12 things you can do with your old cameras

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If you have old cameras and lenses on your hands and don't know what to do with them, don't worry. You have plenty of options.

These range from donating them to schools and charities, distributing them to individuals, recycling them or simply selling them if they are worth too much to do any of the above.

We'll get into the hows and whys of everyone in this guide, but let's start with this last one. The one that can get you some cash in your pocket.

Content

Sell your old cameras and lenses

Donate your old cameras and lenses

Keep your old cameras and lenses

Recycle your old cameras and lenses

The basics on what to do with your old cameras and lenses

Sell your old cameras and lenses

Your old cameras and lenses might not be that old in reality. They are just old for you because you want to upgrade.

If so, you'll likely be looking to recoup some of that value to help fund future purchases. If so, there are plenty of places you can do that.

To decide which is best for you, you can weigh the factors involved in selling privately or to an established business, and whether to do it online or in person.

Sell your old cameras and lenses to online businesses

Selling your old cameras and lenses to a registered business online gives you more security than when dealing with peer-to-peer platforms.

Many of them also offer you the convenience of an instant quote, and free shipping if you accept them.

These places can be divided into two groups: real camera stores that buy to resell in their “used” section, and websites that accept all electronic gadgets.

Here are examples of the former:

Used Photo Pro

KEH camera

Photo B&H

Adorama

Here are examples of these:

Cash in your Tronics

redemption world

Try them all, see who gives you the best deal, and enjoy free shipping and instant, painless checkout.

Sell your old cameras and lenses worldwide on eBay

If you prefer to set your own price when selling your old camera equipment, peer-to-peer selling is the way to go. In doing so, you may lose some of the convenience and security offered by the companies above.

Still, if you want to go for it, eBay is arguably the best way to put your stuff in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

People can find your listings wherever they are in the world, and you can set your shipping rates to cover any destination you might need to ship to.

As a platform that handles payment, eBay also gives you some protection if something goes wrong during the transaction or afterwards.

Sell your old cameras and lenses in local markets

While listing your old cameras and lenses on eBay will help you reach as many potential buyers as possible, you may prefer to handle transactions in person.

To facilitate this, you can list your items on Craigslist, in second-hand groups on Facebook, or on the dedicated Facebook Marketplace.

And to truly reach as many people as possible, you can also seek to post in any print publications that may still be running in your area.

Some people still don't like buying stuff from strangers on the internet, and having your gear available for people to come see in person before buying can help you sell it faster and with less risk.

Sell your old cameras and lenses to local shops

A final option for selling your old cameras and lenses is at a thrift store, thrift or pawn shop, or at a flea market.

Keep in mind that these places are buying your gear to resell and whoever you negotiate a price with will be a professional. That may not be the case, so be careful to get a fair price for what you sell.

If you decide to go this route, check the value on eBay or

KEH

first, go for a minimum acceptable price and accept nothing less than that.

Donate your old cameras and lenses

If you're looking to be more altruistic when disposing of your old camera gear, donating may be better than selling.

There will always be organizations that would love to receive your stuff for free and make sure it is put to good use.

It's up to you who you want to donate your old cameras and lenses to, but here are some ideas to get you started.

Donate your old cameras and lenses to a school

The easiest way to ensure that your old equipment continues to benefit individuals and the practice itself is to donate it to a school, college, university, or art school that runs photography classes.

Some of them can even still organize courses in photography and film development.

Budgets are tight and they may not have enough equipment for everyone, and some students and their families may not be able to afford equipment either.

By donating to an educational institution, chances are you are helping a young person improve.

Donate your old cameras and lenses to a charity shop

High Street Charity Shops are always on the lookout for new stock

which will sell out quickly

Few people want clothes that went out of style a few years ago, books that everyone read, or flash-in-the-pan pop star CDs, so they take up valuable store space. charity everywhere.

However, those who collect old photographic equipment will often flock in as much as they can, no matter how outdated you think it is, which means quick turnover for the store you're donating to.

Whichever charity has a store on your high street deserves your help, and your old cameras and lenses could bring them some much-needed revenue.

Donate your old cameras and lenses to a photography charity

While high street charity shops will use the proceeds from the sale of your equipment to fund their work, donating your old cameras and lenses to a photography charity will likely mean it will be used by people helped by the charity.

There are many organizations that operate in different ways.

All of them deserve your old cameras and lenses just as much, so do some research and decide who you want to donate to most based on your own feelings about them.

In no particular order, suggestions include:

PhotoVoice

Film photography project

Josephine Herrick Project

Society of Disabled Photographers

12 things you can do with your old cameras

New York salt

Donate your old cameras and lenses

While we talked earlier about donating your old cameras and lenses to schools and charities, donating them to individuals is a little different.

