This is going to be a long post, so if you're not interested, please pass right by. But I wanted to share how we've built our DSLR equipment stash on a budget, and get any advice or suggestions on what we could have done differently or should do in the future. In assembling this, we relied on reviews on the Hog, on the always-opinionated Ken Rockwell, and on several other photography sites.

Two years ago this month, my wife and I strolled into a pawn shop while on walkabout around our small city. To my surprise, they had a DSLR outfit priced at $170, a Nikon D50 with two kit lenses, a bag, and a teleconverter. We had been talking about upgrading from 35mm and high end digital point and shoots for some time, and immediately went home to research both full frame and crop sensor systems on the Interwebz. We quickly came to the conclusion that we could choose either versatility in a crop sensor system, or higher image quality in full frame, but could not have much versatility and would have to share a camera body in full frame. The decision was made. We trotted back to the pawn shop, negotiated the price down to $150, and began our conversion journey. I set a budget goal of $2,000, with which to assemble an outfit for two, with some redundancy, that would replicate our 35mm capabilities and allow us high quality 16x20 frameable prints, as well as normal digital display. Yesterday, with the arrival of our last lens for a while, we completed the job, at a total cost of just under $2,000 (not counting $180 I spent on a body that failed to function a week after it arrived). Here's what we did.

First, a bit about us. We both love to shoot architecture and building details, nature, and street scenes. We love abandoned places especially, and abstract images and still lifes found in our walkabouts. You can see some of our work here: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-525693-1.html

We have grandchildren, and wanted to be able to photograph them in both candid portraits and activities (including our star quarterback grandson). We are cooks and food bloggers, and collect a variety of small objects (I make jewelry, collect old fountain pens, and my wife collects jewelry). The goal was an outfit that would be sufficiently broad to do most everything we wanted it to, and produce images of the quality we were accustomed to in our 35mm world. My wife previously used a Canon system and I used Nikon, but we entered the digital world through the Nikon door and never looked back. After we had learned the basics on the D50, we decided that the D3200 would provide us with a camera that met our needs, and did not especially desire any of the features in subsequent generation bodies. Here's what we bought, in the order we bought it:

Used Nikon D3200 body with 5000 shutter count - $270 on eBay. A basic body that meets our needs. At first my wife carried this, and I used the old D50 until I could afford one too.

Billingham 335 pro bag - $215 on eBay. What can I say? I like high quality luggage and bags, and we wanted something durable, comfortable to carry, and capable of holding a lot of stuff. Well worth the extra bucks IMHO. It's a thing of beauty.

Sigma 10-20 mm zoom - $160. I'm a wide angle guy, and do a lot of architectural and construction photos in my job. This had great reviews and is still my favorite lens. The build quality and image quality are both outstanding - it sold me on the Sigma line. https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-10-20mm-f-3.5-EX-DC-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

Neewer 750II flashes x 2 - $70 for both on Amazon. Seemed the best of the cheap flashes, and they've served us well. Also helped improve my Chingrish translation.

Sigma 18-300 zoom with Image Stabilization - $379 at local camera shop. This is a great lens. My wife carries it most of the time. She takes everything from street scenes to action shots of the grandson and near macro closeups. We were thinking about the longer version, but this is more versatile and is the one that goes absolutely everywhere. https://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/os-lenses/18-300mm-f35-63-dc-macro-os-hsm-c

Second D3200 body - $250 on eBay. I finally got to upgrade my body! And it came with a nifty little Nikon SB300 speedlight and three batteries. 3000 shutter count!

Nikon 50mm f 1.8 - $190 from local camera shop (I love shopping locally when they have what I want). Because available light, portraits of the grandkids, and bokeh.

Nikon f 2.8 - 3.5 18-70 mm zoom - $120 from a trusted dealer at our local camera show in Boston. I love this lens. It's my new all purpose, and sits on my camera most of the time.

Neewer 16 channel flash controller - $15 on Amazon. An end to slavery! It seems to work very well, and, fifteen bucks?

Neewer Macro TTL ring light system - $65 on Amazon. She wanted TTL control, and we've had good experience with Neewer products. Chicks dig bug photos.

Sigma 50 mm f 2.8 macro - $100 on eBay. She's always wante a true macro, so this was a Mother's Day gift. It's manual focus on our bodies, but will actually autofocus on the D50. Might upgrade in the future, but $100 was all I wanted to spend right now.

