Buying a used high end digital SLR � help

Dear all,

I am considering purchasing a used EOS 1 Mark II ds at a very reasonable price. What parts (in terms of wear and

tear) should I be most concerned with (after frequent, professional use for 3 years)? Will a check by an authorized

Canon dealer tell me all I need to know? Does it even make sense to buy this camera, when I can probably buy an

upgraded 5d for just a little more $ within the next 6-12 mos?

Any feedback would be most appreciated.

Kind regards,

joel

The shutter is just about the only part which is expected to wear out. If it does, budget maybe $300 to get it fixed.

A check by a Canon dealer won't be able to predict failure, but they can probably tell you how many shots the camera has taken. I think the shutter is rated for around 200,000 cycles on average before it fails.

personally I don't see why not?

I mean if the camera is working, who cares if it's looking scruffy on the outside? Certainly the build quality and sealing of the 1D will be better than the 5. If the weight isn't a problem for you then even if the shutter dies, its gotta be a good deal.

"Does it even make sense to buy this camera, when I can probably buy an upgraded 5d for just a little more $ within the next 6-12 mos?"

Personally, if you are thinking about going Professional, I would go with the upgraded version of the 5D if you can hold out that long. It's better to start off with a brand new camera if you are serious about photography and your clients are serious about paying you.

I bought a refurbished EOS3 several years ago and it took me 2 years to finally come to the conclusion and the peace of mind that the camera was working as it should. On the way, I must have called Canon Customer service, I don't know how many times. If you want to go with a used, or refurbished unit, I would recomend purchasing a 1 or 2 year extended warranty for an extended peace of mind.

I bought a 1d/II last year used for $1500 and I'm glad I did though it was used professionally with about 80k actuations. There are some differences between the 1d/II and other canon models and getting used to those confused me for a while. As far as new vs used that's a tough one and I think mostly comes down to personal choice. A lot of people prefer new opposed to used, and bear in mind professionally used means the shutter actuations will be very high as opposed to someone just trying to snap shots of their kids soccer games. A professional won't think twice ripping off 1000 frames ore more per event - weddings could see 5000 photos per wedding, sports 1000 to 2000 depending on photographer and sport. The 8.5 fps means everyone sprays and prays and I admit to doing it too. With the slower rate cameras I got good at popping 2-3 shots off, waiting a second or two and popping another 2-3 frames off. Moving to the 8.5 fps took a while before I got used to a slight touch meant 3+ shots.

If its on ebay I'd probably say stay away from it, but if you can hold it, shoot it and are comfortable with its looks and operation in your hands go for it. You can find out the shutter actuations easily enough with a single raw image and some EXIF viewing software and think of that as just a gauge to know that sooner or later the shutter will probably fail.

I have not used the 5D, but other than sensor size and some refinements internally it's similar to the 20D/30D models, I would say that to compare the 5D to a 1D/II isn't quite fair. The 5D Full frame sensor will give outstanding results, its a newer sensor in terms of the age of the design. The 1D is only an 8.x MP camera at I think a 1.3x crop factor? (is that right?) one is meant for speed with good quality, the other is meant for excellent quality as opposed to speed (3fps?). Not sure if I recall those specifications exactly right but close.

As both cameras are in a similar price range, buy the one that fits what you intend to do with it.

Many thanks all. Camera has gone through about 100,000 frames. I will probably take to Canon center for a quick check esp on shutter and focus. Asking price is about 40% below KEH used rates (which still run close to 4K USD), which I will assume is not too bad even for heavy use.

Kind regards,

joel

weddings could see 5000 photos per wedding

Wow are you sure, I still only take about 200 ahots/wedding, not much more than film days. must get more batteries.

I`ve been trying to get another 1ds2 body, I see many scams all less than 1500aud on those free websale sites. Yet one of my sippliers said one turned out genuine.Darn

At 100000 a 1ds2 is only 1/2 life, the other 1/2+ still worth it if 1/2 price of a new one

Good luck

[[weddings could see 5000 photos per wedding ]]

Let's say you photograph for 5 hours at this wedding. You're shooting about 17 photos a minute for 5 hours straight?

Seriously?

There are photographers that report 4 and 5000 photos for a wedding. David Ziser comes to mind. But that is includeing thier assistants images also and with the fact that they use the high frame rate at times to "catch" the moment. He says his average is 1 shot every 9 seconds and in his part of the world, the event last from 9 to 12 hours.

Here are two of Davids blogs explaining.

http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/4000-images-in-workflow-how-do-i-do-it.html

http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-many-images-should-you-shoot-at.html

If I had 4000 images to sort through I would loose my mind....

Jason

Rob

I expressed similar surprise some time ago

http://www.photo.net/business-photography-forum/00NbDS

it seems that it happens :-)

<cite>Does it even make sense to buy this camera, when I can probably buy an upgraded 5d for just a little more $ within the next 6-12 mos?</cite>

<p>What better suits your needs? Of course, we don't know for a fact what features the 5D's replacement will have, or even when it will arrive, so at this point we can only speculate. If we take the specs for the 5D, bump them up a bit, and compare them to those of the 1Ds II, it's not unreasonable to expect that the pixel counts and noise levels will be not far off, and the frame rates will probably differ by no more than about 1 fps (and if you were looking for a speed demon, you'd be looking at a 1D, so this probably isn't a biggie). The 1Ds II will probably win for autofocus performance and will certainly win for robustness, build quality, and dust/water resistance, as well as for being useful for bicep curls on the days you just can't make it to the gym.</p>

<p>What out of that is important to you?</p>

"Does it even make sense to buy this camera, when I can probably buy an upgraded 5d for just a little more $ within the next 6-12 mos?"

My feeling is that you should buy the used 1DS, and use it until the new 5D comes out. In that time the 1DS will not have depreciated very much - assuming that you don't thrash it to bits - and you can then sell it again. Imagine that you're hiring the camera rather than buying it, and there is always the possibility that you might like it, and decide to keep it.