[DogLover]

But it's always good to know someone who could buy your lenses when you want to upgrade yours...

Ha Ha, check my sig, I've already done pretty much all the upgrading I can do! Took me a while to get my line-up where it is now. I only plan to add the new HD21.

[KSmith]

Assuming I pull the trigger on the K-3, I will finally take the plunge and have my K10D modified for infrared.

[Col]

Well my K10 is now owned by my next door neighbour - It was bartered for his painting the house exterior. The K20 is in a drawer behind my desk. The K5 will probably stay permanently in the the car, attached to the DA*16-50 (which is currently in the same drawer). One of the five Spotmatics I've picked up buying Takumar lenses was accepted as the £100 deposit for the K3 by SRS!

[aleonx3]

I have been waiting to add another camera (besides my K-5), will likely get the K-5IIs first and then consider the K-3 later. If the K-3 becomes a hot selling item, I don't think that the price will drop much a year from now... then it would make more sense to add the K-3 now instead of the K-5IIs.

Once I acquire either the K-5IIs or the K-3, my K-5 will become my backup camera.

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Last edited by aleonx3; 10-09-2013 at 02:05 PM.

[lguckert79]

I will end up keeping it for a backup and im try to get rid of my other backup

[Jonathan Mac]

For the benefit of the environment and in anticipation of the many K5s soon to be discarded, I have opened a recycling centre for these old, obsolete machines. Don't worry, it's free of charge, PM me for the address to send them to. Please package them well as if they arrive broken it makes them harder to disassemble properly into the individual components.

[jva59]

If I go for the K 3, as I am very likely to do, I'll trade in my K -5. One possibility, if I decide that many of the new features of the K 3, great as they are for lots of shooters, are not that important for me, I'll be sorely tempted to take advantage of falling prices for the K 5 II s, which is clearly a terrific camera in many areas that do matter a lot to me. Complicating my deliberations is the fact that I'll soon be moving from an area with low-priced housing to one that's very expensive, so I can't afford to be too self-indulgent.

[eva2000]

While I haven't decided, I think that I would give my K-7 and genuine grip to my parents if they would want to buy the 18-135 at the K-3+18-135 kit cost.

I was thinking about keeping it, but I really want my family back in the States to have a decent camera/lens kit so they can share more about their lives with me since I moved to Finland.

I've loved my K-7, but its low light performance doesn't inspire confidence. And it is crazy dark here for a large portion of the year, so the ability to shoot at higher ISOs and have a) cleaner files and b) better AF make me want to upgrade. I really want to be able to capture better images OOC in both indoor and outdoor low light conditions. I know the K-5 was very much superior to the K-7 in that regard, so I can only wait for some more in-depth reviews of the K-3 to sell me

Then the K-7 can retire to brighter pastures

Yeah same here still using K-7 and have a K200D. For my usage right now K-7 is fine but still would like better low light performance. Wait and see how the K-3 fairs for end user feedback

[raider]

Personally I will have to sell my K-7 and battery grip. Cannot justify having 2 DSLR for myself. I am thinking if I should sell my K-01 as well but the K-01 is such a lovely camera.

[normhead]

We currently have 2 k-5s and getting rid of them both would be problematic. Unlike my k20D which was done in by it's lack of Dynamic range, the K-5s are still very functional. To the point where I.d really like to see what the DR numbers on the K-3 are. The number is conspicuously missing. In sunsets etc I often see DR values off both ends of my histogram, so to me, unless the K-3 has equivalent DR, it's not a K-5 replacement. For the faster AF and tracking it might become a great wildlife camera but so far that's the smallest part of our photography. What the K-3 will mean would be the sale of the K-x, a camera we still love, but it's not a K-5. But it's white and cute and not worth that much, so we might just keep it too.

The K-01 is safe, it's a different type of camera.

[repaap]

I'll keep my K-7. As a second body. It is still good in many ways. Maybe I'll convert it in the end to IR shooting or something similar. It has so many scratches and so big shutter count that I could not have anything from it by selling it...I quess.

[topace]

I believe I will keep the K-5 around until the next big thing comes along.

[Lucky-Luc]

I'll keep it as a backup.

[magkelly]

Hey folks,

I am curious to know how will you dispose of your old bodies when you get your K-3?

I know some keep their current ones as backup, others will give them away and finally some will sell.

I intend to give my older body to my niece who has enrolled in a photo course this winter.

You think that such gifts can increase user base eventually?

I have multiple cameras. Quite a few older film bodies, plus two DSLR bodies. Generally when I totally replace a body it goes to a photography student at the local colleges or to one of my nieces who are currently learning. I don't replace bodies though just to replace them, to upgrade and have the latest model. I replace them because I have a genuine need for a new body for work. I tend to put serious mileage on my cameras shooting. I'm estimating but I think I can shoot minimum 4K-6K shots a month if I am working a lot plus doing my own stuff. I don't just take my camera out a few hours a week and shoot 500 photos. I can shoot several hundred photos in one two hour photo shoot and I try to book 3 a week at least. That's what it takes to pay my base bills. Some months its less because I don't get the work I'd like. Sometimes it's more during busier times of the year but I think it averages about that and I'm nowhere near as busy as some of the other professionals on here I'm sure.