In addition, we have umbrellas, light stands, filters, etc. from our film days. I upgraded to Neewer umbrella holders because they are much smaller than my old Reflectasols. Heavy film era tripods (I also shoot a Rolleiflex and Graphics) go with us, one in each of our vehicles. Bought a few chargers, batteries, remote controls, etc., bringing the total tab to $1,984. The D50 and wide angle kit lens stay in the office for emergency use if I've forgotten my gear. I still use the old Tamrac bag, but might upgrade to a smaller Billingham.

So whaddya think, Hoggers? Any real dogs here that deserve an upgrade? The plan is to put most of our spare cash into printing and framing going forward, maybe upgrading my daily carry bag to the smaller model Billingham, and possibly adding an autofocus macro (although reviews indicate they're a bit fiddly, and I've never had much of a problem focusing in macro).

I'm pretty proud of this outfit though, and of keeping it priced under our $2,000 budget goal. I've learned that the eBay square trade guaranties are probably worth it, that your local camera dealer can often compete with internet prices (they have computers, too...), and that today's Sigma lenses are a great alternative to the OEM brands. Please let me know if you think I've acquired some dogs or if there are gaps in our arsenal. But please no "You should go full frame...." advice. I know the gains possible, but it's just not in our budget these days.

Nice story, Andy, and so different from the "gotta have the latest and greatest" fables that seem to pervade this forum.

My first Nikon was a D80 with that self same 18-70 lens you have. It's always been highly regarded, and, if it works for you, why change it?

However, if you were eventually to look at changing it, and sticking with your principles, then maybe you'd like to look at Sigma's 17-50 f2.8 (as Thom Hogan wrote back in 2012 "the lens Nikon hasn't made"). I bought one based upon this review and it was a real winner. I moved to a D300 and bought that lens, used from a very nice lady pro, and absolutely loved it.

Once again, many congrats on your story and accomplishments so far ...... a nice Saturday afternoon read. Oh, and that review of Thom Hogan's ? ......

http://www.bythom.com/Sigma17-50mm_lens_review.htm

Just think, those latest and greatest items will be coming into our world during the next couple years..we just get them a little later than the L&G crowd. The big brown truck still shows up, maybe even more often. Andy, aren't those 18-300s/18-400s something, keep getting better and better. I have the Tamron 28-200, 28-300 and an 18-300 that are all pristine and work very well... have approx. $165 in all 3. I'm struggling on a hi-qual big tele though...so far mold/fungus, haze and delamination have been issues. Fortunately, I've been able to work out refunds that allowed me to keep the lens (keep them off market-and get to play/repair/experiment with them-usually not much argument from the seller-they knew it was there) - I won't resell them, I call them "shelf queens" and use one A300 that is dedicated to the lens that might let fungus escape into the camera, they don't go on my other bodies, ever. Anyway, every day is an adventure! Keep on shooting!
mike

Thanks for the compliment! I'm a methodical, if somewhat boring, kind of guy; having a plan and working it is second nature. A friend says I'm so boring that I should title my autobiography "Fifty Shades of Khaki", which also describes my wardrobe. The plan was to acquire enough equipment so that my lovely wife and I could go out shooting together, with separate bags, reconnecting when we needed something that the other person was carrying, with a weight limit that would keep either one of us from a hernia or sciatica. I think we got there.

Interesting review link - Thom's thoughts mirror our experience with the Sigma 10-20. The fixed f 3.5 gives enough for you to stop down one or two stops and achieve corner to corner sharpness. We really like the sharpness of the Sigmas we have at two stops down, or even one in many cases. This looks like it has a similar performance curve.

I do like the 70mm focal length in DX format - I find I've been shooting it a lot at this length. I guess this shouldn't be surprising as my old Nikkor 105 was a favorite length in film days. Shooting wide open I even get a decent bokeh effect. Maybe my fear of a 50mm maximum length is a result of laziness in the "shoe leather zoom" department, or just a hangover from my aversion to the old 85mm Nikkor, which might have been one of the worst lenses ever sold under the Nikon name. But this Sigma looks like it would be an upgrade in many ways.

The only weak link in our system remains the kit tele-zoom, at least in MY bag. It's pretty bad wide open, and telephonto and slower shutter speeds aren't a great combination. I hate to duplicate equipment, but I find it difficult to pry the Sigma 18-300 off my wife's camera as she loves it so much. Maybe a longer zoom that includes 90mm, as that's the equivalent of the 135s I used to shoot with in both Pentax and Nikon systems? The other thing we've been thinking about is the Sigma 8mm fisheye, as my wife loves the fisheye effect as a novelty. And of course, another Billingham bag!

