What actually decides a used camera's price

People usually ask "how much is a used [model] worth". The honest answer is that the model only sets the ceiling. What you actually get is decided by six things, roughly in this order of importance.

1. The sensor

This is the first thing anyone checks and the most expensive thing to get wrong. Dust is normal and cleans off. Fungus, a scratch, or oil spots are a different matter - they need work, and sometimes the work costs more than the body is worth.

In Bangkok humidity, fungus is the one to take seriously. A camera that has sat in a cupboard for two years without a dry box is more likely to have it than one that was used every week.

To check: set a small aperture, point at a plain bright surface, take one photo, and look at it enlarged on a screen. Marks that stay in the same place from frame to frame are on the sensor or the lens, not in the scene.

2. What the body looks like and how it works

Brassing on the edges is cosmetic. A dent on the mount, a cracked screen, a rubber grip peeling off, a jammed dial, a memory card door that will not stay shut - those are functional, and they cost more than they look like they should.

Say it out loud when you sell. Every mark that a buyer discovers themselves costs you twice: once on the price, once on the trust.

3. Shutter count, if it is a DSLR or mirrorless body

It matters less than most sellers expect and more on professional bodies than on entry-level ones. How to read it, brand by brand.

4. What comes with it

Charger and at least one battery that still holds a charge are the two that actually move the number, because a buyer has to replace them otherwise. Box, bill, strap, caps and the original card help a little. A third-party grip or an extra battery adds less than people hope.

5. Demand for that specific model

This is the part sellers cannot control and are most surprised by. Two bodies from the same year, the same brand and the same original price can be worth very different amounts today, simply because one of them is still on people's shortlists and the other is not. Lens mount matters here too - a body on a mount with a healthy used-lens market holds value better.

6. Lenses are separate

On this site, camera prices are for the body only. Lenses are priced one by one and added afterwards, because a kit lens and a fast prime that happened to come in the same bag are not worth anything like the same. Glass with fungus or stiff focus is priced like glass with fungus, whatever the body next to it is worth.

What barely matters

• How much you paid. It sets your expectations, not the price.
• How little you used it, unless you can show it - a low shutter count, an unmarked body, a clean sensor. "Barely used" on its own is not evidence.
• Software, filters and cheap accessories thrown into the bag.

The four photos to send when you ask for a price

These four answer most of what a buyer needs, and they are the difference between a real number and "it depends":

1. The front of the body with the lens off, so the mount and the mirror or sensor area are visible.
2. The back with the screen switched on, showing a menu.
3. The test frame described above, for sensor marks.
4. Everything you are selling laid out together - body, lenses, batteries, charger, box.

Send those on LINE with the model name and we will come back with a price, or find your model on the site and answer the condition questions to see it straight away. Whatever the price is, it does not change when we meet unless the camera does not match what you described.