The good and bad of having lunch with another forum member

[Longwatcher]

I recently got a chance to spend lunch with Belmondo, who I would like to thank for paying (namely because I wasn't paying attention, next one is mine). This was while I was visiting my mother in Palm Desert, California.

First the bad news; He let me play with his 1DM2, me like. :shock:
I had intended to shoot till the card maxed out, but it surprised me so much in machine gun mode I let go the trigger. Unfortunately, I have not had time to upgrade my PS CS so I can view the results yet.

The good news, he also let me play with his 24-70L so I could compare it with my older 28-70L. Base don things I had read I had always wondered if I had made a mistake in picking up the 28-70 instead of waiting a couple of weeks and getting the 24-70, now I know. Overall tie score, I felt mine was a touch sharper, but his seemed to let in a touch more light (very subtle - could have been a cloud). So I no longer have a urge to replace my 28-70 thus saving me much money eventually. I suspect the variance was just that individual lens variation.

We swapped a bunch of stories and I can honestly say he is a great guy.

The humorous part of the whole thing was a week earlier he had been within 45 minutes of my home in Virginia and had I known I could have met him in Williamsburg.

Such is life.

[Steveo31]

Me... want.... 1DMII!!!

Good to hear though man!

[Scottes]

First the bad news; He let me play with his 1DM2, me like.

I've been out with several forum members, and I never play with their stuff. The first time was from CDS, who was going to let me play with his MkII with a Sigma 500mm on a gimbal head. I refused.

He was confused, and asked why.

"Because if I use it, then I'll like it, and giving it back will be very, very difficult. Heartbreaking, probably."

It *sucks* when I realize that I don't have the very best, so I simply refuse to check it out. Otherwise both my wallet and marriage suffer greatly. :)

[CyberDyneSystems]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Belmondo]

Tim:
The wife and I enjoyed the meeting too. Don't worry about lunch---you were the visitor, geographically speaking anyway. Besides, there were two of us and only one of you.

If you'd come a few days later, we could have played with the 28-300L that arrived yesterday. You would also have experienced some of our patented hot, hazy weather.

Looking forward to your next visit.

Tom

[Longwatcher]

He was confused, and asked why.

"Because if I use it, then I'll like it, and giving it back will be very, very difficult. Heartbreaking, probably."

It *sucks* when I realize that I don't have the very best, so I simply refuse to check it out. Otherwise both my wallet and marriage suffer greatly. :)

While understandable, I have learned the fine art of keeping seperate budgets. One for monthly budget, one for home/car repairs, one for emergencies and one for everything else. Of course it helps having two seperate banks. I learned this lesson living on Oahu for 3 years.

I never spend my monthly budget money (except on the monthly budget)
Home and car repairs are necessities, but I budget for them.
Emergency fund is kind of strange in that it has priority until I get 3 months budget and a couple of airline tickets in there, then it becomes loose change only after that. Finally anything left over is mine to spend on what I want.

As long as I keep to that philosophy, I can adjust my spending accordingly and I have also learned that I can never have everything I want (even if I had Bill Gates budget - ever try to price a colony ship to Mars or beyond :)

So I keep to what I can afford. When living in Hawaii, I was very, very picky on what music CD, game, or other item I would buy for the month (that would be one, maybe two items under $20) because my budget was so tight I had no room for error. On the flip side, Here in the SE part of Virginia I can afford a whole lot more stuff, but other then music CD, DVD and books, most of what I buy is planned with a thought on what wil I do if I don't have my current job. How can I have fun or make money. So I am trying to get the most flexability from the equipment I buy.

Getting to play with Belmondo's 1DM2 was fun and I like it, but the price I am willing to pay has not changed. For me I want a FF camera. Playing with his 24-70 on the other hand actually saved me money. So playing with other peoples equipment is not necessarily a bad thing (unless comparing a 75-300 IS to a 70-200/2.8L IS, your pocket book is dead meat in that case - never compare non-L to L zooms)

On my list to get right now are:
a FF digital 35mm camera using Canon lenses
a Tilt-shift lens (Have mot made up my mind what size yet)
a light meter (only need on rare occasions so far)
When I get the Ff camera, then I also want
a 15mm fisheye lens
a 85/1.2
and maybe a macro lens and the 70-300 DO lens (just for a travel lens)

If I no longer had my current day job, I would probably get Kodak SLR/c, the fisheye and the tilt shift and then stop spending money on equipment. I would buy those so I could make some money on the weekends.

Just get the best you can afford and be happy, because any camera is better then no camera and as I found a long time ago, I can have almost as much fun with no money as with lots of money. It just takes longer to get to the fun.

Thus ends my rambling.