Price rises - strangely good for us?

danbroad

danbroad

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I didn't go to Focus this year, for the first time in ages, and actually I'm feeling OK with this. I usually love looking around, trying out the new gear, hunting for any bargains.

A couple of years ago, I picked up a 24-105L for £500 from Jacobs; now you'd find it a bargain at £200 more. I've decided that this year, I'm going to put off the D700 purchase until my shutter clicks reach 50k [probably by about autumn] on the D80. I sold the 300/4 [thanks, Dave] and although I miss it, my priorities have changed [to include my new little girl..]

Having sold off an awful lot of gear, I'm now down to the D80, a nifty fifty, the Tamron 17-50 and the Nikkor 70-300VR.

My aim for this year is to get the very best out of these lenses. Whereas before, the 300/4 was first port-of-call for my wildlife, I'm determined to match the shots with the zoom. Can it be done? I think so. Rather than shoot and let the lens do the work, it's time for me to reclaim my photography. Colour, composition, timing. Accuracy with small resources, rather than relying on the high-end equipment.

For this reason, I'm not quite as bothered about the increasing prices on gear. I'm trying to make an optimist of it; sure, I'd love a D700 and FX lenses, and I could still go out and buy; but the fact that they're no longer at 'rock bottom' means the cheapskate in me can wait. And it gives me more reason to shoot with what I own, and work the best out of what I have. And I have the added bonus that all my kit actually fits in my bag, for the first time in a long time... I'll let you know by Christmas whether it worked...:)

Anybody else feeling an odd sense of relief that their gear-lust has been dampened by the economy?
 
danbroad said:
I
For this reason, I'm not quite as bothered about the increasing prices on gear. I'm trying to make an optimist of it; sure, I'd love a D700 and FX lenses, and I could still go out and buy; but the fact that they're no longer at 'rock bottom' means the cheapskate in me can wait. And it gives me more reason to shoot with what I own, and work the best out of what I have. And I have the added bonus that all my kit actually fits in my bag, for the first time in a long time... I'll let you know by Christmas whether it worked...:)
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I know that feeling. It affects me slightly differently: time to stop spending on cameras & lenses and either (a) put some in the piggy bank against retirement, and/or (b) make funding available for my first hobby:clap: Deferring the purchase of a mark I 5D means I don't have to think about a new gear bag, battery grip and so on.

Anybody else feeling an odd sense of relief that their gear-lust has been dampened by the economy?
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Just can't bring myself to feel cheerful about it yet though....
 
I got everything I needed and wanted (and a few things I didn't need or really want :lol:) last year, and picked up a few stragglers start of this year, so the price rises don't really impact me at all.

Too be honest, regarding getting the best of our lenses, despite my high end Nikkors (which I never really use - I'm looking at you 24-70 and 14-24! - all too big!), I get most joy of of my cheap-as-cheaps manual focus AI-S lenses really.

The price rises can't be good for anyone, but its a good chance to focus on what is important.
 
I believe the price rises have affected us all in many different ways. I've been lusting after the 85mm f/1.2 for a while and now it's roughly the same price as a 24" 4GB iMac. Had it been £300-400 cheaper than the iMac (which is was before Christams :( ) then I'd probably have gone for it, but now I'm going to order the iMac. :)
 
The Pound is slowly regaining value against the Yen (15% in the last couple of months), coupled with the severe economic pressure in Japan (exports fell by half), I wonder if we shall see prices start to come down?
 
Martyn... said:
The Pound is slowly regaining value against the Yen (15% in the last couple of months), coupled with the severe economic pressure in Japan (exports fell by half), I wonder if we shall see prices start to come down?
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:lol:


With Japanese exports down 40% - I think the demand in the "supply and demand" will keep prices high for a while.
 
As a newcomer to the world of DSLR's, I'm finding the price rises frustrating.
The more I learn about this hobby the more I understand the need for better lenses etc.
I've started to invest in the items I know I will get a lot of use out of (Canon 10-22mm and 430EX II) while I could still get them at pre increase prices but I have to draw a line.
I'd like to buy a Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS and a 50D later this year but with the current trend in price rises, I just know I will have to sit back and wait.
I feel as though I am getting close the point that I have outgrown my 450D but I am not prepared to pay over the top prices.
 
What a refreshing comment. I've been bitten with the faster glass and the 'I need this' bug. I've spent more than I've needed to, but not over the odds for what I got IMO. I've had really good results from my 70-300VR and use an 18-70DX as a walk-about lens, both which aren't that expensive compared to their quicker bigger brothers. Good luck with the results, my thoughts are its better to have caught the monoent with a bad photo then to miss it trying for perfection.
 
cressers said:
With Japanese exports down 40% - I think the demand in the "supply and demand" will keep prices high for a while.
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How long will the demand last, the first things to suffer are luxury consumer items.

When it comes down to putting food on the table, or buying an expensive camera lens I think the food wins.
 
