Financing Expensive Lenses?

I was curious how those of you who own expensive lenses, or at least the big boy ones, that run a good 10K+, are able to do it. Without being too nosey of course.

I've been wanting the 400mm F/2.8 IS II for quite some time now, especially since I've been shooting football games. While I'm making things work with the 300mm F/4L IS, I definitely need the reach and ability to shoot in lower light.

Does Canon or other companies do financing at all? Or do you all literally save up for years in order to buy these?

Thanks!

I don't save for anything. Want it now? Buy it now.

That always works, but I might put myself in some serious debt that way haha

SierraHighPhoto wrote in post #17222113
I was curious how those of you who own expensive lenses, or at least the big boy ones, that run a good 10K+, are able to do it. Without being too nosey of course.

I've been wanting the 400mm F/2.8 IS II for quite some time now, especially since I've been shooting football games. While I'm making things work with the 300mm F/4L IS, I definitely need the reach and ability to shoot in lower light.

Does Canon or other companies do financing at all? Or do you all literally save up for years in order to buy these?

Thanks!

Not exactly your target audience (most expensive lens is a little over $1k), but this depends on whether you're shooting for work or fun. If you're doing this for work then you need to do the analysis and figure out how much more $ you can bring in by getting the new lens vs how much it will cost you (price + financing). If you're shooting primarily for fun I personally would recommend saving for the lens you want.

If you don't make all of your living on photography, putting luxury gear on credit is probably one of the worst financial moves you can make. Interest rates, however low, and for whatever principle, will drain you emotionally and fiscally (I'm not exaggerating). It's a whirlpool you do NOT want to get anywhere near. As someone who has had my troubles with debts in the past, don't make the same mistake so many people make.

Even if you are a pro, it's still not always a wise decision; you'd have to be making good money to offset losses in interest costs. Even then, there's no accounting for life. Things happen. You lose your job, your health, the market slows down, and you're stuck with thousands in debt with no way to pay it back. You're upside down on your gear loan and you end up living check to check payin back banks.

I've seen some ish lol.

Anyways, do things the "old fashioned" way. Buy what you can afford to pay in cash only. Find the best deals on used gear. Canon lenses last for decades and hold their value well. A lot of pros start out with entry level gear, work with what they have, and work their way up to the nice toys when they are good enough with a steady flow of money to afford it.

Or, if you're not a pro, wait until you have a good enough income to support an expensive hobby. There's nothing wrong with that either.

You could take an intermediate, step-by-step approach. That way, you won't be "stuck" trying to shoot football games with a 300mmm f4 for the next XX years.

You could save for, say, a year, then buy the Sigma 120-300 f2.8.

Then you could save for another year, then sell the 120-300mm, combine it with your savings, and buy an older version of the 400 f2.8

Then, well, you get the idea.

There are retailers that occasionally offer promotional 0% interest for something like 12months. If you are interested in financing the purchase and can't find one of these offers, you could always use a credit card (cringe). My guess is that the majority of those people with a single lens costing $10k+ are not financing the purchase. I have a friend that used to work in the finance department of a Maserati dealership...he told me many of his customers were paid in full before driving away. Seems like the people buying these big ticket items have enough coins laying around to make the purchase outright and would rather do so than paying interest through financing.

Personally, I would never finance a piece of camera equipment, neither as a hobbyist nor as a professional. You've mentioned that you are making due with the 300mm, so I wonder if you are doing work that truly requires the extra reach and larger aperture. At 7x the cost of your current lens, how much additional revenue do you think the 400 2.8II can bring you?

Sierra, I think to answer your question some people just got a ton of money and can buy anything they want and others have different priorities, or some probably finance for a business. There are people here who drive crappy cars but have the worlds most expensive 35mm lenses.

But one thing for sure... If u want to get lots of cool gear over your lifetime, the less you loan and the more you save, the more you have in the long term.

Save, buy one lens at a time. You don't have to chase the latest and greatest which is why I bought the 150-500 instead of either of the 150-600 offerings.

great advice on here... taking special note for myself

Good information everyone, really appreciate it.

Doesn't take long to save up if you cut costs.

Buy a Starbucks or two a day? Brew your own at home for pennies and put that money you'd spend on Starbucks in a jar on your fridge.

Eat out for lunch everyday? Bring your own lunch and put the money you'd spend on lunch in a jar on the fridge.

A big one for me was alcohol. Years ago I went cold turkey and every time I was going to buy a drink at a pub or pick up a 6 pack after work, I put that money in a jar. Not only did I learn I spent way too much on booze, but I got healthier from it and had a lot of extra money to spend on camera gear.

the flying moose wrote in post #17222575
A big one for me was alcohol. Years ago I went cold turkey and every time I was going to buy a drink at a pub or pick up a 6 pack after work, I put that money in a jar. Not only did I learn I spent way too much on booze, but I got healthier from it and had a lot of extra money to spend on camera gear.

I'm not giving up beer. So I brew my own. Although for the first five or so years due to always buying new brew gear, I wasn't coming out ahead. Now I can brew for a fraction of the cost of buying.

FEChariot wrote in post #17222583
I'm not giving up beer. So I brew my own. Although for the first five or so years due to always buying new brew gear, I wasn't coming out ahead. Now I can brew for a fraction of the cost of buying.

Yeah, that works too. I know lots of people that do that and its amazing that a bottle will cost them like $.20 each after its all done.

When I started in photography, my main aim was to earn to pay for more gear. I quickly realised that I was pretty rubbish, and always blamed my gear or not having the right stuff. I went through various bodies and worked my way through Canons bottom tier of non USM lenses, then through the USM range and now onto L glass.

Bodies were no different, however, I have been quite lucky and not had to fork out too much more on my initial amount, apart from the 5D3 that went on the credit card, (poor mistake)

I am now into shooting football (soccer) and I'm feeling that while the 70-200 is good for when the action is in my half, as soon as it goes beyond, I may as well just read a magazine. I think I made about $900 last year in image sales. Not enough for a 400 2.8 but it got me seriously thinking about gear again.

If you can justify and afford it then go for it. If I hadn't bought a new car I'd have gone for it. Wish I had bought the lens and stayed with my old car haha