I wishI were this guy's daughter...

Harsh Jordan

People here talk about passing M kits and Rolleis down to their kids all the time. If said kid has no interest in photography and never picks it up... does that make them spoiled? A kit like that would be more costly than what this parent purchased.
 
Brian Legge said:
Harsh Jordan

People here talk about passing M kits and Rolleis down to their kids all the time. If said kid has no interest in photography and never picks it up... does that make them spoiled? A kit like that would be more costly than what this parent purchased.
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I think the problem was this guy bought this stuff for a kid who had no interest previously in photography and was going to take her very first class. The guys on RFF giving expensive cameras to their kids are giving the gear to kids who have demonstrated a love for photography already. Also, the RFF members already own the gear they give the kids, didn't rush out and spend a fortune on a bunch of lenses all at once to get the kid started.

I saw this a lot in Santa Fe when I lived there. I worked at a camera store there for a while when I first moved there. Had a man come in one day, said he wanted to buy his teenage son a camera to use for a high school photography class. The very first photo class the kid was ever going to take, and the man admitted the kid had never done any photography before.

Lots of parents buy their kids a camera to take photography in high school. Most buy a used 35mm SLR, or if the class requires digital, one of the cheaper D-SLRs like one of the Canon Rebel models. Most of these parents needed help picking out a camera because they didn't know anything about cameras, which was fine, I could help with that.

This guy who came in didn't need my advice, though. He did his research online. Googled something like "What's the BEST digital camera made?". His research led him to the Nikon D2x, which was Nikons top of the line at the time. It cost $5500! Just for the body! For a kid who had never done anything with photography before! I told the guy that MY dad didn't love me that much, and that even as a professional photographer I did not have a D2x, and I asked him to adopt me 😛
 
...I was kinda joking and hoping more for a laugh. But like Chris said, handing down a piece of equipment to your kid that used to be yours is different than going out and just buying mint Nikon prime lenses. It was certainly a little over-the-top for a high school kid in photography class and a little absurd that he went out to spend $1500 on equipment when his kid had no interest in it. I hate to place judgement, but when people put stuff like this in and ebay description, I can't help but to be a little sarcastic and prickish.
 
Well, as said, I already have cameras. My oldest daughter has gotten some cameras from me. The first was a Fujica ST 801. She fell in love with it and still has it. She is more into digital P&S now, but still has and sometimes uses the 801. I feel good about that. I have also given her some others. I hope to give my grandson something beyond a film P&S one day to get him started in photography.
 
With a feedback history of only one and an odd story possibly designed to bring out the greed in Mr Average, I would personally give it a miss.

It may well be genuine but I wouldn't want to be the one to find out it wasn't.

Anyway, like the seller, Nikon lenses are no use to me 🙂
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
I think the problem was this guy bought this stuff for a kid who had no interest previously in photography and was going to take her very first class. The guys on RFF giving expensive cameras to their kids are giving the gear to kids who have demonstrated a love for photography already. Also, the RFF members already own the gear they give the kids, didn't rush out and spend a fortune on a bunch of lenses all at once to get the kid started.
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Well, so they say.

$1500 for lenses are not a fortune - add a used FM2 or F3, and the whole bundle is at $2000. That is nothing compared to the many photo classes that demand a recent professional DSLR and matching zoom as a entry requirement. And not expensive relative to the average first car even lower-middle class kids seem to get these days.

Besides, I have yet to see anybody brag on the internet about his child letting him down. While stuff like that certainly happens, and that kit is not out of proportion, the fact that this got told on ebay makes it most likely untrue - the seller will just be a dealer with a story that sells well...
 
I am not to old to be put up for adoption. I'll gladly take a class or even matriculate in a degree program at ICP if anyone wants to buy gear for me or pay my tuition. I might even be a good tax deduction. I'll take care of my own room and board.
 
Nothing wrong with a father who buys for his daughter, my father never bought me anything. But Im happy this way and Im proud that I can buy my own cameras..
 
Well, I'm of two minds: first is that you value something according to what you pay for it. There's something be be said for earning something by the sweat of your brow--you appreciate it more.

That said, the way I got into photography is that one Christmas under the tree for me was a Minolta X-370 with 50mm lens and flash. My Dad had been a photographer in his youth and when he asked me I wanted for Christmas, I said I wanted a camera (thinking Kodak Instamatic), he went a little overboard.

Figured I'd better learn to do something better than take "happy snaps" with it...and so I did , although it was three years before I really got into photography and started to shoot anything that might be called decent. And it's been onward and upward ever since...to the detriment of my bank account....

...But as I tell people, it beats a bad whiskey habit....
 
My problem is...why this father feels the need to make his daughter look bad for his purchase decision...even if it were true is there a need to make her the fall guy/gal...???
I don't think anyone is going to judge you for selling four lenses...or really needs to know why you're selling them...if the price is right I'll buy them...
 
My parents bought me my first camera kit BUT only after I'd been in photography class for a few years...before that I was using anything I could get my hands on to shoot with...110, crappy Kodak Instamatics (remember 126 film?) or I could borrow one of the two 35mm Minoltas the class had...
I used that camera non-stop for the next 5 or 6 years...I still own it...That was one of the best things my parents did for me...and only now do I really understand how much they sacrificed for me way back then...
 
sevo said:
Well, so they say.

$1500 for lenses are not a fortune - add a used FM2 or F3, and the whole bundle is at $2000. That is nothing compared to the many photo classes that demand a recent professional DSLR and matching zoom as a entry requirement. And not expensive relative to the average first car even lower-middle class kids seem to get these days.

Besides, I have yet to see anybody brag on the internet about his child letting him down. While stuff like that certainly happens, and that kit is not out of proportion, the fact that this got told on ebay makes it most likely untrue - the seller will just be a dealer with a story that sells well...
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Where I live that's about two months income for the average fulltime worker. Its a fortune to spend for a high school kid's first class. Even if you're middle class and it only represents two weeks pay.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Where I live that's about two months income for the average fulltime worker. Its a fortune to spend for a high school kid's first class.
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It does not say high school kid's first class anywhere - and it does not sound likely that it is. The first high school photo class would be extremely unlikely to have a more special camera requirement than "any, if available".

If the story is true at all (which I rather doubt) it would have to be placed in a advanced class in a art or design school - that is about the threshold where professors may make specific per-course demands on the students' equipment beyond what the school as a whole considers the minimum for students.
 
jordanstarr said:
If you were that guy's daughter, you'd probably be a spoiled brat.
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Really?
The dad was just doing what a normal dad would do for his daughter.
I would have done a similar thing were my daughter shown some interest in a field that I'm not familiar with.

Long after this seemingly frustration over the lenses are out of this guy's mind, his daughter would still be his little darling.
 
Give me a break guys... It gets FAR worse than this. In fact, this does not even register as spoiling your child in comparison to some things I've seen.
 
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