I just buy consumer type stuff through Amazon, any professional kit I've bought mail order or over the phone is from established professional dealers.

Ebay is useful for used or older kit, I once saw one of my old lenses for sale there; a Zeiss Contax 300mm f4 modified with an Aaton mount. It looked in pretty good nick.

Here's one for you, whether from an established dealer or anywhere else, would you ever buy USED gear for pro use. I don't mean the simpler stuff either (lights, mics etc.), but a camera system or something? One of my colleagues made me too paranoid and dissuaded me from that when I got my C100 a few years ago.

I would only consider used for high end camera kit like an Arri, not prosumer cameras, unless it's really low hours.

I've bought used 16mm film cameras for work.

I have purchased used lights, audio mixers and microphones through eBay, always checking that I was buying from an individual seller (not an online camera store) with a good reputation and feedback. So far, they have all worked out just fine. Back in the SD days, I got two used JVC video cameras as well. No problems.

I've only bought one used camera in the last ten years or so, a Panasonic UX180, but that was through an individual's classified ad on a competing pro video forum, not eBay or Amazon. That transaction went perfectly and I've used the camera heavily and often since then, still works great.

Maybe I've been lucky. I do buy the bulk of my major items from legitimate professional dealers, B&H and some others.

- Greg

What’s the rationale behind individuals vs a store?

Oh okay, well as far as whether or not the card is counterfeit or not, I bought it at Staples.

I've bought virtually all my cameras second hand. I never chase new models, but patiently wait till new ones come out, give it a few months and then buy from H Preston, or other dealers with good reputations. It rarely caused issues with tape, and none at all with solid state. An 18 month old pro camera that new was 7 grand, 18 months old, a hundred or so hours on the clock and it's less than half that. Works great for me - I am always 18-24 months out of date, but don't care a hoot!

Maybe its different over there...here it takes way longer for those items to be half price at say, B&H. Not that Im looking (Im very much not) but the thing that gives me pause about buying things like cameras used is the “ticking timebomb” factor....how do we know there isnt some hidden/latent issue that will develop in six months? I had a colleague who bought an EX1 or EX3 used and some error code started popping up after a short time; dont think he was ever able to fit it.

Buying used is a mixed bag I've had good and bad experiences. Recently more bad than good. I'll give you two bads.

1. Bought an open box camera from Adorama on ebay for $500 less than retail. The camera ended up having a manufacture defective lens that only showed up after I filmed a job. It was covered under manufacture warranty but I had to pay for shipping with insurance ($100) then wait a month to get it back. So I went through a heap of aggravation and could have lost a client to save $400.

2. Bought a used light from an individual. He didn't ship it for 1.5 weeks forcing me to buy it else where because I needed it for a job. Since the seller had no return policy, I ended with 2 of the same light with a whole lot of stress and aggravation.

I've had good experiences too, but don't kid yourself it's always a gamble going used.

Hence the paranoia with more complex/expensive items. One thing I would never do is buy something in that way (used) when I need it at certain coming deadline. I'd be more likely to do it when a deal popped up and I didn't need it for anything specific and imminent.

Absolutely a gamble. With video kit, it's usually worked, with lighting, I am wary as moving lights are usually sold on when a problem, and audio gear just dates too fast, apart from decent mics which appreciate.

Overall, I have saved thousands. However, I always spend my money - I never gamble with borrowed money.

I needed a particular PA system for my contracts for this year, so in February I spent five figures, searching the world for specific kit - a product nearing the end of it's time. A few dealers had demo stock, and were supply direct from the factory, but I bought every ex-demo product I found advertised. I couldn't get any in the UK, but found some in Germany, some in Mexico and some in the US. Shipping costs were terrible by air freight, so in the end, some came via sea - 4 boxes took nearly 60 days in the end - the ship ending up going to Australia before coming to the UK. I figured I'd lost loads of them, but in the end they all arrived. Most, as expected, had small dings in the finish - and one had a big bump in the grill, but parts were OK to replace this at my cost. I got the complete rig for 65% of the normal price, including the shipping and duties. A risk, but my rule I work to is never spend what I could not afford to use. ironically, after making all the bank transfers, Covid hit, and I have now a pile of flight cases in my store that look like staying there for a long time!

