Images > Life, the Universe & Everything Else
What is a Stop Worth, and the Meaning of Life
simsurace:
I second the advice of not letting your life be ruled by anything of this sort. It's a good habit to try to be as rational as possible about buying decisions in general, even when certain aspects remain irrational or rather very subjective. Meanwhile, almost all my gear has been saved up for, I would not have it otherwise. At least while you're saving up money, you have time to think whether you really need it, and if you find that you don't, you still have some extra money. If you have tons of disposable income, I think it might be harder to resist the temptation to buy on a whim some expensive stuff you don't really need, but I can't speak from experience.
Here in Switzerland you can find pretty amazing deals on the used market because people go and buy full pro kits and then find that they are too complex for them. They rarely fetch the same price again even when the stuff is literally untouched, because the demand is not high enough within our small country and people often don't want the hassle of selling it to a foreign country. Education is not as dependent on the depth of your pockets around here as it is in the US, so I guess that their adventures should not compromise their children's education too much. Or so I hope.
Bjørn Rørslett:
We have free education over here in my neck of the woods so parents' whims don't influence their children to the same degree.
Peter Connan:
Thought provoking, and I am unfortunately a prime offender.
Thanks Ron
HCS:
While i do agree with Ron's statements about saving up for child school/college/university fees, i also offer another perspective.
I ponder every euro i (want to) spend on photography, yet i did purchase the D3s a few years ago to "just" photograph my kids around the house. Reason for me ... the emotional value of the photos i was able to obtain while i couldn't get them in the way the D3s could with other cameras (with flash). I did push the other cams and flash etc. first before spending the awful amount of money (for a hobby). But again, it paid for itself emotionally within 6 months.
Just a different view on the same topic. This may have been one of the drivers of the soccer dad with his 300 f/2.8.
Jan Anne:
In the end it all comes down to what I'm willing to pay for a certain experience or capability, as gear usually doesn't last longer than a year or two in the camerabag I'm more concerned about the depreciation than the price tag itself however.
For instance my D3s was bought new when released for €4500 and sold was for €3300 2,5 years later, though it was my most expensive camera ever it's depreciation was comparable with the D200 and D300 I had before (roughly €1000 in 2 years for each) and got a much better camera experience to boot, both with big tele lenses as well as with manual focus lenses (the latter didn't do well for me on the smaller Nikons).
I owned the 200-400/4VR for 7 months in 2009, bought it secondhand for €3900 to take it on the NG safari in Southern Africa and sold it again for €4250 including the RRS foot. Though I made a small profit I would have been OK with a loss as the lens provided me with an experience of a lifetime giving me memories and images I will cherish forever.
So, if birding or wildlife is your thing and it provides you with a lot of quality time in nature (something some us really need to stay sane) the depreciation of a few thousand bucks over the years on those big 200-400/4 or 600/4 lenses is more than worth it, both in experience and in the capability to capture memorable images.
Because I shoot less nowadays an unbalance was created in the money lost in depreciation vs the experience I got out of it so I've resorted to buying gear abroad for a lower price (less warranty but also less depreciation), buying second hand lenses (usually no deprecation) or buying lenses than can be used on multiple camera brands with adapters, so I can buy that Nikon mirrorless FX camera one day without the need to buy new lenses besides a native 35/1.4 AF lens (my main lens).
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