Buying 2nd hand or used even

[arith]

What are the things to be wary of when buying a second hand 5D MK1. In a couple of weeks touch wood I'm going to be able to afford a 5D MK1 but already I'm following auctions and have become a little concerned.

Some say they've had it only 18 months and hardly used, others say they've had it two years from new with 18000 actuations whilst others say the only way to find out how many actuations is if it is sent to Canon.

In one the chap put a file up of high definition pics but one of the angles was missing, and interestingly the one that was missing showed a chipped lcd, I've seen quite a few chipped lcd's and I wondered why down the left and right bottom.

Also is that silly multi function toggle button reliable, so that's it really, what do I look out for?

[David]

Hi Steve - I'm not sure there is a definitive answer. I'm in the same boat in that I'm looking for a 5D Mk 11. There are some tempting offers on ebay. I guess one criterion is if there is any equivocation on the part of the seller. If he, she, or it does not know something about the camera that's being sold, I would be suspicious. Also, I suppose age is of concern. The newer the better, and I would probably want a receipt of purchase and/or registration. On ebay now you can ask questions of sellers, so I guess some sharp enquiry might give you a lead on the reliability of the seller. I notice on some of the ones I've been looking at that some sellers give obvious straight forward answers, others don't.

Anyway, just some thoughts. Maybe a general thread of advice on such matters could be put together.

Cheers

David

[arith]

That is good advice David. It is too suspicious to accidentally leave out an image then to provide a blurred one. I also noticed nobody seems interested in it. But you are right about asking and one question has to be 'how old is it?' but the answer 'I've only had it two years', isn't good enough really.

Another thing is I watch a lot to find out which go for the higher prices and try to work out why, but the people buying the top priced ones are buying more than one camera, they seem to be buying the lot so could be dealers or people that make fake bids.

There is a very nice one owned by a professional as a second body, the description seems truthful enough but already the price is bumped up by one of these multiple bidders and I expect it will be very expensive.