Price
- It amazes me just how much we can save now buying a secondhand camera that has been barely used.
- Take a look at these Certified Products on eBay just to get a sense of how much you can save by buying lightly used and reconditioned gear. Saving substantial amounts of money means you can get more of what you need, AND still afford to take another trip to invest in your photography portfolio.
Quality
- Yes, really. In the camera world, refurbished products are often higher quality, after having undergone a second rigorous testing and thorough cleaning to ensure they meet warranty requirements and look as good as new.
- It put pressure (particularly in the case of Nikon) to put out better quality products in the first place. Selling items refurbished gives the manufacturer a vested interest in producing better initial quality products at a more competitive price in the first place.
- You are protected by a 1 year warranty, so any bugs that the product may still have you can pretty reliably workout in that timeframe.
Realities of Consumerism in Electronics
- Unless you’re a pro photographer lucky enough to be sponsored by a manufacturer, you stand a higher chance of getting a ‘lemon.’ Nikon, Canon and Sony are manufacturing creative tools, and sometimes it’s easy to forget that tools can fail and are susceptible to manufacturing defects just like everything else. Buying certified manufacturer refurbished items is like a second, free, even more thorough quality control to make sure you’re getting a tool that should perform as designed and as-expected. Rigorous testing is a good thing, so even though that means buying a product with a few more trips around the block that’s no big deal considering you’re buying a product designed to travel around the world 🙂 !