[Dave]

Can you remember the 1st time you were told how much a certain lens cost & nearly fainted ? I can. When someone told me to upgrade from kit lens I would have to spend £250 I laughed in their face & told them I would never be that stupid to spend that much

Hmmmmmm Easy to forget how much this hobby "can" cost

[Chris H]

Only good thing for me is that the 100-400 L IS USM is still the same price now as I paid in March'ish this year.

Shame the 40D body has'nt kept it's value

[Rob Barron]

I know what you mean Chris. I guess to misquote a saying: A camera body is for Christmas but a good lens is for life

[Chris H]

Up to now the 10-22 EFS, the 24-105 L IS USM and the 100-400 have held their price, I got my Sunpak flash for I price I can't realy lose on and a whole load of toys and bits of ebay for silly money.

The Body since I bought it has sunk faster than the Titanic but as I have no intentions of changing it in even the long future it doesn't realy matter

[stepheno]

I think it was when I first realised which lenses the sports 'togs were using and the thousands they would cost.

Edit: needless to say I have nothing more expensive than the 100-400.

[P-E]

Yes it soons adds up doesn't it.

[Charlotte]

Photography has to be one of the most - if not the most - potentially expensive hobbies, if you really get hooked I sometimes wonder if I'd've still got into it, had I known this beforehand But too late now and although I can't spend as much time on it as I'd like to I certainly wouldn't give it up now

[aideyhoward]

its adding up for me im just starting and theres so much stuff that i look at and think if only.... L lens for example. but at the moment my next purchase is a sigma 105mm and also a tripod and a 200 or 300mm prime not decided maybe go for telephoto on that as of cost but.. o wait yeah it is expensive

[Dutchie]

Yeh it adds up big style. I was lucky to be able to spend this year. But if I start counting on what I've spend I'd rather not. The lenses are very expensive.

[Markulous]

Originally Posted by Charlotte

Photography has to be one of the most - if not the most - potentially expensive hobbies, if you really get hooked

Flying? Rallying? Power boating? Yachting? Photography is dirt cheap in comparison!

[Charlotte]

Thanks Mark, I feel better now

[Lew]

Even bass fishing is more expensive in the states than photography. Between my son-in-law and I, we have probably have over $50,000 invested with him more insane than I. To replace his boat alone today would be almost $60,000 dollars new. Even five years old $30,000. Of course I have a boat too for smaller lakes. We use both. Not to mention gasoline, tournament fees, lodging, and meals. Admittedly any next lens will be a $1000, but it's cheaper than competitive fishing and perhaps more satisfying in it's very own way. Since photography has replaced it for me I save money. I still fish for sport, but often spend more time with camera in hand than rod and reel.

[samleo]

Photography is as expensive or inexpensine as you want to make it; you don,t need high end equipment to enjoy it,or take excellent pics. I wonder how many of us go diving in buying expensive equipment that we don,t really need,perhaps just think we need: I wonder how many of us have equipment that we don,t or cannot use to its full potential! We, as consumers, are manipulated by the manufacturers who are constantly upgrading models etc. Professional photographers need to stay ahead ,but amateurs, do we really need that top end equipment? I'll put my hands up and admit that I get as much fun from my G9 that I do from my D80!

[Lew]

Very true. My Canon S3 superzoom is still an entrigueing toy. I suspect my abilities will never match even its' capabilities and even it was probably more than any rational need.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by samleo

Photography is as expensive or inexpensine as you want to make it; you don,t need high end equipment to enjoy it,or take excellent pics. I wonder how many of us go diving in buying expensive equipment that we don,t really need,perhaps just think we need: I wonder how many of us have equipment that we don,t or cannot use to its full potential! We, as consumers, are manipulated by the manufacturers who are constantly upgrading models etc. Professional photographers need to stay ahead ,but amateurs, do we really need that top end equipment? I'll put my hands up and admit that I get as much fun from my G9 that I do from my D80!

