Digital oldies If you need a good camera and are on a budget, then it may be worth considering some digital cameras of yore! by Jon Mitchell Need a good-quality digital camera, though are lacking in the funds department? Then why not look for a digital "golden oldie" - great cameras that are shunned by many consumers, though offer a lot of bang for their buck... Sorry to delve into ancient history, though remember the Nikon D1-X? A Canon 10D? These landmarks of DSLR development are now available at sensible prices on sites like eBay or in classified ads in photo magazines. For a few hundred pounds, euros or dollars, you can obtain in some parts of the world a great old camera at a good price. These short-production DSLR ranges end up in the used market very quickly - as was always the case - and offer a small sacrifice in features for the technology you need to succeed in photography, whatever the genre. Some have distinct disadvantages like poor high ISO performance, noise problems, etc. So buy with prudence. Surfing around on digital camera review sites like dpreview.com can yield all the info you need on old, discontinued models. As sensors increase in size, it is obvious that more such DSLR cameras will become available at sensible prices, this may be a godsend for many freelancers who are looking to save cash on equipment purchases. Best is to thoroughly investigate models that were available in the shops several years before, such as the Canon D60, which was on sale in 2002, though now is fairly cheap to buy used. A few pounds more may get you a Canon 10D or if you are lucky, a Nikon D1-X. Non DSLR cameras also have the same fate and so you can make good savings by buying older 4MP cameras if you can work with those... As the manufacturers have short production runs on digital cameras, they often become yesterday's technology to most ordinary photo consumers, though of course, not to more seriously intertested photographers. Saying that though, as I mentioned in the March 2007 edition of Lightroom Magazine, film cameras are also bargains these days in some places and it proves that smart equipment purchases can make the life of a freelance much easier.