Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-03-21)

James Abbott

James is a landscape and portrait

photographer based in

Cambridge. He’s also a freelance

photography journalist and editor

specialising in photography

techniques, tutorials and reviews.

See more of his work at

ALL PICTURES ON PAGES 14-15 © JAMES ABBOTT jamesaphoto.co.uk.

Technique MONEY-SAVING SPECIAL

Used and app r

We sent four eminent, experienced photographers

a range of used cameras and lenses. They tell

Geoff Harris how they got on out in the fi eld

U

sed cameras are big business

at the moment, with second-

hand specialists such as MPB,

Ffordes, Wex Photo Video,

Park Cameras and Grays of Westminster

reporting brisk trade. You can put this

down to great customer service, combined

with the natural desire of photographers

to want to save money, particularly with

economic pressures pushing up the price

of new camera gear. With this in mind, we

thought we’d see how some of our regular

AP contributors got on with some older

cameras and lenses, now available at a

great price. Our four contributors are all

well-respected photographers in their

chosen fi elds: landscape photographer

James Abbott, wildlife and nature

photographer Andrew Fusek Peters,

macro expert Tracy Calder and street/

travel photography guru (and Nikon

Ambassador) Mark Seymour. As you’ll

see, their experiences were generally

positive, so if you’re looking to buy used,

their experiences make interesting

reading, as well as giving some pointers on

thingstolookoutforwitholdergear.

Landscapes

A huge thanks to MPB for supplying the cameras and lenses

for this article. Visit http://www.mpb.com for great used deals.

A good example of the

Sony A7R’s still decent

ISO performance.

James took this at ISO

800 and the image is

clean and very usable

For landscape

photographers where

fast AF is not so

important, James

reckons the A7R is a

solid used choice

Mount the A7R on a

tripod and the camera

still delivers relatively

high-resolution images