Keep your old DSLR?

[MarkBarbieri]

When you eventually replace your DSLR, what will you do with the old body? Sell it to help pay for the new one? Keep it as a second body? Let your spouse or child use it as their camera?

How long do you think you'll use your DSLR before replacing it? Whenever a new model comes out? Every other model version (20D, skip 30D, 40D, skip 50D, etc)? 3 years? 5 years? It depends?

 

[Furgus]

I will probably keep my D50 when I upgrade, most likely to a D300 this Chrstmas. Honestly I don't need the D300, but I sure do want one

The D50 will most likely serve as a backup, or for when my 4 month old is old enough to hold it.....I am thinking around 2

 

[Gdad]

When you eventually replace your DSLR, what will you do with the old body? Sell it to help pay for the new one?

I have done that but the resale value usually stinks- especially if you bought it new.

Keep it as a second body?

I have done that too.

Let your spouse or child use it as their camera?

and that...

Let your spouse or child use it as their camera?

and that...

How long do you think you'll use your DSLR before replacing it? Whenever a new model comes out? Every other model version (20D, skip 30D, 40D, skip 50D, etc)? 3 years? 5 years? It depends?

Hard to say- right now I am extremely happy with what I have- but if they came out with an affordable FF model I might be tempted. I don't think it is driven so much by models as much as features. The question would be what is that camera capable of that my current model is not- when I got the D300 those features were centered around the ISO performance, FPS, weather sealing, manual controls (more thumb switches / less menu diving), and the larger LCD. But that was going from a D80 which is not a pro body- had I already owned a D200 I would have probably waited to see if the FF sensors migrated down to that body style in the near future.

So between this thread and your recent one on camera spending- are you getting ready to go shopping Mark?

 

[MICKEY88]

When you eventually replace your DSLR, what will you do with the old body? Sell it to help pay for the new one? Keep it as a second body? Let your spouse or child use it as their camera?

How long do you think you'll use your DSLR before replacing it? Whenever a new model comes out? Every other model version (20D, skip 30D, 40D, skip 50D, etc)? 3 years? 5 years? It depends?

I jusr replaced mine yesterday,with 2 new bodies..

the old one stays in the bag as an emergency backup, or bad weather camera..


length of use depends on many things, how well current models hold up, cost effectiveness of repairing or replacing, a new model that's just too cool to not have,

or as the case was this week, stumbling upon an incredible deal, in the past 24 hours I bought 2 A700s, for 1200 total, they normally sell for 1300-1400 a piece

 

[MarkBarbieri]

So between this thread and your recent one on camera spending- are you getting ready to go shopping Mark?

I'm always "window shopping", but I don't have specific plans. My current camera is 4 years old, which is pretty ancient in DSLR time scales. I really, really, really like the 1DsMIII, but it's more than I want to spend. The new 1DMIII is nice, but I don't feel compelled to upgrade to one...I'd rather move to full frame with my next camera. I love the D3, but I don't want to leave the Canon world behind just yet. Perhaps if the long awaited and rumored 5D replacement comes out this year I'll jump on that.

I'm also looking at lenses (who isn't?). Some day I'm going to break down and buy the 24mm TS-E, but my fear is that I won't use it that much and will have spend a lot of money on something that adds little value. I'm ready to bribe my kids to take up a sport that can justify the 400 f/2.8, but alas, they really aren't into sports. The 100-400mm calls to me from time to time, but I can't help but think that Canon can and will do better. I sometimes toy with the idea of an ultra-wide, but the APS-H thing makes that less appealing (too large for a small sensor lens, too small for wide angle on a "film" style lens.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

or as the case was this week, stumbling upon an incredible deal, in the past 24 hours I bought 2 A700s, for 1200 total, they normally sell for 1300-1400 a piece

Holy cow! That's an incredible deal. Now what? Keep them both? Sell one on eBay?

 

[fitzperry]

I'd planned to sell my D70 with the kit lens when I got my D300, but I gave it to my dad instead. He was a bit of a photography buff when I was a kid and had expressed some interest in it again, but he doesn't seem to be using it. I'm trying to find the time to try to get him out shooting.

 

[The Grays]

I'm always "window shopping", but I don't have specific plans. My current camera is 4 years old, which is pretty ancient in DSLR time scales. I really, really, really like the 1DsMIII, but it's more than I want to spend. The new 1DMIII is nice, but I don't feel compelled to upgrade to one...I'd rather move to full frame with my next camera. I love the D3, but I don't want to leave the Canon world behind just yet. Perhaps if the long awaited and rumored 5D replacement comes out this year I'll jump on that.

