How should I invest my $1000?

[finover9]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum. I have decision to make and would like to hear from professional and expert here.

I got about $1000 from my tax return and would like to upgrade my photography equipment . This $1000 is very precious to me and cannot afford trial and error (Im also a student). So, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A little bit about me. I am an armature. I take mostly landscape picture, cityscape, and a little bit of street picture. I want my picture to look artistic and all of my picture will be present on webpage, will not be printing any time soon. And Im shooting RAW and use Photoshop CS5 and LR 4.4
Currently, I am using D90 with 18-200mm, 85mm, 50mm, and 11-16mm lens. My computer has only 4 gig of RAM, regular SATA hard drive, cheap monitor, and 512 GTX 460.

I have been thinking how should I spend this money wisely and come up with these options:

Option 1:
In my opinion, Monitor is very important for post processing . I don’t want to spend hours of editing and picture shows up differently to other people. Also , I would like to train my eyes to see color and produce photo with accurate color.
- NEC PA241WBK BHphoto $750
- Upgrade hard drive to SSD $150
- Upgrade RAM to 16 gig $150
Total of $1050
I wont have enough money to buy color calibration hardware and software anytime soon. I hope I can trust this NEC monitor out of the box according to my research, but not sure if Im right. Please advice.

Option 2:
- Dell U2410 $370
- Spyder 4 Pro $150
- SSD $150
- RAM $150
Total of $820
I know that U2410 is inconsistent with color and have problem with color tint and pixel. I want to spend more on NEC PA241WBK so I don’t have to deal with calibration problem and hopefully NEC is last longer.

Option 3:
I want a full frame camera. I find D90 is noisy even with ISO 200 and most of my picture is long exposure. With that money and a little bit more I can get Canon 5D mark II or D700 used.
- $1200 - $1500

Option 4:
Save up for lens. I know that lens are more important that camera but nice lens are expensive.

I prefer option 1. I believe using PA241WBK will help me improve how I look at color over U2410. I know Im not going to be great photographer with good monitor, but training my eyes with accurate color monitor is a first step in my opinion.

Im open for any suggestion advise. Also. I am sure there are better options that I dont know

Thank you in advance,

Jeff

 

[E4S2]

Go for a new lens and I think a 24-70 would be a good choice for landscapes and portraits if you decide to try them. And by the way I have a d90 and how can you say it's noisy at iso200?

 

[kathyt]

Roth IRA.

 

[kundalini]

This $1000 is very precious to me and cannot afford trial and error (Im also a student). So, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Save the money for something more important than a hobby. It's just camera/computer gear. It might get you laid in the short term, but it certainly won't contribute towards the impotance of schooling. Once you've landed a well paying job, then, and only then, consider the money pit of photography.

 

[duhast]

Send it to me. Trust me on this.

 

[whylove]

save the money to buy various lens it will be very usefull for you to get growing in the field of photography

 

[MK3Brent]

Put towards purchase of a lens.

 

[Rafterman]

Since you have a myriad of options listed, let me give several responses. First, I've been building/upgrading my own computers and helping others with theirs for just under 20-years now. Let me give some feedback on your hardware upgrade options to start. Unless you're building a computer for gaming purposes, heavy video editing, and/or 3D rendering, you don't need an SSD or 16GB of RAM. A 500GB to 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive will suffice. My 1TB drive reaches read/write speeds just shy of 150MB per second. Yes, SSDs can get up to 500MB/sec or more, but that's overkill for just photo editing. Your existing hard drive (depending on how much free space you have available) will be fine. If anything, you may want to pick up another 4GB of RAM to give you 8 total, which helps when you have multiple programs open at one time. If you don't have more than just the one SATA drive though, pick up another one to back up all your photos and important files. In addition to my 1TB SATA main drive with 2 partitions, I have two older 320GB SATA drives that are just used for redundancy. HDDs can fail in a week or they can fail in 10-years. BACK UP YOUR STUFF.

