"Nikon D700?! Nah! Far too expensive, and way out of my league..."

It arrived today. Immaculate. I'm in some form of shock, borne out of disbelief.

When you fit the battery into the charger, and remove it, the two pairs of contacts slide together. This results in a slight mark being made on the battery's contacts. There were no marks on the battery contacts. Everything other than the refurbished camera body, is brand new. Never out of the wrappers. Not, like new. New. The camera body is unmarked.

This Blip's a quick snap, as there's less than hour left of today. The camera's shutter count (number of pictures that it's taken) is embedded within each photograph. I've taken one photograph with it. This one. And the shutter's now taken 1,357 photographs. With a shutter rated for 150, 000 shots, it's barely run-in. I've been to events where I've taken more than that in a weekend.

Had been looking at lesser (expensive) cameras than this, with a veiw to acquire something secondhand. Thought there'd be no chance of affording its like for a couple of years, or so. And probably only after a newer model replaces it. In the meantime, try a cheap old film camera, to see if a full-frame (35mm) digital camera is really worth going for in the future.

When I spotted this one, I initially thought it was a(nother) bogus seller using Amazon UK (I've spotted a few, and reported them). The price was at least £400 below market value, and even less than a brand new Canon 7D, or Nikon D300S. Quick check on the seller, terms and conditions, etc. All looked legit, and safe-ish. What the heck, a raid on the savings should cover it. And I could likely sell it for a decent profit, if it's okay...

Far better than okay. Certainly seemed to have struck very lucky. Later research (this is a way, w-a-y, back-Blip), and the packaging, revealed the seller as an American Company that was selling off refurbished liquidated assets, presumably from some camera shops that had sadly been hit by the recession. After the items were all sold, they ceased trading via Amazon UK.

What a beast. Wow...


[Note the PC's desktop photo was captured with a far more humble (sensible?) Nikon D40. There's no need for the latest and/or greatest for good photos! Hope to back-Blip it at some later date.]