Buying a used DSLR

[G. Ike]

I was thinking of buying a DSLR soon (well, pretty soon) because after I got my Fuji FinePix S700 I fell in love with shooting digitally, but I miss the versatility and fun of my old Canon AE-1 SLR. After a bunch of comparisons at camera shops, I've decided I want a Nikon camera. My estimated budget allows for something like the D60 Kit, but I was wondering if going with a used D80 or even D200 from eBay. I've seen them going for anywhere between $500-800 dollars with a lens and some accessories. What do you guys think? Does anyone own the D80 or D200 and have compared it with the D60? I'm open to other suggestions as well, but at this point I think I'd prefer Nikon. Thanks in advance!

George

 

[epp_b]

In terms of image quality, they are all cameras of the same generation so they will have approximately the same image quality per density. You might want to consider the D40 instead of the D60 as the D40, with it's higher base-ISO and lower pixel density will give you better image quality and noise performance. Other than that, the D60 is basically the same with some rather gimmicky features. The extra money you pay for it is a lot more than the extra features are actually worth.

As for buying used...well, do it at your own risk. If you even get a warranty, it will be some crappy 90-day thing from the retailer and not the 2-year Nikon warranty (5 years for lenses).

How much are you looking to spend?

 

[G. Ike]

I'm looking to spend $700-800, but I don't want just a body. I'm hoping to get at least one lens with the purchase, no matter what body I decide on. If I went with the D40 kit, I would have another two or three hundred to play with so that sounds good to me as of now. It seems that Nikon doesn't make a battery grip for the D40, does anyone know of any third party solutions? Are they worth the cash?

 

[epp_b]

You could probably get a D80 with a decent lens for that price.

 

[edcord]

I would stay away from used digital slrs. Unless you can verify the amount of shutter actuations just buy new. Sony offers the A200 for 499.00 with a lens and its a 10mp camera. Does a nice job and Sony offers a lot of accessories such as vertical grips should you want to add on later. Nikon's D40 is nice camera for the same price with a lens but its only 6mp and the lens is not as nice as the sony kit lens....however either camera will do a nice job for you and you get new with a new warranty

Good luck

 

[monkeykoder]

I bought my D50 used from adorama that with my 50mm f1.8 (bought new) was $500 (actually it was a christmas present) it came to me with 12000 actuations on it and I've added several thousand myself and it is still going strong. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a little older (like a D50 or D70s) to take advantage of getting the glass you want. If you go with a D40 or D60 you're going to be a bit short on money and a lot of good glass will be out of your reach if you want autofocus. Of course this is a whole different story if you decide you want to use manual focus then almost all glass is within your reach (and some really cheap old manual focus lenses).