With mirrorless slowly becoming the new standar, will DSLR mount lenses lose value?

After seeing the technological beauty of the A7Riii and Canon/Nikon both introducing mirrorless cameras this year, I am starting to get worried that my Canon L lenses may soon begin to lose value as they won’t natively work on mirrorless cameras.

 

Is there a chance that mirrorless becomes the new standard and DSLRs die out as mirrorless begins to match all technical and ergonomic aspects of DSLRs?

 

If so, does this mean that within the next coming years, lenses made for DSLRs will slowly lose value and won’t sell for as high as they used to? I understand adapters can help mount a DSLR lens onto a mirrorless, but is that enough to help retain value?

I do not think so but sure hope so.

Maybe DSLR cameras are not quite so doomed. Here is one explantion as to why not:

 

Did you buy your lenses as an investment or to take photographs with? Most photo equipment is not going to appreciate over time (with rare exceptions like some Leicas and Leica lenses) and your Canon L lenses won't lose any of their fine optical quality even if they are no longer the latest thing. It will be interesting to see what Canon/Nikon do with regard to adapters and compatibility with DSLR lenses--balancing between alienating current owners versus making more money selling all new lenses for the new cameras. I'm happy with my current DSLR setup, so this doesn't really matter to me, but I would be delighted to get some deals on the used market if used premium lenses wind up going for much less than they currently do.

What's the rate of return on your Canon lenses? They started losing value when you walked out of the store with them. No one knows whether Canikon's yet-to-seen MILCs will ever find a market comparable anytime time soon to their DSLRs. Sleep well.

I guess it's for a good reason that expressions like "NAS" and maybe even "CAS" have been created. Nikon Acquisition Syndrome and Canon Acquisition Syndrome are more common than one would like to think. It is very easy (and somewhat dangerous) to be caught up in the "arms race" of photographic equipment. Turning the focus away from what it all should be about, namely making great pictures. To instead all the marvelous hardware. In order to be able to afford one's "syndrome" and buy the latest and the greatest again and again, one often has to rely on selling the old stuff at as good prices as possible. All to accommodate the habit, oh well...I know, because I've been there. I guess I was very brave and idealistic in the beginning focusing on my "art". But as the years went by, and the great genius did not surface in some really brilliant pieces of art, the focus ever so slowly gravitated towards more equipment. And what a world to submerge oneself in. You can get lost there forever making it the absolute center of attention when it comes to photography. And also become very poor if you do not watch your expenses...Therefore I do understand those who get frustrated when they go to the local photo store and in order to buy that new heavenly 70-200 mm want to sell the old one. What did the clerk in the shop say? I can get only a third of my buying price for my old but perfect lens? Help!...I get depressed...refocus completely, but how...? Is there a NAS/CAS rehab somewhere, maybe?

Dunno what some of you guys are on about regarding GAS or it being more about photos rather than hardware, but I do apologize for lack of context. I only own one camera body and one lens so this has nothing to do with “acquiring more equipment for the sake of equipment”. It will soon be time for me to invest in more since I need backups as an aspiring wedding photographer. I was asking mostly because in the future I may want to sell my 35L II in order to move over to mirrorless cameras since a lot of the features I’m seeing (higher resolution, eye tracking without recomposing etc) are attractive to me as a portrait and wedding photographer.

 

At the moment, a good condition 35L II sells for almost the same price as a brand new one on eBay. If this trend remains, that would be lovely when its time for me to change systems/formats. Though I worry that if mirrorless cameras become the norm, my DSLR lenses may not sell for much. This is a valid concern as someone who is watching their expenses is it not? Im sure I’m just being overly paranoid but hey, anything can happen in the next few years

Edited August 4, 2018 by mood_lover

If you think so then don't buy any more DSLR as you don't have too many yet. Start buying mirrorless or are you waiting for Canon and Nikon to introduce mirrorless for you?

There's at least one person in my community who is still shooting wet plate.

 

There are more still shooting film.

 

I don't know of anyone who is actually a person who makes money from their photography shooting mirrorless cameras.

 

The day will come, and perhaps quickly as happened with VHS and DVDs, but it hasn't come yet.

You did say lenses (plural)--I do know one pro in my area who switched from an extensive Canon outfit to Sony a few months ago, primarily for lighter weight. Any of these systems can do a fine job for weddings, although the quieter shutter of mirror less cameras could certainly be helpful in some circumstances. The main thing for wedding photography is equipment redundancy--two competent medium price DSLRs are a far better choice than one ultimate pro model, especially when starting out. The most important thing is to select equipment that feels right to you--if you're already "imprinted" on Canon then stick with it, it can definitely do the job.

Lens value depends on various things. - There is collectible stuff like EF 50/1.0, discontinued, somewhat mythical, not replaced and people go crazy over it. Same of course about some M mount stuff, even made by Konica.

There are also previous generations of work horses. Why should those fetch much money? For starters, they wear out. - Lensrentals.com published their repair / failure reports, according to which almost no 70-200/2.8 survives more than 50 rental weeks, before it needs service. Manufacturers will also try to stress why their latest incarnation is a tad more desirable than some previous one. And on top of everything: The electromechanical miracles called "lenses" these days weren't made to last eternally.

At the moment, a good condition 35L II sells for almost the same price as a brand new one on eBay.

Does it sell(!) or does it get offered?

