There are many good reasons to trade in your old camera.  Not only could you return some of the value of your once loved kit but you could also allow a less experienced camera operative the pleasure you once received when you first got it and you were learning how to get the most from it.

A good camera can hold a considerable value, even if it’s old and has seen some use.  Whether you’re ready for a new model to match your aspiration, a change in direction or simply to enjoy learning a new camera it would be crazy not to get a quote and see if you can negotiate the purchase of the model you really want.  Equally, if you’re thinking of hanging up the camera bag, why not get what you can for it and spend your money on something you’ll enjoy like getting your best work enlarged.

There is also the ecological value of trading in and reusing cameras.  As no industrial process is totally clean, and will certainly require an input of energy, if you’re prolonging the life of a camera by trading it in you’d be doing your bit for the planet – even more so if you were considering simply binning your old camera and condemning it to the landfill.

So what are your options if you want to get a trade in?  If you have the time and experience, there is a chance you could sell your camera on an auction or listing service but the results are unpredictable and you often have to pay up front to list your item.  In this case the only guaranteed winner is the listing provider.  There are also companies with whom you might be able to get a trade in, against the value of another camera.  This is not always the most convenient; it ties you to buying to one company who may not even have the best deals or the particular camera you would ideally like.  Our camera trade in service is different in so far as we offer either a bank transfer or cheque, leaving you free to shop around for a replacement or simply return the value to spend on something else.

Whatever you choose, obtaining a quote won’t take long or cost a penny.  You can read more about our service on the homepage and follow through the step-by-step quote request process.

We would like to wish a very Happy Christmas to all of our customers from everybody here at Camera Exchange Store, and wish you the greatest success in all aspects of life going into the New Year.

It has reached the festive time of year again, and as 2013 is drawing to a close, now is the perfect time to reflect back on the events and successes of the last year. Through providing dedicated and professional customer service, as well as catering for an increasing product range, we have been able to continue to grow our operations throughout the year, and in turn improve and develop our business in a way which has not only been beneficial to ourselves, but every single one of our valued customers.

This year has been an incredibly exciting one for us here at Camera Exchange Store, and we are very proud to have been able to offer an increasingly successful and efficient service for the trade in of many different models of cameras and lenses. We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of our clients for your custom over the past year, which really has been our best year to date, and we hope that our level of customer service as well as the quality of all of our products has met the highest of expectations.

Moving forward into the New Year we hope to be able to continue to improve on the quality and speed of the services we offer allowing for a completely streamlined and customer friendly process, as well as continue to build on the already excellent level of care and consideration we have given at all times to our clients over the past 12 months.  We hope that our services will be of use to an increasingly wide range of people, and that we can be a great help in allowing you to exchange any unwanted camera equipment for a very reasonable credit.

Whatever direction this year has taken you, we hope that it has been an enjoyable and rewarding one, and that the service we offer here at Camera Exchange Store caters ideally to your specific needs and expectations.

Again, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope that going into the future the camera exchange service as well as the level of customer service we provide here at Camera Exchange Store will continue to provide you with the highest quality and most reliable service.

Any committed shutterbug will know that the ultimate time to capture an image of basically any landscape is a very early on a bitterly cold and frosty January morning. Everything looks a little more dramatic and scenic with a light encrusting of white – something that frost provides in the perfect quantity and snow provides to an all-encompassing excess. In addition, the early morning sunlight provides a beautiful golden glow – the first hour of daylight is known as “the golden hour” for this reason. Whether it is your favourite seaside scene given a new edge by the harshness of winter or something as common but fascinating as a frozen spider web you are sure to be able to get a great snap.

One critical factor in capturing the perfect winter image is ensuring that you are able to highlight the intensity of detail that is so vivid on a bright frosty morning. The world of digital cameras moves incredibly quickly and all new levels of definition and numbers of megapixels are constantly available to both the amateur and professional photographer. The quality of the camera that you use and the detail that it is able to capture are critical to how your photograph captures the truth of the image, a sub-standard or out-of-date camera can be incredibly frustrating and can have you struggling to get the image that you want.

If you are thinking of trading up and investing in a camera that can really cope with the highest of details then we at the Camera Exchange Store make it simple to find out how much your current camera is roughly worth and therefore finding out what sort of camera you can upgrade to. Our easy to use calculator allows you to quickly and easily get an estimate of your cameras worth, for example if you are looking to sell a used Nikon camera you can get an immediate idea of its value.

This clear and easy way to see the price of your camera allows you to get the money for your old camera quickly and really get the best images from the promised cold snap when it inevitably arrives. One extra thing that is certainly worth investing in is a quality alarm clock to make sure you don’t slumber away all of those beautiful but cold mornings.

