Price of second hand ccd cameras ?

[5ash]

What sort of price compared to new should I expect to pay for a Second hand ccd Astro camera.I would expect them to devalue much quickly than a a telescope OTA as being made up of many 100'sof elecrical components they have a much smaller lifetime and would be expensive to fix.
Philip:shrug:

[Chris85]

I payed $2k for a $2.8k, 5 month old ccd last weekend, which I thought was a good price.

[Hans Tucker]

What do you base that on? Have you got any statistics to support this?

Also, value of second hand CCD Astro cameras is somewhat dependant on the brand as some brands do not devalue as much as others. SBIG cameras seem to hold their value for an extended time as does FLI particularly because of the high standard of construction.

[5ash]

[QUOTE=Hans Tucker;1058329]What do you base that on? Have you got any statistics to support this?

I think the more the electrical components and being turned on and off often ,something will eventually give, computers for example .I think using the argument" have you got any statistics to support this ?" is a bit of a put down in an argument. I don't think a ccd camera will outlast a refractor OTA. We still have refractors in use that are 100 years plus. My question was essentially what sort of depreciation would you put on a ccd camera which when it stops working may well be only worth using as a paper weight , whilst most telescope OTA's will continue on if cared for. If you look at the adds for dSLR,s on this forum people are interested in the shutter count before buying !I think we all suspect why.
Philip

[MrB]

FYI, the shutter is a mechanical device.

[rally]

Philip,

The price of the camera is based mostly on demand, and not on some subjective assessment of the lifetime of the electronic components from which they are made.
In any case almost all the components can be replaced or repaired and most of the major brands continue to offer full repair services.

What is someone willing to pay for it
The demand is based on lots of different things - AUD conversion rates, availability, rarity, competition, perception of value, warranty backup, customer service, reputation, features and benefits . . .
Some cameras become almost worthless because their technology has become superceded, but other cameras have never really been completely superceded to this day.

SBIG cameras have tended to hold reasonable value because they have some patented or maker specific options like internal guiding, provision for external guiders and adaptive optics capability which isnt offered by other manufacturers, even though the CCDs themselves are offered by many manufacturers.

So its a make by make, camera by camera argument really - how long is that proverbial piece of string ?

Check Astromart's sales history and you will get a reasonable idea of each particular cameras worth as determined by the USA 2nd hand amateur marketplace. That is possibly the best available benchmark, but it doesnt necessarily apply here - add 20% or some notional extra amount for Oz.
Bearing in mind that what the sale price is in the USA actually is almost irrelevant to the prices here !

Rally

[5ash]

True but activated electronically. Before dslr's the button you pressed was linked to the shutter mechanism mechanically. Today the button you push hardly moves, its a switch. Perhaps I should have used a more complex analogy like a TV , full of electronics doomed to eventual failure.
Philip

[5ash]

Thanks for the advice ,I will look.

[rat156]

I think that around the 3/4 mark of what the piece of equipment was new for is a reasonable amount for astro gear. If the item is in good condition (it is usually pristine) then the only things you're not getting is a warranty and the "latest and greatest" gadget.

CCD cameras will become outdated before they have terminal electronics failure (much the same, but faster for DSLRs) for the vast majority. The same can happen to OTAs as well, particularly now with the Chinese producing some pretty good optics at bargain prices. They'll never compete with the ultra high end market, but they've taken a fair chunk of the RC market for example. Twenty years ago you'd have paid a lot for a reasonably small aperture (by todays standards) achromatic refractor on a non-driven, non-goto mount. Now this "cheap junk" is probably under a grand on eBay, our standards have shifted.

A used CCD camera in good condition should hold 1/2 to 3/4 of its value depending on what is available now that supersedes it. I don't think that the electronics will "wear out", you car has a lot of electronics in it (probably), not many are off the road because the computer has malfunctioned.

Cheers
Stuart

[MrB]

True, but it's the mechanical part that wears out.
The reason people ask the shutter count for used DSLR's is because Canon rate their mechanical shutters for a finite number of actuations:

Canon EOS 1Dx - 400,000
Canon EOS 1D Mark III - 300,000
Canon EOS 1D Mark II N - 200,000
Canon EOS 1DS Mark III - 300,000
Canon EOS 1DS Mark II - 200,000
Canon EOS 5D Mark III - 150,000
Canon EOS 5D Mark II - 150,000
Canon EOS 5D - 100,000
Canon EOS 7D - 150,000
Canon EOS 60D - 100,000
Canon EOS 50D - 100,000
Canon EOS 40D - 100,000
Canon EOS 30D - 100,000
Canon EOS 20D - 50,000
Canon EOS Digital Rebel T3i / 600D - 100,000
Canon EOS Digital Rebel T2i / 550D - 100,000
Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i / 500D - 100,000
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi / 450D - 100,000
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS / 1000D - 100,000
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi / 400D - 50,000
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT / 350D - 50,000