Canon® EOS Digital Photography Photo Workshop

11.2. HOW DO I DECIDE WHEN TO SELL EXISTING GEAR?

A variety of ways exist to sell cameras and photography equipment today, not the least of which is on the Web. Selling equipment by putting an ad in the newspaper is slower, more expensive, and doesn't reach nearly as many qualified buyers. In this section, I'll focus on eBay and Craigslist, which both have dramatically changed how photographers trade gear today, to the point that they have become the default solution for the challenge of getting the most money for what you perceive your gear to be worth.

The good news about selling photography equipment is that typically it holds its value much better than computers and peripherals. Selling a three-year-old computer is difficult (if you want to get more than a pittance compared with what you originally paid), while a good-quality dSLR that's the same age is likely to yield much better results and have a far more acceptable resale value.

I am frequently asked about old camera gear (sometimes 20, 30, and more years old) and how to sell it. Most of these products, obviously from the days of film photography, are much more difficult to sell unless they have some collector's value as interesting or unusual devices. You can try listing these items on eBay or Craigslist, but generally speaking, don't expect too much, and think twice before trying to adapt them to your digital gear.

NOTE

There are some products that will let you adapt an older lens to a modern camera. In my experience, ...