The most over-priced camera equipment

ADAPTE wrote in post #5583510
Memory cards and batteries...

Seriously?? I just got two new batteries for a 350D for £9.99, and a 2GB CF card for £9.99 also.. That doesn't seem too overpriced. Fair enough, the batteries weren't Canon branded, but they work just as well.

All of the Gary Fong stuff.

Thanks to our governor, our gas prices are higher than the national average and of any of our surrounding states, he put an extra gas tax on to fix our roads..well, our roads are a shambles in this state..follow the money.

Shooting wrote in post #5598347
Thanks to our governor, our gas prices are higher than the national average and of any of our surrounding states, he put an extra gas tax on to fix our roads..well, our roads are a shambles in this state..follow the money.

Still much, much (MUCH) cheaper than the UK, and hey, you get the sunny weather too

The stuff you need to buy your wife to make up for the gear you've bought

Anything with a Brand name on it. .........When did this turn into a is gas too much forum??

irishman wrote in post #5582393
In your opinion, what is the most over-priced camera equipment? To me, it has to be on-camera flash. When I got my first digital camera last year, I thought that a flash would be about $100. I was shocked to see that even the basic unit for my XTi, the 430 EX was nearly $300! Compare two 580EX's, around $800, to a good quality studio kit like the one I purchased, an Elinchrom d-Lite 4 kit for about the same price. You get two powerful heads, two light stands, two softboxes, cords, cool cases, all for about the same price as the 580's. Canon HAS to be making a killing off their flashes!

I know, I may be off topic here, not talking about gas prices ... but there are some misconceptions here about modern E-TTL flashes. Unlike what many think here, they are not just wussed down Elinchromes powered by batteries.

All an Elinchrome (or any other studio flash) can do is fire at whatever power level has been set at least seconds in advance. They can not fire extremely short pulses, they can not regulate output energy milliseconds in advance. For that you need circuitry which can interrupt the full flash current (which may be in the range of many dozens or even hundreds of amperes !!! ) at any time multiple times in a row.

What does this buy you? Oh, so little features like FP, wireless E-TTL, well even E-TTL wouldn't work without that circuit! Just look at the protocols.

All the other photographic items mentioned here, the lens hoods, the tripod collars, the flash bouncers, yes, these are truly overpriced, and surprise, surprise, for most of these items you get very cheap replacements at a fraction of the cost. But fully E-TTL capable flashes from other manufacturers, are either only little cheaper than the Canons (Metz, Sigma, ...) or complete trash.

No one mentioned flash diffusers? Those are a joke. I can't believe that a simple piece of molded tupperware plastic costs $30. It probably costs them 3 cents to pour plastic into the molding tray.

Backdrops/muslins... Home much does a huge piece of cloth dyed or painted really cost?

what about the Canon wireless transfer thingy.. to send photos from camera to laptop wirelessly?/

The lens hood for my canon 70-300mm. Canon (or the retailers) want over $40 for piece of round plastic. Fortunately a company in HK made a compatible version for about $20. Still think this is a bit overpriced, at least I got some change left over for some gas.

INK!

INK!

INK!

It costs over $800.00 to refill my printer.. and that;s cheap per ounce compared to the small desk jet color printers.

bwolford wrote in post #5619128
Backdrops/muslins... Home much does a huge piece of cloth dyed or painted really cost?

Local Fabric store my friend. Cheap!

ever priced a plastic mold? $10k for a poor quality one and can hit $50k without breaking a sweat. manufacturing ain't cheap, and with such a limited market... $30 each is a great street price.

ACF3Passion wrote in post #5619052
No one mentioned flash diffusers? Those are a joke. I can't believe that a simple piece of molded tupperware plastic costs $30. It probably costs them 3 cents to pour plastic into the molding tray.

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CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #5620261
INK!

INK!

INK!

It costs over $800.00 to refill my printer.. and that;s cheap per ounce compared to the small desk jet color printers.

OK. Now that you put it that way, the price of gas doesn't seem so bad.