Cheap as chips
I have something to confess. Every camera I have ever owned has been brought from new. Just like going into a showroom to pick up the keys to a brand new car that only has a few delivery miles on the clock, I've always found there's something reassuring about buying a camera that's box fresh, which you know hasn't been used by anyone else since the moment it left the factory. If I'm totally honest I've always had a phobia of buying second-hand camera kit. It's the not knowing of how a camera or lens has been treated in its previous life by its previous owner or owners that puts me off. When it comes to caring for my own kit I'm very cautious about looking after it, but also understand that a few scratches here or there during a camera or lens's lifetime are inevitable. A camera is a tool to do a job, not an object to be left sitting redundant on a shelf to look at, a close friend once told me. While I agree with this entirely, if you're willing to shell out serious money for something new, whatever it is deserves to be treated with a certain level of love and respect.
Looking after my kit got me a great price for my used, but still immaculate, example of a Fujifilm X-T2 a couple of years ago when I fathomed that I wasn't really using it enough to justify owning it. Don't be mistaken, I loved the camera to bits, but my pair of
