Why You Should Sell Your Old Photography Gear (Other Than Money)
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You should sell your old photography gear. Of course, when you sell your old photography gear, that means you can have a little extra spending money, but there are plenty of other great reasons for why you should sell your old photography gear.
The benefits of selling photography gear include the fact that it helps you to free up space in your studio or closet where you keep it all, the fact that you are giving your old camera a second life, and the fact that it is environmentally friendly to do so.
I am a firm believer in “reduce, reuse, recycle” and by reading through this list of reasons to sell old photography gear, you can be too.
To Upgrade Your Equipment
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One of the biggest reasons why you should sell your old photography gear is that it will allow you to upgrade your own equipment. Just like you can outgrow old clothing, you can outgrow your photography equipment.
I like to get a new camera for myself at least once every two to three years. The specs on older cameras quickly become outdated in today’s market and this makes sure that I have everything that any of my clients could ask for (including things like 6K video).
I also like to get a new camera every couple of years because it prevents me from getting rusty. If you grow too accustomed to your old camera, it can be more difficult to start working with something different. Since I enjoy being able to pick up a camera and work with it within a few minutes, I need to keep those skills updated.
When you sell your old photography gear, you can use all of the money you make off of that purchase and put it towards something new.
To Keep Organized
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I know that it’s a little late for spring cleaning, but I’m not judging you if you haven’t quite gotten around to it yet. While you’re doing your yearly cleaning, you may run into a lot of old equipment that you’ve nearly forgotten about. I know that a lot of my old gear ends up getting stuck in corners of my closet, where I’ll forget about them for months.
When you sell your old photography gear, you will not only keep your spouse happier with you for keeping the house in order, but you’ll also make it easier on yourself to organize all of your equipment when you aren’t using it. This is an especially important tip for people who need to pack up all of their gear on a regular basis for shooting events.
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To Help Other Photographers
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When you sell your old photography gear you aren’t only helping yourself, you’re also helping whoever happens to buy your stuff.
I still refuse to buy new photography gear, but when I was first getting started in photography this was more a necessity than a choice. I couldn’t afford new equipment. If it weren’t for other, more experienced photographers who were willing to go through the hassle of selling their old gear, I may have never ended up in the industry at all.
Depending upon the quality of your old gear, you could be helping someone get started in photography or you could be helping someone start to make some more money in their photography business. It’s a win win.
To Keep It Out of Landfills
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This is one of my favorite reasons for suggesting that you should sell your old photography gear. In doing so, you are keeping it out of landfills.
I don’t know if you’ve ever looked into the environmental toll that photography places on the planet, but it isn’t great. If you don’t properly dispose of your cameras, then you are helping to put toxic chemicals into the environment. These toxic chemicals, like lead and mercury, oftentimes end up in our water supplies. Worse, electronic waste is really not regulated at all. Things like cameras aren’t technically supposed to end up in landfills at all because they take so incredibly long to break down. We are talking thousands of years.
Since cameras have relatively short lifespans anyways, don’t make them any shorter by throwing them away when someone else would be more than happy to use them.
When you sell your old camera gear, you are helping the environment by keeping it in use for just a little while longer.
To Flex Your Altruism
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If you have old camera gear that you genuinely think you won’t be able to sell, then there are plenty of charities that would love to have it.
The Film Photography Project is one such charity that donates film cameras to students all over the world. It’s a personal favorite project of mine because it is also a great way to keep the art of film photography alive.
If you have old digital cameras that you would like to donate, then you can look at the One Shot Project, which sends old cameras overseas to Iraqi children to help them recover from the plight of war, or you can look at NYC Salt, which pairs mentors with underserved students in New York City.
Of course, there is also a really good chance that your old equipment is easier to sell than you might think. If you’ve been wondering where to sell used photography gear, and you don’t want to go through the hassle of finding a buyer yourself, you can sell your old equipment to MPB.
MPB operates across North America and Europe and buys old equipment from photographers to resell it. This means that you can get a quick and easy quote for your old gear right away. It also means you don’t have to worry about shipping because MPB will send a prepaid box to you.
And, if you are interested in replacing your old gear with new gear, MPB makes it easy to use the price of your old gear towards whatever new gear you would like to purchase.
In order to learn more about MPB, feel free to read our full MPB review below.