Camera Envy

[Warin]

This last Wednesday, I went out to a meeting and workshop of the local photo arts club. We were working on panning technique for action photography.

One of the first things I saw was a fellow pulling a Nikon D2X out of his bag. I was smitten! Over the course of the next hour, I thought that D2X was making the rounds in a big way, as three different guys were using it...

Seems all three of them :eek: had one!

I looked at my D70s and felt envy!

What was odd was the ratio of cameras there. I saw one film AE1, and an S1 IS. I saw 6 (plus mine) D70's, a D100, 3 D2X's, and an F80. Photographers around here at least seem to prefer Nikon! :D

[TheObiJuan]

Yeah, amateurs seem to like Nikons, but at the Olympics and at PRO events, canon's white lenses line the stands.











Hahaha, I'm just kidding. :p
The D2X is a really neat camera. The crop feature alone can make the camera worth it's weight in gold.

[Rhys]

I think we should have some kind of competition here - like on fm - and then see who envies who and what :P

[timmciglobal]

It's actual a plan by us canon folk to lure out all the nikonians and get rid of them all at once.

:p

Tim

[D70FAN]

It's actual a plan by us canon folk to lure out all the nikonians and get rid of them all at once.

:p

Tim

Too late... the Nikonians already know where the Canonites are. :eek: Hey that doesn't let your Olympians, Pentaxians, and Konik-Minoltians off the hook. ;)

Woah! That's harder to say than to print.

[Rhys]

It's actual a plan by us canon folk to lure out all the nikonians and get rid of them all at once.

:p

Tim

Nah. Then we'd have nobody left to throw custard pies at :p

[Clyde]

This last Wednesday, I went out to a meeting and workshop of the local photo arts club.

One of the first things I saw was a fellow pulling a Nikon D2X out of his bag. I was smitten! Over the course of the next hour, I thought that D2X was making the rounds in a big way, as three different guys were using it...

...

Seems all three of them :eek: had one!

...

I looked at my D70s and felt envy!

...

Photographers around here at least seem to prefer Nikon! :D

The first was first friday, the gallery opening day. There was a band playing at my gallery (I show paintings, I am not really a photographer) so I was trying to get reference material with my DrebXT.

While I don't know what the new photographer in the gallery shoots, a friend of hers was walking around with this narrow thing, solid and oldish looking, with a tiny lens. "Is that a Leica?" I asked, wishing I had left my camera in the car... Sure enough it was an M6...

It has been a long time since I played with my K1000. Maybe I would have felt better with it around my neck? I have to remind myself that I couldn't ever get more than maybe .33 fps out of the K1000, and I couldn't fit more than 36 images on the card, changing ISO was much more mechanically involved (you had to actually change those old format memory cards!) But damn, I miss all that resolution!

Clyde

[MissJezabelle]

I had camera envy last weekend lol while at the NASCAR races in California. Some of the actual infield photographers had EOS-1D Mark II & the 20D

And I even saw a EOS 1Ds Mark II that shoots in 16.7 mega pixels if you can believe that. The guy said it was like 9 thousand bucks. I was all like HOLY CRAP. My car isn't even worth that lol.

[Rhys]

Lol. The content of my briefcase often outweighed the value of my car when I was in Britain.

[D70FAN]

I don't think that I have envied any camera since hooking up with the D70. It does everything I need for it to do, and more. Hopefully this is the case with Canon 20D and XT owners as well.

I suppose, for some professionals, having the extra speed, and features, might be important, as they may need that competitive edge. But I'm amazed at how many pros I see shooting with D70's and 20D's, even at sporting events. The main difference seems to be that they are shooting with really (really) good lenses.

So I have a tendancy to envy the lenses rather than the cameras. ;)

[Chucko]

So I have a tendancy to envy the lenses rather than the cameras. ;)

Me too. I still think of lenses as an "investment". dSLR bodies are changing so rapidly, last year's hot model is this year's used bargain. So it's hard for me to get too worked up about the body.

[Warin]

So I have a tendancy to envy the lenses rather than the cameras. ;)

I also saw a 70-200 AFS VR on one of the D2X's.

Lens envy too!

[D70FAN]

I also saw a 70-200 AFS VR on one of the D2X's.

Lens envy too!

Nice lens, but at $1500 it's still a little out of my price range. I was seriously looking at the Nikkor 200mm f2 VR after seeing what this lens can do on a D2X, but at $4K (!) it's even further out. Maybe next year (for the 70-200).

Where the heck is that lottery win when you really need it? ;)

[Warin]

Nice lens, but at $1500 it's still a little out of my price range. I was seriously looking at the Nikkor 200mm f2 VR after seeing what this lens can do on a D2X, but at $2K it's even further out. Maybe next year.

Where the heck is that lottery win when you really need it? ;)

Exactly! I need that newspaper to come a day early!

I splurged back at christmas on the 300mm AFS f/4 lens, and dont regret it for a moment. On the D70 is gives me an equivalent of a 450mm, and it works great. I love the compression this lens gives. I have a shot with a river, a park, an apartment tower, and some hills all in fairly clear focus.