I've always been in the "make the best" of what I've got category. The house and family uses too much cash for anything else. Although I do get to splurge occasionally on the odd thing. I feel with the kit I have now, I have a long way to go before I outgrow it. Do I want decent L glass ? hell yeah, but it ain't happening anytime soon, and I reckon I can get a lot more out of what I have now.
 
I am lucky in that I am selling a couple of lenses and I am not looking to buy anything new (all my kit has now been purchased secondhand), so the price rises will not affect me other than to make the ones I am selling easier to find homes for.
I would hope that prices will find a level or come down soon for those who are buying or wanting to upgrade, but I think it will take longer for the downwards shift to happen now that the rises have been made.
It will be interesting to see if you enjoy yourself more with less kit and not thinking about the next model out than when you had a bagful :)
 
i feel like im now set to take good shots with what i have. Obviously i would love a longer lens for watersports and i think that having a longer zoom would help but life doesnt work on what i want so i will make do :D
 
My gear lust has been helped by this downturn - it was obvious that due to the tumbling Pound prices would start soaring so while older stock was still available I bought a D700, followed shortly afterwards by a Sigma 24-70 f/2.8. Both came from Jessops who not only had them in stock but were also by far the cheapest local bricks and mortar supplier. The D700 was bought as a kit with the 24-120 VR lens which cost an extra £170 over the body only price and has since been traded in at a slight profit due to the higher new price.
 
Personally, the price rises are the best thing that coudl happen to me.
I'm not buying any expensive gear now unless something breaks.
Gives me time to save (A word I am unfamilliar with) for a 500mm F4 IS :)
 
In 1 hand, i get it, in the other, what the hell ?????

If you didn't have self control to not to buy lenses you don't need before and not making full use of what you had before then you can't really blame the market. How more expensive gear benefit our photography is totally baffling !

I need another body, a 24-70 lens, another flash by August for a wedding shoot, my first official paid one. No amount of skill can save me if my one and only body dies, or the flash goes pop. I either have the shot or get sued !

Cheaper stuff is better for our photography.
 
Good and bad for me. There is some kit I 'need' but it has shot up in price so much that I have put off buying for the time being, and now I have heard my job is looking a bit ropey so maybe it's better I didn't splash out. I think it's the same for a lot of people.
 
Iam playing with an idea in buying a canon d40 does this meen i will pay more for this camera at the moment.
 
Yeah, I'm staying content with the kit I have. A super wide a standard zoom, a telephoto and an off camera flash.
I need another off camera flash though, and the prices don't like me.

The only other bit of kit that is hurting me at the moment is 35mm film.
 
It's certainly stopped me eyeing up D3s and D700s, which is a good thing as I really don't need either, but then I don't really "need" any of the stuff I've bought, do I?

On the other hand, a new D700 only costs the same as a 20-a-day cigarette habit over a year........and there's no resale value in lung cancer.
 
As a total newbie the price rises are not good, I am still trying to get my kit together, I got a good deal on a second hand D70 + 18-70 lens both with just over 1300 actuations and bought a new 55-200VR that was on offer, so I have got my basics.

There are only two other lenses I am saving for at the mo the elusive
50mm f1.8 and something in the 70 or 80-200 f2.8 range (indoor sport), I can't afford either at the mo and if new prices go up second hand prices I am saving towards will follow :(
To recoup some of the outlay I will sell the VR lens when I get a 70 / 80-200 in F2.8 but there will still be a big difference to make up.

Ian
 
Joe T said:
I do see your point. I for one am now less likely to go and buy new gear and will almost certainly try to make better use of what I already have.

Better gear does not a better photographer make.
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After splurging on that 400mm I'll bet your credit card just breathed a big sigh of relief :lol:
 
Joe T said:
Well it then got hit by £900 for a D300, £450 for a tripod, £400 worth of kinesis gear and probably something else too! :lol: :(
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All of which will have been dwarfed by the amount the 400 will have gone up by after March 1 :lol:
 
I see your point, but I also have just bought a lens I wasn't planning on buying until later this year (October at the earliest)! :bonk:

Basically, I upgraded my EOS 300v to a 40D in April, and have never been happy with my 75-300mm on it (too soft, and have to stop down to F8 to get a half decent shot), so ummed and ahhed about what to replace it with since, so have been looking at prices for a while!

However with the canon 70-200 F4 pushing £500, I heard about the tamron 70-200 and being below £450 fitted both my IQ desire and my pocket. I heard that prices are going up again, so I figured I had better buy it now while it is still fairly reasonably priced, rather than chance the prices rising, then settling on a lesser quality lens.

I also want a 300 prime (to go with a 1.4x), but am leaving that until next summer when I need the length - going on my hols - but am semi considering how poor the IQ will be on the 70-200 if I put a 2x tc on it!
 
