My used equipment buying history

The good the bad and the plain ugly

Here is an honest look at all equipment I bought used recently

During the beginning of 2020s I was not able to travel much and started writing these pages. I tried to justify my shopping addiction as research for these pages, and although I ended up paying quite a bit, I also learned a lot, mainly that better equipment does not make you a better photographer. I have this list here (a bit reluctantly), not to show off, but as an example for you to see that

there is a lot of very good equipment you can buy used and
you definitely do not need to buy much equipment.

I acquired all these through Ricardo, a Swiss site. A local site (instead of a global one like Ebay has some advantages, shipping is easier, there are no customs involved, and being in a smaller country cheating is a bit less likely. Of course the selection is much more limited. To be fair, Switzerland is a rich country, so there are also a lot of people that had the means to buy crazy equipment, so I am not sure if this would be the same everywhere.

The list

This list is chronological, check the comments on price.

Equipment	Type	Price	Quality	Notes
Nikon 135	manual	60	Quite poor	It might be particular to the lens I have, but it has atrocious quality at `f/2.8` (and mind you I am not the quality freak). Even for that price this is not really a good deal. But on the plus side, it will allow me to get some bad comparison pictures for this www site. So this is a win in some part.
Nikon 75-150	Zoom manual	60	Really good	First impressions: very solid build, and very nice feel when using. The range is a bit limited (compared to the Nikon 70-210 for example) but still works great.
Nikon 28-80	Zoom Kit lens	39	Very good	Very light lens that covers basically the same range as the Nikon 24-70. The weight loss is due to cheaper plastic build, simpler optics, slower speed. This is an autofocus lens, and it is quite fast in the focus, the focus ring is too rickety to use for manual focus though.
Nikon 50-135	Zoom manual	50	Quite decent	I love these lenses, they are sturdy and well designed so most of them work decently. It is still early days with this lens for me, I definitely did not need this lens, but I simply love playing with these. The image quality is actually very good, the problem is a bit with the minimum focus distance, even with the macro mode that all zooms of those time have, you end up about 60cm away at 50mm.
Soligor 35-200	Zoom manual	20	Has issues	Yet another one of the completely insanely priced lensed. For this price if it just managed to get some picture you would be happy. This is a no name lens, which has also a very interesting macro focus capability. So is it good? No ! But it is not completely useless either. I was able to get really pictures with it, but not as consistently as I would like. I am still not sure why sometimes I get really bad looking pictures with it.
Nikon 100-300	Zoom manual	22	Very good	Ok this is an insane price for this lens, and at this price no one can have any complaints. Essentially it is a longer Nikon 70-210 (the manual focus one). Certainly not one of the easiest lenses to use, but especially if you are into landscapes and photograph outdoors, this is as good as anything else I have used.
Nikon 16-35	Wide angle zoom	380	Excellent	I am used to work with wide angle zooms. This one is actually quite expensive, heavy and has not much of an upside over the lighter Nikon 10-24. It is sort of useful, and I am not upset over buying it. It is definitely worth the money, I will use it, but I could have easily done without it.
Nikon 55	Macro manual	106	Very good	I actually need macros for my work, and enjoy them. I never had a short focal length macro so I wanted to give it a try. This was more of a curiosity than need, but I am super happy with this lens. Technically there is not much that this lens does better than a Nikon 50 which you can get for 127 new (at `f/1.8` with autofocus) so it is a bit questionable if there is any point in buying this (or any reason why Nikon 50 should not be owned by everyone).
Nikon 200	Prime manual	75	Very good	The lens is very good, and technically although it is a bit slower (`f/4.0` vs `f/2.8`) a good comparison would be the Nikon 180. The aperture for these long lenses are a bit overrated. This lens makes just as good pictures as the Nikon 180 which costs 3x more. It is a pity that it is not much lighter or cheaper Nikon 70-210. I should not have bought this one.
Nikon 105	Macro	199	Excellent	Yes another one (I actually have three 105 Macros). But this is the one that was stolen, and now I was able to replace it. These lenses usually sell for much more, somehow the macro increases the price by a lot.
Nikon 100	Prime manual	99	Has some issues with focus ring	What a find. Even though the focus ring problem (it slips) is very annoying, this lens is so light that it is one of my favorites. You also realize that the 230 I paid for the Nikon 180 is definitely a good price for the build quality.
Sigma 17-35	Wide angle zoom	143	Not that good	There is a reason why a Nikon 16-35 is more expensive, and this one cheaper. The lens technically works, the quality is not that good, and there are issues with exposure that needs to be tuned (way) differently for different focal lengths. Not a good decision.
