EXACTLY how I find camera bargains
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ค. 2024
- This has to be by far my most asked question! Here are my very best bargain hunting tips. This video isn't sponsored by any company mentioned, this is just me being 100% a nerd!
Places mentioned:-
CEX (UK): geni.us/QVKi
Buyee: geni.us/cFPbpOb
MPB UK: geni.us/ST2V
MPB US: geni.us/STZ48b5
MPB EU: geni.us/dOkLk0z
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#camera
timestamps:
00:00 disclaimer
00:33 my bargain philosophy
02:05 the tip that changed eBay for me
03:45 more auction tips
06:20 electronics buyers and sellers
07:55 my best tip for MPB
08:15 make spares and repairs work for you
10:00 the real world
11:03 private sellers
11:27 my experiences importing cameras from Japan
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(Some links in the description are affiliate links. If you choose to buy using them, I get a small commission at no cost to you.)
🤓 Nerds Facebook Group: geni.us/G0iUofA - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Loving hearing your best bargains! 📷 it's the best feeling ever isn't it? Haha
Massive Camera Bargain Hunter here, massive deals if you are patience. I definetly need to make a similar video with some additional tips and tricks but drop 3 here:
1. "Lot" or "Combo" buys, especially if you can do them in person (to check everything is in order) are a great way to get items buy selling off the stuff you don't need.
Example: My Nikon F5 cost me +$500 (yes I made money) as I got it with a lot of cameras and sold the other 4 in a week.
2. Mis-spellings / Alternative Spellings
Often people will describe something (lack of knowelge) only one way or they don't know the mount etc. So for 99% of people searching for something it doesn't ping in their search engines. While search engines are getting smarter at the end of the day they still will arrange thing such that the closest matches pop on top and you might need to go a few pages down to find the items people have goofed.
3. Damaged Filter Rings / Front Elements
Depends on your use case etc, but often always check front damaged lenses in case its JUST THE FILTER that is damaged, yeah... good times when you find that. Just be sure to add $5 for a decent set of lens clamp wrenches to get it off.
+1 for misspelt names or model numbers, or listings where the actual model in photos doesn't match the title. This happens on all the major online used camera sites.
Also in this category, not misspellings per se but different spellings in different language markets. For Sony, Japan uses the "alpha symbol" in their listings ( e.g. α6000) while US uses "a6000" or "A6000" almost exclusively. Panasonic's model names differ by region, so make sure you're covering (for example) DMC-G85 / DMC-G80 / DMC-G81, which are all the same camera - and then you can play the game of "DCM-G80", "Pan*o*sonic G 85", "G800 Lumix", "G-85 Pannsonic" etc.
I gave up on this because it doesn’t seem very common nowadays but I guess I’ll try this again.
@@molybdnum thanks, for Fuji I can say about "X-T3" and "XT3" naming. Some people do not put dashes in the title.
I also tried and found some bargains using other language misspelling of Camera, e.g. Portugese Camara (quite a lot of Portugese speakers in Sydney). The 'Camera' titled deals are usually the best, especially if someone has a large-ish set that was gifted to them😂
I got my E-M5 for free since the seller didn't know the value of their Leica 25mm
Lots of people have bargain hunting and thrifting videos. Not many of them are actually this useful and entertaining!
Unfortunately, whenever any youtuber reviews a camera, or draws attention to it for some reason, it immediately goes up in price. Also, i don't know where you are getting these prices, because I immediately looked up the CM1 on ebay, and the cheapest one on sale was $252, and the last sold item was over $300. I find this problem over and over again with cameras that are mentioned in youtube channels with supposedly amazing prices.
That's the same for "cheap" vintage lenses ! What was described like 30€ old soviet lenses by youtubers is now priced at no less than 100€...
