money saving thread

mastertrinity

mastertrinity

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Luke
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hey everybody i thought i'd try something that i haven't seen on here, a moey saving thread. on here you can post your clever ideas that saved you money. heres my examples:

a green bin bag with a hole will make a great portable and disposable hide.

get some card (for example silver/gold) and cut it to the neccessary size and voila you have a cheap reflector.

instead of buying a photographers stool, just get a cheap £4 stool from wilko's etc.

see how easy it is! so please post your ideas.

btw if this is in the wrong place then could a mod please move it to the appropriate place.
 
I have a mega simple one!

Instead of going out and buying the latest and greatest kit, learn to use what you have first.
 
How about...stop reading the Talk Equipment section and For Sale sections to stop gear lust?
 
1/ Full ring flash for macro. F22 @ 1 foot. 2 versions
2/ Freeze flash for those stop `em shots
plenty of other gizmos
All by my lily white hands.
 
TheCrow said:
I have a mega simple one!

Instead of going out and buying the latest and greatest kit, learn to use what you have first.
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I like this one!!!!

I am still really new to this and I am a complete shop-a-holic!!!.............but I have resisted and only been out and bought an external flash.

Totally agree and am trying to get lots of practice and also read loads :)
 
laws said:
I like this one!!!!

I am still really new to this and I am a complete shop-a-holic!!!.............but I have resisted and only been out and bought an external flash.

Totally agree and am trying to get lots of practice and also read loads :)
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I'm still to get past my own advice lol. I'm still using a D50 with a stock lens.
 
Make friends with someone who uses the same brand of camera and cadge their equipment.

If you don't want anyone within a 10-mile radius cadging your gear, pretend to shoot something obscure. Koni-Omega works for me.

Borrow a body cap from a fellow tribe member, and make a pinhole camera.

You can make your own 200mm lens from the toilet roll tubes you saved when you used to watch Blue Peter.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
For cheap reflectors, snoots, etc try Poundland :D
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this :D windscreen shades from poundland (or wilkos have the same thing for £2 if there isn't one near you...) are great reflectors.

And coat a pringles tube in black gaff tape, and can opener off the metal base, and voila, you have a professional looking snoot! Or, get some thin black foam sheets (sold as 'fun foam' in craft shops) and attach velcro strips / dots to make really useful and flexible snoots / gobos. works well, and looks professional, and is durable :D

the colour film from poundland isn't meant to be too bad either :thumbs:
 
This could become a great and useful thread if it keeps going. I'll help the OP out..

Always keep rubber bands in your camera bag - useful for a hundred different things, such as converting any shopping plastic bag into a rain cover

B&Q floor-stand floodlights are a tenner each. Using a cheap white shower curtain, a couple of coathangers unravelled to make frame supports, and some white paper you can make a huge high-key lightbox just by setting your WB to tungsten.

Never tried it, but evidently a Pringles crisp lid makes a pretty neat exposure-disk on the cheap...

If you have a Nikon camera, you can use trap-focus by setting the AF/AE lock button to AF and the drive mode to continuous, then using a wired release locked into the firing position.... saves on infrared tripmeters [Canon owners, consult your guidebooks/oracle/tealeaves/horoscopes etc]

Oh, and if not having your gear nicked saves you money.. then here's a sneaky one... if you're abroad with a hire car and leaving kit in the boot then buy a local newspaper [doesn't mattter if you can't read the language]. Mess it up to make it look well read, and leave it on the dashboard. A local numberplate with a 'well-read' newspaper inside = a local, not a tourist. It can save unwanted attention...
 
itsdavedotnet said:
this :D windscreen shades from poundland (or wilkos have the same thing for £2 if there isn't one near you...) are great reflectors.
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They also do those silver emergency blankets - 2 for a quid and the laptop protectors make excellent snoots :)