It was October 1888 when the National Geographic Society issued their first edition of National Geographic magazine. A century and a quarter later and people are still fascinated by the rich imagery it delivers. It has come a long way over that time span: starting out as a heavily text-based pamphlet that resembled a science journal, but is now renowned for its intense and spectacular images.  The main influence in its evolution has of course been technology and developments in publishing, photography and the ability to travel to more remote places. What hasn’t changed is its familiar yellow-bordered design and the fact it never ceases to inspire and amaze.

The magazine became popular in the 1920s when it started showing colour photographs, a rarity at that time. During the 1930s one of the magazine’s writers and photographers persuaded the society to let the photographers use small 35mm cameras which took Kodachrome film instead of the large glass plated cameras that had to have stands. In 1959 the magazine lost its text based cover format and oak leaf border in favour of large colour photographs that captured people’s attention.

The effort that it takes just to capture a moment perfectly; that you can shoot and eternalise a sperm whale rising from the ocean, or snow geese racing through the air- that is what makes photography a joy. And although the moment of beauty or awe or sadness passes quickly, photojournalists freeze them time for generations to enjoy. Over the last 125 years the Geographic has helped advance the careers of the greatest photographers of the century; Frans Lanting, George Rodger, James Nachtwey all boosted their careers through the magazine, not to mention Steve McCurry who won awards for his iconic “Afghan Girl” which featured on a cover in 1985.

To celebrate National Geographic’s landmark birthday Taschen are publishing a collector’s anthology showcasing the most iconic images from the last century. The anthology is divided into three Volumes, arranged by continent:  Volume 1 covers North and South America and Antarctica; Volume 2 Europe and Africa; Volume 3 Asia and Australasia. The collection displays the most iconic and striking images, handpicked from the years and tells the story of how photography developed. The years roll by with each turn of the page, evolving from black and white, to autochrome, Kodachrome and finally digital.

One thing that National Geographic does to affect you is it makes you want to go out and capture something wonderful too. It gives you a sense that anything is possible if you’re in the right place at the right time, and with the right gear. The Geographic have been running their annual photography competition now since 2006 which you can be a part of. Trade in your old digital camera to us this Christmas, and with the cash you earn treat yourself to a top of the range new device. For example if you sell a used Panasonic camera you could earn up to £150 depending on the model and condition. If you feel it’s time for an update and want to earn cash back for your used camera then Camera Exchange Store is the place to be.

As you are reading this blog post at Camera Exchange Store, there’s a high probability that you have either traded in a camera or are about to after purchasing a new one. If you have yet to buy your new camera or still have some money left in your upgrade budget then you might consider upgrading the most important thing after the camera – the lens you attach to it.

Many new consumer end DSLR cameras like the Canon 650d for example are squeezing an incredible 18 Mega pixels into the image sensor. The file size (in Mega bytes) they produce is huge, especially when shooting in uncompressed camera RAW mode. Yet you might not notice a significant improvement in the image quality you are getting over your previous camera of say 10+ Mega pixels. You’d think with up to twice the pixels in the image that the image would have twice the definition. Not always so; there’s a limiting factor.

Most people upgrading their camera will stay with the same manufacturer for their next camera body so that they can continue to use their existing lenses. These lenses, particularly if they are ‘kit’ lenses bought with a previous model camera are the limiting factor to the quality of image you will get.

Camera Exchange Store now offers cash for your old digital lenses. If you’re thinking of upgrading your camera body, then why not trade in your digital lens and upgrade both at the same time? If you have a digital lens that you haven’t used in a long time you can trade it in to release its cash value.

I have been shooting with my Canon 50d for about 4 years now. I’d been using the stock 17-85mm IS kit lens that came with it for the majority of my photography. My friend, also a canon user, let me try out his 24-70mm f2.8 L series lens. I mounted the camera on a tripod and tried taking a shot of the same composition with both lenses. On the camera screen there wasn’t a noticeable difference. On the computer screen and the final prints however, the difference in definition, vibrancy and sharpness of the image was incredible! The 24-70mm f2.8 L series lens is out of my budget – no question of that. However an equivalent lens from Sigma might be within my reach.

I’m going to be trying out some lenses soon at my local camera store; but only after finding out how much I’ll get in exchange for my current all purpose lens.

“Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite — getting something down.” ― Julia Cameron

“ Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times…I just shoot at what interests me at that moment. – Elliott Erwitt

Make it a habit to always carry a camera with you, because you never know what you could miss. The number one reason why people miss good pictures is because they don’t carry their camera. You will never regret the habit!