Your dumbest photo equipment purchase of 2011

<p>For me it has to be the Voigtlander adapter allowing me to use old Nikkors on my Lumix. I knew this was an expensive mistake the first time I used it. There are dozens of fine M4/3 lenses that fit right on and work great. Why bother with old manual focus Nikkors? I'm still determined to get some decent shots with this adapter. The 70-300mm AF Nikkor zoom seems the most promising.</p>

<p>I bought a used camera bag in excellent condition at a camera show. It did not come with a<br>

shoulder strap. I then bought a nice strap. At home I removed the padded dividers to re-arrange<br>

them. Found the strap under the padded false bottom, ha! The spare is fine for any of my<br>

cameras, so not a total loss.<br>

Happy New Year,<br>

Best regards,<br>

/Clay</p>

<p>No sure, but I purchased a custom Quantum cable to connect my old ebay-special Sunpack 120J to my Quantum Turbo power pack($440). The 120j had been sans power-pack ever since I fried it by overcharging it 3 years ago. The flash worked with regular AA batteries though.<br>

As soon as I connected the 120J to the Quantum it went dead, not sure what happened, but I had to send it to the folks at Quantum to get repaired. They said it was a short-circuit somewhere. Won't be trying that again.</p>

<p>Probably a Nikon D7000 - I regret to choose it as a second body over a D300(s).</p>

<p>The Manfrotto Super Clamp WITH the brass adapter to use with the Magic Arm. The Magic Arm and clamp are awesome, but the guy at B&H told me the clamp wouldn't work without the brass piece. The brass piece has to thread into the Magic Arm and I was afraid if I had the camera leaning a certain way, the weight would unscrew the threads and the camera would fall. So, in the first five minutes of ownership I tightened the threads so this wouldn't happen and my super strength caused the threads on the brass piece to break off in the arm. Now I use it without the adapter that wasn't needed in the first place.</p>

<p>I bought a poorly described lot of lenses on eBay at the last minute. Turned out to be literally junk, contrary to the description--Broken filters, worn-off f/stop numbers on the broken lenses, still more. Only one or two items out of the lot -- not including the one fairly uncommon lens I actually wanted -- were still salvageable at all.</p>

<p>Then had a long struggle in which eBay finally backed me up and I got some of my money back. I should have insisted from the beginning on a full refund, but took pity on the vendor, who turned out not to deserve pity at all.</p>

 

<p>Dumb…<br />Canon 5DII with “all the trimmings, Canon 24-105 “L” lens, Canon BG-EG6 Batt Grip, Canon Speedlite 580EX2, and Canon BGM-E6 Battery Magazine. All of which came in poorly finished or assembled condition with the camera even DOA.</p>

<p>Dumber…<br />I bought after Canon recently had both a physical plant and financial disaster. Plus I bought during the year-end buying rush (not supposed to mention either Chanukah or Christmas anymore, poor form and all that). That was about as dumb as ordering a new car and specifying on the order that the car must be made on Monday.</p>

<p>Dumbest…<br />Buying from an east coast on line/mail order house when I needed a working sample within several weeks. That was MY poor decision. I had not done my homework. Mr. Farabough, in another thread let us know that some big-box local retail chains like his example Best Buy will price match (not needed as the camera was available cheaper from Best Buy anyway). I am used to seeing budget priced point-n-shoots and lower line DSLRS on their shelves. I did not know that they ordered higher line items for the (unmentionable by name) holidays.</p>

<p>Slipping…<br />Added to dumbest, I was solicited by the eastern phone retailer to buy a filter (want fries with that, sir?). I went ahead and agreed; after all, I’d rather have cleaning marks on a $55 filter than on a $1000 lens. But…I was charged for and shipped two of them when I’d only ordered one. The vendor could properly solicit a filter; after all, it is a good lens protector and may be useful, should I encounter some of the dreaded and deadly ultra violet light. But buying two of them is not a transaction that either a knowledgeable buyer or a good faith seller would do or suggest. After all, you don’t stack two UV filters on a lens.</p>

<p>Concerned about and focused on my DOA camera, and sure the particular vendor had a good reputation, I did not scrutinize my packing invoice with the care I should have. It slipped past me. I should watch more carefully and be less trusting, but I’m slipping. I have to take responsibility for not catching the double charge and shipment. So I’ll pay for and will be stuck with $53.85 worth of unordered, unneeded duplicate filter. On the other hand, who cares? I still don’t have a working camera in my hand to use any filter on. The bottom line is I’m slipping. It’s time in my life to have people start double-checking what I’m doing. My bad.</p>

<p>Smart…<br />Would have been to locally purchase a Sony A900 if available. I have lots of good Minolta glass and Sony’s newest flash that is compatible with the A900 already. If not available locally I should have chosen to buy nothing. After all, the nothing useable that I bought is the nothing useable I had for the holidays and still have.</p>

<p>A. T. Burke</p>

<p>Glad to see I'm not alone. Sometimes you just want to see how much something will cost including the freight. At that point you are only ONE click away from having it on it's way!</p>

<p>I bought a cable release for my DL. When it got here it didn't fit. So as not to waste the $5.00 I spent on it I searched for the slr it would fit. I found one at KEH. That $5.00 release ended up costing around $50 for the ZX-7, battery grip, and book . Maybe not so dumb after all I love shooting the ZX-7. Now I think it needs a new lens :) </p>

<p>Thanks to this post, I went back through my collected emails from camera purchases this year. I couldn't find anything really dumb, but I might as well have not bought the 18cm Mamiya TLR lens back in March because I've never actually used it. I did mount it once to verify that it seemed okay, but I haven't actually shot with it.</p>

<p>I bought red, orange and yellow filters to go with BW film for my on EOS-1. I haven't seen any blue in the sky since.</p>

I neded a case for my Sigma DP1 with optional optical viewfinder attached. I bought a Fuji X100 case on EBay, thinking it might fit. It didn't, so I will try to resell it on EBay.

