Many of us have had a horror story or two from purchasing used camera gear. Here are some scary stories, but also some tips on how to minimize your chances of this happening to you.

Purchasing used

I purchase a lot of items used, not just photography gear. I have never purchased a new car. I sometimes purchase clothing, tools, musical equipment, audio recording equipment, and furniture used. It’s typically in great shape. I clean everything thoroughly and test it just to be sure.

However, every once in a while, it does not go your way. I’ve been rather lucky. Others, not so much.

Rattle rattle, clunk clunk!

After several months of searching for a used Pentax K-1 Mk I DSLR camera, I found a private party on Amazon selling a used one. As a bonus, it came with a Pluto trigger and seven or eight batteries. 

When the shipment came, my excitement turned to anxiety. All the contents were loose, and everything was shifting around in the package. I immediately grabbed my camera phone and started taking photos as I unboxed it. The camera was thinly layered in bubble wrap. However, the box was considerably larger than the camera and had no padding. 

Worse, all the batteries were loose, rattling around inside the box!

To my surprise, everything worked. I tested everything for several days. While I am lucky that I got something for a great price, this could have been a disaster.

Cuh-raaaack!

Many horror stories seem to center around packaging. I have had friends who have had their camera lens arrive in the cardboard box with no packing material. In all instance, the front element was cracked or scratched. One of my friends found the front element completely detached from the lens.

“Hey, where’s my money?”

Some of you may have heard of Jennifer Khordi. She is a photographer who sold her camera to someone using Venmo in January 2018. She received a message from Venmo that her bank transfer has been initiated. Great, right?

Not for long. Her transaction failed. Venmo froze her account later. 

The man and the camera? Nowhere to be seen. 

Venmo later confirmed that she had been the victim of a scam. 

However, at this point we do not offer any buyer or seller protections: this is why we prohibit merchant transactions on Venmo (per section B.1.b. of our User Agreement).”

Things were looking grim for Khordi.

A happy ending

Thankfully, due to Khordi submitting the camera’s serial number to numerous camera stores, the scammer was apprehended by B&H Camera Store security.

B&H had paid the man $1800 for Khordi’s DSLR. However, the camera store incurred the loss and returned the camera to Khordi.

And now, a fantastic segue from those horror stories

Since we’re discussing B&H, now is the perfect time to discuss how to minimize packaging horrors and scams. One sure thing is that when you purchase from these retailers, you can be really sure that you will not receive your camera and batteries bouncing around inside an unpadded box.

B&H

I would never overlook B&H for used photography gear. They are a large second-hand tech seller that is headquartered in New York City. Visiting there is almost a rite of passage for photographers on the East Coast. B&H have large inventories of used items. They go through and inspect the equipment carefully. And as you might expect, they’re quite good at packaging their items. 

MPB

Of course, there’s also places like MPB. Large places such as this inspect the equipment carefully. Some of them, such as MPB or KEH, also have repair facilities. And most places have warranties on their used items, such as MPB’s six-month warranty. 

Like B&H, MPB sells not only cameras and lenses, but also remote controls, batteries, battery grips, charging cases, drones, camcorders and more. For each product, they provide an assessment of the condition, what’s in the box, and a warranty. If you want, you can lower the cost by trading in some of your old gear. They are very thorough with evaluating used equipment. However, that’s one aspect that makes them a good place to purchase used gear.

They go through all the gear, clean it up and then sell it. And you get to see a photo of the actual piece of gear you are purchasing. They also service their warranties in-house. They have a five-star review on Trustpilot with tens of thousands of reviews. Chances are, they’re doing something right.

Convenience and safety

If you want convenience and want to maximize your chances of purchasing used gear that works like new, purchasing from places such as these is the way to go.

I’ve purchased cameras, tripods, camera bags, cases, lights, flashes, lenses, photography books, and more – all used. Over time, I’ve saved thousands of dollars. And that’s a beautiful thing.

More thoughts on purchasing second-hand

If you want to read more on purchasing cameras used, you may want to read Getting great cameras for cheap: Buying used. And of course, if you want to read about the Best places for purchasing used camera equipment, you’ll want to click on that. And while you’re at it, consider reading Top 3 second-hand camera gear picks for savvy photographers. 

Do you have any horror stories to share? Do you have some tips on how to purchase second-hand gear safely?

Above: These are gratuitous and vaguely ominous long exposure night photos. I used my second-hand gear to create these photos, but otherwise, they have little to do with the article. Wheee!

