Digital Photo is a very expensive hobby
- Thread starter lauLEE
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AJ23 said:There's something called "borrow from your friend and try try".
:bsmilie: :bsmilie: so can i start by borrowing from you..??
( just kidding..!!
)hmm... i guess this is the only way out to save money...!!
Friends are important as Photography can be more fun when in a group. and like AJ23 said... can borrow from friend to try try...! :bsmilie:
cheers...
Jay said:
probably there are many lauLEEs here .... work hard, spent hard and when abt to retire got not much $$$ left, except with many stories to talk abt their 4, 5,6,7 or 8 vices! Probably DSLR is just one of the more interesting new vices (thanks to technology).
To summarise, when we were young, we collected, bought, stole, fought etc for more marbles, trading cards, etc. Then we started collecting Ataris, Eagle, Comodor (pre-PS, Xbox), then more computers, etc. Then we outgrow and started Hifi, etc.. Sungei Road for latest clothing?Remember the first car? ..... Alfa Romeo GT, Fiat 124S, SSS, 240Z, Celica GT, Skyline, etc..... Then more computers, At, XT, 286, 386, .....PDAs? .... Remember the discos .... nightclubs, .......remember Taipei?. .... one night in Taipei (NS) ....
i guess everyone (most guys) goes thru the same way ... Wahhhh, how time flies. Maybe we should have an informal Club Oldies! for those ah peks with dslr.
I also spent a lot of money on DSLR. After I got into photography and found that I was getting nice pictures and was pretty sure that this was not just a passing fancy, I decided to go for the best I could afford. Now that I've committed to a system, and I think it's a pretty good system, I'm not going to change it on a whim. If you want to make good use of your investment, you've just got to go out and shoot. That will also improve your photography and justify your money spent to your wife/gf/children/mother or whoever else you had to explain your expensive hobby to. I too keep my 50mm/1.4 lens on the camera most of the time, but that's because it's the smallest and lightest and easiest and most comfortable to use, it's also very sharp. The L lenses tend to be a bit heavy, but if ever there is some event or something special, I'll whip out the big lenses. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for a cheap >200mm prime to come along so I can get that as well 
Just got a 100mm macro and I'm very pleased with the results. Encourages me to go out there in the field, spend hours out there feeding mosquitoes chasing around some bug. When you come back and upload onto the computer and you can see the ant's eye as sharp as a pin! Wahhh! so nice! That's also why I've been spending, but I'm going to try very hard to be happy with my current 10D and not upgrade any more. I upgraded from a D60 not so long ago, but that was because I found the D60 AF was not good. But the 10D is nice. So I still have the (perhaps naive) view that this is an expensive hobby, but it's a 1 time investment.
Lau Lee, I think the way to cure yourself of the "upgrade-bug" is to go out and use the stuff you've got. Recall the things that you thought just before you bought that lens or flash. Recall all the excuses you gave yourself and justifications, and then go out and use it and use it and use it. That will improve your skill as well as justify your previous investment (and make you feel better for both). If you finally find that your photos are getting better without the upgrade, then you saved yourself some money. If you find your photos are stuck, and you're sure the limiting factor is the equipment (and not the photographer) then go ahead and upgrade. But once you've done that, USE IT! Don't upgrade and put in the dry cabinet. That's a poor use of our limited resources.
BTW, I don't think guys should have more than 1 VICE. We should have 1 VICE, and then we spend all our spare time on it. If we have 4 VICEs, then we will never be able to spend enough time on all 4 to justify the money we spent there, and still have enough time in the day to get our 2.5 hours of sleep. If you start taking Ansel-Adams-like photos because you had a VICE for photography, well, then I'd say that your VICE turned out quite well... But that's not going to happen unless you are always shooting.
Just got a 100mm macro and I'm very pleased with the results. Encourages me to go out there in the field, spend hours out there feeding mosquitoes chasing around some bug. When you come back and upload onto the computer and you can see the ant's eye as sharp as a pin! Wahhh! so nice! That's also why I've been spending, but I'm going to try very hard to be happy with my current 10D and not upgrade any more. I upgraded from a D60 not so long ago, but that was because I found the D60 AF was not good. But the 10D is nice. So I still have the (perhaps naive) view that this is an expensive hobby, but it's a 1 time investment.Lau Lee, I think the way to cure yourself of the "upgrade-bug" is to go out and use the stuff you've got. Recall the things that you thought just before you bought that lens or flash. Recall all the excuses you gave yourself and justifications, and then go out and use it and use it and use it. That will improve your skill as well as justify your previous investment (and make you feel better for both). If you finally find that your photos are getting better without the upgrade, then you saved yourself some money. If you find your photos are stuck, and you're sure the limiting factor is the equipment (and not the photographer) then go ahead and upgrade. But once you've done that, USE IT! Don't upgrade and put in the dry cabinet. That's a poor use of our limited resources.
