buying from an individual. A camera shop will most likely inspect for wear or defects and give it a rating (either number or letters meaning from poor to excellent shape).
Buying from an individual, follow your “gut feeling”, you should be able to tell if it is stolen.
With the latest DSLRs hitting the market in the past year, there should be plenty of used bodies for sale.
I’m not familiar with Cannon but Nikon puts a factory tested shutter life on their cameras. The lower consumer grade will be 100k actuations and the higher pro grade can have up to 400k actuations. This is what they have been tested to. It doesn’t mean it will not exceed those numbers.
Maximum Shutter Actuations Life Prediction:
Nikon D4:
Kevlar / carbon fibre composite shutter with 400,000 exposure durability
Nikon D3, D3x, D3s:
Kevlar / carbon fibre composite shutter with 300,000 exposure durability
Nikon D800/D800E:
Kevlar / carbon fibre composite shutter with 200,000 exposure durability
Nikon D700, Nikon D600:
Kevlar / carbon fibre composite shutter with 150,000 exposure durability *
Nikon D7000, D300s, D300:
Factory tested Shutter life 150,000 actuations
Nikon D5100, D5000, D3100, D3000, D90:
Factory tested Shutter life 100,000 actuations
It can be helpful for negotiating price of used bodies. If it has a 100k rating and it is being sold with 50k actuations the body should be half the price of a new one.
If you are looking at used, ask the seller how many shutter release actuations it has. If they don’t know ask them to take a picture with the body and email you the picture.
If you don’t have a way verify the actuations, it can be done with photoshop. PM me for my email and I will check it for you.
It is also a good idea to ask for at least three or four pictures of a solid white wall or most preferably a clear sky. Make sure the pictures are shot at the smallest aperture (largest F number) to allow a greater depth of focus therfore showing all dirt or defects. Shooting at a large aperture (small F number) will result in a shallow depth of focus therefore hiding all dirt and defects.
View the pictures at 100%, on your computer screen, to look for any signs of dust or dirt.
This will help determine any defects or damage to the lens or the sensor or even show how much dirt is on the sensor. In most cases if the sensor is extremely dirty the particles are likely to move with each shutter actuation. Meaning you will have dust spots or particles of the same shape, to show up in various areas of the picture.
Look over any missssspellling or errrrorrs, It’s late, and I’m tired. If this doesn’t make sense pm me
Pics look pretty cool to me,but then I refuse to wear my stupid Costco reading glasses.
