Buying a used dSLR

[ghost1000]

Thanks for the input and clarification - certainly size is important factor.

At this point everything is still in the running (with Pentax leanings). The 510 certainly has its good points - coming off of a few years of P&S the live view mode would be nice, the price is certainly excellent, and most attractive at the moment is it is still made so buying one wouldn't be an Easter egg hunt!

To further confuse things I mentioned my dSLR quest to my dad and he offered me some autofocus Nikon lenses he had including a 50mm prime. So that opens up the D50 possibility.

That new EVolt-420 with the pancake lens is an awesome thing to behold for sheer portability - I've always been a fan of small electronics (I was the guy who bought a minidisc player and the smallest portable CD player made - I have a long line of consumer electronic products in my wake ).


A bit about my background photography wise. I took two years of Photography in High School and then was photo editor for our college paper for a couple of years. Since college I have just been using digital point and shoots since the digital SLRs have been too much to consider. Then last year I picked up a S3 IS and it was sort of a "gateway drug." It takes a great picture but got me yearning to do more. So it has been 10+ years since I've used one so I'll probably pick up a book or read some sites to get a refresher in it all.

 

[ghost1000]

And I finally decided agonizing over everything won't lead to any clear decision since they are all have their good points.

So I went with my gut and just ordered a K100D Super from eBay. The seller has an excellent reputation (over 800) and I asked some questions and received prompt responses so I know its a real human. Supposedly they bought it for their daughter she took one look at it and said "no way," he snapped a few pics and put it back in the box.


So now its time to head over to Learning Curve. Thanks for everyones help - it was certainly refreshing knowing that I couldn't really make a wrong decision.

Now to start raising money for some filters, and lenses, and this, and that and . . . I don't think my wife will like this

 

[ukcatfan]

And I finally decided agonizing over everything won't lead to any clear decision since they are all have their good points.

So I went with my gut and just ordered a K100D Super from eBay. The seller has an excellent reputation (over 800) and I asked some questions and received prompt responses so I know its a real human. Supposedly they bought it for their daughter she took one look at it and said "no way," he snapped a few pics and put it back in the box.


So now its time to head over to Learning Curve. Thanks for everyones help - it was certainly refreshing knowing that I couldn't really make a wrong decision.

Now to start raising money for some filters, and lenses, and this, and that and . . . I don't think my wife will like this

Congrats! Welcome to the DSLR and Pentax family! I know you will love it.

I got to meet Groucho tonight and he brought his K20D along. All I can say is WOW!!! It is an amazing camera. For anyone saying that Pentax does not offer anything good for pro use, I have to say that they do not know what they are talking about. It is MORE than capable of typical pro use. It still is not the best at pro sports photography, but how many people really become pro action sports photographers???

Not to let his gear take away from meeting him though. It was great getting to meet someone from the boards in person (especially given that we are probably the two biggest Pentax pushers here ) We had a great time just talking gear and other stuff.

Kevin

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Nice choice! Congratulations and see you over there.

 

[ghost1000]

Another benefit to buying used - sometimes they includes lots of extras (he sent it with a SD Wallet, extra Lithium batteries, a SD reader, and some more doodads).

I have no idea what I'm doing yet - but it arrived at lunchtime:

I'm gonna need that 50mm prime....

 

[ghost1000]

Ok now I get to cover the bad side of buying a used dSLR.....

Problems. Well after shooting for a day or so something strange happened to me. All of a sudden it got "stuck" in a shutter firing mode. The LCD panel cleared except for the shot count and ANY button press including the thumbwheel would make the mirror go "thunk." After a random number of thunks it would clear itself up and then be fine. I thought there may be just some weird mode I wasn't familiar with or something so I let it pass. Then the next day the same thing happened - I discovered turning it off and back on would clear it up. It happened another time and I posted on the Pentax forum about it and sent Pentax an email.

The Fourm thought there might be moisture in the switch (or just a bad switch) and then Pentax replied that there "definitely sounds like a problem with the camera."

The seller did not have his original receipt so it wouldn't be covered under warranty... BUT fortunately for me he turned out to be a good upstanding eBay seller and offered me the option of returning it.

So I just dropped it off at the post office. Since our trip is nearing very closely and I didn't want to risk another incident I decided to go new this time. I just ordered a K200D from Amazon. I would have ordered from B&H but Amazon beat them by $30 once shipping is factored in and I've never had an issue with Amazon service.

I think I'll enjoy the 200d for a few of the creature comforts such as the auto-rotate of pictures, the raw+jpg option, and the extra headroom megapixel wise will be nice.

 

[Groucho]

Congrats! I've been hearing lots of good things from K200D owners, I'm sure you'll enjoy yours. Glad to hear also that the eBay seller stood behind his product.

 

[ghost1000]

Well the k200 arrived this evening. It really feels like a different camera than the k100 - it is a little heftier, the grip portion is deeper, its quieter, the screen and menus are much better. From first impressions I'm very glad that things worked out the way they did.

A used 50-200 DA arrived yesterday and it really is in excellent shape so I'm certainly not against used equipment, but I think I may stick to used lenses and new cameras.

Another gadget that arrived is a cable release and I'm impressed with the way it works (I got the official Pentax one vs the imports).

Now I have 18 days to eBay and scrounge up enough for a 50mm 1.4 and a gorillapod and I'll be set!

 

[Groucho]

Good to see you're happy! And I agree on used lenses, I think you can do quite well with them. If you're looking for some, I'd recommend stopping over to the marketplace section over on Pentaxforum.com, there's always lots of lenses for sale there, and often for pretty good prices.

 

[ghost1000]

Thats where the 50-200 came from