3558064478_5c8980d47a.jpg
 
danbroad said:
Oh, and if not having your gear nicked saves you money.. then here's a sneaky one... if you're abroad with a hire car and leaving kit in the boot then buy a local newspaper [doesn't mattter if you can't read the language]. Mess it up to make it look well read, and leave it on the dashboard. A local numberplate with a 'well-read' newspaper inside = a local, not a tourist. It can save unwanted attention...
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That's a brilliant idea!. I'm off to France next month and will be taking all my gear and hiring a car. Thanks for the tip :thumbs:
 
instead of buying PS elements, PS CS4 etc. try using GIMP first to see if you can handle it. i know many people who bought elements and couldnt understand the layout and buttons, and so now they use GIMP until their ready to expand.
 
a good cheap reflector is actually the stuff you can put behind radiators! its usually like a pound or two per square metre! its a thin layer (2cm thick) of slightly bendy polystyrene with a thin layer of matt aluminium foil on top. its amazing for a make-shift reflector. you have a metalic/shiny side, and because its matt (not mirror-like) you dont get such a tiny spot of light on someones nose. Or you have the side that is white, and thats helpful too.
 
mastertrinity said:
instead of buying PS elements, PS CS4 etc. try using GIMP first to see if you can handle it. i know many people who bought elements and couldnt understand the layout and buttons, and so now they use GIMP until their ready to expand.
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a bridge + paint.net workflow is also good if you don't do too much post production work on your photos, nice and simple to use, but can still do a fair amount of the basic stuff.
 
I think one way to save money is to spend it in the first place on the thing you really want rather than a half hearted comprimise... that in a years time you get bored with and lust for the real deal anyway... I'm thinking more of lenses than anything... not that I mean spend money you really cant afford... but I guess as my fiancee tells me... sometimes less is more... buy high quality gear within your budget rather than lots of lower quality gear you will replace in a years time...

Oh... and sell stuff you dont need on ebay... its amazing what people will pay you... so thats not money saving it's money making... but one in the same thing really!
 
thaats a good reason mark. imagine really wanting the new tripod thats £100 then theres a new camera bag thats £100, you only have £100 so buy one or the other otherwise you would end up buying a cheap tripod adn camera bag £50 each and you will upgrade at the end of the year.

also heres another one, never go on direct debit things like littlewoods, if you cant afford then dont buy it and wait till you have the cash otherwise you might have a gear overload.
 
Try to be honest with yourself. Buy kit that reflects what you actually would use it for. A nice macro lens that gets used once is one example. Or a very expensive wide angle, only to find you don't really shoot wide is another.

If you just use your camera occasionally, ask yourself if you really NEED L quality. Talented photographers produce their stunning images and the kit is the icing on the cake. Just getting the kit won't necessarily make you a better photographer.

Finally, try to keep to as few lenses are you can comfortably carry with you. A lens left at home is not going to be much use.

Graham
 
thats a good one bluemax, the good old "only get what you need". i know some people who buy, a standard lens, wide angle, telephoto, and macro just in case they might need them some day. i believe you should get the neccessary equipment of what you take photo's of. i do alot of flower photography however this is only because i haven't tried any others but still need a macro lens because thats what i do.
 
Black bin bag.
1. For kneeling or lying on in the mud for low down shots.
2. As a background for flowers, insects etc.
3. Cut diagonally across one corner, put your camera inside with the lens just poking out of the hole, put an elastic band around the bag/lens, stick your head in the bag and you have a nice waterproof cover. A UV filter on the lens will protect the front element from getting wet.
 
everybody just send me what you dont want!, that would save me £££££'s, :lol::lol:
 
Next time you at the zoo or themepark look out for those cheap diposable rain capes, chuck a couple in your camera bag, they'll come in handy sooner or later.
 
After spending £1800 on a nice shiny new Canon 85mm/1.2 L, go into McDonalds for a £1 coffee instead of Costa paying £3.50, et voila, £2.50 saved:clap:
Dean:)
 
swanseamale47 said:
Next time you at the zoo or themepark look out for those cheap diposable rain capes, chuck a couple in your camera bag, they'll come in handy sooner or later.
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think you can get them from the market, poundland and wilkos type places too iirc. pretty sure my poundland does a pack of two...
 
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