Buy

Despite all the positive aspects of cheap photo cameras, many a photographer will outgrow its camera possibilities. For good reasons, some day, you will need/want a more powerful photographic power horse, will you not?

Cheap cameras are cheaply built. Though the least expensive cameras are quite sturdy, it’s true that they are not as strong as the expert cameras. If you accidentally drop your beloved camera, it may make a hell of a difference.

Furthermore, there are places where you don’t want to see plastic in your camera. For example, the metal mount ring to hold the lens will sustain a lot more lens exchanges than the plastic ring only adequate to permanently hold in place a standard zoom lens you would never replace. And if you intend to attach a big tele-lens, the lens mount will be stressed by the unusual weight (even more if you do not quickly acquire the habit of holding the camera by the lens rather than by the camera body).

Additionally, more expensive photo cameras have some useful features like larger LCD screens and who doesn’t want the added comfort when viewing pictures or setting options?

If you’re not asking for comfort, the high resolution sensors come only at a high price (The cost of the sensor still is a significant part of the full camera). Don’t expect today’s best digital photo sensors on anything less than the best (and highest priced) cameras. The same is true for camera speed: You have to pay a lot for higher shooting speed (useful for sports and wildlife photo) and a lot of processing power (used in the most complex noise reduction algorithms).

And don’t stop there: Some critical features only come with the more expensive price tag. Most entry-level cameras do not have an DOF test push-button; The best quality viewfinders are only present in the high-end segment of the market.

These are important features, but your money will also buy many more gadgets (or useful features not often used, if you prefer). If you shoot a lot in the studio, in concerts, in sunset wildlife photo, you will appreciate the added flash controls, the low light capacity, the better manual or semi-automatic control over exposure or focus. They make the expensive photo camera objectively better and worth the added money.

So, you may reach a point when you will require more. At this moment the expert cameras and the pro gear is right for you. Start budgeting, then start enjoying the new benefits.

The question is often asked, even more in the context of YLovePhoto and its information about expert photo cameras: “Do I need an expensive camera?” and the answer is most often that the expensive new features are mostly useless.

For example, ISO sensitivity is over-rated. Today’s performance levels are so high that, out of specialty photography, all Digital SLR photo cameras are more than able to satisfy 99% of our photography needs. They reach ISO levels often compatible with low-light situations with either a reasonable resolution or a small flash.

You may also be tempted by the high resolution sensors of expert cameras, but let’s be fair: Bigger pictures are not useful if you don’t print in large paper sizes (When did you print a poster last?). Worse, they eat memory card space, computer memory and disk storage at a tremendous pace.

If this was not enough, most people tend to forget that big sensors are inordinately sensitive to lens quality: You waste your money on a 20 MP Full-Frame sensor if you buy ordinary lenses. Be prepared for 1000€ primes and 2000€ zoom lenses. As a matter of fact, it is true for photographic hardware that your money is best spent on good-to-excellent lenses that you will keep for years while your photo camera will feel obsolete before three years. While it is often true that the more expensive expert photo camera is an objectively better photo device, you must ask yourself “Do I need it?”

If that was not enough, most of the expert photo cameras tend to expect expert users (They often lack the simpler task-oriented modes of entry-level cameras). So, you will have to invest significant more time before you master it (before you forget about the camera and start concentrating on shooting better pictures rather than on wish knob to turn).

Furthermore, I tend to consider that cheaper cameras are used more because we are not afraid of risking them more than cameras which cost nearly as much as a second-hand car (don’t even think of adding insurance for traveling with expensive gear) and because we keep them with ourselves more often than the heavier equipment (are you ready to keep 1 kg of hardware at the end of your arm for more than a short time?)

All that being said, the best advice is often “Buy a newer camera, but not a bigger one”. You’ll get most of technology improvements without the hurdles. It still is the photographer who frames and shoots, not the camera. Have a reliable camera you feel at ease with, shoot a lot, work on improving your eye and your technique, you’ll buy a bigger camera when you actually out-perform your current one.

[Followed with another post]

Sony will soon offer (at the end of October) a Premium service for after-sales and warranty. It will target pros and top-flight amateur photographers. For a period of one, two or three years (at the price of 109, 219 or 329€), the customer will get a warranty extension (directly from Sony Style Georges V or from the consumer support department of Sony France) associated with some complementary services:

Sony Alpha 200

• Yearly, professional cleaning of the camera sensor with opening of the mirror cage and removal of the sensor itself
• Repair priority
• Availability of an equivalent DSLR during repair time
• Door-to-door service (the camera is collected and returned at the location of your choice)

This could attract some pros. The amateur photographer could also be interested provided that they need some re-assurance, and they have a Sony Alpha 850 or Alpha 900.

But there is still an open question (for now): Will this be applicable out of France (I only got the confirmation from Paris)?

Source: Alpha-Numérique.

Canon UK announced that they are opening a cash-back program for photographic students of various UK institutions. Teachers, lecturers and technicians in the same institutions will also be eligible.

The cash-back on the EOS 450D configurations amounts to £50, whereas it climbs to £65 on a Canon EOS 500D. It will run until 31 October 2009.

Source: www.canon.co.uk/futurephotocashback

Canon information:

From the 11th September to 31st October 2009 if you are a student, lecturer or technician working on a recognised university photographic course you can save up to £65 on a purchase of a new Canon EOS camera.

Purchase either an EOS 450D and claim £50 cashback or an EOS 500D and claim £65. All you have to do is purchase the camera (any configuration) from an authorised retailer in the UK or Ireland, download and complete the claim form from this page, send along with a photocopy of your receipt and photocopy of your academic status (NUS card, Academic security pass or course acceptance letter) to the address on the form. You will then receive a cheque within 28 days.

Michael Zhang has a good set of advice to provide to help us all buy a lot of pro camera gear on a student budget. This is quite attractive because most photo enthusiasts quickly notice that the only limitation to our photo expenses is the money we can invest into it.

Let’s admit it, there is always some more expensive hardware that we could buy. Usually, this is a pro SLR camera, a major prime lens or exceptional pro zoom.

Lenses and cameras in a packaged deal on eBay - Cheap?

Now, in these times of budgeting for students, it is quite important to try and get the best out of a limited amount of money. Michael essentially offers a small set of very sound advice, that I summarize here with my own grain of salt:

• Buy second-hand (everything is much cheaper than top-of-line gadget-freak-oriented new equipment, even if specifications are evolving – but more slowly than a few years ago).
• Invest in lenses more than in camera gear (lenses will have a much longer life span and re-sell much better than camera bodies).
• Be ready to sell back some of the equipment you have.
• Buy your lenses in package deals (they much more interesting than individual lenses) even if you have to sell some. Sell individual pieces, never a package/set.

One of the good things about buying lenses in second-hand markets/fairs/auctions is that when you sell them back (when you reached the purchase power to grab even better equipment), the old gear can be sold without loosing too much (if you kept it in the same good condition as at purchase time).

This is a question more common than you would think. And this is the worst situation for a pro-photographer: All these people who would want the artwork fro nothing. And would we dare discuss/bargain/complain/negotiate the same way with some other professions?