"Old, cheap gear" doesn't mean SLR to me.

Before I went into DSLR I used a variety of compact PnS cameras for everyday shooting. I enjoyed the immediacy of the results and often like to explore their limitations. Especially handy when shooting night scenes.
Hang glider launching was shot with a 2MP Canon PowerShot A20 - and it made the cover of a magazine in 2002.
Colorful little flowers were shot with a Panasonic DMC-LZ1 - I bought it new in a box for $100 at a clearance sale at my local camera shop, a very fun little camera with the stabilized 6x zoom but it didn't run for long on 2 AA batteries.
aurora was shot from my backyard with a 2MP Canon PowerShot A40 - YAY! It had a manual mode! which is why I upgraded to it from the A20
Lightning strikes were shot with a 5MP Canon PowerShot A610 using a cheap tripod I had with me while travelling. I made a lot of use of this little camera, it was very capable and I still pull it out on occasion.
Hmmm... I still have ALL these oldies, not really worth the effort to sell them.