The conventional wisdom that camera prices only decrease is proving false in the current market. Sometimes, not only do prices for specific used cameras increase over time, but used cameras can also cost more than when they were brand-new, even for relatively recent digital models.
Large Japanese used camera marketplace Minna Camera regularly shares interesting camera marketplace data on its website, including a recent look at 10 used cameras that have increased in price by the largest amount in the first half of 2026. Minna Camera is basically like an online flea market for photo gear, so it provides real-time data concerning market changes that is otherwise hard to come by.
The selling price of the entry-level Nikon D5600 APS-C DSLR, released in 2016, increased just over 24 percent this year. This was the largest price increase of 2026 so far.
However, as Minna Camera notes, the older the product release year, the higher the average rate of increase. It used to be the case that as a digital camera got older, it became significantly less attractive on the used market. That is not true anymore. People want older digital cameras. Products released before 2016 saw an average price increase of 7.1 percent in the first half of 2026, while those released after 2024 increased by just 0.6 percent on average.
Minna Camera’s list of the 10 cameras with the highest price increases so far this year includes a few exceptions, though. For example, the Panasonic Lumix TZ99, or ZS99 in some markets, has gone up 8.1 percent but was released in early 2025. In fact, generally speaking, most of the cameras on the list are from the past 10 years, including the Sony a7 IV, Ricoh GR III, Canon EOS R6, Fujifilm X-S20, and Nikon Z9. The full list is available on Minna Camera.
This topic is particularly relevant to photographers outside Japan, too. While some used camera prices follow conventional wisdom and decrease over time, many notable exceptions exist, especially in the point-and-shoot camera space.
For example, Sony very recently announced the RX10 V, and we remarked about its pretty high $2,300 price tag. This is a whopping $600 more than the RX10 IV cost when it launched in 2017. A quick look at used camera marketplaces showed that the new, pricier RX10 V is actually somehow cheaper than a used RX10 IV, which can cost as much as $3,000.
With cameras like the popular Canon PowerShot G7X III, it’s the same deal. This camera is routinely among the best-selling new compact cameras and is often sold out. This has kept its price very high on the used marketplace, around double MSRP.
While many used digital cameras don’t cost all that much, and there are a ton of fantastic deals to be had, there are very notable exceptions — used cameras that, despite not having cutting-edge or even particularly interesting features or technology, cost more than they did when they were brand-new.
In an ever-changing marketplace driven by supply-and-demand economics, some very interesting things can happen. Sometimes decidedly worse cameras actually cost more than their better, newer counterparts. Photographers who are genuinely just looking for the best bang for their buck need to be extra careful these days.
Image creditsNikon. Header photo created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.com.
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