@@Bbbbbb-zr2yg they are so full of it
I am a professional bargain hunter of local sales like FBM and Craig's list, the "deals" you used as an example don't even look like deals to me, but yes your theory is very much spot on. It's just that eBay has way too many eyes on it all over the world, you won't ever get a deal of anything popular, only the obsolete niche items for the most part. Where as local markets, you absolutely can get bargains for the newest most in-demand camera gear. I have bought literally thousands pieces of gear this way, I've never been scammed not even once, I've had issues with what I bought maybe a handful of time, but the financial loss add up to essentially a rounding error compared to how much I've saved
My best bargain was the Fujifilm X-E1 with some minor cosmetic flaws, with a mint condition XF 18-55 f2.8-4 for about 37 £. When I contacted her about the sale, she asked if I by any chance also was interested in the XF 60mm Macro for 37 £, so I ended up with the body and 2 mint lenses for 74 £. I also got the Fujifilm X-M1 for 30 £, and I love that little thing 😊
What the hell are those prices lmaooo
@@iarosnaps British pounds. If it helps I payed 500 + 500 Norwegian kroner 😂
Whaaat
Top tips and brilliant video. The ONE thing you failed to mention though (and I speak from personal experience here) is that "bargain hunting" is more addictive than heroin and when you know the tips and tricks and actually get good at it, you end up with shelves full of bargain cameras....yes....I am that person and my final tip would be....check you local skips....because when I die and my wife (bless her) who has absolutely no idea of camera prices and has to finally dispose of by accumulated "bargains"....will no doubt unceremoniously dump them all into the local skip....not that I'll care....coz I'll be dead and checking out if satan has any more use for that old M42 lens he used to take photos of sinners with! 😲😲😲😁😜
I can so relate to your comment, my wife has no idea as to the value of my collection and I’m sure it will end up in a bin.
@@alangamble3236 ...aw bless...when you and me meet up in the afterlife we can have a chuckle as we say "if only they'd sold that on eBay they'd have made a fortune" 😲😁😁😜
Great video! I completely agree with you about Facebook marketplace and Gumtree being a pain but sometimes the camera gods can bless you. My best bargains as follows.
- Panasonic GH5, M.Zuiko 12-40 2.8 Pro and Panny Leica 25mm 1.4 in excellent condition for $650 AUD. FB marketplace find, the guy was wrapping up his business selling cheap!
- Olympus OMD EM5 with 14-42mm, 40-150 and 45mm F1.8 for $120 AUD. FB marketplace was originally up for $100, messaged the buyer and she said someone was already keen on it, offered $120 and she accepted and told me to pick it up an hour later.
- Panasonic GM1 in Black with 12-32mm kit lens for $45 AUD which I feel was a true blessing as I was after one for many years. FB market place find, jumped on it so quick!
- Olympus OMD EM10 IV with Oly 25mm F1.8 as new for $430 AUD. Old lady bought it brand new in store for over a thousand bucks and didn't have the time or patience to learn.
Awesome deals mate, but hahahah, just scored a similar set of GH5, check my other comment... you might have made an even better one though, but I haven't priced the gimbals, microphone variable ND and 3 tripods yet to tell for sure 😂
Hi Emily! I just recently bought an lumix gf1 with an g 25mm f1,7 gen1 for 10 bucks witch is crazy cheap. Even after I bought the charger for it, I was around 30€ including shipping. (€= euro: german money)
I found your vlog informative. I always learn new things from them!
My best bargain was a mint Black edition GX9 with the original box, users manual, charging lead, battery, and 4 lenses for £560 from Ebay. It didn't even have a lens I'd already got, and the sold prices for the camera and lenses, when listed separately, was just under £1,000.
It's a great little street camera which cost me almost nothing.
Ummm that sounds great but £500 isn't nothing to most people..
@edwardfletcher7790 I agree, but it was a classic person selling who was in a rush, who couldn't be bothered to sell it all individually. Their impatience meant that instead of getting £1,000 they only made £560. To my mind, I either got the 4 lenses for free (they are all boxed) or the camera for free. If I'd already got the lenses, I could sell them separately and end up with a free camera.
