stephanie_sherman2

Well, unfortunately, I don't have the ability to save the money and use it for another purpose. The idea was that we have a spending limit of 300k to go towards a business. If I had the ability to save/invest the money, I would. But since I don't have the choice, I might as well get what I want/need. Include spending 27K on two computers. This is my situation and I don't have much else of a choice. If all else fails, I can always sell the equipment and have money that I actually could invest/save. Time is also short in my situation and I won't delve into the reasons why, but this is the hand that I was dealt, and this is how i've chosen to play it.

Regardless, more advice on gear and less on how else to spend/save the money would be great. Encouragement is always welcome as well. :)

We are not required to pay the money back. So any profit will be good. I've been doing photography for 5 years and shooting weddings for the last 2 years. My fiance has only recently become interested in photography since we met and has joined me in shooting a few weddings. In addition, my fiance has also started several businesses on his own and one of which was a very successful company called 321 Studios. He's done graphic design/programing for 12 years. The graphic design also yielded him lots of experience with marketing.

We've thought about the legal side of it and have an attorney who is a family friend and willing to help us build a contract to present to our clients.

The computers that we chose will cost us nearly 27K. (We are talking about the Mac Pro with 2 500gb hard drives and one 750gb hard drive which we will archive all of the files on, 8GB of memory, Aperture, and the Creative Suite and multiplying all of that by two. My fiance opted for 2 30' monitors a piece as well, but i'm not sure we really need 2 a piece.)

I think even if we tried we would not be able to use the 300K all on this one business. Not even a third of it. Although, if we decide we want to hire someone to shoot video for our clients, that could take a huge chunk out of it.

Anybody else have any other thoughts on Nikon's flash system?

$40,000 may be a little high but I have seen the price tag on some of those digital medium format cameras and we are also buying for two. So 3-4 bodies. Worst case scenario would be $40,000. Especially if we decided to invest in even one digital medium format camera. I do keep looking towards the EOS 5D because of the full frame sensor.

I saw that American Photo put out an article on the top ten wedding photographers in the world. It made me wonder what kind of equipment they haul. I just wanted an idea of what I should consider when gearing up. Any thoughts on the 5d vs the Mark III?

My fiance and I are starting a photography business. We were given up to

$300,000 to start a business/franchise from his father just before he passed

away last month. We have shot several weddings and want to continue to do that

on a professional level. We could probably afford to invest $40,000 toward new

photo equipment. (Camera, lenses, flashes and other lighting equipment) We

currently have a Nikon D50 with a SB600 flash and a Canon 30D with a 580EX

flash. The lenses aren't worth mentioning. We both want new equipment but are

unsure what to go with.

We've been looking at the Nikon D2Xs and the Canon Mark III.

I'm leaning towards the Canon, but want to make sure I'm making the right

decision. Between Canon and Nikon, is one brand better than the other when

considering lenses? Also, any suggestions on lighting equipment? Wouldn't mind

upgrading/adding to that either.

I'm curious to see what others would gear up with if you had $40,000 to spend

toward photography equipment.