The True Value of Camera Gear – Beyond the Frame 99/
Selling used camera gear through MPB: a first-hand account of the process, from instant quote to final payout. Plus the non-photographic accessories that never leave my camera bag.
This special edition is sponsored by MPB.
The True Value of Camera Gear
This is one of my favourite photos of my wife, the marvellous Mrs G. She’s standing on a narrow street in Kathmandu, tilting the LCD screen of her Canon EOS 60D towards three boys. They’ve crowded in to see the photo she’s just made of them. They’re laughing. So is she.
The camera did not only make the photo, it made the moment.
There are many similar photos of my wife – she is leaning out of a train doorway in Sri Lanka, balancing on the prow of a long-tail boat on the Mekong River, crouching on the frozen waters of the Danube – all with a camera in hand.
Looking at these memories, I am struck by something that is often lost in conversations about camera gear. For her, the camera has not only been a recording device, it has been a catalyst, a reason to step off the well-worn path, to look more carefully, to engage with people and places more intently.
Much has been written about the extent to which gear matters. The received wisdom is that a good photographer can work with any gear. That’s true, to a point, but it misses the essence of why the right gear matters. Yes, Yo-Yo Ma could play something more tuneful on an elastic band than I could manage on a Stradivarius. But hand him the Stradivarius and you’ll immediately understand what the right tool in the right hands is capable of.
The point is not that better gear makes better photographs. It is that the right gear – right for how you work, how you think, how you move – reduces the friction between your intentions and the results. When your camera gear suits you, you carry it with you. And because you carry it, you use it.
When Mrs G and I sat down recently to think about selling her camera gear – the 60D, the 6D and a collection of lenses that have accompanied her across continents – there was more to the conversation than I’d expected. Mrs G’s cameras have travelled. She has carried them through temples and markets, on boats and trains, through rainforests and over frozen rivers. They have provided her with introductions to dozens of people she might not otherwise have spoken with. Letting the cameras go felt unexpectedly significant.
Which is partly why it mattered to her how they were sold. Gear with that kind of history deserves to keep working, not simply be discarded. The idea that another photographer might take the same camera back to Kathmandu to create their own memorable moments felt like the right kind of ending. Or, more accurately, the right way to continue the cameras’ stories.
And so, since they’d offered to partner with Beyond the Frame, we asked MPB to help the cameras and lenses begin their next chapter.
The Onward Journey
Two Canon camera bodies, four lenses (including a much-loved 50mm ƒ/1.2), a Sony compact and a collection of Lensbaby optics. We laid them on our dining table and mapped the many places they’ve been.
MPB operates a global marketplace for buying, selling and trading camera gear. Now that we’ve completed the process, I can share my honest account of how it works.
We searched for each item on the MPB website. Everything was there, even the more obscure optics. For each item, we selected a condition rating from MPB’s five-grade scale. I assessed everything to be in “good” condition. A quote appeared for each item, along with a combined total.
Once Mrs G had accepted the quote, MPB sent a packing slip and arranged a courier to collect from our home the following day at no charge to us. Everything was fully insured in transit.
On arrival, MPB’s specialists assessed the items. They upgraded the condition rating on a couple of the premium lenses, which gave a better payout than the original quote. The deal was done and payment followed soon after.
I had assessed the gear honestly but MPB disagreed – in our favour. That’s a reassuring result and a view reinforced by over 5,000 reviews on Trustpilot.
Buying Gear
If you’re looking to buy or trade, the same rigour works in the other direction. Every item is assessed by the same specialists and individually photographed – so you see exactly what you’re buying. Purchases come with a warranty and 14-day return window.
If you have gear gathering dust or a wish list gathering interest, the MPB website can provide a useful reality check.
“It is important to have the right equipment for the purpose at hand and which is compatible with your own personality. It is possible to insert a screw with a hammer but the job is a lot more efficient with a screwdriver.”
– David Hurn
The Wider Angle
Never Leave Home Without…
In my experience, most photographers carry some non-photographic accessories in their camera bags. Some tools help with specific tasks, others are multi-functional.