Thanks for this! A couple weeks ago I bought a Panasonic Lx5 complete in box for $100 CAD and I've been trying to chase that high ever since!
One of the best ways I've found to get bargains on lenses, is by finding them included in bundles with old camera bodies. I picked up a Lumix 12-35 2.8 for less than the going used price in a bundle with a GH3.
I did exactly the same!! That's how I got my copy. I sold the gh3 and basically gor the lens for free 🎉🙌
Some great advice! Always enjoy!
Excellent! Thanks for your thoughts.
A goldmine of useful tips. Thank you.
I bought my two favourite lenses 2nd hand: Voigtlander Nokton 25mm (M43) f/0.95 and LEICA DG 12-60/F2.8-4.0. The prime is perfect and the Leica has cosmetic 'wear & tear' but they would have cost me a 2nd mortgage new. The Leica is a brilliant workhorse lens. I have not visited Bygone times for years so I will drop in sometime (and maybe bump into your good self 😂)
I love your different take on what is really supply and demand when it comes to price.
Thank you Emily for all your tips. I have been trying to find an affordable point and shoot for everyday and have come to realize that those are from a bygone era. I will now try to make the Sony DSC-S2100 work until I can devote the time to researching my next purchase. Also gives me time to save up for what I'd really like to get. Your video was a great help.👍
This all works outside of photography gear, as well! And there's some great options to be found in standard eBay auctions, too! I have found some amazing vintage computer deals by simply searching for $0.99 starting bid and finding listings that don't have make/model identifiers in their titles. I bought a superb fast 486 EPSON PC, which would normally fetch over $100, but also loaded with a bunch of really strange video capture expansion boards. No one else noticed it so I really only paid for tax and shipping and its become one of my favorite toys.
Great points as always Emily! Honestly I’ve found just checking price lowest to highest on places like MPB and eBay as I have my morning coffee a great way to snipe some bargains!
I like finding cameras with broken parts like LCD screens then fixing them. I find working on cameras quite fun.
Definitely NOT for beginners !
Tiny screws, flex cable & connectors, complex assemblies...
@@edwardfletcher7790 much more simple than you think but definitely high risk high reward kinda dill.
Great video! Really helpful tips even to a seasoned shopper!
I knew the ending soon but I never thought to look under newly listed omg 😂
This is true information GOLD! Thanks for posting!
Such a great video with really useful advice made by an obviously incredibly savvy and smart content creator! Kudos
On MPB it's really worth closely examining the item photos. Some stuff is graded excellent but the photos show tiny cracks, typically in the corners or undersides of flip out or articulated displays, which have seemingly passed unnoticed by the persons doing the grading but which are revealed rather unambiguously by MPB's excellent item photos. The positive flipside is that some stuff which looks a bit grubby, a bit tired, gets a low grading such as Good or Well Used. Careful examination of the photos can pay off. I bought a Lumix GX80 in "good" condition which was actually pristine after a few minutes with cotton buds and wipes and a microfibre cloth. It turned out to also have a shutter count of less than 2500. Other examples of the same camera had clearly visible abrasions and cracks and dents but were priced and graded much higher. My GX80 works flawlessly btw. A beautiful camera. I didn't get the original box or accessories but I did pay about £100 less than the typical price for a GX80 in good condition.
Sooo cool! Very helpful infos!
Pure Gold on your channel, many thanks. 😊
I got the X-E1 + XF 27mm for $350, then sold the lens for $320 lol. Same with the X-T10 + XF 18-135mm, got these Fuji bodies almost for free. UPD: Okay so you inspired me to check again for some camera bargains, and after 10 minutes I bought another profitable kit.
This is very useful sharing for us, while our budget is low but also want to find and try more. Thank you very much again, keep going!
