Your Old Camera Gear Might Be Worth More Than You Paid

So recently, I suffered a bout of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.) and sold most of my Canon EOS M system cameras and lenses and switched back to Micro Four Thirds. But here’s the crazy thing: In some cases, I got more than I paid for the cameras brand new, which really shines a light on how much tariffs have warped the sense of what an affordable camera is.

Let’s take the camera I jumped back in with: The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV. Using a price comparison tool that can give a decent snapshot into what this camera has historically cost, one can see that it’s hovered mostly between the $600–$700 mark for most of its life, sometimes dipping to $500, which means that right now, with all the economic nonsense going on, this entry-level camera is at $700 for the body only—on the high end of where it’s been. Yikes. Used, I paid $598.50 for the camera from B&H Photo when the price of a new one was even higher a couple of months ago at $799.

Unfortunately for me, I have a (mostly) direct comparison of how warped the used market is. I purchased a 3-year-old, excellent-condition E-M10 Mark II in 2018 for a whopping $311.95. That means I paid almost $300 more for a 4-year-old camera of the same model line. Ouch. The same Mark II model I purchased is hovering just under $400 even still in the used market.

But while being on the shopping end of things stings a little, there was some good news when it came to trade-ins. I didn’t want to expend the energy associated with selling off my gear piece-by-piece, meeting random strangers in parking lots, and dealing with cash, and so I got a quote from MPB.com and sent everything off in one shot. I didn’t think anything about it until I saw my daughter’s camera, an EOS M200 for sale, sans lens, for a shocking $524! The camera came out in 2019 at a suggested retail price of $549.99. Don’t worry, she got an upgrade.

When I looked in detail at what I got for the trade-in, it turns out that for a camera I bought for $299 new with the kit lens, I got a more-than-fair $360 from MPB after a couple of years of use. This feels like when my old used car suddenly shot up in value after the pandemic, and I got almost what I paid for it after driving it 95,000 miles.

Shrinkflation Hits Cameras

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. Much like “shrinkflation” has hit the food industry, with smaller portions for the same amount of money, camera manufacturers are engaged in the same shenanigans.

One of the biggest party fouls I found in the new OM SYSTEM cameras I purchased (I also got an OM-5 Mark II) is that the newer models have moved away from the solid-feeling magnesium alloy to almost entirely polycarbonate bodies. Even the lower-end E-M10 series was metal for a while. While the OM-5 Mark II still claims a high level of weather sealing, there’s no doubt it feels less “premium” in hand compared to the older model.

But beyond the build, the cameras are losing some expected—and unexpected—pack-ins. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II came with the FL-LM3 mini flash that was perfectly sized for a Micro Four Thirds camera, and unlike most flashes, it can tilt and swivel, making it far more useful than a pop-up flash. But that pack-in flash is nowhere to be found in the OM-5 Mark II box, and indeed, it doesn’t even work on the new camera, which is a shame.

Likewise, while the battery on the OM-5 has been the same for several generations, you won’t find a charger in the box. The camera charges with USB-C, and while that’s fine for the battery in the camera, it precludes the use of a charger to charge extras while you shoot.

All of this is at a price of $1,199, which is higher than the $1,099 launch price of the aforementioned E-M5 Mark II.

These are a couple of isolated examples, but it seems like if you’re in need of an infusion of cash for the holidays, now’s a great time to offload some of that gear that’s been collecting dust.