Used and approved?

Used cameras are big business at the moment, with secondhand specialists such as MPB, Ffordes, Wex Photo Video, Park Cameras and Grays of Westminster reporting brisk trade. You can put this down to great customer service, combined with the natural desire of photographers to want to save money, particularly with economic pressures pushing up the price of new camera gear. With this in mind, we thought we’d see how some of our regular AP contributors got on with some older cameras and lenses, now available at a great price. Our four contributors are all well-respected photographers in their chosen fields: landscape photographer James Abbott, wildlife and nature photographer Andrew Fusek Peters, macro expert Tracy Calder and street/ travel photography guru (and Nikon Ambassador) Mark Seymour. As you’ll see, their experiences were generally positive, so if you’re looking to buy used, their experiences make interesting reading, as well as giving some pointers on things to look out for with older gear.

A huge thanks to MPB for supplying the cameras and lenses for this article. Visit www.mpb.com for great used deals.

Landscapes

James Abbott

James is a landscape and portrait photographer based in Cambridge. He’s also a freelance photography journalist and editor specialising in photography techniques, tutorials and reviews. See more of his work at .