Hi Emily, what a great subject and some super tips. I have had a few bargain buys mainly from Boot Fairs when the seller has no idea of trends. I have bought a few point and shoots last year all for under a fiver and made profit on sales. My best finds have been 35mm film cameras. I found a Minox 35GT with original case for £5. It was in working condition and I ran a couple of films through it. I did keep it for a while but sold it for £95. My other best was an Olympus mju 115 zoom also found for £5 and sold for £110. That was a couple of years ago and it’s becoming more difficult to get profit from film cameras in view of the extortionate increase in 35 mm film over the past 12 months. I agree with you about taking risks with ‘spare or repair’ as long as you have good knowledge of the camera.
BTW your presentations are superb.
Some seriously good advice there. Thanks. I wasn't sure about Buyee, but I'll give it a try now with something small and pink, gold, or orange even!
Great tips, thank you!
My last bargain was Panasonic G7 with 14-140 /f3.5-5.6, excellent condition and I also received a Viltrox flash with a trigger and color gels, 128 GB UHS I card, a tripod, 3 batteries, two chargers, variable ND filter, and lots of other small stuff (cables, cleaning supplies etc.) All this for 380€
Woah! That's epic
I never understood why someone would bid way ahead of the end of the auction. Can't stress enough the patience part. If you just want something right now, you have to just accept where the pricing is. To me, if something is stupidly low, and I want it, I don't haggle, I just buy it.
Oh, this has been winding me up SO MUCH recently!
I won an auction yesterday in the last 5 seconds, but two people had been stupidly fighting it out and cranking the price up for four days leading up to it!
And all for nothing (other than to increase the price for me, it seems! 😅)
@@HughRaine I've had this happen a number of times. I guess people don't realize you can watch it or simply bookmark the page. Or, they like paying more or possibly helping the one auctioning the item, who knows?
You have no idea how much it warms my heart to know a sniper had the price hiked up on them. 😏 @HughRaine
@@vermis8344 Just waiting isn't sniping. Using some service is. Again, why would you bid way beforehand?
@Scott__C Exactly! I entered my bid myself just like anybody else. I enjoy the last few moments of an auction, even if I lose! It's a rush! So I would never use sniping sites. Weird he accused me of that without any info.
The was one of the best videos. I learned so much. Now lets see if i can do it!
Adding eBay alerts is a good tip! That's how I got my GX800. It popped up as an auction with an option to "buy now" for a lower price than they were being sold. Didn't blink and snapped the camera!
Also, I do put low bids on items I'm not super interested just in case no one else bids on them and I might get myself a "stress-free" bargain. If anything I'm helping the seller get better value for their items.
Great tips--thanks!
Great video, thanks
Very useful information. I rarely buy new equipment. Thank you, Emily!
Fantastic info 🔥🔥
❤ Loved this! 📷
It's amazing what you can learn over just one month of bargain hunting online...
Good advice, i have purchased from all the major online retailers. However, most of my stable of bodies and lenses came from Pawn shops. Have to know what you are looking at and when it is a bargain.
Thrift stores really are a treasure trove. I got my 70-150mm f/4 (Pentax K) for 5€. My 200mm f/5.5 (M42) for 2€.
But my greatest treasure that I found was my Nikon 1 J2 (the pink one!) with a 10-30mm (pink) lens that I got for 10€.
I just kitted out a professional studio with 3 x GH5, plus an array of prime glass for under 2K. We’ll change over to Blackmagic Studio 4K in future but for now we’ll get our scenes, lighting and focals right on LUMIX before splurging out. My recommendation is CEX. You get pre checked gear plus a two year warranty for an incredibly reasonable price. If you’re in London come pop in.
Cex is not cheap but 2 year warranty is great
I got a 5D Mark III In a chain camera shop in London last year for £200. It had nearly 400k shutter actuation but was in decent physical condition considering, with just a bit of paint missing from the bottom corners. I don't know how to check the shutter count, but with my use it will have well over 400k now. Best bargain I've found and it has served me well
You’ve got me hunting now. Watched a few of your videos this week and now I want, no need, a Pen f😳
I’ve used and loved Olympus ever since my second camera, an OM10 with the little widget on the front. Started with a Praktika MTL5!