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I do feel like this kind of slow assembly to a budget is something that most of us have to do in reality. I wish I'd planned ahead better in my film days.

This is going to be a long post, so if you're not interested, please pass right by. But I wanted to share how we've built our DSLR equipment stash on a budget, and get any advice or suggestions on what we could have done differently or should do in the future. In assembling this, we relied on reviews on the Hog, on the always-opinionated Ken Rockwell, and on several other photography sites.

Two years ago this month, my wife and I strolled into a pawn shop while on walkabout around our small city. To my surprise, they had a DSLR outfit priced at $170, a Nikon D50 with two kit lenses, a bag, and a teleconverter. We had been talking about upgrading from 35mm and high end digital point and shoots for some time, and immediately went home to research both full frame and crop sensor systems on the Interwebz. We quickly came to the conclusion that we could choose either versatility in a crop sensor system, or higher image quality in full frame, but could not have much versatility and would have to share a camera body in full frame. The decision was made. We trotted back to the pawn shop, negotiated the price down to $150, and began our conversion journey. I set a budget goal of $2,000, with which to assemble an outfit for two, with some redundancy, that would replicate our 35mm capabilities and allow us high quality 16x20 frameable prints, as well as normal digital display. Yesterday, with the arrival of our last lens for a while, we completed the job, at a total cost of just under $2,000 (not counting $180 I spent on a body that failed to function a week after it arrived). Here's what we did.

First, a bit about us. We both love to shoot architecture and building details, nature, and street scenes. We love abandoned places especially, and abstract images and still lifes found in our walkabouts. You can see some of our work here: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-525693-1.html

We have grandchildren, and wanted to be able to photograph them in both candid portraits and activities (including our star quarterback grandson). We are cooks and food bloggers, and collect a variety of small objects (I make jewelry, collect old fountain pens, and my wife collects jewelry). The goal was an outfit that would be sufficiently broad to do most everything we wanted it to, and produce images of the quality we were accustomed to in our 35mm world. My wife previously used a Canon system and I used Nikon, but we entered the digital world through the Nikon door and never looked back. After we had learned the basics on the D50, we decided that the D3200 would provide us with a camera that met our needs, and did not especially desire any of the features in subsequent generation bodies. Here's what we bought, in the order we bought it:

Used Nikon D3200 body with 5000 shutter count - $270 on eBay. A basic body that meets our needs. At first my wife carried this, and I used the old D50 until I could afford one too.

Billingham 335 pro bag - $215 on eBay. What can I say? I like high quality luggage and bags, and we wanted something durable, comfortable to carry, and capable of holding a lot of stuff. Well worth the extra bucks IMHO. It's a thing of beauty.

Sigma 10-20 mm zoom - $160. I'm a wide angle guy, and do a lot of architectural and construction photos in my job. This had great reviews and is still my favorite lens. The build quality and image quality are both outstanding - it sold me on the Sigma line. https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-10-20mm-f-3.5-EX-DC-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

Neewer 750II flashes x 2 - $70 for both on Amazon. Seemed the best of the cheap flashes, and they've served us well. Also helped improve my Chingrish translation.

Sigma 18-300 zoom with Image Stabilization - $379 at local camera shop. This is a great lens. My wife carries it most of the time. She takes everything from street scenes to action shots of the grandson and near macro closeups. We were thinking about the longer version, but this is more versatile and is the one that goes absolutely everywhere. https://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/os-lenses/18-300mm-f35-63-dc-macro-os-hsm-c

Second D3200 body - $250 on eBay. I finally got to upgrade my body! And it came with a nifty little Nikon SB300 speedlight and three batteries. 3000 shutter count!

Nikon 50mm f 1.8 - $190 from local camera shop (I love shopping locally when they have what I want). Because available light, portraits of the grandkids, and bokeh.

Nikon f 2.8 - 3.5 18-70 mm zoom - $120 from a trusted dealer at our local camera show in Boston. I love this lens. It's my new all purpose, and sits on my camera most of the time.

Neewer 16 channel flash controller - $15 on Amazon. An end to slavery! It seems to work very well, and, fifteen bucks?

Neewer Macro TTL ring light system - $65 on Amazon. She wanted TTL control, and we've had good experience with Neewer products. Chicks dig bug photos.

Sigma 50 mm f 2.8 macro - $100 on eBay. She's always wante a true macro, so this was a Mother's Day gift. It's manual focus on our bodies, but will actually autofocus on the D50. Might upgrade in the future, but $100 was all I wanted to spend right now.

