15 replies to this topic

[dcbear78]

A thread where you can share your newly acquired stuff. Something interesting or unusual you'd like to share? Some new camera gear? A new car or house maybe?

We all like shiny new stuff. It's part of the allure for being a photographer.
So I'll kick this off. I got my tax return money back recently and as much as I had planned to spend some and save most, well that just didn't happen....

These both arrived separately today.



I didn't really plan on buying this. But I'm at a point in my business I need to have two bodies on me at times. I have a D810 and I figured the D500 would be a great compliment as each camera has their own distinct strengths. And a D5 is out of the budget.

The trigger for this purchase is I have been sub-contracted by another photographer to photograph a local fun-run/charity event. They weren't too happy to know I only had the one body and would have to be swapping lenses all the time. They were concerned I'd miss shots. So the last of my money I had planned to save went to this purchase.

On the bright side is because of the job on the weekend a portion of it has already paid itself off.

I'm now thinking about what other sports I can shoot. Just need a longer lens, but that's going to have to wait.

[dcbear78]

Ohhh.... And part two (actually more like 3 or 4 but I'll get to them).

I am primarily a portrait photographer. But one who does not own an 85mm lens. Until now!



Took me forever to make my decision on what one to get. If Sigma made an Art series 85mm my decision would have (most likely) been easy. But I was trying to decide between the Nikon f1.4, Nikon f1.8, Sigma 85mm f1.4 and this Tamron.

I really, really wanted an f1.4 lens. But all reviews seem so overwhelmingly positive for the Tamron that I couldn't pass it up. I'm yet to try it. Will give it a workout on the weekend.

[iNYONi]

For some reason I decided to go look at cars last Sunday, just to see how much my old one was worth and have a look at a few models to get an idea what my next car should be. I'd done some homework on a few that I liked so I had a rough idea what I was after.
Well 3 days later and i'm the proud owner of a Citroen cactus, Gunmetal grey and black. (it's not brand new but only a year old with 5,000 miles on the clock). Plent of room for all my camera gear, built in satnav and all the other bells and whistles. Loving it. 

I'll try to get some better pictures over the next few days.

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[dcbear78]

Nice.... We don't get Citreon over here.

[TBonz]

Nice DC and Rob!  Good timing on the thread too DC!

 

My new toy was awhile in coming - we've been discussing and planning for about a year now on and off...Did quite a bit of research and we went out looking several times for the right one and finally brought this home on Thursday...

 

 

Not that there was anything wrong with my old Toyota Tacoma other than it was getting old, didn't have some of the nice bells and whistles Rob mentions and we couldn't set it up to tow behind our RV.  The problem was trying to decide between a smaller truck and a really big truck.  While this Chevy Silverado 1500 is a "full size" truck, it is about as small as you can get in a full size truck.  For various reasons, we even considered the next step larger, but since it is going to also be my daily driver, I was able to convince the family we really didn't want that big a truck 99.99999% of the time !

 

Unfortunately it won't be able to go to the beach with us tomorrow as we haven't had the time to get it setup to tow, but very happy to have the new truck...

 

[Brian]

I bought something "old" that is a new one for me... A Panasonic CF-51, $40. 2GHz processor, 1GByte memory, 60GByte hard drive...

 

The only off-the-shelf computer I've seen that maps the USB devices as DOS drives... Some embedded processors do this, but this is the first Laptop that I've seen that supports real-mode DOS and does the USB mapping.

 

That makes writing embedded code WAY easier AND I can run my custom FORTRAN code to process DNG files straight out of the cameras. Code written in the 1980s for some of the first digital sensors, rewrote them for the Leica DNG files. Nikon NEF is more complex, but I may get to it as well...

[nbanjogal]

I've been hoping to upgrade for awhile now, so when my husband offered the D810 as a Christmas "present," I could hardly turn it down. ("Present" because we are a dual income family and all Christmas money comes from the same funds...so I guess I helped buy my own Christmas present, heh.)

 

Anyway, I'm guessing the D820 is very near to being offered on the shelves because the price on this D810 seemed quite discounted--we bought it from B&H (through the Nikonforums link, of course) for $2496, and it included the MB-D12 battery grip, a 4TB external hard drive, and a 32G SD card. Loving it so far--getting used to the battery grip is a challenge--I still crank my wrist for vertical shots. Shooting a wedding with it tomorrow though--glad I had a bit of time to get used to it (D600 is coming along as a second body).