I'm also looking at lenses (who isn't?). Some day I'm going to break down and buy the 24mm TS-E, but my fear is that I won't use it that much and will have spend a lot of money on something that adds little value. I'm ready to bribe my kids to take up a sport that can justify the 400 f/2.8, but alas, they really aren't into sports. The 100-400mm calls to me from time to time, but I can't help but think that Canon can and will do better. I sometimes toy with the idea of an ultra-wide, but the APS-H thing makes that less appealing (too large for a small sensor lens, too small for wide angle on a "film" style lens.

If you are looking at the 1DsMIII I would hold off. Right now Nikon is kicking Canon in the pants with the D3. I know 2 Canon users that bought Nikon D3 outfits fbecause of the low light. I heard Canon is working on a new model that will work better that Nikon is under low light\

If you look to get any real money out of your old DSLR you need to sell it as soon as you get the replacement. If not and you hold onto it, dont expect to get much for them.

 

[DueyDooDah]

Well, if I go the route I went with my Canon F1, it'll be the last dSLR I own. I still have the F1 and I bought it back in the 70's while in the Navy (ahhh, Guam - great prices back then.) I just hope the technology does not force me to upgrade but I imagine flash cards will be the driving force. I'm sure in a few years, I won't be able to get them and will have to change my equipment. If that's the case then I'll try to buy every 10th generation. After all, all cameras are nothing but a light-proof box with small hole on the side.

 

[Suburbanmom]

I will keep my D50 body, call it a back-up and teach my DH how to use it. I have no plans to replace it anytime soon, however. I'm still lens shopping.

 

[MICKEY88]

Holy cow! That's an incredible deal. Now what? Keep them both? Sell one on eBay?

keeping them both, they went straight into the bag, one with the 28-75 2.8

the other with my 80-200 2.8

i bought the one tuesday ,from Nevada best buy it was delivered yesterday morning, after charging the battery I started playing and comparing it to my 7D, there are similarities, but also enough differences that I anticipated, missing a shot as I tried to quickly change settings using the wrong menu. decided it would be better to have 2 similar bodies if I could find another for 560, so I stopped in my local bes tbuy asked them to check other stores for one being clearanced..luckily out of a dozen or so stores, only one had it and it was only half an hour away, I had them call and put it on hold, when I got there they told me it was the body only, no cables, no battery, no charger, no software, after thinking it over and debating with the store manager I got him to throw in a 70 dollar battery off the shelf don't really need 2 sets of cables and software, a charger would have been nice, but I wasn't going to pass on the deal over small accessories


next week I'll be picking up 2 vertical grips, 2 more battereis and another charger,

I was able to re-organize my bag to fit both new bodies and keep the 7D for emergencies..

 

[Groucho]

I kept my old bodies until I had three DSLRs sitting around, which was just more than I needed. So I sold the first to a friend (her first SLR), which'll let me keep an eye on it to make sure it's well-treated, and introduce someone to a new hobby at the same time.

The middle camera was originally my backup, now it's sorta that and sorta the wife's DSLR.

I have no plans on upgrading, and the only thing that I really wouldn't mind in the body is even better AF - it can never be good enough, when shooting in Haunted Mansion or similar. It would actually be interesting to try a D300/40D on a dark ride to see how it compares - I suspect it's pretty close though not quite there. But other than that... I doubt low-light ISO on an APS sensor will get much better for a little while, I certainly don't need more megapixels, and I don't care about faster continuous shooting.

While mentioned megapixels -I gotta say, as one of the "mp don't matter" crowd, I'm almost convinced now. 14.6 megapixels means that viewing photos at 100% reveals an astonishing amount of picture data - I almost wish I could most my Illuminations shot that I just processed at full size, there's lots of things lost when shrunk down (like seeing the actual people on the other side of the lagoon!) I am definitely glad to have all that picture data.

Rumor is that Pentax and/or Samsung is working on a full-frame DSLR soon, and no doubt my camera will be replaced with an even more advanced one before too long, but for now, I'm happy. I'm also not particularly inclined to go the full-frame route at this point. The prices are nuts, the cameras are quite big and heavy, and the main advantages IMHO are wide-angle shooting, though low-light is certainly a point in the D3's favor, but were I a Nikon shooter, I'd still go for the D300 over the D3.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I plan on getting a lot of use out of my E-510. It comes with me most of the time when I'm not working (and sometimes even when I am). My Slingshot bounces around my Jeep with the rest of the contents in there. I toss the camera in my purse if I can't carry two bags. I love it, and expect it'll have it's share of bumps and bruises as time goes on, just as all my other cameras have. Not overly babying it factored into my decision on what I was going to buy. At some point I'm sure I'll probably replace or upgrade, and if it's still functional, I'll either pass it along to DS or keep it as an extra.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This made me think of a question for you knowledgeable folks.

