In the leadup to Christmas and over the course of the New Year sales there have been a lot of articles about buying ‘budget’ photography equipment. I consider myself to be a budget photographer but most of this ‘budget’ equipment is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of my price range. Under $500 is not ‘budget’, under $50 maybe but not under $500. So, I think it is time to promote and talk about REAL budget photography. I am going to try, there will be more posts about this but here’s the start.
First of all this is going to mostly mean used equipment and not very new used equipment at that. It is also going to mean any good, new equipment is probably a gift. At the moment I am a student (ok, as I am nearing forty I should probably say ‘mature student’) so I have got no money but even before that I did not have huge sums of money to spend on my hobby. And, yes, it is a hobby. I have no desire to be a professional wedding photographer – based on the sheer volume of articles about how to become a professional wedding photographer this must put me in a very tiny minority!
So, what equipment do I have? Less than I used to for a start. Being unemployed for almost a year and then becoming a student means you have to get money where you can. Anyway, here is some idea of what I have at the moment.
Zenit 122 – A film SLR from the old Soviet union, with an M42 lens mount, made while I was still at school. Bought from eBay for under £20 including delivery. I’ve got a 28mm Hanimex lens, a 58mm Helios and a 135mm Jupiter 37A to go with it, none of which cost over £20.
Nikon D70 – A digital SLR (about 6MP) bought from eBay for about £30 including postage. These were introduced in 2004 and were replaced by the D70S in 2006 so it isn’t exactly cutting edge. I have a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 (cheap due to a broken filter ring), a Nikkor 35-70mm that came with it and a Sigma 70-300mm that is my most expensive piece of camera equipment as I bought it new for about $150 while on holiday in Florida. I’ve also got a cheap Holga lens that fits it that I haven’t really managed to get to grips with.
Lomo LCA – A film point and shoot that I love, probably my favourite camera. Another eBay purchase for around £20 becuase it was listed as the shutter being stuck. Once I replaced the batteries and freed the shutter by poking it with a biro while travelling on the bus (true) it worked and has been reliable ever since.
Samsung NX100 – Around £30 on eBay because it had no lens with it. A digital mirrorless camera (about 14MP) and my newest. With the addition if a £4 adapter it now works with my M42 lenses!
Polaroid Land Camera – Takes Fuji peel-apart film. Free! Found in my mum’s attic having been unused since the mid-70s, worked fine straight away – even the battery still had power.
Fujifilm Instax 200 – £10 in a charity shop in full working order, what a bargain! Yes, it is one of the ugliest cameras ever made but it is fun.
Lomo Konstruktor – This year’s Christmas present, a film SLR you put together from a kit. Built only last week so untested yet.
Coronet box camera – Takes 120 film, fun to play with and less than £10 on eBay (and most of that was postage).
Digital is nice and cheap as you just download the images but film can be cheap in black and white too, if you develop it yourself in caffenol. So, all of this equipment has been bought over the course of a couple of years keeping the budget fairly low. If you want to get an idea of the results check out http://www.flickr.com/archerctb
Floating Down The Maran . . . 