Now have the Em1mk11 but now realise I need th Pen in my life🤷🏻♂️😂👍
very enjoyable, subscribed ,
Olympus e-pl3 from US ebay, japan seller. Thought, heck I'll trial a cheap Olympus briefly before making a Fuji purchase. $100, immediately my favorite (not "best") camera. Ibis broke eventually, I'm not bothered, it's pearl white alloy body and the picture colors come out just like you thought they look when you took the photo.
The best bargin I ever had was an Olympus OM-10 I found at a church bring and buy sale for £1, the flash mount was missing but it had its lens and even the manual adapter, it worked perfectly once I fitted batteries, I guess they thought it was broken, this was about 15 years ago and I still have it.
A quid?!?!?! Omg you win haha 🏆
I was able to buy a brand new Sony LA-EA4 adapter for only €84 from a seller on Bol that’s usually into cooking equipment. No clue why they had it but I did buy it 😊. Back then they retailed for about €300 or maybe €350 even? Bought a couple of A Mount lenses afterwards 😅.
Also got a Sony A6400 at launch with the 18-135mm for a bit over €1000 which I think was supposed to retail for €1400? Sold the 18-135 for about €450 so got myself a very affordable new Sony A6400. This was a price error with Amazon :-).
The trouble is that since you have mentioned your bargain-priced GH2 and E-M5, used prices (in the UK) have risen signifcantly for both these items. Anyway, my best recent current bargain is an OM5 for just over £600 (i.e. cheaper than most used older E-M 5 mark III). It was allegedly used at just one event; looked almost immaculate when it arrived in the original packaging with just a couple of marks on the baseplate plate finish.
Just picked up a GX80 with the kit lens. I’m completely new to the hobby and hope I can get some great shots with it. Later I’m planning on picking up one of the go-to, fixed focal length lens. Btw, I picked up the camera as an exhibit piece for 330€ and it is basically new. Guess I made a bargain!
Best one was a 70-200 f2.8 8the older sigma version) for 320. Went for it, still use it to this day and it has made the money back in like 1 job. Best one yet
I have a nanoha 4-5x macro lens for m/43, looking to sell it. the only plce I see it being sold is on BH and its $399. Ive never used it, I'll try MPB though
My best bargain is the EPL9 + 17mm 1.8 for just 150€. The seller didnt mention the 17mm 1.8 in the description and had no clue how much the lens is. So I got the lens I needed for much less then the used price (around 280€) plus a free body. I actually really like the pen.
Thanks!
Thank you so much ☺️🙏
Bought a late 19th century Solar enlarger for like 60 € with local pick-up. I did my research (it took quite a while) and found few past auctions where it went for thousands of Euros. No wonder, only 3 are known to exist. And I got fourth.
In the US, pawn shops can sometimes be a good source of bargains.. my entry into micro 4/3 a few years ago was an E-PM2 including a 14-40 and 40-150 for $250 USD. My pocket camera when cycling was also a pawn shop find: a Canon G7x for $300 when the going price new was around $600.
I’ve visited pawn shops in my area. No digital cameras for sale.
Mask On Nurse Marty (Ret)
Great advice. I find MPB and CEX a great resource for a price guide, never pay more than their prices.
I find that MPB are getting far too greedy with their prices at the moment. Just recently there have been a few occasions where their prices were only just short of what you'd pay for a brand new one with a two year warranty if you look around. They are also generally dearer than the other retailers, a couple of which also give you a twelve month warranty on their secondhand gear. Because of these reasons MPB are no longer my go-to for used equipment.
lots of good advice
Recently bought a Nikon D700 for £140 in pretty good nick from a UK camera shop.
