$10,000

Karl Johnston wrote in post #9551997
Had to pay out $300 just to register as a damned business, here, with insurance at 2k a year

Don't feel bad, it's $700 here

viet wrote in post #9550781
Tim,
Maybe that's different where you live, and I'm not saying that everyone has to get a lawyer for their business.

Being legal here in the US means that you should be a registered business owner with a sale tax license/permit, charge tax, doing your book keeping, etc. Of course it varies from state to state, but that's the gist of it, and it factors in a big piece of the pie from the cost analysis of running a business, which most people don't think of when starting out.

the cost of insurance alone for your business and gear will exceed 1k a year, or at least where I'm at.

I'm surprised by this and other comments in this thread as that's not been my experience. In my state, NJ which is not especially known to be business friendly, I was able to become an LLC and get set up to collect and pay my sales tax all on-line in less than 30 minutes and at a cost of $150, no lawyer involved. I have a $2 million liability policy plus $16k on equipment plus some other riders with State Farm (on the business, not associated with my homeowners) at an annual cost of $300.

computerguru3190 wrote in post #9552102
Used D3- 3200
Used D300-100
24-70- 1800
80-200 1000
Sb800-300
Cards- 200
Batteries-200
Website-500
Insurance-1000
Macbook-1400
Firewire Reader-100
External Drive- 200

Exactly 10,000.

please tell me where to gets d300 for 100 dollars.

Peacefield wrote in post #9552965
I'm surprised by this and other comments in this thread as that's not been my experience. In my state, NJ which is not especially known to be business friendly, I was able to become an LLC and get set up to collect and pay my sales tax all on-line in less than 30 minutes and at a cost of $150, no lawyer involved. I have a $2 million liability policy plus $16k on equipment plus some other riders with State Farm (on the business, not associated with my homeowners) at an annual cost of $300.

Do they accept canadians.....

midnight_rider wrote in post #9552986
please tell me where to gets d300 for 100 dollars.

My bad meant 1000.

I'd get the gear most people are recommending and used some of the remainder on going to workshops. Learn what others did to form their business and try to copy that.

I'd get a couple used 30Ds, a 17-55, a 70-200 or 135L, a couple Speedlites, and a bunch of batteries and memory cards. I'd also get a 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 on the cheap as a backup/emergency spare standard zoom just in case.

Don't really NEED anything else. Light stands and all that? Not really necessary. Just find the good light.

2 5d's - 2100
2 580ex - 600
35 1.4 - 1200
85 1.2 - 1600
135 2 - 950
24-70 (backup) - 1050
70-200 2.8 IS - 1400
Tripod - 200
camera bag or belt system. - 350
Light stand + umbrella + qbox - 200
RF-602, 1 transmitter, 3 receivers - 100
Radiopoppers 1 transmitter, 3 recievers (redundancy = good) - 300
16 gb of CF card - 50

total 10100

A little over, but you'd be set with this setup. save up for another 580EX. And then just shoot away.