One young lady was selling away a few weeks old Casio EX-ZR200 at half the purchased price just because she wanted to switch to Panasonic. Another young lady selling away an Olympus E-P2 pancake lens kit due to the fact that it was too difficult to use as the lens is 17mm fixed focal length and unable to zoom, she wanted to buy a Canon G1X instead, claiming that she used it for only five times and wanted to sell at the same price as she paid before.
In the second case, one would wonder why didn't the sales person highlight to the young lady that while the 17mm lens appeals to more experience photographers, it is not suitable for beginners.
When I saw the advertisement, it was advertised for S$450, so I contacted her to buy the camera. She replied that there was an offer of S$480 and whether I would outbid by bidding $490. I thought it was fine and agreed. However, as the advertisement didn't mention the lens, I asked for the details. After a while, she mentioned that someone else was offering S$520. I then got the feeling that she was trying to get me to bid higher while there wasn't really another offer and told her it was okay then. She then asked whether I would take it for S$490 and we agreed on the meeting place, but she would only confirm with me the following day.
She put up two advertisement soon after that, one asking for free bidding, another with start bid of S$700. However, at the late evening of the next day, she confirmed the meeting place and time meaning that no one was offering higher that S$490.
On the day we met, she asked whether it was fine for me to pay S$690 for it. I turned her down as the last transaction on the forum was only S$450. She then asked whether I still wanted it at S$490. However, there were missing items like lens cap, hot shoe cover, neck strap. I could have rejected but since she promised to look for those items and contact me, I paid her. As it was covered with extended warranty, I called to find out from the shop and was told to request a reprint of the sales tax invoice at any outlet of Harvey Norman. That's was how I found out how much she paid.
As I wanted to know how true it was used for five times, I tried to find out the shutter counts. After trying various way, finally I decided to follow Angelin Weng's approach: Google. I found the following procedure:
1. While holding the "Menu" button, press Power button to switch on
2. Press "Menu" and go to "Monitor brightness adjustment" screen
3. Press "Info" and "OK" button at same time, you will see the screen showing "Olympus"
4. Press the following buttons in the sequence: Up, Down, Left, Right and then press the Shutter, followed by Up (dial button in my E-P2)
5. Engineering mode page is seen. Press dial button to Page 1, 2, 3, and "D".
6. Shutter count is on "Page 2" under "R".
The other lines on the screen mean:
R: shutter release count
S: flash use count
C: CMOS cleaning mode (with mirror lock-up - in E-410 series)
U: number of ultrasonic dedusting, ~ number of power switch on
V: number of use of LiveView
B: number of shot using In-Body Stablization
2. Press "Menu" and go to "Monitor brightness adjustment" screen
3. Press "Info" and "OK" button at same time, you will see the screen showing "Olympus"
4. Press the following buttons in the sequence: Up, Down, Left, Right and then press the Shutter, followed by Up (dial button in my E-P2)
5. Engineering mode page is seen. Press dial button to Page 1, 2, 3, and "D".
6. Shutter count is on "Page 2" under "R".
The other lines on the screen mean:
R: shutter release count
S: flash use count
C: CMOS cleaning mode (with mirror lock-up - in E-410 series)
U: number of ultrasonic dedusting, ~ number of power switch on
V: number of use of LiveView
B: number of shot using In-Body Stablization
And it was around 1200 which is reasonably few.
I then checked on my E-P1, it was less than 5000.
On Olympus, E-P series, there is a Pixel Mapping utility for remapping bright pixel. I found that there was a bright pixel and was able to get rid of it after running the utility.
So when buying camera, one should take a dark picture to check on bright (dead) pixels, and a white picture to check on dust on sensor.
My recent adventure of buying used cameras also made me realised that one could get a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with a bigger sensor size at a price not much higher than a mid range point and shoot digital compact camera.
I then checked on my E-P1, it was less than 5000.
On Olympus, E-P series, there is a Pixel Mapping utility for remapping bright pixel. I found that there was a bright pixel and was able to get rid of it after running the utility.
So when buying camera, one should take a dark picture to check on bright (dead) pixels, and a white picture to check on dust on sensor.
My recent adventure of buying used cameras also made me realised that one could get a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with a bigger sensor size at a price not much higher than a mid range point and shoot digital compact camera.
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