Apple presents ‘I remember you’ photo exhibition in Paris

On November 10, 2023, tech giant Apple presented I Remember You, a two-day photography exhibition in Paris’ Salon Corderie. Exclusively shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the show featured works from five photographers hailing from diverse corners of the world: Malin Fezehai from New York/Nairobi, Karl Hab from Paris, Vivien Liu from Hong Kong, Mika Ninagawa from Tokyo, and Stefan Ruiz from New York. The works on view were unified by a theme of nostalgia and resilient empowerment to immortalize moments just as they are meant to be cherished. From vivid floral landscapes to black-and-white urban vistas and intimate portraits, the exhibition transforms life’s ephemeral instances into timeless memories.

I Remember You: Photography Exhibition — Mika Ninagawa | image by BFA | Pierrick Rocher

preserving memories through the iPhone 15

The exhibition by Apple (fiind more here) invites photographers to illustrate the power of perspective in storytelling. It highlights the chance we possess to preserve our experiences by capturing the world through our individual viewpoints. In this way, the show poses thought-provoking questions: How do we wish to remember what we love? How can we craft a visual capsule for our world’s greatest treasures, ensuring they are remembered just as we experienced them?

Curatorial advisor Isolde Brielmaier came up with the idea of centering the exhibition around the iPhone camera. As we navigate through life nowadays, the camera in our pocket becomes an extension of our gaze, documenting memories and archiving our lived experiences. This intimate and familiar lens serves as a unique way to view our lives. To encapsulate the sense of nostalgia and everyday moments, the artists used the iPhone 15 Pro Max — to find more about its standout features, see designboom’s previous coverage here. The deliberate choice of this medium empowered artists to transcend the boundaries of their commercial and editorial pursuits, providing a space for playful creation within a theme that is both retrospective and meaningful.

I Remember You: Photography Exhibition — Mika Ninagawa | image by BFA | Pierrick Rocher

Mika Ninagawa

I Remember You: Photography Exhibition | image by BFA | Pierrick Rocher

Stefan Ruiz

I Remember You: Photography Exhibition | image by BFA | Pierrick Rocher

He was a shining light through a season with its fair share of difficult moments.

But his positive outlook and patience would be required again when that breakthrough campaign was cut short in March due to a stress response around his adductor.

He can vividly recall the feeling when the news that he was facing a long-term absence was broken to him.

“Because I had the same injury before but in the other side, when I was getting the pain, I kind of thought about that it was going to be the same,” Bajcetic says. “But in my mind it was like, ‘It can’t be the same, I need to keep playing.’

“But I did a scan. Scans are very cruel – they always show something. I remember I was at home, they rang me and they told me, ‘You have a stress response.’

“Obviously it was a tough moment but I kind of took it well, I think. I took it as an opportunity to get stronger, improve in some bits. I just tried to stay positive mentally.”

Of course, there were challenging periods during his lengthy rehabilitation.

The Bajcetic that entered the training ground would often be staring out of the windows in the gym, frustratingly watching his teammates train.

“You can’t stop thinking of what I would have done in that moment, I could obviously be doing that,” he says. “So it’s obviously tough. It’s just getting to the gym and counting the days to going back.”

He is now working his way back to full fitness after another injury setback. But once fit again, his ambitions are high in a second full season around a senior environment.

That said, he is humble enough to know that his development, on and off the pitch, is far from complete.

Photography holds the power to awaken the mind, ignite curiosity and deliver strong messages through artistic imagery. That is precisely the purpose of this still created by photographer Peter East-Hall, who used a surreal approach to reflect upon the issue of consumerism prevailing in the world today. 

“Before taking this image, I was talking to the conceptual artist Lorrain Mailer about her installations, which focus on environmental responsibility,” he said. 

“We spoke about how plastic is so widely used and is going to be in our environment for much longer than its use. This photograph relates to this topic, addressing how the extensive use of plastic is getting into the ecosystem, even into our bloodstream, and the consequent impact on our environment. I wanted the photograph to be dramatic, thought-provoking and visceral.

“I live near the English Channel, so we didn’t have to go far to find a location for this art installation. The shingle beach at Dungeness combined with the undisturbed sky offered the ideal background – it was a one-shot opportunity, the right weather, clouds and light. 

We used plastic from some packaging and my husband was the model. The wind was perfect that day, breathing life into the plastic material and adding dynamic movement and structure. However, the wind also presented a few challenges. We didn’t want the plastic to be blown into the sea, so we had to work with the wind. To bring out the texture, light and folds of the plastic, I changed the image from color to black-and-white in Lightroom.”

Peter East-Hall

Peter Easthall is a photographer and a member of the Societies of Photographers and the Ashford Visual Artists. He lives on Romney Marsh, near the village of Lydd on Sea in England, and has been passionate about photography since childhood. Peter enjoys creating art from his images and collaborating with other artists, taking inspiration from nature and often capturing things that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Tech details

Camera: Nikon D3400
Lens: Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR 
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec
ISO: 200
Focal length: 55mm

You might be interested in the best cameras for black and white photography, as well as these Lightroom tutorials and free Lightroom presets.