In addition, we have umbrellas, light stands, filters, etc. from our film days. I upgraded to Neewer umbrella holders because they are much smaller than my old Reflectasols. Heavy film era tripods (I also shoot a Rolleiflex and Graphics) go with us, one in each of our vehicles. Bought a few chargers, batteries, remote controls, etc., bringing the total tab to $1,984. The D50 and wide angle kit lens stay in the office for emergency use if I've forgotten my gear. I still use the old Tamrac bag, but might upgrade to a smaller Billingham.

So whaddya think, Hoggers? Any real dogs here that deserve an upgrade? The plan is to put most of our spare cash into printing and framing going forward, maybe upgrading my daily carry bag to the smaller model Billingham, and possibly adding an autofocus macro (although reviews indicate they're a bit fiddly, and I've never had much of a problem focusing in macro).

I'm pretty proud of this outfit though, and of keeping it priced under our $2,000 budget goal. I've learned that the eBay square trade guaranties are probably worth it, that your local camera dealer can often compete with internet prices (they have computers, too...), and that today's Sigma lenses are a great alternative to the OEM brands. Please let me know if you think I've acquired some dogs or if there are gaps in our arsenal. But please no "You should go full frame...." advice. I know the gains possible, but it's just not in our budget these days.

Congrats on a lot of hard work and research. Your dissertation sounds almost spiritual. The only comment I would make is I too don't have any GAS money to throw around but, through learning how eBay works, over the past couple years I've managed to acquire fast (2.8) glass while keeping my trusty D7100. Total cost for my Nikkor AF-s 70-200mm 2.8 ED VRII, an older Nikkor 35-70 2.8D, and a Tokina 11-20 Pro DX 2.8 was just under $1,700. And as everyone seems to agree there's no substitute for fast glass.
Thanks for sharing.

It's a great idea for some. And it would have been more feasible if I had a collection of more modern Nikon lenses. But I wanted the bells and whistles of autofocus on most items, as well as the convenience and quality of today's zoom technology. Any older lenses I still own are fixed focal length and not converted. I did give conversion some thought, but with the lighter weight and longer zoom ranges, decided this was the best course. I also wanted my wife to be able to share a lens kit, and she is not a manual focus / manual exposure kind of gal.

I spent a lot of time at the dealers' tables featuring vintage Nikon glass at the New England Photographica 87 show a few weeks ago, and will undoubtedly buy some in the future.

Thanks to you for reading it!

Like it or not, most of us live on some kind of a budget, and make choices between our needs, our interests, our hobbies, our charities, etc. We have many financial obligations in our own family, are preparing for retirement in a few years (although I don't plan to retire as long as I am able to do good work and be productive), and have many, many hobbies and interests. That's just the reality behind GAS. Every dollar you spend on gear, unless you have relatively unlimited means, is a dollar you don't spend on printing, matting, and framing. A dollar you don't spend on travelling to places you want to photograph. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I thought this might inspire a few people to set goals, make a plan, and work the plan over a period of time. I hope a few have taken it in this spirit, and gotten some ideas. You don't always need the latest and greatest gear to make good, or even great photographs. Talent and equipment don't necessarily go hand in hand. It's making the most out of whatever equipment and talent you may be blessed with.

By the way, the 7100 seems like a great choice, and you've definitely got some nice glass. We went with the 3000 series for financial reasons and because the wifi, gps, and other added features don't really mean much to us. When we eventually do upgrade, it will probaby be to 7200 models.

Andy

This is going to be a long post, so if you're not interested, please pass right by. But I wanted to share how we've built our DSLR equipment stash on a budget, and get any advice or suggestions on what we could have done differently or should do in the future. In assembling this, we relied on reviews on the Hog, on the always-opinionated Ken Rockwell, and on several other photography sites.

Two years ago this month, my wife and I strolled into a pawn shop while on walkabout around our small city. To my surprise, they had a DSLR outfit priced at $170, a Nikon D50 with two kit lenses, a bag, and a teleconverter. We had been talking about upgrading from 35mm and high end digital point and shoots for some time, and immediately went home to research both full frame and crop sensor systems on the Interwebz. We quickly came to the conclusion that we could choose either versatility in a crop sensor system, or higher image quality in full frame, but could not have much versatility and would have to share a camera body in full frame. The decision was made. We trotted back to the pawn shop, negotiated the price down to $150, and began our conversion journey. I set a budget goal of $2,000, with which to assemble an outfit for two, with some redundancy, that would replicate our 35mm capabilities and allow us high quality 16x20 frameable prints, as well as normal digital display. Yesterday, with the arrival of our last lens for a while, we completed the job, at a total cost of just under $2,000 (not counting $180 I spent on a body that failed to function a week after it arrived). Here's what we did.