BTW, I don't think guys should have more than 1 VICE. We should have 1 VICE, and then we spend all our spare time on it. If we have 4 VICEs, then we will never be able to spend enough time on all 4 to justify the money we spent there, and still have enough time in the day to get our 2.5 hours of sleep. If you start taking Ansel-Adams-like photos because you had a VICE for photography, well, then I'd say that your VICE turned out quite well... But that's not going to happen unless you are always shooting.
toasty said:
You give great advice, and were going along fine until you betrayed the fact that you don't seem to follow it yourself. What is it, a 1 time investment? A 1 time upgrade (2 time investment)? Or what happens when the 5D comes out, and has slightly more pixels and even better AF again?
Your advice is sound, just try not to contradict it within the same post with your own behaviour!
Jed said:
Yeah, I don't take this advice 100%, but I'm getting better at it
I upgraded the D60 to a 10D because I found the AF was not to my satisfaction with the D60, and not so much because of a desire to possess the cutting edge items. It's not perfect, but in my defense, I was not really satisfied with the D60, even if there had been no 10D for me to upgrade to. I still count it as a 1 time investment, because the difference I paid for upgrading was comparatively small, because I found out that it did not meet my standard quickly, and sold the D60 again before considerable depreciation had occured. Technically you are right, it is not actually a one time investment. I've upgraded once.When the 5D comes out (I think it'll be called the 3D though), I am thinking I'm going to stick with the 10D. Unless the 10D shows up some feature which really bothers me (so far it hasn't but it's still pretty new to me), I probably won't be upgrading the 10D. Actually, I was really wanting to wait until the 3D came out and before deciding on my camera, but all this time without a DSLR has worn me down (my lenses were just sitting while I was waiting for the price to drop, plus I have a trip coming up) and a suitable offer for a 10D came along, so I took it. It's true, I may regret this somewhat when I see the 3D come out on the market, but unless there is something I can't tolerate about the 10D, I will most likely just keep it.
If you'll note, in my original post, I said that you should consider carefully before upgrading. I don't think that upgrading to "just have the cutting edge equipment" is a good reason. But if you find you're being limited by your equipment, what's the reason for holding back?
toasty said:Yeah, I don't take this advice 100%, but I'm getting better at it
Aiyah, toasty and Jed, don't b so sensitive with just some printed words. Life's short and why get so uptight with all these explanations,etc.. Let's juz read the postings and laugh it off.
Actually in the first place I wasn't complaining anything. I am also not in the habit of upgrading my stuff. I believe like many ppl, I just like to try new things (juz a curious type). I was juz thinking aloud that I was very surprised that I didnt expect getting into digital photography requires so much buying of stuff, like batteries, reserve batteries, extra batteries, good-offer batteries, more powerful batteries, etc. then bags, then this then that. I don't remember that I have all these problems when i had a $125-00 camera in the past. I juz felt that I m in a weird situation but i didnt say that i didnt enjoy all these "problems". Dont take life so seriously, live and let live.
I had the same FFFF (funny familiar forgotten feeling) when i was playing with electronic stuff, cars, and most of the other VICES. BTW, i only have with me 2 BP-511 and no other batteries .... yet.
No hard feeling guys!
Problem is that we have one neck that can hang several cam bodies! :bsmilie: :bsmilie:swimcraze said:slowly trying to narrow down my equipment to what i really need.....afterall, we only have one pair of hands and eyes....just discovered that my coolpix alone can do wonders already
VincentLin
Member
AJ23 said:Why exclude them? Take them out and shoot them, share the fun.
What about me? :embrass:
My harem uses my DCs and always like to shoot me for no reason. I got so many pictures of my butt already. :sweat:
Oops, missed this a day or so ago. Anyway, it warrants a reply. I just think Jed has got it wrong or has misinterpretted what I said, I would like to make my position clearer. Can you clarify Jed, where I said I was really satisfied with the D60? I don't think I ever said that.Jed said:
Was it a "1 time investment, because the difference I paid for upgrading was comparatively small"?
I think I explained this one in the last post. I said technically you are right, it was not a one time investment.
Ummm... no, I did not say the D60 was "totally" satisfactory. I think you're missing out on the word "not" in that sentence. I said it was not really satisfactory.
The D60 was not satisfactory, which was why I upgraded. Hope this is clear now. I don't believe that I have contradicted myself. Perhaps if you still do, you can cut and paste the two contradictory quotes I made.
No offense, and none taken.
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