Now, on to your monitor/video capabilities. Since you mention nothing but a "cheap monitor", I'll assume you have a 15, 17, or 19-inch LCD or CRT. Now, I'm all for having a big monitor for both photos and games, but you do NOT need to spend 3/4ths of your tax return on one. That 24" monitor is for professionals and has a professional price to go with it. If you're not a pro who can afford to burn $750 (which you aren't, since you mention being a student), do yourself a favor and look at other options. I personally own an ASUS 25" LED monitor, which is full HD and more than enough for photos, video, and games. It's also just $215 after a $20 mail-in rebate. You can get a 24" for < $200 if you want. Please, don't spend $750 on a monitor right now. As for your GPU, the 512MB GTX 460 is more than capable for image editing, HD video and modern PC games running at medium quality. I have a GTX 470 myself and see no need to upgrade to a GTX 500 or 600 series anytime soon. Again, spend your cash elsewhere. Since you don't mention your current CPU, I can't give any feedback on that front.

Next, we'll tackle your photo stuff. If you REALLY want full-frame, don't switch to Canon at the moment, because you'll be starting all over with having to buy compatible lenses, flash, etc. which considering your budget of $1,000 is not really practical at the moment. I'd stick with your D90 and try improving your technique to get better photos instead of looking to jump ship to a new body. ISO 200 is not even close to being considered noisy on a modern digital camera, so I'd look for ways to change the way you're currently capturing images. Nothing personal, but I HIGHLY doubt it's the D90's fault that you're unsatisfied with your pictures. If you don't want to focus on improving your technique and/or methods and you're really hell-bent on getting rid of the D90, sell it. Then, put the cash together with some from your tax return money and get that used D700. If you decide that you don't mind sticking with DX, get a used or refurbished D7000 for about $600-$750 and use the rest of the money for a nice lens, back up hard drives, and/or a new monitor.

This $1000 is very precious to me and cannot afford trial and error (Im also a student).

Trust me, I know what it's like to be a broke student (or any young person for that matter) with $1,000 burning a hole in your pocket. Think VERY long and hard about how, why, and even IF you want to spend that money.

I hope this helps. Ask away if you have any questions about my comments. :thumbsup:

 

[PropilotBW]

Unless you have a full ride scholarship, I'd say there are wiser ways to SAVE that $1000 than to spend it.

 

[jwbryson1]

And by the way I have a d90 and how can you say it's noisy at iso200?

^^^ This. No way the D90 is noisy at ISO 200. I shoot my D90 at ISO800 with no problems.

 

[PropilotBW]

Hello everyone,

I find D90 is noisy even with ISO 200 and most of my picture is long exposure.

Jeff

Are you cropping heavily? Please post an example pic so those on this site can help fix the faults.

 

[Subitman]

I wouldn't switch from Nikon to Canon unless you're willing to spend more money on lenses cause you'll have to replace all of your current ones. I'm saying this because I'm a Canon shooter and I know how expensive lenses can be. Have you thought about spending money on photography courses? I'm not talking about 101 courses, but there's specialized courses depending on where you live that might give you insight. A $1000 is not going to get you new equipment probably at the standard you're looking for, but refurbished equipment.

 

[Subitman]

Also, I hope I'm not harsh, but I'm going to say this before someone else says it in a less delicate way. Training your eye to look at a monitor is one of the last step to being a great photographer. That only helps if you're going to print your pictures because labs need to correctly calibrate the color you see on your monitor (any electronic medium) to the printed photo. Since you don't intend to print your pictures, I don't think that's great deal. Training your eye to look through your camera, regardless of the equipment, is how your become a great photographer. Don't knock yourself on what you currently have. You have a great camera and a great bunch of lenses. Train yourself to use it and your editing software will be a better investment in your money.

 

[jamesbjenkins]

I'd recommend a Roth IRA, or maybe a nice stable ITF.

You're still young, so those are both good, safe choices.

 

[bentcountershaft]

Blow it on strippers.