$500- spend or save?

[Peeb]

My gear is listed in my signature. Selling a guitar amp and should have $500 USD to play with shortly. I shoot mainly landscape, a little wildlife, and miscellaneous stuff that interests me. Recent purchase of D5500 has really re-ignited the love of photography and I'm wondering which direction to go here.

Add a lens?
Save up for future camera upgrade?
Sell it all and start over with full frame?
Get a flash (don't have one)?
Filters (big stopper would be cool)?
Photo classes/instructional materials?

I'd say the crop-body format is awesome for telephoto, but sometimes 18m (effectively 27mm for ff) is now quite wide enough, so a tokina wide-angle would be fun.

Don't know what I'll do- what would YOU do?

 

[SCraig]

I would save it until I had narrowed my list down from six items to the one that I knew I wanted.

I would also not concern myself what others would do since their interests in photography and mine might be radically different.

 

[jaomul]

I'd sit on my money until I wanted something in particular, not just wanting to spend it

 

[Peeb]

I would save it until I had narrowed my list down from six items to the one that I knew I wanted.

I would also not concern myself what others would do since their interests in photography and mine might be radically different.

OK- so I took that as am implicit permission for me to buy the Tokina 11-16 lens?

I seriously don't literally 'need' anything for this entertaining hobby, but prioritizing wants is fun. Long term, I would love to have the D5500 as a backup camera to a nikon full frame. Perhaps use the full frame for wider stuff and the crop body camera for super telephoto needs...

 

[Peeb]

I'd sit on my money until I wanted something in particular, not just wanting to spend it

Yeah, I'd love to have a wider wide-angle view right now, but if I go full frame eventually, then that helps the view right there, so...

 

[astroNikon]

Sounds confusing ..

After I got my full frame I never used my crop body and after a year and a half I finally sold it.

IWhere's the guitar that goes with the amp?

 

[Peeb]

Sounds confusing ..

After I got my full frame I never used my crop body and after a year and a half I finally sold it.

IWhere's the guitar that goes with the amp?

Ha! It's an electric guitar amp and I gave up on playing electric live- if you wanna hear me live it's all acoustic baby!

Anytime I play my strat, it's straight into the computer for recording.

 

[jaomul]

I get this GAS often, sometimes you gotta go cold turkey for a bit . You don't have the d5500 very long, if you need a wide angle great, but if your already planning your full frame system no point in buying anything at all. Personally I think to many worry about there next system when buying lenses but that's their own business. I also think to many think they need full frame when they might not, again their own business

 

[Peeb]

I get this GAS often, sometimes you gotta go cold turkey for a bit . You don't have the d5500 very long, if you need a wide angle great, but if your already planning your full frame system no point in buying anything at all. Personally I think to many worry about there next system when buying lenses but that's their own business. I also think to many think they need full frame when they might not, again their own business

The full-frame itch comes mainly from feeling a bit 'cramped' by the FOV I'm getting in some landscape shots. Then again, the Tokina would fix that!

 

[jaomul]

I think a wide angle purchase is very sensible if you like landscapes and wider views.
Classes are nice but you can learn lots for free via you tube
You don't need to spend massive money on filters, a bit of research and you'll find good systems almost matching "Lee" for a lot less price
You could buy a yongnuo yn 565 for way less than 100 dollars

I think the d5500 uses similar sensor chip as the d7200 I use. That is one good imaging tool. I'm not starting a full frame/crop debate. I know ff has advantages and find myself looking at them on occasion, but for 95% of what I shoot the crop camera does great. Used to be ff was only for pros, a modern crop now is nearly as good as ff was a few short years ago

 

[unpopular]

Strippers.

 

[Peeb]

Strippers.

Yeah- here was a post from Derrel in another "spend $500" thread:

Whose idea is it to buy all this photo junk??? I was thinking when you said "Help me spend $500," that you'd be considering something that would be a lot more fun, like say, oh I dunno, maybe three bottles of Patron Silver and a couple of strippers...you could use your current gear, and practice with THAT, and get BETTER!!! You know, use the gear you already have and stuff...

You neglected to suggest Patron, however, so de-merits for that...

 

[dannylightning]

if you really want that wide angle lens go for it. but if there is something more expensive you would rather have save the money for that.

a wide angle can make weird stuff happen in your photos if your up close to something which makes for some cool looking images, if i am shooting a landscape with it where everything is off in the distance the photos look normal but i do get a lot more scenery in the photo.. a wide angle is definitely something cool to have and fun to play with. 18mm has almost always seemed wide enough to me for general landscape shooting.

 

[astroNikon]

I love 18mm on FF, and the distortion one can do when up close to elongate curves and such.

I'm thinking of getting a Gibson Studio geetar ... but I think I need to replace my 80-200/2.8 as the M-A clutch seems to have broken on it's own. So might have to pick up a 70-200/2.8 .. ouch... that's 2 geetars worth of $$

 

[Peeb]

I love 18mm on FF, and the distortion one can do when up close to elongate curves and such.

I'm thinking of getting a Gibson Studio geetar ... but I think I need to replace my 80-200/2.8 as the M-A clutch seems to have broken on it's own. So might have to pick up a 70-200/2.8 .. ouch... that's 2 geetars worth of $$

The Studio is a great guitar- very good bang for the buck. The Gibson quality control has slipped a bit in recent years (IMO), so if you are in a position to pick one up, be sure you try it out to be sure it feels and sounds like 'the one'.