Here are four non-camera accessories that can always be found in my camera bag:
T-REX ‘Ferociously Strong’ repair tape For on-the-spot repairs. Camera straps, battery covers, torn clothing, camera bags and pretty much anything else. It’s waterproof, sticks to anything and never comes loose. Also a roll of stretchier, PVC ‘Plumber’s Tape’ when a more elastic fix is needed.
Loop Ear Protectors For reducing but not completely eliminating environmental noise in crowds, protests, concerts, aeroplanes and when sleeping in noisy hotel rooms.
USB-A / USB-C 64GB Flash Drive For moving files between various devices, phones, laptops etc. Handy during workshops when transferring students’ files and for delivering files for printing.
Victorinox Cyber Tool Swiss Army Knife All the usual Swiss Army Knife tools plus pliers and various hex drives to fit all manner of gadgets.
The DPReview website has a forum where readers share their favourite camera bag accessories. Suggestions range from the predictable (lens hoods and spare batteries) to the more idiosyncratic, including make-up brushes, clothes pegs, pocket tissues, paracetamol, and a five-yen coin.
What is your favourite non-photographic camera bag accessory? What gizmo, gadget or special tool do you always keep in your camera bag? Leave a comment with your recommendations.
Camera Obsolete?
If you’re interested in taking a more lateral approach to your creative endeavours, you might like to take your camera gear to the Belfast Photo Festival in Ireland.
The festival includes a participatory installation called Camera Obsolete? Visitors are invited to “destroy, dismantle, recast or resist the transformation of obsolete cameras into new sculptural forms.”
If the prospect of taking a hammer to a camera in a dedicated rage room doesn’t appeal, you might prefer to adopt an old camera and return it to use, asserting the continuing value of photography as a physical medium in an increasingly digital and AI-driven image culture.
I’m hopeful that the queue for the Camera Adoption Room is the longest.
And finally…
Mrs G and I have begun the conversation about what gear is going to fill the empty space in her camera bag – and where in the world she’s going to take it.
Whatever it is and wherever it goes, I’m hoping for more moments like this:
If you have any gear-related questions, suggestions for camera bag accessories, thoughts or observations, leave a note in the comments.
Until next week and Beyond the Frame’s 100th edition…
Go well.
✤ Creative Inspiration
Lateral-thinking prompts, inspired by Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, designed with photographers in mind.
Read more and learn how to use my Oblique Strategies for Photographers.
Good to see Ms. Peony front and center!!
I always have in my camera bags a plastic bag with which to cover the camera I'm using, in case of rain, and a flattened partial roll of TP...just in case. :-D
I really relate to the emotional side of the meaning of the equipment. For years I lugged around backpacks with Nikon bodies and other gear. When I finally sold the film bodies (2) and the lenses (11, of which I kept 2), it was traumatic, even though they had sat dormant while I spent a 5-7 year period using a series of high-quality little cameras - about 28-80 zooms, RAW capable - including some wonderful little Ricohs, an Olympus (XZ-1?), and others. I think of it as my "haiku" period. Eventually I missed the good glass, and though I intended to go to 4:3, the image quality of Fuji took me there. I now have two FujiFilm bodies (XE-2 and XT-30), two zooms, and two primes that are what I mostly use - 24 and 85 equivalents. FujiFilm is worth a look in case Tun is shopping.
Great episode, thanks for going there.
I thought about sharing my own experience with MPB, if any of your readers is also interested. When I sold all my Fuji kit I consulted MPB on quotation. In the end I sold everything personally except for one lens, for almost 2x as much as MPB would give me. That one lens, they offered 1/3 of the cost for a brand new one. I had bought it for 2/3 in mint condition.
Everything else was done as you described. They sent the info to be attached to a card box that, of course, it’s at our expense, and courier picked it up at my home. It was seamlessly and very quick. Of course, that also accounts for the low cost they offer.
I think it may be good for second hand cameras since I hardly trust people I don’t know with cameras. Lenses are easier to test with the seller. In any case, the cost of their second hand gear is almost as much as brand new, so I’m not sure if I’ll ever buy anything from them.
For those that live far from a city, it may well be harder to sell or buy second hand gear, so it may be a good solution.
Regarding gear, yes, my vision is that it matters, a lot. It can be a difference between getting or not getting the image. It’s very far from black or white and there are thousands of situations where gear indeed makes the difference. I won’t enter that debate 😆