Also, a TTArtisan 25mm f2 is a complete bargain brand new at the full price.
My best bargain ever was my first camera, the original om d em5 with the kit lens and the 40-150 for 250usd. Got it used on amazon. The second best bargain a lumix g9 for 400 because the person had lost the battery and charger. I don’t know what it is about micro four thirds but you find a lot of these, I have been trying to get a nikon d700 for lower the market price and they are just very fixed around 300 usd. But with mft gear it’s always up and down.
I bought a new in the box Chinon Film camera several years ago on E bay. No one bid on it as the seller had misspelled the name of the camera, hence no bids except mine.
So far my best (and only) bargain was a Nikon D3100 with an 18-55mm DX kit lens (3.5-5.6G VR) for 160€. Hope it won't be the last one!
This was lots of fun. So many stories. In stores, swallow your pride and make an offer on used gear - I remember insisting on $400 for a Leica M2 in great shape in the early 1970s and waiting until the store relented. Did it several times. The sales guy liked me. I'm sure the owner did not.
I agree about Japanese sellers. I've bought several cameras off of Ebay from Japanese sellers and found that they unbelievably honest and thorough in their descriptions, they under promise and over deliver (i.e. what you receive is a higher grade than stated) and they ship super fast. I've received cameras from Japan faster than things shipped from here in the U.S. just a couple hundred miles away. I always avoid foreign purchases but Japan is a big exception.
I agree. Honest and thorough.
this is my experience too; I recently purchased a Mamiya RB 250mm lens (BIG medium format lens) on eBay and had it arrived in Australia in under a week (~5 days) and was so well packed and presented I almost felt guilty about opening it, and in almost mint condition despite been described as "B" condition (I would have rated it as at least an A probably an A+)
Bought an old Canon FT with a "50mm lens" for 30$ for use on mirrorless. Photo was a bit blurry but I was quite sure it was not just a 50mm 1.8- and I was right, it was a 55mm f1.2 worth several times that and in pristine condition. The camera worked well too.
I got an Olympus 7-14 2.8 pro for $375 in "good" condition. Glass is pristine it just has some scruffs and marks on the lens barrel
Just found you today. Love your videos. Been running through them. Thanks for all the info on this. May not be the place for this but been driving myself crazy last few weeks. I am 70 years old. Looking for a decent camera for family pictures and videos for around or below $500 U.S. Have searched from dji Pocket 3 to numerous other older mirrorless cameras. My first digital cameras were Sonys but i have no idea now. I know this is subjective and understand you may not can say. Wether you are able to say or not, I find your videos extremely helpful. Just subscribed.
Maybe not a great "bargain hunting" tip, but I find that on eBay, if I add something to my watchlist, wait and don't purchase it, the seller often makes a sale price offer (7-10%) reduction.
recently bought an Olympus EM1 mark II being sold by a pawn shop on eBay, no battery, camera bag, untested. Won it for $152 usd / 121 pounds with a last second bid, popped in a battery and it worked - pristine condition, 1500 shutter count.
Thanks for the info about buying used cameras in good condition. I always look for Like New conditions which I pay a higher price for. I usually buy lenses in Like New condition because I don't want any problems with the glass. Would you look for lenses in good condition also?
I would, yes, especially with companies like MPB where you can usually see the quality of the glass. Nine times out of ten with "good" condition lenses, it might mean a cosmetic scratch on the lens body, or scuffs on the lens mount, and the glass is usually fine 😁 always best to really check out the photos and descriptions though
Misnamed models is definitely another trick! Recently got a Sony RX100 IV for only USD 200 because the seller had posted it as "Sony Vario-Sonnar T*"
GX800 for $140. It might not be super cheap, but for the kind of pictures it gave me the couple of years it was a steal.
