Do you ever ask - Do I really need it?

Steven001

Steven001

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Steven
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It's my 21st next week, and in total I have about £500 to spend at the moment (probably a little more). Now, I had planned on getting a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 or 28-75mm f/2.8 which I think would be a good upgrade from my kit lens. However, recently - until the wedding yesterday - I haven't been using my camera much, but after experiencing the wedding I want to start shooting more and more. I would really like to get into wedding photography, but weddings don't come up that often, especially ones 'just for practice'.

I would also like to start some gig photography and considering going along to a small venue next week to give it a shot and see how I get on, I know I'll struggle with my kit lens.

I would love a second hand D200 or D90, but I have to ask myself - Would I get the use of it? Even though I don't really need an upgrade, I want one! :bonk:
 
I suggest a nifty fifty for gigs, fantastic for low light, will cost under £100 too.
 
Buy a D200, sell the D40 and spend the change on a nifty fifty !!
 
All the time, in fact, the last few purchases was because i needed it.

Had my first paid wedding to shoot, i knew a year in advance and started planning the gear i need 8 months ago. Planned my finances and what to get at which month.

I made a criteria - 2 bodies, a 24-70, a ultra wide angle and a 70-200 2.8, 2 flashes and enough memory and batteries.

Got a 5Dii to go with a 30D I already had, but I had to get a new Mac because my old PC is just too old to process the 5Dii Raw images efficiently..which means i had to hire the 24-70L, and borrowed a 70-200 2.8. I had got my hands on a 16-35L, a 580ex II, and then also another 40G of memory.

If i didn't have that wedding to shoot, i don't think i would've upgraded as soon as I did.
 
With a bit of careful shopping your £500 and the £200 or so the D40 and kit lens are worth secondhand would get you the Tamron 17-50 and a nice low mileage D200 :D

Or if you're as jammy as that Dangermouse character, a mint D2x:annoyed: :lol:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
With a bit of careful shopping your £500 and the £200 or so the D40 and kit lens are worth secondhand would get you the Tamron 17-50 and a nice low mileage D200 :D

Or if you're as jammy as that Dangermouse character, a mint D2x:annoyed: :lol:
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Exactly what I was thinking, or swap the tamron for a 50mm 1.8 and have a little change...
 
Flash In The Pan said:
With a bit of careful shopping your £500 and the £200 or so the D40 and kit lens are worth secondhand would get you the Tamron 17-50 and a nice low mileage D200 :D

Or if you're as jammy as that Dangermouse character, a mint D2x:annoyed: :lol:
Click to expand...



:whistling:


You forgot to say it was new and never been used..........spent its whole life on display in a glass cabinet:lol:
 
I'm pretty much the same age and probably going a tad crazier with my spending at the mo. For gig stuff, a Tokina 11-16mm would be awesome on a cropped cam. Huge amount of difference between the wide end on that and what you have at the mo, provides me with far more interesting shots than at the standard focal lengths. Downsides are that the lens alone is about £450 I think, you'd have to shoot at a high ISO and you have to get really really close. That said if you want to get into gig or any kind of tight space shooting, you'll find 50mm on a cropped cam limiting, in my opinion.

If I were you and I was a while ago wanting to go beyond my standard focal lengths, I'd get an ultra wide. Love the shots you can get out of one and they serve as a group group shot lens at weddings.

Got a Tam 28-75mm myself and not a fan, build quality and warranty is just not good enough. If you get a goodun, awesome but I got a bad one and they're not all that awesome then.
 
i find the whole gear guilt thing very odd
do i NEED it?
probably not, having spent a year with just a kit lens and one flash i coped.

will it make certain shots easier/quicker/more profitable/better, is what i now ask myself.
sometimes it's quality of shot
sometimes it's not looking like a **** in front of a client
and sometimes it's laziness.
the bills come first, the toys have to pay for themselves.

eg i need Pocket wizards, i have crappy unreliable ebay versions that seem to need 10 shots to warm up and start firing, so i think that i need PW's, i'm sure i'll get them at some stage but damn! that is a serious chunk of cash i could spend on new floor for the studio etc etc.

