Longshadow wrote:
Like 90+% of the time an OTS computer with ample memory will meet one's needs,
but so many people say pay more and get the best. Oh, and add a GREAT graphics card.......
Because that's what THEY would get!
Real easy to spend other people's money.
Been buying OTS computers for YEARS, I never had a performance problem.
My Vello battery grip is fantastic also!
I choose to buy a new camera body every 7-8 years. I buy used lenses, tripods and other camera gear from dealers offering good six month warranties and decent exchange policies. I buy refurbished Macs, also "off the shelf" models. They are the exact same computers with the same warranties as new.
There is no shame in saving money. I like it when I make more on my investments by not spending them. My car is a 2010 in great shape that I'll keep as long as I can. Cars are black holes in the road, and boats are drains in the lake. Both suck cash.
One key to efficient use of funds is product research. If you learn enough about what sort of things you want to buy, you can avoid over-buying for your needs.
To paraphrase an old jazz singer,
it's not what you have. It's how you use it. Even a $6500 camera with a $5500 lens can make terrible images if used improperly. I've seen it happen too often to say otherwise! The marginal utility of a $2500 lens isn't often that much greater than the $1200 generic. You just need to know when it is and when it isn't needed.
One hopelessly affluent guy I know bought three different systems (Nikon, then Sony, then Leica) and got the same mediocre results. He asked me why his images were "so lousy." I told him what he needed to do, which was to quit buying gear as if it were hope, to get some photographic education, and to practice like crazy! He needed knowledge and technique and muscle memory.
He wasn't too happy to hear that, at the time. But he told me two years later that I was right, that he had resisted reading, taking classes, and practice, because it "took too much time." His wife convinced him to sell his Leica system and buy her some jewelry and a new iPhone. He still has the other systems, I think. He must be using them, because he showed me some really nice prints the last time I saw him.