Skip a generation?

Am I the only person who is thinking that given the frequency of new digital

bodies, the advanced amateur is better off skipping a generation or two and

saving a few dollars? Unlike pros who may be able to economically justify

buying every new body, we amateurs are facing just another expense.

 

I for one have been thinking that spending the money on a trip to some place

that is photographically interesting would be much better than buying a new D300

and sitting around home all summer admiring it and reading the manual.

 

Back in the old days of film, I upgraded every time Kodak or Fuji announced an

improved film. The film was the upgrade!! My F100 still can focus, expose and

shoot fast enough to catch flying birds using an ISO 400 film. I am getting

tired of spending money on all the new digital bodies.

 

So, for the time being, I will keep the D200 (which is not quite 2 years old),

and perhaps get a D60 as my backup digital body and a travel body.

 

Oh, speaking of skipping generations. I think I will also keep my old 50m f/1.4

and 24 mm f/2.8. Sure they don't autofocus on the D60 but they take are so easy

to work with that doesn't matter much.

My first DSLR was a used D100 I got after the D200 came out. I waited for the D300 and went to it only because I felt the camera had some real advantages over the D200.

 

I suspct it will be several generations before I upgrade again as I can't afford to plunk down $1,800 every couple of years for a new camera when I don't make any money with my camera.

To me, cameras are just toys. I never feel the "need" to upgrade or keep up with the technologies. In retrospect, I should have spent the $1800 on a tennis ball machine instead of a D300 :)

Did you get that from Thom Hogan? Hehe.. he use the word, skip a generation.

 

I am a amatuer photographer with my local club. I don't shoot much. Since mid 2006 with a repair that I got my D70 replacement of shutter unit it now stands at about 4,000.

 

I am a amazed of the quality you can get from a point and shoot and the basic dSLRs with kit lenses. A bit off topic but I don't think you need a CF tripod and stuff .. I do but I do a lot of landscapes, I use my tripod like 95%, I don't do candid or portrait or street or sports. They were v wowed by my tripod, where I am, there is one Gitzo retailer but they haven't got the 6x CF models in yet .. the market is just too small here and its expensive. Maybe 1.5-2.0x as what it cost in the USA. They have got a accreditation next to their name badge .. have sold stock photo's and they use a Manfrotto metal tripod.

 

I just went to B+H and ordered little bits and pieces so from now on .. all I need is just photo paper or film when I run out. Sick of spending big bucks.

 

New stuff gets replaced so quickly. So what .. all I need is 8x10 or 16x10 prints for my club, maybe roll paper for panoramas.

 

I sorta regret buying new D70 for $1,000US cos now its like $300-350. From now on all my stuff are used unless I cannot get them used for lesser. In a 2yr or 3, I may pickup a D2h for its speed and vertical grip. Maybe I can get it for $400 eventually. Its so cheap if it breaks, you can buy another and its still cheaper, these days digital equipment are just a mere 12 months warranty.

 

I have a D70 new and F100 was used, from a D70 I have missed outa lot of generations ;-) I have some printed Nikon brochures its good as a read but at the end of the day .. D70 suits me for my work so I don't bother.

 

I rather spend the money on travel, fishing, hiking, skiing, renting a plane. I will have more opportunities to photog in those places. Things like mountains with trees and snow.

 

From the PMA, what I really like in the future is a 24 or 28mm 1.4 AFS and the 85 1.4 AFS so I can get one or the older one if much lesser, not sure about the 85 as I have a 1.8 but the 28 or 24 1.8 or 14 is a great twin lens low light combo. Plus the 50mm if one wishes.

I don't know anything about the business of photography, but I've been under the impression that pros are very careful with their money when it comes to buying new equipment.

 

I remember when I first saw on John Shaw's site that he put film away and was using D2x bodies. Shaw has been adamant in almost every book of his that Nikon gives him nothing for free. So for him (or any other pro) to drop $10,000 or more on the newest pro bodies is a big move.

 

I don't think anyone will disagree that it's fun to buy new gear, but I also miss the days when new film or a lens was the upgrade.

I don't subscribe to the idea that you must update your equipment whenever a new product is available. Upgrading only makes sense to me if the new product actually provides a new feature or capability that you want but is not supported by the current device. I just recently replaced my D100 with the D300, and it took me awhile to get over the depreciation loss. There's <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00NZEb" target="blank">a good thread</a> earlier on this very topic.

Personally, I don't buy every new thing out there. I think you'll find most pros work with

something until they have to move up to the next level.

Professionals will upgrade when their competition is "getting the shot" and they are not.

 

Whether it be frames per second, better low light ability or maybe even more megapixels - any of those reasons and others that allow the competition to get the shot and consequently get the job will force professionals to upgrade.

 

Amateurs really have no reason to upgrade at all if their current camera can get the images that it has been getting all along.

I decided that the D300 will be my last dSLR. If it dies, I would rethink that -- maybe.

 

I will keep, and use, all my film cameras and I have a leftover D70s that will go somewhere. The D200 is already gone.

 

 

Conni

I was in Japan 2004 when I bought the D70 and I stayed in a Japanese Inn budget hostel that was about $30US a night or $25US. Anyway .. it was single rooms.

 

I met this professional photographer from Paris and we had a chat going. At the time I had just been learning off the learning articles on photo.net and others and via books at the public library and taken a short course on SLR at a night school.