Love from South Africa 🇿🇦
You're telling everyone all our secrets! 😯😅😉 ...I haven't looked at buyee before actually but I have imported a car from Japan and yeah I think dealing with Japan is usually a good experience
Mt best bargain was getting an Sigma ex 30mm 1.4 with an Sigma EX 10-20mm 4.5-5.6 for a total of £130
On the used market here they both sell for around 120 seperatly.
My favourite bargain I got was my Olympus EM10 mark ii. It was listed for under £70 because the screen didn't work, but the evf did.
I looked into it for about 30 seconds and found it to be a common problem and an easy fix with a £10 ribbon cable. Bought the camera, found the screen actually did work at certain angles, bought the cable and fixed it in about an hour.
Another one was my Lumix GF2 with minor impact damage in the screen that somehow didn't affect the touch screen functions and that cost me £11.26 😂Great video🖖
Whoa! Bargain hunting trophy for you! 🏆 🙌
@@MicroFourNerds I’m also a cheapskate so I love me a bargain 😂
I have exactly the same problem with my EM10ii! Could you explain how did you make the fix? Or maybe you can point to a good description of the fix?
@@wj45I searched TH-cam for walkthrough videos and found quite a few. I don’t remember the exact video I watched unfortunately.
It’s a bit fiddly and requires some soldering, but it’s ultimately a quite simple fix.
On a fleamarket here in Sweden I found a Canon EOS M10 with kitlens for 250kr Swedish crowns maybe around 30 poundsnor so not sure. It was complete in the box . This was due to lack of knowledge as they had put the battery in wrong and had no idea how to turn it on. I charged the battery and turn it on and it worked just fine. Sold it a few months later for 2500kr around 300 pounds I think it could. I just did not like the slow auto focus.
I do all the same 😁 plus misspelled listings. Recently I bought an Olympus epm1 for 200pln (40 pounds). The lens turned out to be faulty, I sold it for 120 and the camera after some fun with for 260, so almost double what I paid.
I also got an Olympus epl7 for 250 ( originally 350 with a faulty lens but I sold the lens for 100) but this one I kept because I love this little camera. That would be sth like 50 pounds.
And I always negotiate, even if the price is fixed, people are surprisingly willing to lower the prices especially for things that are just dust collectors for them.
Most recent Facebook/Ebay bargains
White Japanese Lumix Gf5 with 14-42 pz £100
Lumix Gf6 with 14-42 kit lens £90
20mm 1.7 m2 pancake lens for £90! Happy days 👍🏻
I'm with you on the MPB 'good' listings. They're often much better condition than those listed 'excellent'.
Also, if you look down in the lower end of good, you'll often find slightly cheaper listings... most of them
are only cheaper because they're missing the strap, or hot shoe flash, or the original charger where they
give you a third-party one anyway, which works perfectly!
With CEX, i have found you can be ripped the other way, too. My local store has a Canon R10 with kit lens listed for £875. On their website you can buy the camera and the lens seperate…….£520 for the camera and £85 for the lens! A £270 difference; insane!
Oh, I hope you have a video coming up about getting the firmware fixed on the Lumix cameras, I didnt believe that it was possible to get to the english menues on the Japanese models! 🙂
You can on certain models, but not others. gm1 yes, gf7 yes. Gh1, not unfortunately. Thankfully the menus have lots of easy to understand icons alongside the Japanese on the GH1 😂
The process was a bit fiddly for the gf7. It involved getting the camera into service mode, then extracting some sort of file with loads of numbers onto the sd card, then computer. Then replacing a specific sequence of 4 numbers in that document, and re-loading the file onto the camera.
I found an old tutorial on an old forum, which led me to a video in Chinese that I followed lol I felt like a right hacking genius when I managed it 😅
@@MicroFourNerdsI felt the same way back in 99' when I bought my first digital camera in Japan. A Kodak DC210, US$300 there but US$800 back in Australia.
Flashed to English with a FW upgrade over serial cable ! LoL 😁👍
Best bargain was a boxed, as new Panasonic LX100 with a broken battery cover for £100. A new cover was £14, and even came with a tiny screwdriver to fit it. Happy days.
