<p>Interesting thread and I joined “photog“ just to put my 2 cents worth in here. I’m a fairly lousy amateur photographer and barely know an f-stop from a door stop but I do have a handle on business and investment.</p>
<p>From my perspective you can break your problem into three distinct questions:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>What are the best tools for the job?</li>
</ol>
<p>Other posters have answered that extremely knowledgably and you are clear on that question yourself. NIKON vs. CANON seems to be a tie here.</p>
<ol>
<li>Why don’t I like NIKON even though I have invested heavily in it?</li>
</ol>
<p>I detect an emotional element in your postings based on the NIKON warranty and their pricing policies. If this is serious for you, change to CANON but that would be an emotional decision, not a rational business one. What is the warranty coverage really worth? How often are there reasons to use it? How often do you work outside NZ where the worldwide warranty that CANON offers really (potentially) makes a difference? Do a risk assessment and if you determine likelyhoods of more than say 50% then go and change. This would then make a swop a sound business decision.</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Long-term cost of investment into a system</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want to look at this as purely a business decision then your previously made assumptions are wrong (in an accounting/finance sense):</p>
<p><strong><em>The question is very much a long term cost one</em></strong><em>: If I buy one Nikon pro body every 3 years for say the next 21 years, at current prices I will pay between NZ$66,000 and NZ$122,000. (using D3 and D3x prices)<br />The same Canon bodies (ignoring the EOS5D Mk2) would cost between NZ$48,000 and NZ$85,000. (EOS 1D Mk3 and EOS 1Ds Mk3)<br />Switching now to Canon would therefore save between NZ$18,000 and NZ$37,000 over that 21 year period.</em></p>
<p>a) cost of swapping<br>
Your current gear was bought for 100, you’ve used it for a period so it’s depreciated to something less than 100 (say 60, your accountant will give you the exact details). You buy equivalent CANON gear new for say 90. The difference of 30 needs to be financed with an interest rate (if you have the cash in the back you get interest, if you have to ask for a business loan you pay their lending rate, in investing you use an “opportunity cost rate” which is higher than the lending rate from a bank!). So, financing the difference of 30 over 21 years of your remaining career will calculate to quite a tidy amount – check with your accountant/tax adviser what the actual figures should be! You should also run the numbers with best-guess trade-in prices to compare.<br>
b) future cost of maintaining the system (i.e. upgrading to your requirements)<br>
You say if you compare the body costs between N and C and there is always a significant price difference. If you want to look at the value of a future investment you cannot compare at todays prices! In investment you use the “Net Present Value” (NPV). It basically states that a dollar today is worth a dollar today (duh, obviously). But spending or getting a dollar tomorrow is worth less today (there is that interest rate again). A dollar next year is only say 95 cents today because you can invest that at maybe 5% interest and it will grow to a dollar in that period. If you are looking at an upgrade cycle of 3 years a dollar then is only worth about 86 cents today (based on an interest rate of only 5%! – higher rates mean less cents). In other words the real NPV of the investment difference is smaller than you think. A dollar you want to invest in 21 years is only worth about 36 cents today (based on 5% interest).</p>
<p>So, combine the two points (upfront investment cost include future interest cost!) and NPV difference of the two systems (you need to do an “investment ladder”) and you may not save anything significant or even run a negative return. Talk to your accountant and use real figures!</p>
<p>As an aside, you could hop on a plane and buy the gear in Oz (or Singapore or Hong Kong or Tokyo or New York) and save a bundle. But, you would have to pay duty/taxes on arrival back to NZ. Since they are business assets you need to depreciate and account for them properly so any new bodies/lenses will need to be disclosed to your revenue/customs department :-(</p>
<p>I’m curious to find out what you will do. Good luck in any case.</p>
Swapping from Nikon
in Canon EOS Mount
Posted
<p>Hi Marcus (with a “c”),</p>
<p>Interesting thread and I joined “photog“ just to put my 2 cents worth in here. I’m a fairly lousy amateur photographer and barely know an f-stop from a door stop but I do have a handle on business and investment.</p>
<p>From my perspective you can break your problem into three distinct questions:</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>What are the best tools for the job?</li>
</ol>
<p>Other posters have answered that extremely knowledgably and you are clear on that question yourself. NIKON vs. CANON seems to be a tie here.</p>
<ol>
<li>Why don’t I like NIKON even though I have invested heavily in it?</li>
</ol>
<p>I detect an emotional element in your postings based on the NIKON warranty and their pricing policies. If this is serious for you, change to CANON but that would be an emotional decision, not a rational business one. What is the warranty coverage really worth? How often are there reasons to use it? How often do you work outside NZ where the worldwide warranty that CANON offers really (potentially) makes a difference? Do a risk assessment and if you determine likelyhoods of more than say 50% then go and change. This would then make a swop a sound business decision.</p>
<ol type="1">
<li>Long-term cost of investment into a system</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want to look at this as purely a business decision then your previously made assumptions are wrong (in an accounting/finance sense):</p>
<p><strong><em>The question is very much a long term cost one</em></strong><em>: If I buy one Nikon pro body every 3 years for say the next 21 years, at current prices I will pay between NZ$66,000 and NZ$122,000. (using D3 and D3x prices)<br />The same Canon bodies (ignoring the EOS5D Mk2) would cost between NZ$48,000 and NZ$85,000. (EOS 1D Mk3 and EOS 1Ds Mk3)<br />Switching now to Canon would therefore save between NZ$18,000 and NZ$37,000 over that 21 year period.</em></p>
<p>a) cost of swapping<br>
Your current gear was bought for 100, you’ve used it for a period so it’s depreciated to something less than 100 (say 60, your accountant will give you the exact details). You buy equivalent CANON gear new for say 90. The difference of 30 needs to be financed with an interest rate (if you have the cash in the back you get interest, if you have to ask for a business loan you pay their lending rate, in investing you use an “opportunity cost rate” which is higher than the lending rate from a bank!). So, financing the difference of 30 over 21 years of your remaining career will calculate to quite a tidy amount – check with your accountant/tax adviser what the actual figures should be! You should also run the numbers with best-guess trade-in prices to compare.<br>
b) future cost of maintaining the system (i.e. upgrading to your requirements)<br>
You say if you compare the body costs between N and C and there is always a significant price difference. If you want to look at the value of a future investment you cannot compare at todays prices! In investment you use the “Net Present Value” (NPV). It basically states that a dollar today is worth a dollar today (duh, obviously). But spending or getting a dollar tomorrow is worth less today (there is that interest rate again). A dollar next year is only say 95 cents today because you can invest that at maybe 5% interest and it will grow to a dollar in that period. If you are looking at an upgrade cycle of 3 years a dollar then is only worth about 86 cents today (based on an interest rate of only 5%! – higher rates mean less cents). In other words the real NPV of the investment difference is smaller than you think. A dollar you want to invest in 21 years is only worth about 36 cents today (based on 5% interest).</p>
<p>So, combine the two points (upfront investment cost include future interest cost!) and NPV difference of the two systems (you need to do an “investment ladder”) and you may not save anything significant or even run a negative return. Talk to your accountant and use real figures!</p>
<p>As an aside, you could hop on a plane and buy the gear in Oz (or Singapore or Hong Kong or Tokyo or New York) and save a bundle. But, you would have to pay duty/taxes on arrival back to NZ. Since they are business assets you need to depreciate and account for them properly so any new bodies/lenses will need to be disclosed to your revenue/customs department :-(</p>
<p>I’m curious to find out what you will do. Good luck in any case.</p>
<p>Cheers – Markus (with a “k”!)</p>