How did you get your gear?

x_tan wrote in post #13112174
Wife paid all my gear

You don't expect us to believe that do you?

JackFlash19 wrote in post #13111269
I'm always curious... Photography is an expensive profession/hobby. I see alot of members with alot of expensive gear/lenses. How did you acquire your gear? Did you save up for it? Did you use the money you made from photog gigs? Was it a gift? It seems like my acquisition of new gear is about as frequent as a presidency change.

(if it's too personal of a question there is an option for that too )

EDIT: forgot to add an "on credit" option... Can't figure out how to edit the poll.... DOH! lol

Photography doesn't have to be an expensive hobby.

If you first recognize what you want to get as a result from this hobby, who the recipients of the the work will be, what the expectations are, and finally what the budget will be, it doesn't have to be that expensive.

For example, you could pick up a great camera, a flash, and 3 great lenses on the used market for less than $1000.

T2i + 18-55 IS + 55-250 IS + 50 1.8 + flash

This kit alone could do 70-80% of any kind of photography very, very well in the right hands.

The reason it gets expensive quickly is:
- to pursue that other 20-30%
- to overcome lack of experience or understanding of existing equipment or photography
- peer pressure to upgrade
- gear lust
- perception that better equipment equals better photography
- comfort (better features, better ergos, more latitude in mistakes in settings, faster performance)
- expectation of results change or the recipients change or the hobby turns into a career

There is a reason why the vast majority of the local photo club members are retirement age. We have the time and no longer have to pay for kids in school!

Started out long ago with a Kodak 104 Instamatic. Saved for my first real gear, a Canon A-1, 50mm and 135mm lens. From there it has almost all been funded with $$ received using the gear. I do side jobs for friends, family, acquaintances and keep the proceeds as a photo slush fund.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #13112423
The reason it gets expensive quickly is:
- to pursue that other 20-30%
- to overcome lack of experience or understanding of existing equipment or photography
- peer pressure to upgrade
- gear lust
- perception that better equipment equals better photography
- comfort (better features, better ergos, more latitude in mistakes in settings, faster performance)
- expectation of results change or the recipients change or the hobby turns into a career

Not everything on that list is a negative.

Of course "gear lust" l consider a natural state of being.

bought a metal detector found some treasure and financed it that way .not a wind up reply completely true

guntoter wrote in post #13112480
Not everything on that list is a negative.

Of course "gear lust" l consider a natural state of being.

You and me both, just look at our equipment lists! I think I made $100 last year on pictures...

I was a student parents got me a sony a200 with a 18-70mm for 400$, then from then went to the t1i, t2i now 60d

guntoter wrote in post #13112393
You don't expect us to believe that do you?

I always say: "I LOVE to spend woman's money'

I got kind of lucky with my first set of gear. I had won a Digital Rebel (300D) kit with 2 lenses and a few other odds and ends on eBay in 2005. I asked them to ship it to my PO Box. After about 2 weeks after winning it I called them (they had a working phone number) and asked them where it was. They said when they shipped it UPS it came back because they couldn't ship to PO Boxes. I gave them a physical address and it arrived a week later. About another week went by and I went to the PO Box to pick up my mail and in my box there's a package slip. So I go to the front desk and hand them the package slip and they came back with a pretty big box. I said to my self, "WTF did I order?"

I get to work (I usually pick up my mail on the way to work) and opened this box up in the car and discovered a brand new Rebel XT (350D) kit plus accessories. So now I had 2 brand new camera kits. I went to an ATM machine and checked my balance because I was worried that they charged me for 2 camera kits. They didn't. So the next morning I called the people I got the cameras from and told them that they had sent me another camera by mistake. "No we didn't", the customer service rep kept insisting. I kept telling him that they sent me 2 complete kits and he kept saying they only have on record that they sent just one. One was returned.

So, I ended up with 2 complete kits because I was done arguing with the guy. One with a Rebel and one with a Rebel XT for the price of the Rebel kit. Sweet huh!

I bought a Gripped 20D and had a lens I was given. Made some money with it, upgrade. Made more money, upgraded. Started a weekend photography business, upgraded. And now I run a race photography company as a second job. And it been roughly 16 months since my first camera, and 13 months in business.

option 1,2,3 and 5.

Sold a kidney on eBay

Saving allowance from parents, doing photog jobs, going into photo competitions and selling the prizes I get.


@ Cameraman, that is a great story!

Headshotzx wrote in post #13113007
that is a great story!

...With a great ending. I actually didn't use the Rebel XT for about 6 months thinking they'd finally realize that they f***ed up and tell me to send it back but they never did.