Philosophically, how much is too much to spend on a lens?

[Roger Hicks]

Ut oh, good food is more important than expensive lenses to me... does that make me wrong? 😉

Me too. But as a student I was willing to put up with muesli in the short term -- though not with McDo! Come to think of it, I don't think McDo existed in the UK at that time.

But the newest vehicle we own today is 1990. The others are 1978, 1972 and mid-1960s. (Two cars, a motorcycle and a Mobylette.)

I've just finished a grilled magret de canard (duck breast) with wild rice, garlic and dried apricots, and haricots plats, helped down with an indifferent Vouvray (I misjudged it when I bought it).

Cheers,

R.

 

[35mmdelux]

My philosophy as to the car versus lens is simple. No car shall cost more than I am willing to spend on a 50 mm lens!
Current, most expensive 50 mm is a Summilux Asph 50f1.4 and the car is a 1992 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 249800 km on the odometer!...

I have started to realize that it is not what you have - but what you can learn to do, with what you have!

Lose the Jeep and get a nice 740 Li BMW. The wife will love you for it.

 

[David Hughes]

But what would people do if they liked photographing food in candle-lit places? I guess they'd need the fast glass but then they'd not be able to afford the food. Or the other way round.

Discuss. Use both sides of the paper if necessary.

 

[Nikkor AIS]

I eat a lot of Kraft dinner 😛.

Gregory

 

[Vickko]

Wow, those Nikon lenses take up a lot of room.

 

[Tom A]

Lose the Jeep and get a nice 740 Li BMW. The wife will love you for it.

Rest assured - she would not. Over the more than 43 years we have been married - we have owned in the region of 80-90 cars, ranging from Bentley' to Citroen 2CV's. Her approach to cars is even simpler. She has to be able to recognize it in parking lot and it should start everytime - and not cost much to service ( BMW 740 is definitely out of the contest!!!!).

 

[menos]

I would not starve for a thing in life.
One has to have a healthy understanding about things and important things - lenses are things.

There is something more important than things to me - living with a passion in photography - being passionate about a certain look, a lens can draw, no others can.
At this, a price for a lens is as long ok, as long you feel, it is worth it.

You even can pay over market value and feel good about it, as the money you paid is less important as the photographs, you create with it or the passion and give back, you can have from it holding the paper in your hand and sharing it with your loved ones and friends or even get motivation back about your photos, learning, others like, what you do.

I made a few great deals on photography equipment - deals where I got lucky or paid much less, than the gear is usually sold for now. I made some hurting bad deals as well.
When just loosing money on an item - it might not necessarily become a bad deal, as the photos, the look, you might get from the lens, might be more valuable for you, than the raw numbers on your bank account.

This numerical value is entirely different for every individual, based on income and understanding of monetary value. For some money is an unimportant thing in life.
For me it is like that - it was, when I was a construction worker, driving an old rusty Ford, starving on cheap food and is is still as a manager with regular income.

 

[Kolame]

It’s really getting a problem, at the time, when you’re more or less always worried about your equipment. Because when it’s come to this, you will lose much fun, as you’re not able to shoot „freely“ anymore. For a five-year-old boy this may be the small Minolta 35 you handed to him, and for the millionare this may be his Hasselblad (Mamiya, Leica S2) with lenses. So, for me for a lens at the moment (as a pupil) it would be 400€, I’d say.