Gentle BnS Reminder: Please TEST Eqiupment before handing over your money
- Thread starter daredevil123
- Start date
fatigue
Senior Member
Here's my share:
There’s some critical items to check in getting a 2nd hand camera body, if you’re not confident, ask someone who is very knowledgeable with cameras to accompany you.
Here are some of the basic checks, some items which we overlook sometimes and will cost a lot to fix.
1. Shutter count: Doesn’t really guarantee how long the camera will last but it will give you an idea on how well the camera was used. You can check this even before meeting up with the seller. Just ask the seller to send you the latest photo from the camera and then use a free software to check. You can ask the seller to take a photo of an object, something we don’t usually shoot so he can’t send you an old photo. It should also be something easy for him/her to find and shoot, don’t make it difficult for seller.
2. USB connector: This connector is usually connected to main board, so fixing a faulty USB pin may cost a lot. You need to bring a laptop to check this connector
3. CF card connector : Just like USB connector, usually this connector part of the main board. Do a visual check and make sure there’s no bent or missing pin/s.
4. Check for Fungus: If camera is not so new and with very low shutter count, it could also mean that camera may have been kept for too long. Check for fungus on sensor and viewfinder. Fungus cleaning doesn’t come cheap. Service centers will usually replace the whole sensor for this kind of job
To check, just shoot a white wall or white paper or sky at small aperture (at least F16). Viewfinder can be checked by visual inspection.
5. Check for Dust: Dust on AA filter can be cleaned easily. Although in some cases, if dusts are trapped in between AA filter and sensor, a lot of dismantling required so cleaning will not be cheap.
Dust in viewfinder is not a big deal. It does not affect your photo. Cleaning is easy and cheap but if dusts are trapped near the prism, a lot of dismantling is required. Again, cleaning doesn’t come cheap. If you’re planning to sell the camera in the future, take note that buyers will take advantage of this to bargain.
6. Visual Check on casing: paint chips are fine but cracks could mean that the camera has been dropped before.
7. Background check: Check if the seller is a commercial airline pilot. :bsmilie: Check not only the seller but the camera background as well. Some camera models have their own weakness. Just search online: “camera model problems “/”camera model issues” Then you will know what to look out for.
There’s some critical items to check in getting a 2nd hand camera body, if you’re not confident, ask someone who is very knowledgeable with cameras to accompany you.
Here are some of the basic checks, some items which we overlook sometimes and will cost a lot to fix.
1. Shutter count: Doesn’t really guarantee how long the camera will last but it will give you an idea on how well the camera was used. You can check this even before meeting up with the seller. Just ask the seller to send you the latest photo from the camera and then use a free software to check. You can ask the seller to take a photo of an object, something we don’t usually shoot so he can’t send you an old photo. It should also be something easy for him/her to find and shoot, don’t make it difficult for seller.
2. USB connector: This connector is usually connected to main board, so fixing a faulty USB pin may cost a lot. You need to bring a laptop to check this connector
3. CF card connector : Just like USB connector, usually this connector part of the main board. Do a visual check and make sure there’s no bent or missing pin/s.
4. Check for Fungus: If camera is not so new and with very low shutter count, it could also mean that camera may have been kept for too long. Check for fungus on sensor and viewfinder. Fungus cleaning doesn’t come cheap. Service centers will usually replace the whole sensor for this kind of job
To check, just shoot a white wall or white paper or sky at small aperture (at least F16). Viewfinder can be checked by visual inspection.
5. Check for Dust: Dust on AA filter can be cleaned easily. Although in some cases, if dusts are trapped in between AA filter and sensor, a lot of dismantling required so cleaning will not be cheap.
Dust in viewfinder is not a big deal. It does not affect your photo. Cleaning is easy and cheap but if dusts are trapped near the prism, a lot of dismantling is required. Again, cleaning doesn’t come cheap. If you’re planning to sell the camera in the future, take note that buyers will take advantage of this to bargain.
6. Visual Check on casing: paint chips are fine but cracks could mean that the camera has been dropped before.
7. Background check: Check if the seller is a commercial airline pilot. :bsmilie: Check not only the seller but the camera background as well. Some camera models have their own weakness. Just search online: “camera model problems “/”camera model issues” Then you will know what to look out for.