Salvador Dalí’s eccentric Costa Brava home is the subject of ‘Casa Dalí’, a new book published by Apartamento with photography by Coco Capitán and testimonials by Spanish architect Òscar Tusquets, who worked with the artist on design pieces for BD Barcelona. 

Salvador Dalí’s home, photographed by Coco Capitán

Dalí bought it in the 1930s, a small fishing hut in the Mediterranean village of Portlligat, and with his wife Gala he worked on the building over the following decades to redesign and expand the compact structure by incorporating several adjacent huts into the house. Living and working from the house in the second half of his life, Dalí produced some of his best-known artworks at Portlligat, injecting the paintings with the light and atmosphere of the Spanish coast. 

He described the house as ‘a real biological structure […]. Each new pulse in our life had its own new cell, its room.’ Since the artist’s death in 1989, the house has been preserved by the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, who operate the space as a museum, keeping the interiors and ground as the artist left them. 

The house is built as a maze, with narrow corridors and level changes throughout, as well as windows of different shapes that overlook Portlligat Bay. ‘Portlligat is the place of production, the ideal place for my work,’ said the artist. ‘Everything fits to make it so: time goes more slowly and each hour has its proper dimension. There is a geological peacefulness: it is a unique planetary case.’

The house is filled with furniture curated by Gala, objects collected by the couple of the years they spent there, and Dalí’s artworks. Capitán’s photography throughout the book captures the intimacy of the home while highlighting the extraordinary artistic value of the place. 

A text by Tusquets introduced the book, where the architect looks back to his friendship with Dalí. ‘Everything he said was subjective, you could agree or disagree—though, I admit, when he talked about art, I tended to agree—but it always made you think’, Tusquets writes in the text. ‘He was original, brilliant, and tremendously good fun’.

Casa Dalí is published by Apartamento

The photographer who captured images of Cpl. Lucas Watts with the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office and his wife spoke out exclusively to WYFF News 4’s Rashad Williams following a shooting incident. The family booked a photo shoot on Oct. 8 with Jenny Jones, owner of Sweet Honeycomb Photography LLC in Westminster.“I get emotional when I’m taking those photos because these are people who put their lives on the line literally every day,” Jones said. “It’s an honor for me to be able to take those images.”According to Jones, Watts did not have the intention to take photos the day of the photoshoot but changed his mind at the last minute.“Lucas did not have the intention of being in the photos that day, so that was a last-minute thing,” Jones said. Jones said the kindness of Watts is something she will remember forever. Jones said that was the first time she met Watts and his family and following the photo session, she said it then felt like they were friends for a long time.“It’s that brief moment captured in time and one day, that may be all that we have left is a photograph of someone that we love. How we felt and how they made us feel in that moment because life can change in the blink of an eye,” Jones said. “That photo just shows a police officer, but also a human being and the love for his child.”Jones said she wishes Watts the best and hopes that he makes a full recovery.

Local artist Paul Elledge is holding a photo exhibit from October 22nd to December 31st. The exhibit is in the New Semantics Gallery at Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mt. Vernon. It is titled Visions of Us: Southern Illinois Portraits by Paul Elledge.

The exhibit aims to represent the people in Southern Illinois through photographs. Elledge says in the Artist’s Statement that his goal is to “dispel stereotypes, encourage appreciation, and ultimately celebrate the remarkable depth and complexity of the people who call this region home.”

Developing a photographic style is a complicated topic. While having a distinct visual style used to be more important for professional photographers, many hobbyist photographers now also strive to find their aesthetic niche. This great video discusses why this desire for a personal style is so prevalent, then dives into tips and perspective on how to actually formulate your own style over time.

In this insightful video, James Popsys explores the reasons why photographers want to have a defined style, like having a cohesive body of work, a sense of clarity when shooting, and a form of individuality. He emphasizes that finding your ideal style is an ever-evolving process as your tastes change and your skills develop. Popsys suggests not labeling yourself within one genre, consuming diverse inspiration sources, and analyzing why exactly you like certain photographic elements. He shares his own style criteria, like simplicity and bold colors, to illustrate how parameters can help shape your work.

While developing a style requires patience through constant practice and failure, keeping your specific taste preferences in mind can guide your growth. Popsys encourages avoiding frustration by accepting that this long-term process will likely never have a defined end point. According to Popsys, landing on a style that genuinely appeals to you is far more rewarding than trying to emulate someone else’s aesthetic.

For Popsys’ complete thoughts and advice on finding your ideal photographic style, be sure to check out the video above. 

Article by Megan M.F. Everhart

Photos courtesy of Jon Cox and Tatiana Petrova

November 17, 2023