4 Of The Best Mirrorless Cameras To Buy Used

For many years, DSLRs were the crème de la crème of that space, and there are still plenty of excellent ones to purchase used for reasonable prices. However, if you want to truly step into the modern digital age, you are going to want to get yourself a mirrorless camera. These cameras eliminate a mirror inside the camera that would typically reflect light into your viewfinder and instead capture exactly what the sensor can see. With this change, cameras can be smaller and lighter, have increased autofocus abilities, give you a greater range of continuous shooting speeds, and typically give you much better video capabilities than a DSLR. A lot of hardcore photographers still prefer DSLRs, but mirrorless cameras are the true present of digital photography and are my preferred camera choice as someone who has been photographing since before my days in film school over a decade ago.

All the major camera manufacturers are producing mirrorless cameras, and if you want to get yourself a brand new one, you will probably be looking at spending a tremendous amount of money that you might not have. High-quality mirrorless cameras have been made for many years now, and there are many fantastic options out there to buy used. These may not necessarily be among the most popular of all mirrorless cameras, but they still can capture pristine images and even 4K video. Plus, they can help you save hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars. I am going to spotlight four mirrorless cameras that you should definitely check out based on my own experience and the opinions of trusted photography-based sources.

The best place to start with a reasonably priced used mirrorless camera is to look at one that is already reasonably priced when it is brand new. So, the first recommendation on this list is the Canon EOS RP. This mirrorless camera first debuted back in 2019 and has proven itself to be a reliable, quality piece of equipment for people looking to get into photography for the first time or have been doing it for a while. Despite its small size, this is a well-built, easy-to-use camera that also comes with a 26 MP full frame sensor, giving you a robust range of vision at a decently high quality. This also has the capabilities to shoot 4K video, though you are limited to shooting at 24 fps. For some people that isn't enough, but if all you're looking to do is shoot at the cinematic standardized frame rate, that will do just fine.

If you were to purchase just the body of a brand new Canon EOS RP right now, you are looking at spending $800 for that. Looking on eBay for well-maintained used models, you can find them for as low as $475 for just the body, though the more common price range is going to be between $550 and $650. Getting used models that already come with lenses or simply getting lenses separately will obviously cost you more, though you can certainly find used lenses for cheaper than the $300 upcharge Canon places on a new model with a 24-105mm lens. The Canon EOS RP will not disappoint those on a tighter budget.

If we are going to stay with the more budget-friendly mirrorless camera options, we have to include a model from Sony's Alpha 7 — or A7 — series. This is a series of cameras that Sony has been producing since 2013 and continues to do so to this today. There have been many different variations of the A7, with the current fourth generation having a few different models itself. Those new cameras are going to cost you over $2,000, which no one wants to spend. However, if you go back to the Sony A7 II that launched in 2014, you will be very pleased with what you can pay for one, as they typically range from $475 to $600 on the used market.

You might think going back a couple of generations would mean you are working with lesser equipment, but the A7 II still has plenty to recommend about it, particularly if you just want to use it for still photography. It utilizes a very nice 24.3 MP full frame sensor and has an ISO range that goes all the way up to 25,600, so if you need to capture images in extremely low light, this gets the job done. There are some drawbacks, though. As this is a camera from 2014, it does not have the ability to record 4K video. That is a non-starter for some people, but for those who are fine with 1080p and just want to shoot photos, the Sony Alpha A7 II comes recommended by everyone from Fotovolo to Digital Photography Review to RTINGS.

For many photographers, the best camera manufacturer out there is Nikon. The company has just shown a tremendous consistency of high-quality products over many years, and this is my experience with these cameras as well. From my eye, that have a greater image quality, and they typically have a terrific set of lenses for you to choose from, which is arguably even more important than the actual camera itself. When it comes to Nikon's great mirrorless cameras, one you should definitely look at on the used market is the Nikon Z6 that first came out in 2018.

This is another full frame sensor camera with a 24.5 MP BSI CMOS sensor, and like the previously mentioned Sony, it has a rather large ISO range, going as low as 50 and all the way up to 204,800 extended. That is actually a higher ISO capability than the camera's successor, the Z7. It also has the ability to shoot 12 fps of continuous shooting, which is more than the 9 fps of the Z7. If you want the newer camera, you are really just doing it for the upgraded sensor, but the one in the Z6 is perfectly capable of producing extremely high-quality images, particularly if you are not quite as experienced in photography. The Z6 also supports 4K video recording up to 30 fps and 1080p recording up to 60 fps.

The only major drawback is that the camera uses an XQD card for storage. For many, people just want to use SD cards, but that won't be possible here. If that's okay, you can usually get a used Nikon Z6 for between $700 and $800.

The last mirrorless camera on this list comes from Panasonic. However, Panasonic is not the name you are going to see boldly plastered across the camera. Instead, that name would be Lumix, which is Panasonic's line of digital cameras. For this specific list, one of the very best options is the Panasonic Lumix S5. This is the newest camera model on this list, having launched in 2020, but despite its newness, it is a very affordable and very capable piece of equipment.

This is another full frame sensor mirrorless camera that has a 24.2 MP sensor and an ISO range of 50 to 204,800, so you are able to shoot in any lighting environment that you can find and deliver a quality image. For continuous shooting, you are looking at 5 fps, which is not much but can get the job done. Where this really shines, especially among the other cameras on this list, is with video. Not only can you record in 4K, but you can do so at up to 60 fps. However, it does crop the sensor to an APS-C size to do this. If you drop it down to 30, you do get to use the full sensor, though. With the L lens mount, you can use tremendous lenses from Lumix, Sigma, and Leica.

Panasonic currently sells this model for $1,200 brand new. That's a good price, but if you want a better deal, a used model can easily be found in the $850 range, though there are some price gougers out there. Although the video capabilities are the big selling point here, the Panasonic Lumix S5 will satisfy anyone needing a camera.

There are dozens upon dozens of mirrorless cameras that I could have recommended on this list, but why I selected these four comes down to several different reasons. Firstly, there is the price aspect. The benefit of purchasing a used camera is to hopefully save money, so the average selling price of these cameras could not exceed $1,000. That is a somewhat difficult task with mirrorless cameras because they are so relatively new, but they are out there. Secondly, I have had personal experience with the Canon EOS RP and Panasonic Lumix S5 and can vouch for their usability and quality. While I have not specifically used the Sony A7 II, I have used other generations of the Alpha series and have always enjoyed the experience.

Beyond my own experience with the cameras, I looked to other photographers and reviewers for their opinions on these cameras. These included Amateur Photographer, Fotovolo, Fstoppers, Digital Photography Review, RTINGS, Imaging Resource, and PC Mag to find some semblance of consensus, particularly for the Nikon Z6 because it is not a camera I have personally used. However, my experience with other Nikon cameras does embolden my trust in the product. Once all of these factors were taken into account, I was able to select these four mirrorless cameras.