Ben Rubinstein
pro member
Hi,
I've spent an extremely fustrating time trying to master 360 degree Virtual Tour panoramic photography. Countless hours testing and retesting and driving Valentin Arfire crazy with long PM's at all times of the day! It had gotten to the point this week where I said, enough is enough, I give up. I'll sell all the equipment I have and buy something that I can use for my day to day photography. A total of about £850 on the 2nd hand market (spoiler alert: I worked out the problem, it was software based not hardware and am not selling anything!).
A large fraction of that money was given to me to buy a lens by an incredible annonymous individual on this forum. I could hardly take the money and pay off a credit card fee with it, the money would need to go towards photographic equipment. So I sat down and tried to work out what I would buy with £850.
Recently I've pared my equipment down drastically, for financial and streamlining purposes. I'm a wedding photographer by profession and I use a pair of battered old Canon 5D's, with 16-35L, 50mm and 85mm lenses. Four speedlites and two battered strobes. That's it apart from little stuff like radio slaves, remote releases, battery packs, a polarizer, etc. I have pretty much the last tripod I will ever need, a Gitzo 2542L and an RRS BH-40 head which is a pleasure to use. I have a ThinkTank UD60 which fits all my gear and laptop whether on a plane or during a wedding. I've got a small crumpler which is my walk around bag. I have a lensbaby if that counts.
For a full time pro it's not a lot of gear. It's a tiny amount of gear to be honest! I sat and thought for hours. I couldn't think of how I would spend £850 on equipment. I don't need any other lenses for what I do. Period. I don't want to upgrade my bodies to any single camera on the market today. I don't need more lights and I don't need any gadgets.
How pathetic is that, a photographer not wanting or needing more gear? Do I have to give back my CPS card?
Since then I've sorted out my problems and have mused on what I could have bought. I wouldn't mind the manfrotto stick together light stands, I have a motley collection, none of which are the same and most are bent and rather knackered. I wouldn't mind the new Alien Bee VML battery packs for weddings but these days using dual speedlite rigs I can live without them. I don't know if it's strange but it would feel weird to sell a full pano rig and 8mm fisheye lens for some light stands or a battery pack. Even so, it's significant expense without any real need to be honest.
I'm glad I don't have to sell, buying and selling is a mugs game in general but it was a real eye opener that after all these years, I have the least gear I've ever had as a pro and I can't for the life of me work out what on earth I'd do with £850 to spend on equipment. A good feeling that is...
I've spent an extremely fustrating time trying to master 360 degree Virtual Tour panoramic photography. Countless hours testing and retesting and driving Valentin Arfire crazy with long PM's at all times of the day! It had gotten to the point this week where I said, enough is enough, I give up. I'll sell all the equipment I have and buy something that I can use for my day to day photography. A total of about £850 on the 2nd hand market (spoiler alert: I worked out the problem, it was software based not hardware and am not selling anything!).
A large fraction of that money was given to me to buy a lens by an incredible annonymous individual on this forum. I could hardly take the money and pay off a credit card fee with it, the money would need to go towards photographic equipment. So I sat down and tried to work out what I would buy with £850.
Recently I've pared my equipment down drastically, for financial and streamlining purposes. I'm a wedding photographer by profession and I use a pair of battered old Canon 5D's, with 16-35L, 50mm and 85mm lenses. Four speedlites and two battered strobes. That's it apart from little stuff like radio slaves, remote releases, battery packs, a polarizer, etc. I have pretty much the last tripod I will ever need, a Gitzo 2542L and an RRS BH-40 head which is a pleasure to use. I have a ThinkTank UD60 which fits all my gear and laptop whether on a plane or during a wedding. I've got a small crumpler which is my walk around bag. I have a lensbaby if that counts.
For a full time pro it's not a lot of gear. It's a tiny amount of gear to be honest! I sat and thought for hours. I couldn't think of how I would spend £850 on equipment. I don't need any other lenses for what I do. Period. I don't want to upgrade my bodies to any single camera on the market today. I don't need more lights and I don't need any gadgets.
How pathetic is that, a photographer not wanting or needing more gear? Do I have to give back my CPS card?
Since then I've sorted out my problems and have mused on what I could have bought. I wouldn't mind the manfrotto stick together light stands, I have a motley collection, none of which are the same and most are bent and rather knackered. I wouldn't mind the new Alien Bee VML battery packs for weddings but these days using dual speedlite rigs I can live without them. I don't know if it's strange but it would feel weird to sell a full pano rig and 8mm fisheye lens for some light stands or a battery pack. Even so, it's significant expense without any real need to be honest.
I'm glad I don't have to sell, buying and selling is a mugs game in general but it was a real eye opener that after all these years, I have the least gear I've ever had as a pro and I can't for the life of me work out what on earth I'd do with £850 to spend on equipment. A good feeling that is...