I learnt this lesson in the past, end up spending $200 to get the issue fixed in CSC. And the camera I bought was in mint condition
Now it's the first thing I check. Lesson well learned.
Same happend to me
When my friend bought a new cam, he asked me to come and check. The seller bought the both cam and third party flash. while testing the flash at noon, it wont be any prob, it flashes very well. But after some days, in night when he was using it was not sync. Again CSC, they charged s$100+ Lesson learnt, check sync too
felixcat8888
Senior Member
The AA Filter is the piece of glass in front of your sensor. CF card is another type of memory card like the SD card but is square in shape.
rhino123
Senior Member
CF card:
Alot of camera, especially DSLR are still using CF cards, although many had changed to using SD card.
As for AA filter (Anti-Aliasing filter) - it is basically a filter that was infront of your digital sensor in your camera that is used to restrict the bandwidth of a signal to approximately satisfy the sampling theorem. However it will reduce the sharpness of your image and so recently, there is a trend in which some of the cameras didn't have this filter.
hightension486
New Member
Just had a really bad experience with a seller on CS. Not sure if I should mention his alias. He seems like a really nice family man so I thought I just cut him some slack. Anw I came across his ad on CS 1 wk ago: $1400 for a Canon 5DMk2(SC 22k)+ original batt grip + 2 original batts + Canon EF 50mm lens+ original accessories that came with the box. I thought it was a really good deal so we met up. Took a few test shots, seems fine to me. Checked the 50mm lens, v minor scratch but I was like whatever not like I'm gonna use it anyway, just took it as a bonus. As for the SC I gave him the benefit of the doubt and he even assured me it should be below 20k (I don't trust those websites nor apps that determine the sc from a photo taken). Everything seems fine to me so we transacted. So few days later as I was heading down to Vivocity to settle some stuffs, I thought I may as well bring the newly bought 5dMk2 down to CSC to determine the actual sc(it costs only 20 bucks). SC turned out to be 34k! I know its still a long way to its end but I was kinda pissed because obviously this guy hasn't checked or he's taking me for a fool. This wasn't what I paid for. I could easily get a 30k+ sc 5dmk2 for 100-200 bucks lesser with batt grip. So i called up the guy and asked if he could rebate me like 100 bucks or something. The bugger actually bargained with me and ask me to return him the 50mm lens and he will return me $120. Reluctantly I gave in. Ok so you thought prob solved right? NO!! The next day I went for an outdoor shoot and realised I couldn't access the ext speedlite controls from the main menu. I've used a 5dmk2 before so I was relatively familiar that this should not be the case. Moreover I could not get the flash settings to ETTL or sometimes the ETTL connection is intermittent. To make matters worse, just shortly after 15-20mins of shooting I found red pixels started appearing on my LCD screen which previously did not appear during the testing. I have totally no idea what's wrong with it..my hunch is prob DSLR software problem. Well...I agree its partly my fault for not checking the hotshoe (I think its actually quite impt and most ppl tend to miss this out), but sometimes suay is really just suay. You can do all those necc checks and **** still happens. Well, I've yet to settle my score with the seller. I plan to ask him for a refund and if he doesn't I prob take this up to small claims.
Did you buy from this guy?
Learned a lesson when getting at sony sel24f1.8 from this guy Newbie12 on clubsnap. Lens infected with fungus. Cost more than $600 as quote from Sony to replay the entire rear element. Brought it to camera hospital, the guy over there mentioned that this lens unable to be used as fungus will spread to body and other lens like do re mi. Felt a bit cheated but then lesson well learnt. Do check thoroughly when buy lens or camera body.
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But with E mount lenses that cannot open the rear aperture to view, how to check for fungus?
Why not get refund from him? Fungus does not grow overnight...seem like he is trader...selling a lot lenses. Why mod not banning him?
if we ban everyone on the grounds that they are selling a lot of stuff = to be a trader, then 3/4 of CSers will be banned outright. some CSers here exist purely for buy/sell, nothing else.
however, we do come across some genuine cases where there are some CSers who are traders who skirt the rules, and we informed by other CSers with proof (more often cos the deals went sideways, and after some CSI-ing by the disgruntled buyer). these, we will ban outright.
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