This "hobby" is worse than golf for outlay, but not being tiger woods doesn't exclude you from paying gigs to help finance your kit. ;)

now get out there and network your socks off until someone gives you money for clicking :)
 
edbarton said:
I'm pretty much the same age and probably going a tad crazier with my spending at the mo. For gig stuff, a Tokina 11-16mm would be awesome on a cropped cam. Huge amount of difference between the wide end on that and what you have at the mo, provides me with far more interesting shots than at the standard focal lengths. Downsides are that the lens alone is about £450 I think, you'd have to shoot at a high ISO and you have to get really really close. That said if you want to get into gig or any kind of tight space shooting, you'll find 50mm on a cropped cam limiting, in my opinion.

If I were you and I was a while ago wanting to go beyond my standard focal lengths, I'd get an ultra wide. Love the shots you can get out of one and they serve as a group group shot lens at weddings.

Got a Tam 28-75mm myself and not a fan, build quality and warranty is just not good enough. If you get a goodun, awesome but I got a bad one and they're not all that awesome then.
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Really like your website and your pictures really are great. The Tokina is too expensive for me at the moment unfortunately! I know what you mean than 50mm might be too long, that's why I think the 17-50mm would be a good choice.
 
it's also worth canvassing your relatives.

was Uncle Bob a photographer?
is all his lovely old kit rotting in someone's loft?
use it or ebay it!
 
Really like your website and your pictures really are great. The Tokina is too expensive for me at the moment unfortunately! I know what you mean than 50mm might be too long, that's why I think the 17-50mm would be a good choice.
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Thanks Steven. If it's too expensive don't stretch yourself; I was lucky enough to find a mint 17-35mm (which on a full frame is obviously pretty wide indeed) for just £200. And I do agree with Andrew, I've curbed my spending quite a bit now and only buy stuff with my photography income. Kind of a break-even semi-pro/hobby thing at the moment for me but nothing wrong with that. Most of the time when people pay you, you can afford to hire out the more exotic stuff, at least in my experience.

That said, I am a big advocate of the ultrawides for gig and indoors stuff and I think you should have a look around and explore getting one. I find it's just a more interesting shot more of the time and as such you get a lot more bang for your buck than a thrifty fifty which are good don't get me wrong but don't really push the envelope. With my Tam 28-75mm I always hit the wide end and want to go further, fine for landscapes but it just flattens stuff out, lacks that intrigue. Consider also that you've already got that focal range in your kit and obviously this lens is a hell of a lot better and has a fixed aperture but maybe it'd mix things up a bit to go out of your focal length comfort zone.

Just some thoughts really, I appreciate this is probably encouraging you to spend more than you want (and is at the end of the day, my personal preference and shooting style) and I don't think you should spend more than you'd like at all but I think there's some value in going a bit further than the standard. That's what will make your photography interesting.
 
People don't buy what they need, they buy what they want.

If you can afford it, and you want it, then buy it.

Our actual 'needs' are pretty small.
 
Not about cameras or lenses...but plenty of other shiny-kit moments I can think of that left me eating tuna sandwiches for weeks on end...
 
I always ask - Do I really need it. Usually after I bought it though.
Decided last year to splash out on a load of "L" lenses on the off chance that I could one day get myself a 5D MK2. Once I had them I knew that I had made the right decision but while waiting for them to be delivered I asked myself over and over again "Do I really need them"?
 
It is better to wait till there is something you really need, you wont have to hunt for the cash then.
 
Do I ever ask myself "Do I really need it?"

Honestly? No. Because if I do, I wont like the answer :p

So I don't ask the question, buy the thing anyway, and enjoy it.
 
All the time. I tend just to buy things especially if it comes at the right price.

Did I REALLY need the Nikon D3 I got, probably not (Hides this post from the wife), but the price was right and the chance of another coming along at this price would be pretty much nill.
 
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