During the Covid period here in Germany, the big consumer electronics stores Saturn and MediaMarkt had problems selling their stock of photographic equipment and started selling a lot of new items with up to 50% discounts in offline stores. I was lucky enough to pick up a Nikon 200-500/5.6 lens for just €599 and a Sony A6000 camera with kit lens for €300 at a random store in Berlin. Pure luck!
Hey! TH-cam recommended me this video on my feed and its really well presented! Kudos to the work that you're doing 😊
Btw I was wondering if I could help you edit your videos and also make highly engaging shorts out of them. but I'm not really sure if it is the best time?
As far as CEX goes I've ordered 3 times from them and never received anything. Glad yo had better luck.
Nice buyer's guide
I import a fair bit from Japan and always get hit with a customs charge. As such I normally factor in 20% VAT on the sale price of the item + a £13 customs charge onto the final bill. The only plus point is you can normally store items for x days and the proxy service will repackage them together so you can save a bit on the international postage.
Also worth mentioning when the sites misprint the price on their website. I got a Panasonic GH5 with Leica lens for pretty much nothing when they first came out from the Panasonic website. I still can't believe they honoured the sale.
Thanks for all the great videos; I bought a 100-400 lens for when I went on Safari last month on your recommendation and it was great!
How do you deal with cameras with only Japanese menus?
@@wnose Ah sorry, I should have mentioned, it's normally Japanese vintage computers, video and music items I import as we didn't get a lot of it in the West (computers in the 70s's 80's and 90's for example until they went full IBM standard with DOS/V), then I just use google translate with most of those if needed. I am definitely going to import a few cameras after watching this video
I bought some Olympus gear from Japan and I got little toys in each box. It was really cool.
One sell from Japan made a mistake and did not send me the flash for my E-M5. I told him about it and a week later he sent me two flashes.
Aww yes! I've always found the customer service to be so high from Japanese sellers
I would say my best bargain was on FB marketplace. Bought a Samsung NX20 for 50 euros with battery and a charger. No lense included. Still use it quite intesively.
There are bargains to be had in camera shops. I used the Ebay shop of my local (physical) camera shop during the 1st lockdown. I bought a mint Canon S120 that I'd seen in the shop window for over 6 months. I contacted the owner and got the camera for £60 ... Bargain.
CEX are no longer the bargain shop it used to be.
I've actually seen some incredible bargains at in person camera stores, but I think they intentionally price used beginner cameras at below market value because I go to locally owned photography shops that wants to promote photography.
These skills are exactly how I got a job at a local camera shop in school.
I bought a gx7 from fbm for £100 with the kit lens. Shutter count of 3000 or so. Had great fun with it, but its time to sell. Any chance on a video with selling tips?
Unfortunately I'm a camera hoarder and don't sell 😂
@MicroFourNerds some of them do become my little mechanical camera babies it's true!
Whether it be cameras or lenses, if I buy what I want at full price (because I can't find it elsewhere cheaper) then within an hour or so it miraculously pops up at a ridiculous low price ('as new or excellent' (or equivalent) condition) on one of these bargain sites so I end up having to faff and return the new purchase after buying the bargain!
I'm not sure it can count as a bargain, but I got myself a Sony RX-100M1 for 90e, which has seen better days but the main point that it had really noisy autofocus or stabilization, it like really screamed on you.
It turned out it was a common issue for the first generation which I fixed by updating the firmware. Couldn't believe I got such a legend for that price and the fix was that easy.
Oh, and I also got a lovely GM1 for 170e locally, 100 photos taken. In the place where I live people didn't get to the hype of it yet haha
MFN - I am also a TH-camr and have a ZV-E1 with a 20mm F1.8 lens - but I want to get into M 4/3 because of the stabilization - what 3 cameras would your recommend (high end, middle, entry) - I just want one that shoots 4k 24 -