Great post on TOP: What I Would Get If I Were Starting Now?

Martin, I did click on that monitor link and did start thinking about the 24inch Apple LED Cinema Display and how I could doc it to my MacBook Pro.:D

Chuck, I hear you... Never ever, ever thought I would go through so many cameras so fast since I came over to the digital side.
 
Re advice for shopping for cameras only once every five years: I'm working on that. I'm up to five months now....:redface:

We are with you... you can do it. Maybe.

Just imagine if we operated on this or a similar basis - a camera every 3 to 5 years, say. The forum would have to fill up with talk of photography, technique, photographs, etc etc. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Getting back to the article... :rolleyes:

I feel it's one of the useful check-in points - a stop an think about the photography thing. I particularly appreciate the comments on printing. If you don't print some of your best stuff (best in your eyes), and I mean larger than 8 x 10, then I believe you are really missing something.

Choose 4 or 6 images you are proud of, which make you feel good. have them printed, say 11 x 14 or so. Hold them, look closely, enjoy - then stick them to a wall and stand back and look again. This will have you reaching for your camera.
 
The comments on the original thread at TOP are interesting.

One responder pointed out that camera technology can change so much in a few years, and wouldn't you be missing out?

Mike's reply is worthy of a read (as are the rest of the comments / conversation):

See how dangerous that is? The long version of your comment is all part of what I'm calling "shopping." You're making your analysis of camera technology into your hobby, and making it into the focus of your expertise. I eventually did the same (the worst "shoppers" become "reviewers") but that's not photography. It's photo-tech. It's true that I wanted to be a writer more than I wanted to be a photographer, and today I am a writer of sorts, so maybe I should let myself off the hook. But I'm suggesting that, assuming I wanted to be a photographer, I would have been better off concentrating on taking pictures and making prints rather than becoming an opinion-expert on imaging technology and the camera industry.

What I said, what I'm saying, very deliberately, is that I'd buy two T3i's (or whatever) and forget about camera technology for five years. I'd be fine in those five years. I'd get to shop again, and when that time came I'd know I could wallow in photo-tech all I wanted. Until then, you should use what you bought.

And, incidentally, I'm speaking from actual experience. I tend to be obsessive, especially under stress, and I did make my living for a lot of years writing for magazines, which meant I had to keep current with photo-tech issues. Right after my son was born, I was the single parent of an infant, had moved to a new city, didn't have a job, didn't have many friends, was suffering serious sleep deprivation, serious money worries, etc., etc. Talk about stress. I found my obsessiveness getting out of control. So, as a "cure," I chose one camera, two lenses, and one film, and decided, willfully, to "stop shopping" for three years. The "three years" ended up lasting for four and a half, and I did some of my best work in that four-and-a-half-year period...and was the happiest I've ever been with my photography avocation. So I'm not making that advice lightly; it's something I've actually lived.
 
Re advice for shopping for cameras only once every five years: I'm working on that. I'm up to five months now....:redface:

In forty-five years of film cameras, for personal use, I owned three cameras and bought lots of film. In ten years of digital I have owned five cameras and bought no film, just computers, software and printers. So tell me again about saving money by going to digital?
 
In forty-five years of film cameras, for personal use, I owned three cameras and bought lots of film. In ten years of digital I have owned five cameras and bought no film, just computers, software and printers. So tell me again about saving money by going to digital?

So true. I am much more settled now, but between my first DSLR (2003) and selling my last one, and including my M4/3 camera and lenses, I have spent a stack.

Perhaps this is partly why this post struck a note with me. I do like gear etc., but I like photography and photographs more. I deeply enjoyed my Canon 20D, and stuck with it the longest. It was a great camera: easy to use, fast, great results and reasonably compact. The thing is, I spent a lot of time actually using it, and printing the shots I liked.
 
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