A new mirrorless system will need time to grow. The best straw you can draw is an awesome mirrorless camera that handles your odd chunks of glass well via an adapter made by the same manufacturer as everything else, combined with a manufacturer focused on different lenses for that system. Right now we have EOS M APS consumer MILCs. Their native lens line consists from what? 5 unspectacular compact affordable zooms a wide pancake and an oddball wide macro besides the adapter waiting to integrate your gem.

Why should FF EOS MILC be much different?

 

Whatever you'll do:

They started losing value when you walked out of the store with them.

Find a solution that is likely to work for your business and for yourself, in case the business fails. Yes, you will sink money; so better get stuff you want and like enough to play ostrich from the day you'll get your hands on it until it falls apart and price your work in a way that your gear's value doesn't bother you.

I don't think you should buy a lens with the expectation that you'll make great money by selling it later. Buy what you need now and use them until they for some reason do not serve their purpose any more. After which time you will probably have gotten your money's worth of images with it, and then you can sell it at the market price if you feel the need to sell. I would nor recommend buying lenses with the intention of selling them in a short time. That way you end up without lens and losing quite a lot of money.

Your Canon lenses and my Nikon lenses lost half of their resale value the moment the box was opened, and never gained it back. A few Leica lenses are worth more used than the original purchase price, but that's not a typical situation. That ignores the fact that "value" is more than what you can get selling them. It is what they do for you as creative tools.

 

Not many people have the resources and the inclination to dump old equipment for new for the sake of newness. DSLRs will continue to be made and used until they no longer meet the needs of their owners. Even then, their lenses can still be used with adapters, in the case of Canon, with near complete functionality.

It is all relative, Andreas Gursky for example, has really good return on his investments.

In Feb of this year I jumped onto the mirrorless "boom" with a used Fuji X-E1 system (16-50 & 50-230 kit lenses). I have found use for some legacy film camera lenses with adapters on the Fuji. I have never been a slave to the "newest-greatest" thinking/products, but have over the last 40+ years purchased lenses to fit my "current" film cameras, considering these tools, not investments for future returns. Do your photographic THING with the equipment. The major manufacturing firms will forever be changing things to keep their coffers full. Aloha from the Mainland, Bill

"Canon, with near complete functionality" Edward.

 

Near.....just near. But better on a Canon without the near thing. Handling.....,for some, a bar of soap has expectable handling cause its got loads of hyped specs

 

Reality is the A7 numerous, and never ending new models have poor handling being little squat awkward things; overbalanced with huge poor aperture lenses.

 

Some serious photographers value the handling character of the camera..... others just like the latest thingy, which due to the hype costs needless buckets of money.

Edited August 5, 2018 by Allen Herbert

Oops…forgot.

 

And the weird electronic, grainy, virtual reality weird world color thingy struggling to offer real world live views.

 

Squat, overbalanced poor aperture lenses, and the weird and wonderful electronic viewfinders;)).

Just a few thoughts ;))

ust a few thoughts

Don't hold back, please tell us what you really think :D

There are lots of older, and not all that old, lenses available used for low prices.

 

I have bought AI lenses down to $12.

 

New DSLRs come out so fast, and the older ones drop in price when that happens.

Lenses not quite as fast, but fast enough.

Random thoughts on a rather strange post:

 

You have one very nice Canon lens. If I had that lens I would plan on keeping it.

 

If you're interested in investing, there are plenty of stocks that pay dividends.

 

All digital cameras are disposable. They bleed value. They are replaced every year at most by something better. Lenses are forever.

 

I have heard no rumors of Canon discontinuing the L mount.

 

Camera brands, models and styles come in and out of style. When I started in journalism Nikon F5s were the standard. Then everyone ditched their Nikon gear for Canon's big, white lenses. Trying to guess what's going to happen "next" in photography is a waste of time. If there are any photojournalists left (sarcasm) I suspect they're using big Nikon and Canon dslrs. It doesn't matter. Cameras are tools.

 

I have owned Sony, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Mamiya cameras in a mix of film, digital, with mirrors and withough. Right now I'm using a Fuji 6x9, totally manual, no-meter film camera made in 1969.

 

You've got good gear. Stop sweating over whether it was a good investment. If you use it, it was the right thing to buy. If you don't, it probably wasn't.

:))

Every item I have seen have gone down, including mirrorless. It's not an investment.

 

Now I just get used, a bit of a regret my Nikon D600 wasn't. All my newer lenses are also thou and they are still the current latest versions. I got them for about 40% less than new. I think camera tech is so good now that my mirrorless for a more compact camera while I am out with others, will be used also.

There will be a place for both for some time. If you look back to when digital surpassed film, there were some early adopters of digital for some uses, but for quite a while, images from digital didn't meet the quality people had come to expect from film. As digital quality improved, more people made the switch. Now, digital is king and film, though still used, has become a niche market.

 

Mirrorless will likely go the same way. There are some early adopters, but mirrorless systems don't yet have all the features that people have come to expect from their DSLRs. Eventually those features will accumulate and reach a tipping point, and DSLRs will be a niche market. When that day will come is unknown, but you have to decide what features are critical for your work and what gear meets those needs. Future resale value should play no part in this decision because everything you buy will be worth less as time passes; if that's a criterion, then you'll never buy any gear. Your 35L II could pay for itself may times over long before you need to consider resale value. And at that point, it will be fully depreciated and anything you get for it when selling will be a bonus.