Nikon 28-300	Universal zoom	311	Excellent	This is a very good lens, and it usually does not sell very cheap used. I have a love/hate relationship with this lens, as there is nothing not to love, but somehow makes all my other lens purchases irrelevant. It is also pricey, considering that it is the same lens as Nikon 18-200 for a full frame for 2.5x the price.
Tamron 28-200	Universal zoom	41	Very bad	A good cautionary tale about cheap lenses. This one is just a waste of time and money. It can make pictures, and I am the last person to complain about sharpness, but this one delivered really bad pictures, no matter how hard I tried. Gave it to someone who was looking for something to disassemble.
Tamron 60-300	Zoom manual	45	Very good	I had no hopes for this lens at this price. This is actually a very interesting lens, but it is not for beginners. It works quite well as a macro, and on a tripod you could use it as a decent long lens.
Nikon 180	Prime manual	230	Very good	It is quite expensive, tricky to use, and you definitely do not need it, but... this lens is great. I just love it. Totally not rational I know.
Nikon 24-120	Kit lens	48	Decent	I had to have this. According to Ken Rockwell, this is one of the ten worst lenses of Nikon. Small hint, it is not that bad. I like that it goes wider than some of the other zooms. Another plus is a vibration reduction. Price performance wise, this is a decent lens, however not one you get excited about.
Nikon 28-200	Universal zoom	70	Good	This was just curiosity. A Nikon 28-300 the equivalent of Nikon 18-200 for full frame is quite expensive (see above), for a fraction of the price you can get this one, which is just a bit shorter (and has no vibration reduction). Honestly it shows its age a bit, it could definitely be better (what I miss the most is actually the minimum focus distance which is quite high for this lens), but for this price, this is a steal.
Nikon 18-200	Universal zoom	118	Good	This is practically all you need with an APS-C camera. The 300mm version sells for about twice the price, whereas this one is just as useful. Sure there are optically better lenses, but this one has also all the bells and whistles. Great price, very good buy.
Nikon 200	Macro	580	Decent, squeaky autofocus	Second expensive lens, and second bad buy. The lens has some issues with the autofocus drive, probably used a lot. As a macro you do not need autofocus that much, so that is OK, optically very good, but even as a macro this has some very specific use cases, not really needed for most people, myself included. I should not have bought this lens.
Nikon 135	Prime	690	Excellent	One of the most expensive things I bought used. The lens is great, but not worth that price to be very honest. I have seen 135mm `f/2.8` manual lenses go for around 100. And if you are taking portraits, these will do just as well. I still like this lens, but definitely too expensive, and definitely did not need it.
Nikon 35-105	Zoom manual	39	Excellent	Absolutely insane price. This is a very cute lens, looks great, but it requires a bit of work, requires some experience and patience to get the most out of it. But optically and mechanically a very very good lens.
Nikon D610	Full frame	440	Excellent	After seeing how good the used Nikon D90 was, I was intrigued to go for a full frame. Excellent buy, needed a tiny bit of cleaning but very solid. As these cameras age, their price will go down, I can probably get a Nikon D750 for this price, which still remains my favorite of everything I ever owned. Bottom line, for about this price you can get the best you will need as an amateur photographer
Nikon 105	Macro manual	180	Very good	My second hand shopping started because someone stole my Nikon D750 with a Nikon 105 on it. Worse yet, the stolen lens (a D version) was not mine, and I replaced the stolen one with my own 105, and was looking for a replacement. The Sigma 150 was to get a bit of variation. As mentioned above macro lenses are expensive to get, but if you use a macro, you do not need autofocus and other gimmicks. This lens worked great as a replacement as good as any others I used for macro work.
Nikon D90	APS-C	115	Excellent	I actually still use my original old Nikon D90, but could not pass on this one. This camera was in excellent condition, worked really great. Still one of my favorite cameras, and a great one to start learning. I gave this one away to a friend.
Nikon 70-210	Zoom	56	Very good	Yes another one, this time the autofocus version. I could not pass on the price. The lens works very well, the autofocus is a bit slow and I have many other lenses that I could use in that range. I gave this one away to a friend.
Nikon 24	Prime	120	Very good	Great lens, although personally I end up using Nikon 20 or Nikon 35 more, basically you also do not need too many prime lenses.
Nikon 35-70	Zoom	120	Big issues	One of the worst buys, at wider angles, auto focus does not work, there is a range where things work but you do not want something that does not work at some ranges.
Nikon 70-210	Zoom manual	79	Excellent	This is the manual focus version of this lens. It works beautifully, not good for fast moving things, but a great bargain.
Sigma 150	Macro	350	Good but VR does not work	I actually love this lens, use it a lot. Looking back, it is a bit expensive, but definitely not one of the worst buys.