Fully agree, if you are spending a fortune on your photography equipment and not making a living from the return then unless you have the money to throw at the 'hobby' or you feel you are getting a good return in terms of enjoyment or personal development, then you only really have yourself to blame

For the average photographer most will have got caught up in the marketing, advertising and have fallen in with the 'latest is best and needed crowd'

[P-E]

Originally Posted by Steve

For the average photographer most will have got caught up in the marketing, advertising and have fallen in with the 'latest is best and needed crowd'

I can't believe people get caught up in that

[Steve]

I was running with that crowd once, now I am all retro

[P-E]

Originally Posted by Steve

I was running with that crowd once, now I am all retro

[Steve]

It will be cool to be retro soon...just you wait

[Whipspeed]

LOL, I can remember saying to Andy that I could never justify one of the pro cameras. Hmmm, now I've got that 1D MkIII, whoops.

[jake]

Sometimes it makes sense to go retro. I have a Sony 350 and am using the "standard" zoom lens off my 35mm Minolta 700si, which is a better lens than came with the Sony, especially on edge definition. They go on e-bay for around £30 to £50. For a fast lens I use a 50mm Minolta f1.8 which I got secondhand about 12 years ago for around £30 and that gives me the best definition of all my lenses.
I feel sure the same sort of situation exists with other manufacturers especialy with prime lenses.

[Charlotte]

Originally Posted by Steve

For the average photographer most will have got caught up in the marketing, advertising and have fallen in with the 'latest is best and needed crowd'

Originally Posted by P-E

I can't believe people get caught up in that

Was going to say "Nor can I" ... but I can ... but only those who want to

[silkstone]

The thing is... the thing is... photography costs nothing once you've bought the hardware. We don't even need to buy film any more. With most other hobbies there is a revenue cost and you have to pay to take part, but taking pics is free apart from any travel costs.

[Dutchie]

I think that you need to know when to stop. Hard with a market that throws all these new gadgets at ya.

[M1ke A]

Originally Posted by Dutchie

I think that you need to know when to stop.

Isn't that when the wife/husband/significant other/bank manager says ?



I've recently brought a Lastolite Ezhotshoe softbox, some clamps, brackets and other little doo dahs and that came in over £200 for 'accessories'

[Steve]

Don't mistake my posts above for putting anyone down who spends oodles of money on camera gear and doesn't make a penny back from it. Its your money and you can chose to spend it on whatever you like but that doesn't mean that photography needs to an expensive hobby

There are plenty of happy photographers using point and shoot or capable bridge cameras, some of them get results that put all of my work to shame

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Steve

It will be cool to be retro soon...just you wait

Hey, I was shooting with my 300D today

[JMitchell]

Originally Posted by Steve

It will be cool to be retro soon...just you wait

What like paying £3000 for one of those not very good Leica M8.2 retro digital rangefinder jobbies....

[Rob Barron]

Well, just a thought but how about this: When I bought my Canon 40D body, I paid £630 for it.
That's a 10 megapixel digital SLR capable of stunningly good photos.

My first digital camera was a Kodak DC something or other (can't remember the number now) and it had, wait for it.... 0.3 megapixels! You couldn't have printed a photo from it even if we had had colour printers capable of it. We just produced pictures that had loads of banding all over them, squinted a lot and thought.... 'wow, this is fantastic!!!!'

If you had bought the Canon D30 when that first came out, you would have paid £2,600 for body only! Makes £2,000 for the 5D Mk2 seem a bargain doesn't it!

I love my photography, it's the one thing I get genuinely passionate about (ok, ok, apart from my videography, Liverpool FC, playing music, etc....) but at the end of the day there is no way I would have the equipment I do if I didn't make it back through sales. I have an agreement with my better half that I can use all the money I make through photography for the pursuance of my photography without any complaints which is great. If I sell pictures, I can buy new equipment, if I don't I can't. Simple

Yes of course it's true that you don't have to have the best equipment to take the best photos.... but it definitely does help! Let's be honest, we don't spend the levels of money we do on L series lenses etc for nothing.

Above everything though, I say enjoy this wonderful hobby for all it's worth. Be passionate about it, love it, pursue it, get everything out of it you can. It is its own reward when you produce a few shots that people want to hang on their walls!

Cheers,
Rob

[dandan]

How about the array of bags we collect as our kit changes and our bits and pieces grow,

For a definitive exhibition of the perils of bag progression do visit the mega bag showroom on Silkstone common