If you don't need the money you would get for selling your gear, giving it away can mean getting other things that might be worth more to you, depending on your values.

Give your old cameras and lenses to young people

Interviews with photographers always include the question

how did you come to photography?

For me, the most common answer always seemed to be

My [insert family member here] gave me an old camera and

...

So could you become that

Member of the family

now by giving your gear to your child, grandchild, nephew, or niece? If there's no one in your family that fits the bill, how about a neighbor with kids? Or someone at work ?

Younger generations love taking photos. They do it on their phones all the time.

There will be someone, somewhere in your network, with children who would like to learn how to use your old cameras and lenses. Put them in the way.

Give away your old cameras and lenses to your blog readers

This one is a bit of a niche because not every photographer has a blog. If you do, you'd probably like a quick and easy way to increase your traffic.

Make a giveaway, where a lucky reader will win your old camera or lens, can do it. Simply include sharing the giveaway or your blog on social media as a condition of entering the contest, which you can set up on

Rafflecopter

If your prize is worth winning, it just might snowball and introduce people to your blog who have never seen it before.

Whether it's worth it to you depends on the value of your gear and the monetization of your blog.

If the numbers add up, you could get more long-term value by donating your gear than by selling it.

Keep your old cameras and lenses

Everything on this list so far has talked about getting rid of your old cameras and lenses, and you might be reading it specifically to find ways to do that.

However, the title of the piece is about what you can

To do

with them, and that can also include keeping them.

If you just acquired new equipment, why would you want to keep the old one?

Keep your old cameras and lenses as backups

If you've bought new gear to replace perfectly old cameras and lenses, I guess it's worth a decent amount of money - just because when people replace working gear it's going to be a Upgrade.

So how would you feel if you dropped your new camera or lens off the side of a boat, or if it was covered in dust during a Saharan sandstorm, or if it were damaged beyond repair by high temperatures? freezing during a polar trip?

Wouldn't you rather take your older but perfectly usable gear?

If there's any chance you're going somewhere your new gear might not survive, it might be wise to keep your old gear as a backup that you don't mind sacrificing.

Get back to filming with vintage cameras and lenses

As mentioned at the top of this article, some cameras are pretty much obsolete now.

The first-generation digital models, with their 2-megapixel resolutions, certainly fall into this category. However, it's the cameras they were designed to replace that might still be worth keeping.

Film cameras are enjoying a huge resurgence, with a large active community of shooters posting their work online.

If you've given up film to shoot digital but still have your vintage cameras and lenses, it's not hard to find film to sell. So instead of getting rid of your equipment, you can buy some rolls and rediscover the pleasure of filming on film.

You never know when something like

this challenge

could arise in the world of film photography.

Alternatively, you could

take an adapter

and simply shoot with your old lenses on your current digital camera.

Recycle your old cameras and lenses

With all of the opportunities outlined above for you to get your old cameras and lenses back into the hands of someone who will use them, I think recycling should be your last option.

You might think throwing them away would be the last option, but I disagree. Throwing them away is

do not

an option.

Don't throw them away. Don't read this entire article and then throw it away.

Old digital cameras should be recycled as a last resort through some of the materials used to make them.

Some, like copper, platinum, and aluminum, are valuable and can be reused. Others, especially those found in batteries, can be harmful and should be handled properly.

Luckily, finding a place that can recycle your old cameras, lenses, and batteries isn't difficult.

Suggestions include:

Electric bike

Call 2 Recycle

Recycling for charities

cannon

Samsung

The basics on what to do with your old cameras and lenses

In my opinion, the most important thing to do with old cameras and lenses that you no longer want is to get them back into the hands of someone who will use them.

It could be from donating them to a charity or donating them to someone you know. It could even be from re-evaluating your own opinions about your old gear and starting to reuse them yourself.

It can also come from selling them, either privately or somewhere like

Used Photo Pro

Where

KEH camera

, it will put them in someone new's hands while putting money back in your pocket.

Choose which avenue works best for you and your situation and walk down it. The chances of them all being closed should be very low, but if they really are, recycling is always better than scrapping.

In most cases, there will be someone who will want your old cameras and lenses and put them to good use.

Do that person, yourself, your gear, and photography in general a favor and let them do just that.

If this article inspired you to start using your old camera again, check out these other guides on how to do it today:

How to Use Vintage Lenses on Your Digital Camera

How to take street photos with vintage lenses

A guide to buying a mirrorless camera for vintage lenses

And if you think others will find this article on what you can do with your old camera useful too, why not help them find it by giving it a share.