How we work

Specs and history

We checked everything on each camera page (sensor, ISO range, stabilization, card slots, battery, lens mount, known faults and the stories behind them) against sources we could cite. Those include maker spec pages and press releases, service advisories, Wikipedia and long-running reviews. When we couldn’t confirm a detail, we left it out or wrote it loosely. Firmware updates change what a body can do, so use every page as a starting point and check the camera in front of you.

Shutter ratings

A rated shutter life on a camera page is the figure the maker published, or one a review quoted from the maker. If we couldn’t find one, the page says so instead of guessing. A rating is a test average, not a promise: plenty of shutters run well past it and a few fail early. We don’t publish a “walk away” count, because nobody has the data to set one. Read the count against the rating and price the body for the life it has left.

No guessed prices

We don’t publish price ranges from memory. A price shows on a camera page only when it comes from a dated snapshot of that camera’s eBay listings (more below), and it always carries the date we checked. Asking prices aren’t selling prices. Before you make an offer, look at eBay’s sold listings (filter to “Sold items”) for the same model and base your offer on those.

Finding listings

Cameras without a snapshot link to a plain eBay search for the model, kept to eBay’s Digital Cameras category so lenses, batteries, grips and chargers sold on their own stay out of the results.

Working order first

A camera can look clean and still have a tired shutter, a spotty sensor or a card slot with a bent pin. The checklist on each camera page starts with its known weak spots and the photos or files to ask for, and our guide to reading a camera listing goes deeper. We’d rather you pay a fair price for a body that works than a low one for a repair you didn’t plan on.

Camera photos

The big photo on a camera page and its cards is a representative image, not a photo of any camera for sale. We make it with an AI image model from several real seller photos of that exact model, then compare it with those photos before we publish. Every camera gets the same plain studio backdrop so they look consistent side by side.

So the photo shows what the model looks like, not the condition of any one example. Kit lenses, grips and wear vary from camera to camera, and some small details may be simplified. Judge condition from the seller’s own photos, and ask for the shutter count before you buy. Wherever a representative photo appears large, it carries the caption “Representative photo, made by AI from real seller photos. Every listing differs.” Cameras without one show no photo.

Market snapshots and picks

For each camera with a buying guide, we go through the matching eBay listings on one date. We record how many there are, the price range, where most asking prices sit, and a set of listings with their price, shipping, format, seller feedback and condition. The date sits next to the listings, and by the time you read it some will have sold or ended. The “See every listing on eBay” link always opens the live search. When a snapshot has listings, the camera’s typical price on the page comes from it. When nothing was listed, the figure is labeled an estimate.

Then we tag the listings worth a look. Cheapest is the lowest delivered price for a complete, working body. Best value is a body with some evidence it works, at a below-typical price, and a low shutter count counts as evidence. Best for beginners and Easiest to get working go to bodies that come with a battery and charger and are shown working. Collector’s pick is a sought-after version at a sane price, and Project piece is a cheap body worth repairing. Two warning tags flag listings to approach with care. Check the seller means little or no feedback, and Priced high means well above the typical range with no clear reason. These are judgment calls from the listing text and photos. We haven’t handled the cameras, and nobody pays for placement.

Words you’ll see in listings

Shutter count: How many times the mechanical shutter has fired, also called actuations or clicks. It's the closest thing a camera has to an odometer. Some makers write it into every photo file, others only show it to service tools, so the way to read it depends on the brand.
Rated shutter life: The number of shots the maker tested the shutter to, like 150,000 or 200,000. It's an average from testing, not a limit. Shutters often run well past it, and a few fail early.
Electronic shutter: A mode on many mirrorless bodies that reads the sensor without moving the shutter curtains. Shots taken this way may not add to the mechanical count, so a body used mostly in silent mode can show a low count.
Body only: The camera without a lens. Check the photos and description for the battery, charger and body cap, because body only listings sometimes leave those out too.
Kit: A body sold with the zoom lens it was bundled with new. The kit lens is usually a modest one, so price the listing as the body plus whatever that lens sells for on its own.
Grey market: A camera imported outside the maker's official channel for that country. It works the same, but in the US some makers won't repair a grey body under warranty, and menus or the charger plug may differ.
Sensor dust: Specks on the filter in front of the sensor. They show as soft dark spots in a plain sky at small apertures like f/16. Most dust blows or swabs off, but marks that stay put after cleaning can mean a scratched filter.
Hot pixel: A pixel that shows as a bright colored dot, often only in long exposures. A few are normal on any sensor, and many cameras map them out with a built-in pixel mapping or cleaning routine.
IBIS: In-body image stabilization: the sensor moves on a floating mount to cancel camera shake, so every lens you fit gets stabilized. Test it on arrival with a few handheld shots at a slow shutter speed, and listen for grinding or watch for a jumpy viewfinder.
EVF and OVF: Electronic viewfinder, a small screen fed by the sensor, and optical viewfinder, the mirror and prism view of a DSLR. Mirrorless bodies use an EVF; DSLRs use an OVF.
Mint, Excellent, Like new: Seller grades with no shared standard on eBay. Read them as the seller's opinion and judge from the photos, the shutter count and what's in the box.
Firmware: The camera's own software. Makers release updates that fix faults and sometimes add features, and updating is free. A listing that shows the firmware version in the menu tells you the seller kept the camera current.

Independence

No affiliate links. We earn nothing (see the disclosure). We’re not paid by sellers and we’re not affiliated with any of the makers we cover or anyone who owns those names today.