My K-x has been used a lot. I do want to replace it next year with a K5II. I really could use the AF upgrade. It will last my niece a year or so too. But I probably would not sell it because of the mileage. By the time I am "done" with a camera it's seen a lot of abuse. With the old film bodies it a lot easier to maintain them in some ways and I have options for that. I can send a body out to Eric eventually. With the digital cams there's no one local who can repair them and mine are not under warranty so if one goes I'd better have a backup or I am screwed. I can't just go out and drop $500-1000 on a new camera whenever. I just don't have the income level for that yet and unfortunately I don't have the credit for it either.

I've had credit problems for a long time because of major illness, and a couple of bad car accidents and the surgery that followed. I had to stop working a regular job. I can only work so many hours now. The financial mess that came with all that really hurt me. I had to retrain and even now I'm not working as much as I'd like. I can only do so much every week before my body poops out, and I have a lot to do besides my own stuff. I take care of my Dad who's older. I have a lot of stuff I have to do for him all the time, shrug.

I only have two credit cards. One for Walmart and one MC and the MC has a very low limit actually. It's a bit annoying. In the 3 years I've had that card I've only a couple of times had a higher balance and I've never missed a payment but I'm still stuck at a level where I can't quite go and buy a decent new DSLR body. Believe me I would if I could but I just don't have the room on there. I'm stuck in a low limit, high interest hell and I'm usually too busy paying off vet bills, medical bills, unexpected household repair bills and that to go out and just buy a new camera. I put money away in my Hello Kitty bank when I can. But that's my reality. Big purchase things they tend to come very slowly if at all around here. Actually budgeting for a K5II body is a major challenge for me, even used. I'll probably buy a K5II used next Spring. By then I'll be able to find one sub $550 and I'll have the $$$ saved up for it. But a K-3 brand new is simply not in my budget.

I'm trying to buy a K-7 now to replace the K-x with. I'm working on buying the loaner I've got. Depending upon how expenses look this Spring it might even be later till I get the K5 but eventually I am going to have to go there. I do need to replace the K-x with a WR body. It's just more practical for both of my bodies to be WR where I live. I really like the K-7 though actually. It's a nice working camera and as a backup it will suit me just fine having that in the bag too. I think if I wasn't needing the improved AF and that I'd probably just get another one actually. I could do most of my work with one easily. A K5II as main body is what I'd prefer but I could make two K-7's work too if I had to.

I have several people I know, photography buddies, all well intentioned lovely people, thoughtfully sending me links to good deals on a K5 or a K30 from time to time. I just smile when I see them. That they care enough to do that is just so nice. But they just don't quite get that I can't just go plop down a credit card and and pop on a deal whenever. That I've really got to have all the $$$ actually in hand to go there and that it usually takes me a while life depending to be able to afford something like that. I think a lot of people who do photography just take it for granted that they *can* go out and upgrade. But I don't. When I finally do give up a camera I pass on my gear to someone I know who needs it and will use it. I have actually donated a lot of film cameras to a local college over the years for their students.

When I was in school there I really wanted to take photography and could not because the expense of the class was just not affordable at all for me. Above tuition you had to buy a camera and a basic set of lenses and there was like 2K in lab costs on top of that. I checked. I just could not do it even with a grant and a student loan. It's easily triple that figure that now and that despite the fact that they finally allowed DSLR's. The tuition and that is still just crazy. I can't pay a kid's tuition, or buy one a DSLR, but I can see to it that a couple of kids now and again get a film body and a couple of lenses to offset some of that so I do.

My teachers both of them they were really good to me with donating time and their expertise and not charging me anything for that. While I was studying with them they let me use their equipment to learn. My one teacher gave me my first good film SLR and a few lenses an original Spottie. Unfortunately I never got to use that kit. I was about to move and it got stolen from me. I didn't get another one until some guy on CL gave me one a few years later. My teacher he was still paying it forward from when his teacher taught him and that was like 50 years ago so that tells you something about the kind of man he is. I think if I had stayed there and completed his master class with him he'd have likely given me a DSLR set up too. But I ended up nearly losing my shirt because I got ill, lost my job and ended up moving back here. I had to quit for a while, and it was only later I found another teacher locally.

But that's what I do. I donate it or find a kid to teach and let them use it. I think that we all should if we can. I think it's easy seeing all the lovely gear on boards like this to forget that there are a lot of kids out there who want to learn but who can't because they can't afford to. I think it's important to pass the knowledge and some stuff on when you can. Some of these kids they're going to be the great photographers of the next generation and and it would be sad if a good one never got there because they just couldn't afford a simple SLR set up, you know? Or couldn't find a teacher to show them how...

(MK steps off the soapbox, lol....)

[c-meier]

I can't afford a K-3 at the moment, so unless Ricoh decides to gift me one, my K-30 is going nowhere. But, in general terms, I think the best option is to give away or sell your old camera for a low price. If you are a professional, yeah, keep a spare, but else, why have multiple cameras collecting dust on your shelf?
My girlfriend has given the GX-10 much more (and, honeslty, better) use than I ever could have, if I had kept it. And I can always borrow it if I am in a situation I "need" multiple bodies.

So, if you love your cameras, set them free!