Flash In The Pan said:
On the other hand, a new D700 only costs the same as a 20-a-day cigarette habit over a year........and there's no resale value in lung cancer.
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I'm right with you there! I really must kick the smoking but current cashflow problems at work are making it difficult as I try to find money for everyone's wages. It's bloody stressful being indirectly responsible for a lot of livelyhoods, I lose a lot of sleep at the moment :( but come next month we've got a massive surge of funds coming so I think I'll treat myself to a bit of stress-free shopping! :D
 
I was originally going to come along and say "nah, it's a pain in the ass with prices so high", but actually - for me at least - it's pretty good.

I've only really been shooting for 3 years, and most of my gear purchases have been over the last 18 months. Thanks to kerso and some serious budgeting I have some fantastic kit and a pretty healthy savings account which allows me to splash out. However prices are too high to justify anything other than used gear at the moment. Like the OP, I'll try to get the most out of this kit for the next 12 months or so.

After that... I really, really want to go full-frame, and acquire some more primes. So I'll sell off the 10-22, buy myself a 16-35 and, with a fair amount of luck, a 5dmk2. After that, probably try and get the 85L/135L since I'm taking a lot more portrait pics than I ever thought I would. Then onto the long glass, if I can stomach it!
 
Can't see prices coming down much at the moment.

Nikon have just been hit for $26m by Ritz camera, and $15m by Circuit city

If you bear in mind thats 20% of their expected turnover in the us - well, you can work it out.
 
After reading this thread again and the post I made it has given me time to think about this.
Perhaps this is a good thing as I have started to wonder how many of us really do learn how to push our kit to the limit before investing even more money?
I'm sure we all lust after faster, sharper and more expensive lenses but is this because we think we have got the best our of exisiting when we actually haven't?
As an example I recently bought a Canon 430EX II so I could make sure that I have one to hand when go on holiday.
It dawned on me that I could make use of it to try some creative indoor photography.
I'm into landscape and architecture photography the most but I have enough kit to be able to take some creative photos quite cheaply at home.
I don't have a macro lens but I can take some reasonably good close up photos with my exisiting kit.
It's time for me to really start getting the most out of my kit when I clearly haven't yet to date.
 
hashcake said:
As an example I recently bought a Canon 430EX II so I could make sure that I have one to hand when go on holiday.
It dawned on me that I could make use of it to try some creative indoor photography.
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I know what you mean when it comes to the flash photography. I got a 580EX II a couple of months ago when I was running two bodies... now I'm getting into multiple flashes with my 430EX as slave and trying to get lighting right in awkward spots.
 
when circuit city filed for chapter 11 they sold everything off and closed down 2 months later.


my betting is Ritz not be able to restructure that size debt in this financial environment, and will do the same. They owe over $40m dollars to the two main camera producers. How much more gear will these two companies ship to Ritz now? Without a decent supply of gear from nikon and canon ritz cannot exist.

the old adage about good money after bad applies here.
 
barneyrubble said:
when circuit city filed for chapter 11 they sold everything off and closed down 2 months later.


my betting is Ritz not be able to restructure that size debt in this financial environment, and will do the same. They owe over $40m dollars to the two main camera producers. How much more gear will these two companies ship to Ritz now? Without a decent supply of gear from nikon and canon ritz cannot exist.

the old adage about good money after bad applies here.
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Yes I read that they are seeking an 85 million dollar loan :eek:

I also read that they bought up several companies in the 90's, one to do with fishing and boating, and that Ritz Retail and Ritz.com are run as separate companies, the only one doing OK is Ritz.com.
 
Yes, i heard most of that too.

The only questionable thing I have is if Ritz.com is doing "ok" then how do they end up owing $40m to the two main camera manufacturers.

Sound like creative accountancy to me to enable Ritz.com to restart whilst all the rest fold.

My guess, and this is a guess, is that Ritz buys the stock, then passes it on to Ritz.com or Ritz, or Wolf Camera. That way they can buy in bigger bulk and get better prices, but somewhere those cameras are not being paid for by the minion companies.
 
barneyrubble said:
Yes, i heard most of that too.

The only questionable thing I have is if Ritz.com is doing "ok" then how do they end up owing $40m to the two main camera manufacturers.

Sound like creative accountancy to me to enable Ritz.com to restart whilst all the rest fold.

My guess, and this is a guess, is that Ritz buys the stock, then passes it on to Ritz.com or Ritz, or Wolf Camera. That way they can buy in bigger bulk and get better prices, but somewhere those cameras are not being paid for by the minion companies.
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The Bricks and Mortar stores are not well liked in the USA, they come in for the same stick that Jessops does here.
 
Agree completely with the OP, I have 5 lens and in a way I'm pleased that the majority of others I 'might' like are now becoming well out of my price range.

When prices were cheaper I bought/sold quite a few, not for any real reason in particular. I feel quite settled now and I'm looking forward to getting a solid year (and hopefully many more) using what I have.
 
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