Money woes

[Ash]

I'm doing some sign-writing for a pub on tuesday, and they're generously paying me, even though it's a favour.


So I might have a bit of moola to spend. I've been spending £0.00 on longboarding lately, in fact I've been selling my decks to afford camera gear!!!

So my rambling is, do I spend the cash on longboarding? On yet MORE decks I don't really need....I feel like I deserve a new setup to go out on, even though I have enough already.

OR

do I spend it on camera gear that I don't really need??
I'm thinking that I should really get a better rangefinder. Something I can trust on every shoot. But for a budget of £200 I don't know if it's worth it? Course, I have my FSU lenses so LTM body would be preferable. I can just about trust my FSU gear, but there's still a hit and miss element.


OR

do I buy a cheap MF-SLR? Save up a little more and get those

OR

do I spend it on a mini-cooler fridge and a few month's supply of film and chemicals?


I'm guessing most of you dont have that problem with such a low budget, but what's my best option? Maybe stay with the camera's I've got and spend some on film and chemicals, and invest in some good prints for my portfolio?


I remember why I prefer being poor now! Less worry - no money, no choice! 😀


So any idea's or recommendations for my £200 budget? I'm tempted by that black Kiev I occasionally see being sold....

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I'd like those woes. 😛

If it was me, I'd be getting my 50mm Nokton. But that's just me. I have an LTM body that rocks. If you don't have a really good LTM body yet, grab a Canon P. I love mine. Film is also always good...buying a bulk loader, some cartridges, and a couple long rolls of film is a good idea.

 

[Ash]

Yea I've got around 30 films in the fridge to use, and 50 empty cans waiting for film. I've already got the bulk loader 😉

I need to stock up on 120 as well. That's running down fast with annoying test-rolls now that I've been restoring the rolleiflex.

No canon-p's on the bay, and the VI-L from Kim is outside of my budget!! 🙁

 

[lubitel]

200 pounds sounds perfect for a used Bessa R, its pretty reliable and has a good light meter, you might have some money left, and of course you can use all your FSU lenses. you've got a rolleicord and flex, why another MF camera?

 

[lubitel]

btw. sign writing --- thats awesome. Do you do that often, any photos you have posted somewhere of your signs?

 

[Ash]

This'll be the first proper sign-writing job. And £200 is a possible price, once I take out cost of materials/travel it'll probably be less.

I'll take some photo's of the signs on my phone, and I might be doing a few more pub's signs in the months to come. It's only chalk-markers on blackboards, so nothing special.

 

[beethamd]

Ffordes have a nice Bessa R - ex demo.

If you want some film, I have a roll of bulk FP4+. Can't see me using it - the spare room is full of film.

 

[Ash]

what about a bessa-t with m-mount adapter? 😀

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Wait wait wait. Bulk roll of FP4?

How much? 😀

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Buy memory. Your computer will fly.

 

[beethamd]

17 meters - exp 5/2009. I've given Ash first dibs at £19.

Funny - I keep buying film because I always run out of my favourite, but there must be nearly a hundred rolls in the house somewhere. Honestly, I just like buying film. Wierd.

 

[Ash]

I'm using a mac, and 1gb of memory is acceptible 🙂 if only I could buy back some of my own memory 🙁

 

[BrianShaw]

Don't they have banks in the UK where you can save the money until you figure out what you want/need? 🙂

BTW... I'm a little out of the lingo... what's a 'deck' and 'longboard'. Here in California, longboard is an old-fashioned surfboard.

 

[Ash]

Well you have the skate longboards, and surf longboards. see www.lushlongboards.com for what I'm riding - excessively long planks of wood, great for commuting and going down hills on. I unfortunately live too far from the coast to surf on a 'real' longboard. The 'deck' is the wooden bit you stand on, and a setup consists of deck, trucks, wheels, and hardware (bearings, bolts, etc). kind of like a camera setup has the body, lens, finder, film - some things are necessary, and most is interchangeable 🙂

 

[BrianShaw]

On second thought... here is my input to your decision-making process. You didn't mention one option that might be worth considering. How about getting that Rollei fixed up so that it is a reliable user. Did you do that, or did you determine that it needs more work than economically reasonable? The other option that I would personally favor is the small fridge for film. I store my film in the household fridge; it would be a lot nicer to have it stored elsewhere.

 

[BrianShaw]

Well you have the skate longboards, and surf longboards. see www.lushlongboards.com for what I'm riding - excessively long planks of wood, great for commuting and going down hills on.

Okay, I'm with you. In my youth (many years ago) I was an avid skateboarder. Skateboards with fiberglass decks were just coming onto the market... as were surfboards that are less than 7 feet in length. As I said... it was a long time ago! I never did downhill boarding (that sounds FUN) but we did skateboard like water skiing -- being towed behind a bicycle. The faster, the better! I still have scars as reminders of those fun days before I learned the word f-e-a-r.

 

[clarence]

When I first started out my budget was far less than 200 quid. You can get a used Bessa R for under that price. I decided to spend a year shooting with just a Fed-2 so that I could save enough for some fancier cameras.

The great thing about spending on used cameras (and skate gear), is that if you ever need the money, you can get it all back by liquidating your equipment. Just make sure you buy 'user' equipment so you don't end up paying a premium for the cosmetics.

Clarence

 

[Ash]

In fact Brian, of all the problems with that rolleiflex, once I replace the leather and relube the shutter speed dial, it should be reliable. The shutter speeds are bang on, and the camera itself works fine, it's just damn ugly!! I'm waiting for a word from Kim on replacement leather but he's still busy.

One of the more famous longboarders is in his 60's I think - Cliff Coleman, I met him last year. He still rides harder than most people! You should get a board and have a go 😀

Yep Clarence, the liquidation has become part of my budget-crisis. I have to sell to buy. I'm getting to the core of my stuff now, so there's nothing left to sell without being at a loss. I'm glad I'll have some money soon 🙂


Looks like the cooler fridge might be the best plan, they cost about £100 for the type I want though!

 

[clarence]

Looking at your equipment, you've got several cameras within the same class that could do the same job. Unless you're planning to collect cameras; that's a whole different slope to slide down on.

Clarence

 

[BrianShaw]

I know the Rollei is not a RF camera, but you might want to focus on that in the future. I think you'll find it will grow your photographic skills and vision. A Rollei TLR was the foundation of my camera "collection" for several decades and I've done my best work with it. I recently retired it and bought a MF SLR, but I sometimes think about going back to the Rollei. Something to consider???