I am getting a little too old to do Weddings. My helpers and camera person have moved on to other professions. I have two Camera's that I would like to sell. Both are Canon GL2's. Great condition. They have 10 Weddings behind them. I'm looking for a much cheaper Camera but that's another story.
I'm looking to do smaller Video jobs. As we all know Wedding videography is a hard days work. Very demanding but rewarding. I have enjoyed every minute of it.
My question is, What would be the best way to sell my two Canon's. Ebay or some other way? Or possibly trading them in on another cheaper camera. Do Camera Dealers accept Trade In's on their camera's? This my first time wondering how to approach the subject. I would appreciate any idea's that any of you would suggest.
Thanks Again
Harry

There is hardly a market for those cameras, SD video is pretty much history, people are now using HD or more often now UHD.

On eBay they sell for about $100 - $150 tops.

Frankly I doubt dealers want to accept those cameras for trade-in.

I don't think you will get much for cameras of that vintage unfortunately. They were great cameras in their day, but that was 15 years ago.

You can see if B&H Photo will offer you anything here: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/trade-in.jsp&cm_sp=Banner-_-Promotions-_-CashInYourGear

There is hardly a market for those cameras, SD video is pretty much history, people are now using HD or more often now UHD.

On eBay they sell for about $100 - $150 tops.

Frankly I doubt dealers want to accept those cameras for trade-in.

Thank you for you input. Yes I basically knew all that. I guess I needed some else's opinion. I guess I waited too long.
Anyway Much appreciated
Harry

I don't think you will get much for cameras of that vintage unfortunately. They were great cameras in their day, but that was 15 years ago.

You can see if B&H Photo will offer you anything here: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/trade-in.jsp&cm_sp=Banner-_-Promotions-_-CashInYourGear

Thank you for your input and advice. You confirmed my fears. I will check into your suggestion.
Thanks again. Much appreciated.
Harry

Ebay would be my vote, or local Craigslist for maybe $100-200 each. You could also put an ad up here. I would think the main type of buyer would be someone who already has one or more of the same camera, looking for a backup or replacement. I would also consider donanting them to a school or church - determining their value for tax purposes might be easier than selling them outright on the market. Or keep them and just enjoy looking at them from time to time for nostalgia sake.

Ebay would be my vote, or local Craigslist for maybe $100-200 each. You could also put an ad up here. I would think the main type of buyer would be someone who already has one or more of the same camera, looking for a backup or replacement. I would also consider donanting them to a school or church - determining their value for tax purposes might be easier than selling them outright on the market. Or keep them and just enjoy looking at them from time to time for nostalgia sake.
Nate
Thanks for the reply. Definitely will consider this and check into it.
Regards
Harry

I would second the idea of donating to a school, and writing it off. Probably get the most value out of them, if you can write off closer to what you spent than what they're worth. Check with an accountant.

tried to sell an old Canon XL 1 a few months ago, it wasn't in good condition. Ended up giving it away to a charity.

R

I would second the idea of donating to a school, and writing it off. Probably get the most value out of them, if you can write off closer to what you spent than what they're worth. Check with an accountant.

tried to sell an old Canon XL 1 a few months ago, it wasn't in good condition. Ended up giving it away to a charity.

R
Bryan and Rob;
Thank you for the suggestion. The more I think about this the more logical it sounds. I've Been doing a lot of checking on ebay on how much I could get for my Camera's. Not much. However we have some High Schools in my area that are strapped for cash and might want them. They have a video and drama dept so they could put them to use. I'll check with my Tax man to see how much I could get as a deduction.
Many Thanks again.
Harry

"For depreciated assets that are donated, your charitable donation is limited to the lower of its current market value or its net cost basis on your books (cost less depreciation). If it's fully depreciated, your deduction for donating it is zero."

It's sad to think about what we paid for expensive gear and what it's worth 10 or 15 years later, but that's what technology is like. Same thing with computers. Here's a true story that should give you a chuckle.

Cleaning out my dad's apartment after passed away in 1998, there was a lot of stuff to get rid of. He had an old Macintosh SE computer that was at least 10 years old. I knew it wasn't worth much, but thought someone could use it so I set it on top of a milk crate by the street with a sign that said "Free computer". When I got home from work, the milk crate was gone and the computer was sitting on the grass. ;)

Good luck with the cameras, I hope you find someone who wants them. You may find them hard to give away, not many people want to deal with tapes and firewire anymore. Let us know how it goes.

