Bought a Used D850

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fotogrob

fotogrob

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I've been shooting with a D500 for 4 years. After many months of ruminating about a full frame camera (I've only had cropped frame models since the D70 ), I pulled the trigger and bought a used D850 from KEH whom I understand is very reputable. Its graded in Excellent condition and I paid about 2/3 of the price of a new one. Never bought a used body before but a $1,000 is more than chump change. They have a 14 day return policy so I'm not that concerned. However, they won't tell you how many shutter clicks the body has. As soon I I receive it, I'll upload a pic to myshuttercount.com. I have a number in mind that I do not want to go over.
I'm curious if fellow members have one if they bought a used model.
 
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I have bought many used cameras, ranging from low to high shutter counts, the lowest less than 10k clicks, the highest over 100k clicks. None of them failed me during the time that I owned them. Then again, I've never had a shutter fail, new or used. Must be luck.
 
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Not a D850 but I bought my D500 used from a friend. It had about 25,000 shutter actuations. I've had it for a little less than a year and it now has well over 50,000. He had it for a couple years. Needless to say, I use it a lot.

Best wishes with your "new to you" D850. Hope it all checks out fine.
 
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If you want to know, use this.

Camera Shutter Count

Upload an image to find out your camera's shutter count.
www.camerashuttercount.com
Nikon claims a 200,000 actuations life for the shutter. Many shutters last twice as long, or even more. That number means Nikon tested it reliably for 200,000 clicks and that's kind of the minimum life you can expect.
 
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BobG said:
Keep in mind, if a lot of photo's were done using silent shutter(focus shift, silent photography, time lapse?) your actual shutter count might be less.
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Good point. Using the Z6ii now I've been thinking using silent shutter with no mechanical actuations will actually save wear on the mechanical shutter.
 
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The D850 is a fantastic camera. I must confess I do not use all of the electronic features but am very satisfied with the images. So much so that I think I will sell my D500. Mirrorless Nikon is still being observed as a possible new technology to explore.
 
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jeffnles1 said:
Not a D850 but I bought my D500 used from a friend. It had about 25,000 shutter actuations. I've had it for a little less than a year and it now has well over 50,000. He had it for a couple years. Needless to say, I use it a lot.

Best wishes with your "new to you" D850. Hope it all checks out fine.
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Thanks. I'm looking forward to the incredible resolution and also using a full frame camera in general. It'll be an interesting learning curve for sure.
 
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Dan291 said:
i bought a used D810 from KEH. 39k clicks and, at the time, a special for a year warranty. Listed as EX, looked like Mint. Still works great.
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They're currently giving a year's warranty as well. Friends have bought several lenses so I feel secure in their integrity. Thanks for your input.
 
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Dont forget if you shoot jpeg set sharpness a +9 and set the FP ( flash programme) to its highest setting.Leave clarity alone its a wrecking ball.You must have the fine focus adjust spot on .Check the shutter count ,remember the higher it is the higher it will be when you sell it ...I would be looking for less than 30,000. The vitrox adaptor will be fine but buy your ENEL18 carefully. Avoid anything saying D4 best to buy from Amazon, they have some at 3000 mah+ and you can send it back if it wont give you 9fps. You must be on Ch and have the grip battery first selected or you only get 7 fps. Knock off chargers too at about $60
 
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fotogrob said:
Thanks. I'm looking forward to the incredible resolution and also using a full frame camera in general. It'll be an interesting learning curve for sure.
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From my D700 - which I loved - both my D810 and D850 needed me to up my game to get the best results. As someone who prides himself for good hand-holding technique at very low shutter speeds even now I don't put stabilisation at the top of my features list for lenses.

However I noticed that with the D810 some images from longer lenses were not as sharp as I'd been used to and it happened again after getting the D850. I solved this issue on both cameras by increasing the shutter speed. The old adage "shutter speed equal or faster than focal length" was not doing it for me as the resolution got higher. Now with the D850 I'm commonly doubling the shutter speed for the focal length when hand-holding with a longer lens without stabilisation.

I first noticed it with my 80-200 f2.8 and lenses over this FL when hand holding. I post this for info in case you encounter this.
 
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Two thumbs up here for KEH. Been doing biz with them for 20 years. If you have any concern they will make it go away, enjoy your D850.

Oddly, I have owned that camera twice (two bought new) but simply did not like it. D810 is my 800 series camera of choice.
 
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dabhand16 said:
From my D700 - which I loved - both my D810 and D850 needed me to up my game to get the best results. As someone who prides himself for good hand-holding technique at very low shutter speeds even now I don't put stabilisation at the top of my features list for lenses.

However I noticed that with the D810 some images from longer lenses were not as sharp as I'd been used to and it happened again after getting the D850. I solved this issue on both cameras by increasing the shutter speed. The old adage "shutter speed equal or faster than focal length" was not doing it for me as the resolution got higher. Now with the D850 I'm commonly doubling the shutter speed for the focal length when hand-holding with a longer lens without stabilisation.

I first noticed it with my 80-200 f2.8 and lenses over this FL when hand holding. I post this for info in case you encounter this.
Click to expand...
As resolution increases and as we age. One of the chief reasons, I upgraded to the 500 PF because I am also a hand held photographer.
 
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Pistnbroke said:
Dont forget if you shoot jpeg set sharpness a +9 and set the FP ( flash programme) to its highest setting.Leave clarity alone its a wrecking ball.You must have the fine focus adjust spot on .Check the shutter count ,remember the higher it is the higher it will be when you sell it ...I would be looking for less than 30,000. The vitrox adaptor will be fine but buy your ENEL18 carefully. Avoid anything saying D4 best to buy from Amazon, they have some at 3000 mah+ and you can send it back if it wont give you 9fps. You must be on Ch and have the grip battery first selected or you only get 7 fps. Knock off chargers too at about $60
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I shoot RAW only but thanks for your other tips.
 
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I thank you all for your helpful comments. I'm looking forward to shooting with my first full frame camera. Hoping my subjects get 50% closer to me. Lol
Had a thought though regarding the shutter count. I shoot about 50-50K a year giving me a few years to use the camera. As much as I would like the camera to have 50K or less, I'm wondering how significant that number really is. I've heard that shutter replacements cost about $350. I live on LI; 25 minutes away from Nikon. One shutter replacement over the course of 4-5 years of usage doesn't seem to be a terrible burden. That being said, I still hope the body has less than 50-60K on it. Thanks again and happy holidays to all!
 
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fotogrob said:
As resolution increases and as we age. One of the chief reasons, I upgraded to the 500 PF because I am also a hand held photographer.
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Yep - I'm aging too. Got my first camera in 1954. But still have a steady hand. The500 PF has vr which will help a lot. Just shared my experience in case it was of any use to you or others.
 
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dabhand16 said:
Yep - I'm aging too. Got my first camera in 1954. But still have a steady hand. The500 PF has vr which will help a lot. Just shared my experience in case it was of any use to you or others.
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I hear you dabhand. My first a Pentax Spotmatic must've been in 1964. The lightness of the 500 PF compared to my beast 200-500 has allowed me to capture shots I would've otherwise missed while "resting". I take your point about increased resolution. I think Steve mentioned it once. As pixel count increases the opportunity for lack of sharpness increases.
 
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Been on the same journey. I just grabbed a mint open-box D850 that popped up on eBay this morning. Grip will be next , and I'll likely go Nikon to have the same button feel both directions, but does anybody have experience with the Watson ENEL18 batteries sold by B&H? Not the cheapest but still a lot less than the Nikon equivalent and on a couple batteries it adds up quite a bit.
 
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