Nowadays, when you are starting digital photography and you know barely nothing about it, choosing a camera can be quite tricky. There are thousands of articles, blogs posts and you tube videos that finally, when I had to buy mine, the more I was reading, the more I was watching videos, the more I was confused. So, what helped me? My best friend Fran who’s also passionate of photography. I remember she was using a Nikon D5000 and was completely fulfilled. So, started to ask myself, why that one? Why she chose that brand? So there I started, eliminating a lot of other brands and I circled down my choices to Canon or Nikon. That was the eternal and infinite dilemma, which one is the best? Really, I still don’t know, I think that both are good gears. I choose a Nikon, Why? Because my friend had one, she was really happy and I was counting on her to help me if I had questions.
TIP 1 – I’m sure you certainly have friends that already have a DSLR camera, ask them if you can borrow it, even just for an afternoon, or go shooting with them, so you can see if you like it, you can check the menu, and realise how do you feel about it.
Moreover, You can also ask them a piece of advice, why did they choose that camera? What they like about it? What they don’t like?. I love internet but sometimes is still easier to have a face to face talk with someone than reading dozen posts by yourself.
As, I was shooting with my dad old canon reflex camera, for me it wasn’t really a new thing buying a new gear, in a certain way knew what i would have liked to have, I just could decide between the different brands or models. Was a canon? A Nikon, A sony? Or something else? And what model? What was the difference between the nikon D5000 and D7000 serie? or Between the Nikon D and the Canon Mark I II or III? So, I started reading tons of blogs, and articles, comparing models within a same brand, and then comparing different brands. To simplify my quest I restricted my choice to a mirror camera from Canon or Nikon. As I was shooting with an old argentine, I didn’t know anything about full frame sensor or cropped ones, mirrorless, etc. So I asked again to my friend, and to people that were using digital DSLR camera, and I decided to look for a Nikon D5000 series.
Now, another big question, new or used one? That’ s a matter of chance, what I can say is that today there are many websites or groups of photography passionates where you can easily find good used gears in good conditions. I new that here in Belgium the prices for the last model of Nikon D5000 seire ( at the time was the Nikon D5300) was around € 600-750 depending on the lenses or other gadgets etc. The previous model Nikon D5200 was still available in shops and was a little cheaper, around €400-500. Now, budget is really important, so I fixed it at €500 for a new, but I decided to look for a used first.
TIP 2 – Always fix a budget, it will help you screening.
I Started to look for it during my trip in UK searching on www.gumtree.com (which is a great website) but all the camera I found were too far from us, so finally it didn’t worked. I didn’t trust eBay enough to buy it on their website, because there were no seller in Belgium and I wanted to check the camera before paying.
TIP 3 – If you want to buy a used camera, always check it and try it before buying it.
Talking again about budget, I thought that I could spend something around €300 for a second hand gear of Nikon D5000 series, so I fixed my used gear budget at €300-350. The two websites I searched for it were two local platform were Belgian people sells their goods www.kapaza.be and www.2ememain.be. Nice websites, I took different stuff there and I’ve never being deceived. So, each day I was screening the announces hoping for a good news and as soon as something interesting was there I contacted the person. However, I was surprised of how many people were looking for buying a camera and that the prices were a little bit higher than expected, (which actually was a good news but at the time I didn’t realise it). I was almost giving up and go buying a new one when, I finally read a message from someone selling his Nikon D5300 with a 18-55 mm lens, 6 months old, used only twice, still under warranty for 570€. That was a good occasion, the last model €200 cheaper compared to shops prices. I contacted the guy and asked why he was selling it.
TIP 4 – Always ask why the person is selling, it gives you interesting piece of information.
This seller wanted to buy a nikon 1 because he founded that the D5300 was too big and heavy to carry around, so he wanted to sell it fast because he was leaving for holiday the week after and would have liked to buy the other camera before leaving ( that’s the reason of the price). Obviously, I wasn’t the only one interested in his camera and I had to decide quickly, I really wanted that gear but at the same time it was almost of the double of my used camera budget, and I was feeling so guilty to spend all that money! I mean almost 600€ here in Brussels it can be a small apartment rent, a month of grocery store shopping for my family, taxes to pay, and I was spending all that money on a camera? Actually, it was my husband who convinced me telling me that yes it was a lot of money, but the gear was still under warranty, so if there were any problem It would have been easier compared to a 300€ one without any warranty at all. So, I called the guy and fixed a meeting. I went to his house a couple of days later, I was really excited, the camera was on the table with his original box and all the papers, we talked a little bit his wife served a tea and he asked me to try it. Well… I didn’t know what to do, actually my friend Fran during summer lent me his camera and I shoot a couple of pictures but I could not remember a clue about it … So, what? I took the camera in my hands I looked at it and I faked that I knew perfectly what I was doing. I checked that there were any scratches, and then he asked me, do you have a memory card, so you can try it? A memory card? Oh shit, I completely forgot that, so he gently put in one of his own and fired a couple of photos in his house to show me, the pictures were there and seemed fine, so I trusted him and bought it.
TIP 5 – If you do not know how to use a SLDR camera, and want to buy a used one, go test it with a friend who know how to do it.
TIP 6 – remember to bring a memory card.
![Photographer Levitation 096/365 [explore #458]](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5147/5596686437_0b5959f2b1_z.jpg)
That was quite an adventure and now if I had to do it again, I would go with someone that knew cameras and could check if it is really working well. Let’s say that I was lucky because I’ve never had any problems with that camera and I sold it later for €500 to someone else, so finally my first DSLR camera costed €70!
Interesting Photography readings
Note: Images credits: Flickr
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