As photographers we all have moments when the latest shiny new lens or camera is released and we read the reviews, check the specifications and look at the price. How much??? is my usual first reaction.
It is surprising how quickly we can adjust mentally from 'Nice to have' to 'Should have' to 'Must have'. We justify in our minds the usage benefits, the quality of images and the need to stay current.
As a business what we should be looking at is whether this shiny new addition to our camera bag will actually earn us money and will it increase our earnings over and above that produced by our current kit. The answer is usually no but that does not stop us popping the latest must have item into the on-line basket. Sitting on the screen when it could be sitting in the bag it is only a mouse click away. The 'Buy' button taunts us. Are you man enough to click me it seems to be saying.
We can offset part of the purchase by selling an older lens or camera. That is not too bad then. Actually it is probably good. It is not really a squillion pounds it is half that when we sell this other stuff. A bargain really.
The older camera or lens can be our new back up. The fact the current back up has not come out of the bag for 18 months is not really that important is it?
Don't do it. There you go. Decision made. Wait for the 'must have merchants' to upgrade their perfectly good kit and then wait a bit more. Eighteen months after a new body is released is a good time to look for its predecessor in the second hand market. Any issues will be known about and someone else will have taken the major part of the depreciation hit.
Lenses depreciate slower than bodies and wear out or age far slower as well. Unless it is a real bargain I tend to buy lenses new rather than second hand. New camera bodies are released every 12 to 18 months to replace the current model. Is your current camera on its last legs? If the answer is no and it is doing the job well enough then give it a little pet and thank it for saving you a lot of money and earning your living.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Spam and more spam
I probably get 5 or 6 of these things a day. Some offer me great riches for working at home, some offer me a chance to buy shares in a company that I have never heard of (and neither has the stock market), some want me to claim the fortune that someone bearing the same name left unclaimed and some just want be be a nice friendly bank and help me sort out a problem with my account.
You would think (some of the spammers obviously do not) that if you were going to try to catch out the average man in the street then you would at least construct a letter/email that had a level of credibility and looked like it was put together by someone who had got a passing grade at nursery school.
The following little extract is probably the worst I have seen in a while.
"The Technical Service of H****** online banking are upgrading
programmed the software to improve the quality 'of services
bank. We ask you to start the confirmation process data
Customer. For this purpose, and must download and unpack the form attached to this email and
open it in a web browser."
Anybody who falls for a scam as badly presented as this one probably does not have any money in a bank. Well, other than the cheques they pay in for some export/import company which has a minor problem with their bank account and has chosen them from a carefully vetted list to represent their company whilst they sort it out. Strangely enough these seem to be the same people that want to send you a cheque to buy a car, hire a photographer and anything else you can think of and then accidentally make the cheque out for a few thousand more than they should. After generously insisting you keep a few hundred for your trouble they then ask that you send the balance back using a wire transfer office before the cheque has cleared. Hmmm, lets think about it for a second. Someone sent you a piece of paper and you then send them your life savings.
I'm not saying I am above getting caught out by one of these as some of them are quite convincing. I really do hope that if I do fall for one of these that it is at least written and presented in a manner which would make most of us think it may be genuine.
Anyhow, got to dash, off to collect my winnings for a lottery I didn't even know I had entered.
You would think (some of the spammers obviously do not) that if you were going to try to catch out the average man in the street then you would at least construct a letter/email that had a level of credibility and looked like it was put together by someone who had got a passing grade at nursery school.
The following little extract is probably the worst I have seen in a while.
"The Technical Service of H****** online banking are upgrading
programmed the software to improve the quality 'of services
bank. We ask you to start the confirmation process data
Customer. For this purpose, and must download and unpack the form attached to this email and
open it in a web browser."
Anybody who falls for a scam as badly presented as this one probably does not have any money in a bank. Well, other than the cheques they pay in for some export/import company which has a minor problem with their bank account and has chosen them from a carefully vetted list to represent their company whilst they sort it out. Strangely enough these seem to be the same people that want to send you a cheque to buy a car, hire a photographer and anything else you can think of and then accidentally make the cheque out for a few thousand more than they should. After generously insisting you keep a few hundred for your trouble they then ask that you send the balance back using a wire transfer office before the cheque has cleared. Hmmm, lets think about it for a second. Someone sent you a piece of paper and you then send them your life savings.
I'm not saying I am above getting caught out by one of these as some of them are quite convincing. I really do hope that if I do fall for one of these that it is at least written and presented in a manner which would make most of us think it may be genuine.
Anyhow, got to dash, off to collect my winnings for a lottery I didn't even know I had entered.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
EVS4 - Update
A general release of EVS4 has been delayed whilst a further option for the manner of release is considered. A decision will be made shortly (within the next few weeks).
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