What I really want now is the 17-35 AFS f/2.8 lens, but it is also wicked expensive for an advanced amateur who shoots for the joy of it, not to make money.

[D70FAN]

Exactly! I need that newspaper to come a day early!

I splurged back at christmas on the 300mm AFS f/4 lens, and dont regret it for a moment. On the D70 is gives me an equivalent of a 450mm, and it works great. I love the compression this lens gives. I have a shot with a river, a park, an apartment tower, and some hills all in fairly clear focus.

What I really want now is the 17-35 AFS f/2.8 lens, but it is also wicked expensive for an advanced amateur who shoots for the joy of it, not to make money.

How about posting a few shots from that 300? Just like to see what I'm missing. ;)

[Rhys]

Now I have my XT and the kit lens, I'm concentrating on getting only good lenses. Thus far I have a Canon 50mm f1.8 which should be fast enough for most situations. My next lens will be a Tamron f2.8 28-75 whenever I can obtain one. I nearly ordered one from Ritz.com but decided it wasn't a good idea to buy online. I'll have to look when I'm in Charleston at the weekend - there're several photography shops there.

[D70FAN]

Now I have my XT and the kit lens, I'm concentrating on getting only good lenses. Thus far I have a Canon 50mm f1.8 which should be fast enough for most situations. My next lens will be a Tamron f2.8 28-75 whenever I can obtain one. I nearly ordered one from Ritz.com but decided it wasn't a good idea to buy online. I'll have to look when I'm in Charleston at the weekend - there're several photography shops there.

Many Ritz/Wolf stand alone stores carry the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 in stock for the same price as the on-line store. If not they can order, and receive, one in 3 days.

My local store in Chandler does this all the time (and has a pretty good number of professional clients). All 3 of the sales people are pretty darned knowlegable on cameras and lenses as well. They are mainly Canonites, but I don't hold that against them. ;)

[nate]

Many Ritz/Wolf stand alone stores carry the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 in stock for the same price as the on-line store. If not they can order, and receive, one in 3 days.

My local store in Chandler does this all the time (and has a pretty good number of professional clients). All 3 of the sales people are pretty darned knowlegable on cameras and lenses as well. They are mainly Canonites, but I don't hold that against them. ;)

They have the Canon version in-stock or at least available? That's impressive, because they've been OOS everywhere I've looked lately. I think I might have bought the last one in existence (from Adorama, about 2 months ago). :D

[Warin]

How about posting a few shots from that 300? Just like to see what I'm missing. ;)

I'll see what I can come up with tonight. :)

It is definitely not a "walk around" lens, but with a Lowepro Topload 75, Lenscase 1s and 1 secured to the slip lock connectors on the side I can carry the 300, 50, and 85 comfortably.

[D70FAN]

I'll see what I can come up with tonight. :)

It is definitely not a "walk around" lens, but with a Lowepro Topload 75, Lenscase 1s and 1 secured to the slip lock connectors on the side I can carry the 300, 50, and 85 comfortably.

Hey no big hurry, just curious. Fortunately, the local camera repair (Tempe Camera Repair) rents lenses, so I thought that I would give the 70-200 F2.8 VR a try either this weekend or next. The rnetal guy is a Nikonian and also recommended the 80-200 f2.8 Macro (non VR), so I may try that one as well (the following weekend). My big fear is that I won't want to give them back. :eek:

[Warin]

Here are two that I took recently.

[cwphoto]

I had camera envy last weekend lol while at the NASCAR races in California. Some of the actual infield photographers had EOS-1D Mark II & the 20D

And I even saw a EOS 1Ds Mark II that shoots in 16.7 mega pixels if you can believe that. The guy said it was like 9 thousand bucks. I was all like HOLY CRAP. My car isn't even worth that lol.

I have had to budget AUD14k for this camera (if the stock will ever turn up) - that's over USD10k!! Even a little old 14mm retails for almost AUD4.5k down here - how can something so small cost so much...

[TheObiJuan]

I have had to budget AUD14k for this camera (if the stock will ever turn up) - that's over USD10k!! Even a little old 14mm retails for almost AUD4.5k down here - how can something so small cost so much...

It would be cheaper to take a vacation to the states and purchase all of your gear :p

[cwphoto]

It would be cheaper to take a vacation to the states and purchase all of your gear :p

I have done a few trips to B&H over the years (they recognised me last time which was impressive). I used to get 90% off standby airfares via my father's job with QANTAS which made the trip very worthwhile. I remember once leaving Sydney airport on Monday at 6:00 PM and arriving back at 6:00 AM the following Friday having stayed overnight in NYC and Boston - I think I slept all weekend from memory.

Since then the dollar got worse and my (seemingly) limitless budget got "wife and mortgaged".

Now with the internet it's not so hard to shop from home, and our local tax laws have relaxed so it's not worthwhile to hop on the plane these days just for a shopping trip.