<p>Georg S. - What don't you like about the D7000? It always seemed to be the next logical step if I ever needed to replace my D300.</p>

<p>I was preparing to go to a pro surfing event with my Sigma 300-800 and couldn't locate my Sigma APO TC 1.4. Figuring that I had probably lost it at a previous event, I purchased another one. Of course, a couple months later I accidentally found my old TC. I decided to keep the new one in case I lose the old one some time in the future. </p>

<p>Sanford, <br>

I was looking for a DX-body next to my D700. The D700 is a camera I really love, but I had to up-rez too many sports-shots and selected the D7000 (over the D300(s) as my long-lens-body. <br>

The reasons why I regret this decision:<br>

- ergonomics (the button-layout is completely different between D7000 and D700 and I'm always pressing the wrong buttons on both cameras now)<br>

- finder (I've shot the D200 and D2H for some years and both cameras have a much better finder compared to the D7000 in my opinion; the D300(s) finder seems to be a bit better than the one on the D7000)<br>

- AF-system (I prefer the AF-system of the D700/D300 over the D7000)<br>

- batteries and cards (another charger in the house, I had to buy several SD-cards)<br>

Overall I think a D300(s) would have been a better companion for my D700, even if I had to live with more noise at higher ISO-numbers and less pixels. That said the D7000 (I'm over 50.0000 clicks now) is a fine camera and a lot of bang for the buck.<br>

Sorry for the long reply, Georg.</p>

<p>I was convinced that I had left my Canon EOS cable release in a rental car in Quebec this summer, so I bought a new one just before Christmas for those family tripod shots. Two days after buying the new one, I found the old one in a secret pocket in my camera bag - where I probably left it so I would remember where it was. Head-slap on that one.</p>

<p>Although not a piece of photo equipment, I did purchase it from B&H - a Leatherman Mulitool! Other than fondle it and admire it's fine craftsmanship, what the heck use do I have for a multitool?</p>

<p>Another confused consumer little story: I received an eMotion digital photo frame at Christmas last year. Its 15 inch screen is nice for reviewing SD card images, particularly as a screening step prior to post exposure treatment, but also for presenting family photos or vacation images to friends. I lost the remote command after a few weeks and went without it for a month after several unrewarding searches and until I decided to contact the company and purchase a replacement. The day after I received the replacement I packed the unit to take with me on a trip. The forgotten OEM box was where I had placed the original control, for safekeeping.... </p>

<p>I bought a few sigma lenses years ago, never again.</p>

<p>I bought a nikon P7000 point and shoot that is just a terrible little camera. Autofocus is teriible. I recently downloaded the lastest firmware 1.2 and the camera is still a dog. I've been a nikon slr and dslr shooter for years but will not purchase another nikon P&S and probaly not a mirrorless. </p>

<p>Well maybe not photo equipment, but I thought I'd use it in my photo workflow.....</p>

<p>I bought a Netgear Stora network disk to use as backup and easy retrieval. Never got it to fully function in my network, and the support staff at Netgear (Denmark?) were less than supportive, so when a energy spike took out the piece of c*^p during a thunderstorm, I couldn't care less.....</p>

<p>The saddest thing is that as many of us write this we are already well into planning our 2012 dumb purchases. On my agenda, so far, are a Macbook (Pro or Air) and a Domke bag, neither of which I really need, but really want.</p>

<p>A Jesson remote for $8 at on-line auction for Canon camera ... only trouble I don't have the right model camera :-) Vendor gave no details.</p>

Sandord, make it a Macbook PRO. The Air is very small in terms of memory and storage (at least, from what I have learned lately, when facing the possibility of buying a new laptop).

 

My dumb purchase: a small box to carry memory cards. It came with a number of small plastic adapters to configure it that I found simply mind-numbing. Never used it, never bothered with it. I still take my cards out in my backpack, inside the little cases in which they came, though packaged into the little pouches that came with the cards. As for the box... I just don't know where I put it.

<p>Francisco - the "Pro" definitely offers better value but I think the "Air", with 256GB storage may be enough. My iMac came with 300GB storage and I've only used up 113GB after four or five years and I have a LOT of photographs stored on this thing. Also, the solid state drive seem like a good idea in a laptop. The missing DVD drive of the Air is another question although the last time I submitted photographs to someone they requested that they be uploaded to their FTB site (whatever the heck that is) - no DVD required. I wonder if the new Macbook Pros will even have DVD drives, they seem to be on the way to becoming obsolete.</p>