Yeah that's unfortunate. Interesting you say audio gear goes out of date too quickly. I would think, other than wireless with the changing spectrum, it would be viable much longer than a lot of other gear. A good high end boom in the 80s is probably still viable now. Early sound devices mixers are probably perfectly suitable for just about anything even now, aside from the fact that they don't have built in recorders.

I disagree. I've got perfectly fine shotgun mics (audio technicas) that are over 10 years old. I don't want to sell them but I doubt anyone would want them unless I was selling them for a steal like $50. Besides vintage in demand mics no one wants old audio gear, just like loud speakers. I think most pro gear gets used until you get out of the business and then you just give it away or throw it out. Look at c-stands, think of how many there out there. I recently did a quick craigslist search. I found only 1 in a 500 mile radius, an old beat up Matthews. The guy was asking almost the same price as a new one. A lot of gear big heavy making it difficult or too pricey to ship. Heck I couldn't sell a quality 30' hdmi cable that I bought on B&H, I kept lowering the price until I was at the point I would have lost money to sell it. Anything tech related forget. I saw someone trying to give away an expensive tungsten and florescent light kit.

I would happily get stuff like that if I were in the market and it were without issues.

A little Googling says the problem is caused by a hardware or firmware error in writing the files. Here is a link to a program I found that says it can fix this particular problem DISCLAIMER I have no personal experience with this, just found it doing research:
https://www.isobuster.com/news/isobuster_4.6_release_notes

Apparently a well-known problem with SD cards. Might check out the release notes and see what you think. Many other references to the problem say definitely don't do chkdsk on the card. Hope this helps.

From release notes: "Work-around for a certain type of data corruption that appears to happen frequently using certain USB card readers (internal and external). Symptoms are the sudden loss of files and or partitions etc. Usually in combination with FAT. Remaining files and/or folders may get names such as "USBC◘╧è◘" or "USBC..". Possibly related to ADATA NH92 adaptors though that is not certain! After researching the issue online it seems a lot of people think this is a virus. I see mention of the "USBC virus" and "USBC malware", yet it's not. It's a hardware / firmware failure that happened while data was being written to the SD card. IsoBuster is now able to detect and compensate for such issues on the fly so that files and folders can still be found and extracted"

Pete, you're right about short supply of C-stands on the market. I have read that the virtual reality crowd use these to mount video cameras at the ceiling corners of their rooms. I guess I understood the concept, although in retrospect it makes no sense. At any rate, you're right, any good hefty ones are rare and pricey. (Tons of cheesy imported ones, though.)

As far as old speakers, I have a pair of JBL 4412s, a pair of 4410s, another similar pair so old that I don't recall the model number. For background music at home I have two pairs of Dynaco A25s. Some unknown qty. of DIY subs, mostly with KEF drivers.

As far as old mics, my brother got the best of the ribbons. I still have a pair of RCA BK5Bs which are wonderful on vocals (and nice and warm when aimed at the soundboard of a piano). Also a pair of AKG C412s, a C451, a Beyer and an A-T single-point stereo mics, and an assortment of AKG, Beyer, E-V, and Shure hand mics.

I can't imagine why there would not be a demand for old stuff like this. I sure won't be selling it any time soon. If I suddenly wanted to replace this kind of gear, I think it would be pricey and hard to find. Am I wrong?

Oh okay well I didn't buy it used.

No one is suggesting you bought a used SD card, just the thread has drifted from discussing poor quality counterfeit cards into used equipment in general.

The advice still is to buy a new SD card from a reputable source.

Oh Okay thanks. :-p