The Siege of Palmer Island5/19/2018
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It is definitely safe to say that none of us are interested in dropping a lot of cash on junk equipment. The great thing about new gear is that it doesn’t always have to be new. “New to You” seems to work just as well as fresh off the store shelf in many cases. The gear may not be perfect but, does it really matter if all the functions still operate and produce a marketable image? If you do little research and online surfing you will be surprised at the quality of less than “new in box” products that many online retailers are offering. You could also find yourself taking advantage of special promotions, clearance items, and limited-time holiday sales to acquire an otherwise pricey piece of gear.
Cost and condition will ultimately depend on the immediate need the photographer has for the piece. Like so many others, myself certainly included, have been on location snapping away when a piece of equipment, a camera body for instance, fails. I was a few towns away from home shooting some abandoned buildings. Then in an instant, all the fun was over. My Canon Rebel XT body froze and was flashing error messages. My initial reaction is not quite appropriate for publishing. When I upgraded from compact point & shoot cameras I found the XT used on Buya.com for under $100. It wasn’t in perfect condition but everything worked and it came with a lens. It would take images at the dimensions I needed so I could submit to stock agencies. After a few choice words and futile attempts to fix my paperweight of a camera, I began an unaccomplished drive home. How was I going to replace the most necessary component in photography? Work, and thusly finances, was slow and sporadic so there wasn’t a lot of means to work with. I scrounged together what I could and hit the internet sites to see what sales or bundle packages were out there. Everything was still just out of price range, even Craigslist came up empty. (NOTE: Collectors looking for 35mm equipment, Craigslist is your best friend!) I was on the verge of giving up when I checked in at the Canon Online Store. Now I didn’t really expect to find anything in my price range from the manufacturer’s website but I figured I’d at least look. I found the link for their Refurbished EOS Digital SLR Cameras and found a Rebel T5 for half the price of MSRP and big box stores. OK, there must be something seriously wrong with this. Upon opening the rather promptly delivered box, I’m met with a PowerShot box! Oh, don’t do this to me. I opened the box much relieved to find my T5 neatly wrapped and seemingly unopened. Are you kidding me? As I tore into the remainder of the contents, it became clear that what I had been sent was a brand spanking new camera. My guess is that the original packaging was damaged and the product returned to Canon. All the settings were factory default and I could see absolutely no cosmetic issues. I even had to pull the plastic sheet of the display screen. The 18-55mm kit lens was also new. Talk about a score for my side. I already had a couple of lenses from a foreclosed home clean out job, and just recently I picked up a 70-300mm lens from another. All in all I paid less than $300 for the whole setup, with everything in working condition. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, every photo in this article was taken with a refurbished camera and used lenses. Oddly enough, my future in-laws set me up with a laptop they were no longer using. All I had to do was buy a $15 charger. Family and friends are a good source when shopping for photo equipment because everyone knows or hears of someone looking to sell their own. I even added a Canon VIXIA HF R300, from Canon’s consumer camcorder line, to my gear bag. Although a discontinued product, it was neat little camera with lots of great features including Full 1080p HD quality picture, Creative Filters, 51x digital zoom, multiple filming modes, and more. Again, no dents or scratches and everything functions properly. The only thing I do have to say is that the stock battery that comes with the Vixia didn’t seem to last long at all. I barely got two minutes into making a video and the battery just quit. Digital photography can be a deathly expensive profession or hobby, especially for anyone that has the ‘I need the latest and greatest gear out there’ syndrome. Don’t be afraid to do some research, crunch numbers, and look for the best price for your budget. Check out the Refurbished sections on most major manufacturers’ websites before throwing down a hard-earned fortune needlessly. Keep in mind, also, that ‘used’ and ‘refurbished’ may very well be two entirely different things, and with photo equipment, it usually is the case. It is pretty common nowadays though, for a rating system to be used that grades the condition and functionality of all used equipment prior to listing. Each grade includes a detailed breakdown of why the product received the given grade, so acquaint yourself with their individual meanings before you buy. You can shop in confidence knowing that your money is being well spent. Other worthwhile resources for adding to your gear bag are pawn shops, yard sales, and flea markets. A lot of times people don’t understand the full resale value of that hardly used camera they got for Christmas one year, leaving you to scoop it up for mere pittance. The other side of that coin is when the seller does understand photo equipment and slaps a hefty price tag on an otherwise passable flea market find. With digital cameras so easily obtained these days, much of the 35mm analog crowd are putting the obsolete medium of film photography on a nostalgic back room shelf. I myself am guilty of this as well. I still enjoy the aesthetic feel of film photography but the space and investment to tackle it properly is not, at current, in the cards. But without a use for the equipment, it ends up collecting dust or just disposed of entirely. This is not a good idea because certain accessories can still be used with digital gear. My dad, a former police photographer, had some 35mm lenses that wouldn’t work on a DSLR but the 58mm filters he had attached to them certainly would. Straps, mono & tripods, pouches, and lens accessories are usually suited to make the analog to digital jump. Focusing on the bells and whistles of the brand new gear will cause a talented photographer to lose sight of the images they’re out to create. Challenge yourself to work within the limitations of what equipment you have and pay more attention to capturing the quality images want. [J.M. Roberts, Sr. / AWOLGypsy.com 2018] #AWOLGypsy #photography #digital #CanonBringIt #DSLR #refurbished #RebelT5 #gear #budget #NewToYou #WhereToBuy |