 

In Japan I got a new D70 in Sapporo before I headed to Tokyo and met this fella. He had with him, a F-801 o something like that, it wasn't a F90 or even a F100 and he had 2.8 pro zooms. I remember talking about what about a F100 hey full auto everything and at the time 2nd best camera than the F5 in a more compact form .. being a lunatic at the time I thought 2nd best camera man .. why are you not using it. He said he used a 20-35 lens. The lens cap was round without the centre pinch to open design. He did street photography and had a studio in Paris. He mentioned that he does not know how long he stay here cos, it depends how long he gets his photographs. He did say his favorite film was Fuji NPZ 800.

I asked what camera did he use, he says he does not like bags, he just dumps the camera in a normal bag. I have never been the street photog type don't have the confidence but anyway, he says he does not care he just takes the photo and walks away taking more ... hehe .....

I meant .. I asked him what camera BAG did he use, he says he does not like bags, he just dumps the camera in a normal bag. I have never been the street photog type don't have the confidence but anyway, he says he does not care he just takes the photo and walks away taking more ... hehe .....

Last thing. One time he forgot to put the lens cap back on. We were having dinner in the main room and we were chatting .. and then he checked his wallet .. at his back pocket .. and found his lens cap .. hehe .. but he didn't go to his room to put it back on .. he just handed to me have a look at it .. and he took it back and just sat there for more chats ... haha.

I look at it this way. I bought my D200 2 yrs ago and have over 10,000 shots on it. If I were using film, say Velvia 100 36 exposure, I would have bought 277 rolls by now. At $5.00 a roll thats nearly $1400 not including processing. I spent $1800 for the D200 and only pay to print what I want to keep.

 

So to me if I spend $2k every 2 yrs on a new DSLR its no big deal. With film most of my money went to the film companies and my local processor. Now most of it goes to the camera manufacturer.

Like every new technology digital photography has gone through a cycle where the first offerings were kind of crude, then into a period of rapid improvement and now into a near mature phase.

 

I'm on my 5th digital camera now starting with one megapixel to my present D50. I might some day spring for a ten megapixel camera but there will be little motivation for amateurs like me to upgrade beyond that as far as I can see.

 

Today's cameras already offer so much functional capability that I can't absorb it all and ten megapixels is about all that makes sense except to folks with specialized interests. Full frame vs DX matters to many I'm sure but not to me.

 

But having said all that sometimes unexpected things happen.

Well I bought a D70 on a whim before going to my friends wedding. I wanted to shoot photos at his wedding as a wedding gift, since I had spent 2 years as a wedding photo assistant and knew a thing or two. It was a good thing I did that, because the photos I took were a huge hit and his wife has a few of them framed in their home now, her favorite one that I took is in a frame at her bedside. It's a great feeling!

 

I upgraded from the D70s (sold the D70 to go back to film, changed my mind the next year and got the D70s) to the D80 thinking it would be a 10mp version of the D70s. Oops, it really wasn't. Overall I liked the D70s more than the D80, despite the D80 having a better viewfinder and LCD screen. The D80 just didn't produce JPGs well, they were very soft compared to the D70s.

 

Anyway, after a year shooting 6500+ captures with my D80 (half of those shot on a trip to Japan), I decided to spring for the D300. I always got nervous in the rain with the D80 knowing it's not weather sealed. Even one drip of water made me nearly panic!

 

The D300 is the D70s with twice the resolution, well better really, it has none of the IQ faults the D70s had. It's robust, has buttons in the right place, and for sure it will last many many years. I plan to keep it until I can buy a used D3 body for $750 or so.

I'm still using my F3HP. Think I've waited long enough?

N90s; F100; D100; D200, (skipping D300); D???-FX, next ;~)

I'm also skipping a generation... D2H,2Hs,2X,200 and skipping the 300 and just waiting till the D3 drop to its knees so I can afford my fist FX DSLR..

in the midtime putting money on GLASS.. :D

I'm with you on this.

 

As a pro, I'm shooting with a 6mp camera and shooting it well. Granted I'm getting a D2X

soon, but it's a fantastic body.

 

One of my biggest pet peeves is people buying new toys, because they have the money to

do so and shoot pictures of their kids soccer game with a $4K setup.

 

Don't get me wrong, shooting pictures of your kids growing up is a necessity and I like the

idea of photography in whatever realm possible, but A D3 to shoot your kid? Sheesh.

 

Meanwhile I'm a young news photog trying to make a living with a way out-of-date

camera.

 

I do love my old manual focus and AF-D lenses. Bjorn (though a long-time shooter)

swears on past generation's gear. Plus as technology gets up there, a few failed product

can still be in mix. Look at the D2H, a great camera, but I have read it was a failure in the

Nikon books.

 

Gear doesn't matter as much as the passion behind it. When my camera setup was stolen

from my car a few years back, I wasn't bummed for the actually stuff being gone, but

rather for it as a means to create an art that I loved.

 

A camera without a shoot is a paperweight and a D3 is a pretty expensive paperweight.

 

~ nic

Everyone should read

<a href="http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

" >this</a> once.

FYI I'm not even a KR fan...

<b>"...One of my biggest pet peeves is people buying new toys, because they have the money to do so and shoot pictures of their kids soccer game with a $4K setup.

<p>

Don't get me wrong, shooting pictures of your kids growing up is a necessity and I like the idea of photography in whatever realm possible, but A D3 to shoot your kid? Sheesh. ..."</b>

<p>

Why does it bother you that someone else can afford a very good camera and you can't?

<p>

You need to relax and not worry so much about what other people do or how they spend their money.

<p>

Leslie,

 

I agree. Even if you don't agree with Ken on principle, that article should be included with

every new camera sold.

don't know if I can take that serius coming from Ken Rockwell..:/

 

he uses the word 'OBSOLETE' quit often on his review..