Financing for camera?

[bribrius]

your camera debt wont be anywhere near what your student loan debts will be. Look at the bright side.

 

[unpopular]

How come when some people ask about starting a business with an older/amateurish camera, they get torn to shreds.

I'm not one of those people. I'm not sure who those people are. Most people here are supportive of people starting with limited gear provided that they have the skills to deliver a professional product.

Plenty (and I mean PLENTY) of professional photographers not terribly long ago used d300, 7D mk1 or 5Dmk1 - and swore by them. All of these cameras can be had for well under $1000. Even I could afford one without a loan.

I doubt very much that weddings have changed in the last 5 or 6 years making these models completely obsolete to the point that they'd be significantly limiting.

We're not talking about a 1.4mp DCS300 here - though, a few years back I did know a professional photographer who was VERY good who got her career going with one - and even then it was prehistoric. She somehow managed to turn out some excellent work from it, even larger prints (which is a testament to her printing skills, because certainly she didn't have the resolution to do what she was doing). Now she is very successful and her DCS has long since been sitting on a shelf, no doubt.

Are these machines as snazzy as the latest flagship models? No. Am I suggesting the OP go out and buy a $50 DCS? Absolutely NO! But is a 7D or D300 a solid platform? You'd be crazy to say it's not.