SDB777 Loc: Edwards, AR USA

Pretty much as the title suggests....."How do you afford it?"

And this isn't all about gear envy, it's time for a long overdo upgrade. I'm running a camera from 8+years ago, with a buttload of shutter accuations. Photo's are no longer crisp coming out of the camera, so I'm guessing 'junk' has moved inside and my images are a waste of time to take.....and looking at the value of this unit, it is not worth sending back to be re-furbed. The lenses are still good(I put them on a different body and they work great).


Not rich. Not even well off. I have two jobs, one is full time 40hrs/week, other is depending on weather and customers needing my services, but when I am doing this....35-45hrs/week added. Disposable income is low, and I'm trying to save for retirement too.
The camera I would like will use the lenses that I have already, but dang...$$$$.$$ price tag and I'd need a metabones too! And that is a used one with X,XXX shutter accusations!

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about eating peanut-butter sandwiches in order to save some cash to make the purchase....I just don't want to do it for three years.


Did you wait for that relative to die?
Did you win the lottery?
Do you have 'babes working the corner'?



So, tell me your secret plan....please?!?!




Scott (don't want to go to prison) B

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Don't have kids! You're not allowed to beat them, and they cost too much.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Scott, I don't need babes working the corner, they come to ME and pay good money for what I give them! Must be good cause they all keep coming back for more!!!!

777, it's all priorities so stop crying and whining and start prioritizing.
I know guys that drink more beer every year than what I've got in camera equipment.
Others drive a fancy German car or live up on the hill. All those are ok, just their priorities!
You only got to jobs???? Maybe your just lazy.
If I count photography(for which I often get paid) I've got 4 jobs. I wish I only worked 60 hours a week. I'd spend the rest of it laying belly up at the beach drinking beer and up-skirting!!! :lol:
If you can make it with two jobs, get a 3rd and use it only for cameras.
Sounds pretty simple to me!!!! :lol:
SS

Quixdraw Loc: x

Priorities and start small. I have thousands of fine photos taken with a Nikon D 60 & kit lenses.
Cheap on Ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=used+nikon+d90&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xused+nikon+d60+kit.TRS0&_nkw=used+nikon+d60+kit&_sacat=0

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

You didn't say a word about what brand of camera you have, whether it's digital or film, or anything. So this comment can only be a shot in the dark.

You're partially halting yourself in your tracks by wanting to use your old lenses. Your lenses might have grown mold inside and are part of your bad photo problems. We don't know. You don't know either. Depending on how old they are, and the environment humidity they're kept in, it happens.

I personally would just start over fresh. Today's bridge cameras like a Panasonic FZ200 or FZ1000 with a huge zoom lens permanently attached would likely blow away the image quality of whatever you're using now, maybe even blow away the IQ you've been getting for years, and isn't that expensive. Do your old lenses provide 20mm to 1200mm zoom range with crisp results at the long end?

You can buy a Nikon D3300 entry level dSLR with two lenses for $499 most everywhere and it's high MP and very nice IQ. You could upgrade to a D5300 or D7200 later on if you felt the need to do so but may not.

You can get a Canon t5 for $399 with one lens at Best Buy. I just saw them yesterday.

There are excellent cameras all over the place for less than $500 with one or two lenses, so there's many options to look at. You don't have to spend $1200 for a body and $800 for a lens. The marketplace is offering you more and more quality for lower and lower prices and it's just not as expensive as it used to be.

Now if you have high demands or yourself and insist on a full-frame format body then you've checkmated yourself again if the money isn't there to head in that direction.

Personally I make money with my cameras doing real estate photography for realtors. I have to have specialized very wide angle lenses for that which cost a lot but my camera bodies are cheap. I use an Olympus PEN ePL5 m-4/3 format body that cost me $500 with 12-42mm lens to shoot auto-bracketed sets for HDR. I've got probably 100K shutter actuations on it now. I use a Nikon 1 J4 for home exteriors using the in-camera HDR feature. It was $229 with 10-30mm lens as a clearance sale price at Best Buy.

Sure, I could run out an buy a $1200 body and a $1000 lens but why? I have done international luxury home magazine covers with these cameras and local competitors of mine who are shooting full-frame after paying an arm and a leg to buy equipment are not. What you spend depends on what you decide that you require and how far you MUST go. If you want nice photos that are very attractive, you don't have to spend more than $500. If you're obsessed with maximum everything, then that price range won't fit your need.

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

I sold a kidney or two... but then I got sacked from the morgue...

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

Olympus E-P5 is $349 today...

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Olympus ePL6 at Crutchfield for $299!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If I had it to do over again, I'd learn how to hit a ball with a stick. That's where the money is. :D

Credit cards are good, and selling the old gear while it still has value helps to pay for the new stuff. Good advice that I've often seen here is to get good stuff right off, rather than realizing that what you just bought isn't really what you want. Of course, you don't order a pair of Nikon D5's just because you want the best. Decide on a price range, push it a bit, do the research, and then look for refurb or used.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

NormanHarley Loc: Colorado

Donate a testicle for $35,000. I'm keeping mine!
http://now8news.com/donate-a-testicle-the-payout-for-this-is-35000/

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

I can only tell you how I got/get the money to buy my camera equipment:
When our boys were still living at home, we always encouraged them to bring their friends home. Often they ended up in the backyard, around a campfire, and a with a crate of beer nearby. The first time they left all their empties spread around the backyard, I gave them what-for. After that, I simply collected the bottles and took them back for deposit money. Sometimes 3 or 4 dollars on the weekend. That went into my piggy bank. Once a week I took the loose change out of my purse and added it to the piggybank (too bad everything is done by credit- or debit card now. For my birthday, I asked for money.
It really was amazing how fast my piggybank grew fat.
I've never abandoned the habit of fattening that piggy bank.
Oh, and another way I've saved a lot of money: Anytime an extended warranty is offered, when I buy something, I'll ask how much that would cost, then decline. When I get home, that amount is also transferred to the "piggy-bank" - although it really is only a separate column in my "banking-scribbler".

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I've spent way too much on gear. If I had to do it over again I'd have many thousands of dollars more saved.

I don't know how other folks do it but for me, I just shut my eyes and went for it! :)

Now, I realize that less is more and have been getting rid of gear.

If you want to shoot cheap....shoot film.

You can buy a film camera from ebay that works great and is solid for about $100.00 to $150.00 and it will last you the rest of your life.

You can buy Kodak UltraMax GC 400 film for $2.00 a roll.

Learn to develop it on your own or send it to a cheap developing house and you could shoot for many years for what one DSLR will cost you.

Just one thought.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

jerry,
I realize you may have just innocently written the preceding off-the-cuff. But based on what the OP wrote in this post only, I cannot agree with your including the statement above. What if he didn't know prospectively just how much he'd "get into" Photography back when he bought his first gear? What if he didn't have a lot of funds back then to buy whatever is defined as quality? What if, like so many hoi polloi, he didn't realize that he needed to seek out advice or know how to research what would be best for him to purchase?

Under any of the above circumstances, that statement could be construed as taunting him, even though I sincerely doubt you intended to do so.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

For Pete's sake Graham, was it ONE....., or was it TWO???!!!! :lol: :lol:
SS