$7,500

[ksnyder]

I want to pose this question to see what kind of set-up's people come up with and to help me plan out some new equipment that I am contemplating buying. For the question's sake, let's assume everything is new, is Canon, and you are starting from scratch. If you had $7,500 to work with, what would you buy. (My purposes are primarily for portrait photography)

 

[480sparky45 44]

I can't play..... I'm not familiar with Canon toys.

 

[oldmacman]

5D Mark III, 24-70 2.8, 16-35 2.8, 2x 580 EXII flash, 200mm prime. I'm too lazy to look up exact prices, but the Mark III should be over $3000, 24-70 approx $1500, flashes will run about $1000, 16-35 about $1400, 200 prime about $800... cha ching = $7700. Don't forget memory cards, card reader, bag, tripod, light meter, light modifiers, backdrops, soft boxes, light stands etc.

 

[calc]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT]It a long wait for 5D3.....for me, 5D2 is good enough, just check the price, it now around $2500..

 

[usayit]

I'd start out by figuring out lighting first. You can blow more than 1/2 that budget on strobes.

If I were to spend that budget just on the camera and lens:

5d Mark II
24 f/1.4L
50 f/1.8
85 f/2.8
135 f/2L

(that was my kit w/ 1dMII)

Or you can do like most Canon wedding photogs and get

5d MarkII
24-70 f/2.8L
70-200 f/2.8L

 

[Village Idiot]

A Profoto D4 pack...of course, that's all I could afford with $7,500. I'd have to save up money to buy lenses, a camera body, a light head, and modifiers.

 

[mikehaugen]

A Profoto D4 pack...of course, that's all I could afford with $7,500. I'd have to save up money to buy lenses, a camera body, a light head, and modifiers.

at least you could probably jump start your car if the battery died. would you at least have enough to buy a cheap point and shoot

 

[Village Idiot]

A Profoto D4 pack...of course, that's all I could afford with $7,500. I'd have to save up money to buy lenses, a camera body, a light head, and modifiers.

at least you could probably jump start your car if the battery died. would you at least have enough to buy a cheap point and shoot

It's actually $10 over budget.

 

[Derrel]

A Profoto D4 pack...of course, that's all I could afford with $7,500. I'd have to save up money to buy lenses, a camera body, a light head, and modifiers.

Profoto likes to take its customers from behind, by force...

 

[traylorc]

A Profoto D4 pack...of course, that's all I could afford with $7,500. I'd have to save up money to buy lenses, a camera body, a light head, and modifiers.

Profoto likes to take its customers from behind, by force...

 

[Village Idiot]

A Profoto D4 pack...of course, that's all I could afford with $7,500. I'd have to save up money to buy lenses, a camera body, a light head, and modifiers.

Profoto likes to take its customers from behind, by force...

What else are you going to buy that has the power, flash durations, consistency, and availability that profoto has? Broncolor? Even if you move down to Dynalites you're still spending a lot of money. Monolights? 1 600w/s Elinchrom head is about $900, iirc.

 

[dallasimagery]

What would you be shooting? That dictates everything in the answer.

 

[Derrel]

A Profoto D4 pack...of course, that's all I could afford with $7,500. I'd have to save up money to buy lenses, a camera body, a light head, and modifiers.

Profoto likes to take its customers from behind, by force...

What else are you going to buy that has the power, flash durations, consistency, and availability that profoto has? Broncolor? Even if you move down to Dynalites you're still spending a lot of money. Monolights? 1 600w/s Elinchrom head is about $900, iirc.

Flash durations,consistency,power...yadda yadda yadda...mostly hype to justify the rape-like pricing and criminally insufficient power distribution strategies Profoto uses to scalp its suckers...errr.I mean, its customers. 80% of professional photographers are using something "other than" Profoto strobes...studio flash existed for decades before they came along. Most of their advertising copy is designed to make people feel good about being raped at the sales counter. It's largely a waste of money to pay for 'consistency', when what one really needs is six, individual lights, and three power packs--and that should not cost $25,000.

Have you ever been to a working commercial photography studio? Have you ever assisted a working commercial studio photographer? Do you have any idea of what is really needed for success in the business? It's not the NAME on the lights that pays the bills.

 

[Patrice]

A camera, a couple of primes and spend the rest on lights, modifiers, props, backgrounds and community college courses in business startup and administration.