First, a bit about us. We both love to shoot architecture and building details, nature, and street scenes. We love abandoned places especially, and abstract images and still lifes found in our walkabouts. You can see some of our work here: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-525693-1.html

We have grandchildren, and wanted to be able to photograph them in both candid portraits and activities (including our star quarterback grandson). We are cooks and food bloggers, and collect a variety of small objects (I make jewelry, collect old fountain pens, and my wife collects jewelry). The goal was an outfit that would be sufficiently broad to do most everything we wanted it to, and produce images of the quality we were accustomed to in our 35mm world. My wife previously used a Canon system and I used Nikon, but we entered the digital world through the Nikon door and never looked back. After we had learned the basics on the D50, we decided that the D3200 would provide us with a camera that met our needs, and did not especially desire any of the features in subsequent generation bodies. Here's what we bought, in the order we bought it:

Used Nikon D3200 body with 5000 shutter count - $270 on eBay. A basic body that meets our needs. At first my wife carried this, and I used the old D50 until I could afford one too.

Billingham 335 pro bag - $215 on eBay. What can I say? I like high quality luggage and bags, and we wanted something durable, comfortable to carry, and capable of holding a lot of stuff. Well worth the extra bucks IMHO. It's a thing of beauty.

Sigma 10-20 mm zoom - $160. I'm a wide angle guy, and do a lot of architectural and construction photos in my job. This had great reviews and is still my favorite lens. The build quality and image quality are both outstanding - it sold me on the Sigma line. https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-10-20mm-f-3.5-EX-DC-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

Neewer 750II flashes x 2 - $70 for both on Amazon. Seemed the best of the cheap flashes, and they've served us well. Also helped improve my Chingrish translation.

Sigma 18-300 zoom with Image Stabilization - $379 at local camera shop. This is a great lens. My wife carries it most of the time. She takes everything from street scenes to action shots of the grandson and near macro closeups. We were thinking about the longer version, but this is more versatile and is the one that goes absolutely everywhere. https://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/os-lenses/18-300mm-f35-63-dc-macro-os-hsm-c

Second D3200 body - $250 on eBay. I finally got to upgrade my body! And it came with a nifty little Nikon SB300 speedlight and three batteries. 3000 shutter count!

Nikon 50mm f 1.8 - $190 from local camera shop (I love shopping locally when they have what I want). Because available light, portraits of the grandkids, and bokeh.

Nikon f 2.8 - 3.5 18-70 mm zoom - $120 from a trusted dealer at our local camera show in Boston. I love this lens. It's my new all purpose, and sits on my camera most of the time.

Neewer 16 channel flash controller - $15 on Amazon. An end to slavery! It seems to work very well, and, fifteen bucks?

Neewer Macro TTL ring light system - $65 on Amazon. She wanted TTL control, and we've had good experience with Neewer products. Chicks dig bug photos.

Sigma 50 mm f 2.8 macro - $100 on eBay. She's always wante a true macro, so this was a Mother's Day gift. It's manual focus on our bodies, but will actually autofocus on the D50. Might upgrade in the future, but $100 was all I wanted to spend right now.

In addition, we have umbrellas, light stands, filters, etc. from our film days. I upgraded to Neewer umbrella holders because they are much smaller than my old Reflectasols. Heavy film era tripods (I also shoot a Rolleiflex and Graphics) go with us, one in each of our vehicles. Bought a few chargers, batteries, remote controls, etc., bringing the total tab to $1,984. The D50 and wide angle kit lens stay in the office for emergency use if I've forgotten my gear. I still use the old Tamrac bag, but might upgrade to a smaller Billingham.

So whaddya think, Hoggers? Any real dogs here that deserve an upgrade? The plan is to put most of our spare cash into printing and framing going forward, maybe upgrading my daily carry bag to the smaller model Billingham, and possibly adding an autofocus macro (although reviews indicate they're a bit fiddly, and I've never had much of a problem focusing in macro).

I'm pretty proud of this outfit though, and of keeping it priced under our $2,000 budget goal. I've learned that the eBay square trade guaranties are probably worth it, that your local camera dealer can often compete with internet prices (they have computers, too...), and that today's Sigma lenses are a great alternative to the OEM brands. Please let me know if you think I've acquired some dogs or if there are gaps in our arsenal. But please no "You should go full frame...." advice. I know the gains possible, but it's just not in our budget these days.