In light of how fast technology is advancing, when does a dSLR, IYO, become "obsolete", such as with computers? Are there any dSLRs that have hit that point yet?

 

[YEKCIM]

At present, I have both a D50 and a D80 body. I'm using the D80 about 75% of the time, with the D50 serving as my backup and for low-light stuff, as its ISO 1600 performance is slightly better than the D80's. I want to move up to a D300 *or* possibly whatever Nikon replaces the D80 with, on the assumption that it would be a "D300 Lite". Assuming that the D80 replacement had high-ISO performance equaling that of the D300, I'd most likely sell both the D80 and D50, if necessary, to buy it or perhaps stretch to get the real deal - the D300.

~Ed

 

[Master Mason]

This made me think of a question for you knowledgeable folks.

In light of how fast technology is advancing, when does a dSLR, IYO, become "obsolete", such as with computers? Are there any dSLRs that have hit that point yet?

It becomes obsolete when you can no longer get the pictures you want to take with it.

 

[Groucho]

This made me think of a question for you knowledgeable folks.

In light of how fast technology is advancing, when does a dSLR, IYO, become "obsolete", such as with computers? Are there any dSLRs that have hit that point yet?

I don't think any become obsolete the way PCs do. PCs become obsolete when they can't run newer software, which you sometimes need; whereas cameras will continue to work just as well taking photos 5 years from now as they do now.

I don't consider my K1000 obsolete, for example, even though it's film-based and the only electronics are for the lightmeter so it needs manual focusing and exposure setting. It's still perfectly capable of taking the same quality photos that it has always been able to take, and I can still buy film and new lenses for it.

An early digital camera is still taking the same quality photos now as when it was new. The difference, of course, is that early ones, like the Sony Mavica that took 640x480 photos onto a floppy disk, had horrible quality - and they still do. That particular camera will be obsolete when you can't buy floppies any more. My first digital camera, a Fuji 2800, is probably obsolete now because you probably can't buy SM cards any more. (I haven't checked lately!) But it's not obsolete for any other reason, IMHO.

 

[gokenin]

This made me think of a question for you knowledgeable folks.

In light of how fast technology is advancing, when does a dSLR, IYO, become "obsolete", such as with computers? Are there any dSLRs that have hit that point yet?

I have to say that a camera become obsolete when the new lenses that are coming down the pipeline will no longer be supported by your current camera. This is happening a little now with Pentax, the current lens designs are heading towards the HSM drive which some cameras can not supports (mine the k100d ) while I can still use all the lenses that existed before today I can not use anything newer so for me my current camera is becoming obsolete. Already thinking of upgrading to the K200d to keep up with lens design

 

[Groucho]

Actually, that's not 100% right. So far, all the Pentax lenses that include SDM also have the screw-drive autofocus, so they will work fine on all Pentax DSLRs. Now, Sigma will soon release the first third-party Pentax lens with a focus motor in-lens (their 50mm F1.4, IIRC), and I'm not sure if it'll also work on non-SDM cameras, but it sounds like it probably won't (although that'd be a silly move for them, especially when they're going to have a very hard time competing with Pentax's 50mm F1.4 already).

Anyway, Pentax is generally very friendly to older cameras, I can't see them dropping the screw-drive AF from upcoming lenses any time soon (and not all their new lenses are SDM anyway), and I definitely can't see them dropping the in-body focus motor like Nikon did.

But who knows... but anyway, point is, it's not an issue so far. My 50-135mm will focus with SDM on my K20D and with the screw-drive on my K100D.

 

[handicap18]

I haven't been one in the past to upgrade my camera bodies. I stared with a Nikon N6006 and only replaced it because it was stolen. I upgraded to digital from film 2+ years ago. I do have plans to upgrade my D50 to the D300 early in '09. I'm going to upgrade because of the advanced features offered. (mostly fps and getting a battery grip with shutter release among other things). I would consider a replacement for the D80, but I'm really leaning towards wanting the faster FPS. My current camera is 2.5fps. The D80 is 3fps. The D300 is 6fps (with available 8fps w/battery grip). If the D80 replacement is 5fps and has the same sensor as the D300 with its high ISO performance, then I would seriously consider that. But I like everything about the D300 (3" lcd, more thumb controls, better AF system, upgraded sensor, etc...). I would venture to guess that a D300 would easliy last me 8+ years.

I would keep my D50 as a backup and if one of my kids got into photography when they get older, I could consider letting them borrow it. DW has no interest in photography.