"For depreciated assets that are donated, your charitable donation is limited to the lower of its current market value or its net cost basis on your books (cost less depreciation). If it's fully depreciated, your deduction for donating it is zero."

It's sad to think about what we paid for expensive gear and what it's worth 10 or 15 years later, but that's what technology is like. Same thing with computers. Here's a true story that should give you a chuckle.

Cleaning out my dad's apartment after passed away in 1998, there was a lot of stuff to get rid of. He had an old Macintosh SE computer that was at least 10 years old. I knew it wasn't worth much, but thought someone could use it so I set it on top of a milk crate by the street with a sign that said "Free computer". When I got home from work, the milk crate was gone and the computer was sitting on the grass. ;)

Good luck with the cameras, I hope you find someone who wants them. You may find them hard to give away, not many people want to deal with tapes and firewire anymore. Let us know how it goes.

Boyd and Pete:
Thanks for this. Yes it is a shame to see the equipment fall in price like that. Amazing, simply amazing.
Regards
Harry

The milk crate story made me laugh.

Usually a camera pays for itself after the first few jobs then it's all gravy after that. I've got a tape camera I'm looking to sell too. It still has value as a backup.

thats lol eh? milk crate! huh?

Yeah, it was really adding insult to injury... I thought I was doing somebody a favor but ended up losing a milk crate that I wanted to keep. Another example of "no good deed goes unpunished"!

But my point was, there are some things you can't even give away...

You could see if any of your local pawn shops will offer you anything. Don't expect much.

It's also the season for yard sales, might be worth a try. Always amazes me the kinds of stuff that people will buy there!

You could see if any of your local pawn shops will offer you anything. Don't expect much.

Thanks for that. I'll check into that.

So far The High Schools around here it was a dead end. No luck. Camera Shops, asking about trade in, the same. No luck. I did more checking for something called Ebay Valet. Have any of you heard of this? The reviews are both Pro & Con. They, youTube Videos, say you can take your items to FEDEX and they will check to see if the items are acceptable or not.They have to have a value of at least $25 or more. They will ship the items for free. Also if they don't sell they will ship them back for free. I still have to call FEDEX and check it all out. I know I won't be getting much, if anything. Something is better than nothing.
Anyway I will post back on what I find. So stay tuned.
Thanks again for all the input.
Harry

Don't over think this put it on ebay for $50 -100. Odds are one of the millions of shoppers will buy it.

Its hard to believe but standard def is still alive. Even though I use a tape less camera I still film in SD.

Are you using a 15 year old fixed lens camera with 1/4" CCD's? ;)

I'm doing a lot of work with legacy footage from a Sony VX-2000 and Sony PDX-10 now, capturing lots of tapes from 2001-2004 with a Sony deck. Some of that footage looks surprisingly good, some of it doesn't. The cameras from that era set a new standard for affordable quality and the better footage holds up pretty well. Recently had friends over to see one of these projects and they were quite surprised by the quality on my 46" Sony TV.

I just did an ebay search for sold gl2 and 93 sales came up for around $80

So despite the specs and years, people still buy them.

One tip on tape cameras. It is best to use Sony only tapes or Sony never tapes. It keeps the heads fresh. What tapes did you use in these cameras? Sony uses a "wet" mechanism and all the others are dry. It doesn't matter which you use but you shouldn't use both Sony and other tapes.

Just a tip. It could help for resale.

Ok I've decided to use FedEx/eBay Valet Drop-Off system. Letting them do the work. I did some more research and even though it was some Pro and some Con, most of it was Pro so I decided to take the plunge. Hopefully I'll have success. The main thing is to sale them. I know I'm not going to get much. However something is better than nothing. I am taking shipping them out tomorrow morning.
I'll keep you all posted. Maybe my experience will help some of you down the road.
Wish me luck.

Phil,

"Sony uses a "wet" mechanism and all the others are dry"

Is this still the case?
I thought I read on one of the forums that Sony switched to the dry lube a while back.
But thinking about it again, I've always used the cheap Sony tapes in my venerable DVX100a since day one without issue; so maybe they did keep the original formula.

Still...good tip on sticking with one brand of tape.

Thanks.
Ken