Some tips

Always make sure to check the price of how much this equipment would cost new.
Mentally set your spending limit before, do not cross this limit, ever! No matter how attractive it looks, there will be more opportunities later. Unlike art, used equipment does not get more expensive with time.
Get to know the competition, there are plenty of professional users that earn money buy buying and selling. You have a competitive advantage over them, they can not pay as much as you can as they need to leave themselves a margin to earn money from this purchase.
The price does not always reflect the quality, there are some things for which people will pay more. In my experience:
- macro lenses are always expensive used although most people do not need a macro
- People go crazy for fast lenses. A used f/2.8 lens will usually have a price that is (comparatively) less attractive than a f/4 lens. I say comparatively, counting in the fact that there is some merit in the improved quality, but you would see a f/2.8 lens sell for (say) 50% of its original price whereas a f/4 will be much cheaper.
- Same thing is with the focal length. Zooms with slightly less longer end like a Nikon 18-200 will be (comparatively) more attractive than their longer counterparts (like the Nikon 18-300).
Do not bid early, there is no need to wake up the competition. Wait until the end, enter your maximum bid, do not follow the bidding any further, you get it if you get it.
If the price is too good there is probably something wrong.
You are buying old equipment, there will be buys that are not that great in shape. Check the photographs, only buy things that look like the seller has put actual photographs and not some pictures of the equipment from the Internet.
Most professionals will sell off their used equipment once they reach the end of their useful life. For cameras, check the click count, only a professional (well..) can get the click count to above 50'000. Another tell is the bottom plate. Professional studio photographers will mount their cameras on tripods (you see scratches and wear on the bottom plate) where the rest of the camera looks pristine (as they do not have use for the buttons, their settings are mostly programmed).

If I had to choose once again

Consider that I have bought several prime lenses so I did not buy many used prime lenses. But from this list, the Nikon D90 is a steal and with a Nikon 18-200 you have all that you need. The ones that I really like using is the Nikon 100, Nikon 180 and the Sigma 150. The guilty pleasure one is the Nikon 135, too expensive, but fun to use. Both the Nikon 70-210 and Nikon 35-105 are crazy good value, as is Tamron 60-300.

The higher end bunch, Nikon D610, Nikon 28-300, Nikon 16-35 are worth their cost. It is just that these are a bit more than what I really need. So I could get a similar setup for one third the price.

These pages are for Amateur Photographers and not really for seasoned photographers and professionals. I have no affiliation or commercial interest with any brand/make. I write from my own experience. I ended up using mainly Nikon, so I am more familiar with this brand than others. See price for notes on pricing as well as photography related links.