raminolta wrote:
As you read the responses, you realize different people have different preferences. It will be hard to say which one is the one you will end up liking more as nobody knows your preferences. Considering you are undecided, I would guess either one will make you equally happy.
That’s a key fact that is too frequently forgotten in forums: the reason that different versions of cameras exist is because different features have different value to different photographers and types of photography. Neither of the two cameras discussed here is objectively “the best” — they simply have a different feature set. Rather than picking “the best camera,” the goal is to pick “the camera with the features that best match my needs.”
That isn’t easy to do, for a variety of reasons. There are too many “experts” (youtubers, forum participants, etc.) invested in naming one thing “the best.” And because opinions about gear are so varied, a person trying to sort them out can be overwhelmed.
In the case in this thread, I suspect that either camera could make our OP happy…
- - -
Recklesscoding wrote:
I echo what others said. A used camera is a used camera…
True for cameras and lenses. How many times do we read in this forum and elsewhere something like the following: “I was not happy with the way this [lens/camera/etc.] performed, so I’m seizing it…”
and there’s a non-zero chance that someone is buying that “unhappy” gear.
There’s also a chance that the gear is fine. (My first full frame camera, something like 20 years ago, was used, and it worked out fine.) You just can’t know. And if there is an issue you can’t return it and you’ll have no warranty coverage.
Does this mean you should not buy used? No. It just means that you need to weigh any cost advantage against the risks you may be taking and decide whether the balance is comfortable for you. (Generally, I think getting used gear from a reliable source is a fine idea if you simply cannot afford a new product.)
- - -
Juha Kannisto wrote:
I have a lot of 8TB and smaller HDD drives in the closet full of images from the last 14 years and it wouldn't be nice to accumulate more of those drives twice as fast when there's no real benefit from the higher resolution images for me. Those drives haven't been getting cheaper either in recent times. I could spend more time deleting images that are not the best but I don't enjoy that so I keep most of them. I don't have duplicate backups though.
Drives don’t last forever, as I can tell you from painful experience. I also have quite a few 8TB drives (usually combined into larger capacity volumes) to store old files. When one dies periodically I replace with a larger size, usually at the same or lower price — usually lower in inflation-adjusted terms. (I agree, right now we have a price anomaly due to the AI stuff.)
FWIW, I have over 20 years of raw files, (rather large) photoshop files, and a backup of my system drive on a 16YB volume. (And, yes, I have more than one backup elsewhere.)
raminolta wrote:
As you read the responses, you realize different people have different preferences. It will be hard to say which one is the one you will end up liking more as nobody knows your preferences. Considering you are undecided, I would guess either one will make you equally happy.
That’s a key fact that is too frequently forgotten in forums: the reason that different versions of cameras exist is because different features have different value to different photographers and types of photography. Neither of the two cameras discussed here is objectively “the best” — they simply have a different feature set. Rather than picking “the best camera,” the goal is to pick “the camera with the features that best match my needs.”
That isn’t easy to do, for a variety of reasons. There are too many “experts” (youtubers, forum participants, etc.) invested in naming one thing “the best.” And because opinions about gear are so varied, a person trying to sort them out can be overwhelmed.
In the case in this thread, I suspect that either camera could make our OP happy…
- - -
Recklesscoding wrote:
I echo what others said. A used camera is a used camera…
True for cameras and lenses. How many times do we read in this forum and elsewhere something like the following: “I was not happy with the way this [lens/camera/etc.] performed, so I’m seizing it…”
and there’s a non-zero chance that someone is buying that “unhappy” gear.
There’s also a chance that the gear is fine. (My first full frame camera, something like 20 years ago, was used, and it worked out fine.) You just can’t know. And if there is an issue you can’t return it and you’ll have no warranty coverage.
Does this mean you should not buy used? No. It just means that you need to weigh any cost advantage against the risks you may be taking and decide whether the balance is comfortable for you. (Generally, I think getting used gear from a reliable source is a fine idea if you simply cannot afford a new product.)
- - -
Juha Kannisto wrote:
I have a lot of 8TB and smaller HDD drives in the closet full of images from the last 14 years and it wouldn't be nice to accumulate more of those drives twice as fast when there's no real benefit from the higher resolution images for me. Those drives haven't been getting cheaper either in recent times. I could spend more time deleting images that are not the best but I don't enjoy that so I keep most of them. I don't have duplicate backups though.
Drives don’t last forever, as I can tell you from painful experience. I also have quite a few 8TB drives (usually combined into larger capacity volumes) to store old files. When one dies periodically I replace with a larger size, usually at the same or lower price — usually lower in inflation-adjusted terms. (I agree, right now we have a price anomaly due to the AI stuff.)
raminolta wrote:
As you read the responses, you realize different people have different preferences. It will be hard to say which one is the one you will end up liking more as nobody knows your preferences. Considering you are undecided, I would guess either one will make you equally happy.
That’s a key fact that is too frequently forgotten in forums: the reason that different versions of cameras exist is because different features have different value to different photographers and types of photography. Neither of the two cameras discussed here is objectively “the best” — they simply have a different feature set. Rather than picking “the best camera,” the goal is to pick “the camera with the features that best match my needs.”
That isn’t easy to do, for a variety of reasons. There are too many “experts” (youtubers, forum participants, etc.) invested in naming one thing “the best.” And because opinions about gear are so varied, a person trying to sort them out can be overwhelmed.
In the case in this thread, I suspect that either camera could make our OP happy…
- - -
Recklesscoding wrote:
I echo what others said. A used camera is a used camera…
True for cameras and lenses. How many times do we read in this forum and elsewhere something like the following: “I was not happy with the way this [lens/camera/etc.] performed, so I’m seizing it…”
and there’s a non-zero chance that someone is buying that “unhappy” gear.
There’s also a chance that the gear is fine. (My first full frame camera, something like 20 years ago, was used, and it worked out fine.) You just can’t know. And if there is an issue you can’t return it and you’ll have no warranty coverage.
Does this mean you should not buy used? No. It just means that you need to weigh any cost advantage against the risks you may be taking and decide whether the balance is comfortable for you. (Generally, I think getting used gear from a reliable source is a fine idea if you simply cannot afford a new product.)
Oct 26, 2026 at 09:46 AM
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