 

 

 

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[dcbear78]

I forgot about this thread.

Nice purchase. I should look into the battery grip myself. I seem to shoot about 80% vertical so it might make that easier.


I bought some speed lights. Three actually. I really needed a second speed light. And it was cheaper to buy these than a second SB700. Plus these are better (IMO).

Now to sell off the SB700.

[Brian]

I upgraded my computer...

 

Panasonic CF-52, 2.26GHz Core Duo, 64GByte SSD Disk, 4GBytes Ram... under $50 with shipping.

 

Running DOS on it, and dual-boot XP. It screams. There's a Benchmark test out there for running DOS on various computers, this one pegged it. Maybe the last generation computer that can run it? This one will last a long time, far longer than my I7 machine.

[M.Beier]

Auch, this, and then upgraded my PC.

[TBonz]

Nice new toys!

 

The battery grip is nice once you get used to remembering to use it!  I still twist the wrist for a quick portrait shot but for shooting lots of portrait, it is much nicer using the grip...just like shooting landscape at that point...

[dcbear78]

Not Nikon and not necessarily for me. But I just picked up a Fujifilm XT10 for my daughter. Came with an 18-55mm f2.8-4 and a 27mm f2.8 lenses. Really nice little camera from my quick play with it.



She has been wanting to learn photography for a while. I had a Pentax K3 and K30 here but the grip is just too big for a 9yo to comfortably hold. She was not able to use the controls. So I've sold up almost all my Pentax gear. Used some of the money for this purchase.

I started with lessons yesterday in the down time of my shoot I had. Showed her apertures and the differences. So starting with aperture priority and we will work our way from there.

And here is a photo of me in our hotel room with the 27mm.

[dcbear78]

Let's bring this back!!!

Got my tax return money, so I decided to redistribute some of it.

First off I have been wanted to dip my toe into this for a few years. I originally was wanting a Pentax 67, but some research lead me to this magnificent beast...

Mamiya RZ67 Professional. I've got a spare 120 film back coming along with some Kodak Portra 160 & 400, Kodak Tri-X and a couple boxes of expired Fuji 400N. Can't wait to test it out. It is so glorious to use.

Next up I have wanted one of these for ages.

Holdfast Moneymaker in tan buffalo. Will be great with my weddings coming up.

And lastly, but no photo. A C-Stand with boom arm.

[Merco_61]

Good choice on the RZ! Now comes the troublesome phase as you *will* want the 150 for it, perhaps the 210 as well and then the wide angles...

[dcbear78]

Good choice on the RZ! Now comes the troublesome phase as you *will* want the 150 for it, perhaps the 210 as well and then the wide angles...

Maybe. I really like to do my fashion work at 50mm. This 110mm f2.8 equates to a 56mm f1.4 in 35mm/full frame terms so that should suit me nicely.

I really do think once I start on film I will love it. I could even see myself going to primarily working in film for personal stuff. There's just something about the process that feels more like creating art than just taking pictures.

[dcbear78]

Bought me a few new toys. Some I am waiting on. Some I have received.

Bought a Sony A6500 + 18-135mm kit lens for my daughter. This will act as a backup and third camera for me on weddings. She has a Fuji XT-10, but with me moving to Sony (from Nikon) it made sense for her to be on the same system.

A7iii x 2 and Sony 24-105mm (still waiting)

Mieke grip for A7iii. Will possibly add another one later.

Sony Zeiss 35mm f1.4 lens

Sony G Master 85mm f1.4 lens

Rode VideoMic Pro+

Godox V860ii-S to replace my Nikon ones

Godox AD200 to go with my other one I already have (and AD600)

Godox XPro-S trigger

Peak Design everyday messenger, Slide strap, and a few other bits n pieces. I really like this bag. Will fit my Sony kit nicely for most tasks.


^^ Testing out the A6500 + 35mm/85mm lenses. Also, this ^^^ is in the middle of my winter lol.

And yes, if you didn't pick up that I will be moving on from my Nikon kit. I've started selling off some of the less used items. I thought I would have the new Sony's by now but there seems to be a shortage of them worldwide. Once I do get them I will have to sell off my Nikon gear to finance the new purchases (or should I say repay the credit cards that have been used in the meantime).