It’s time to play the “What if?” game.
That’s where you pretend you’ve got a couple thousand bucks sitting in your pocket, and since all the bills are paid, you can spend it all on new photography gear. Heck, let’s make it fun and top it out at $2,500.
What’s the point of this silly game, you ask? Simple. To have fun. What better way to kill a few minutes on a weekday than to daydream a little bit and fill your hypothetical shopping cart full of camera gear?
Also, it allows me get to know you guys a little better. By letting me know what kinds of equipment interests you, it helps me determine what kinds of gear reviews you’d probably want to read in the future. In addition, it will give me an idea of what products to check out more closely when I head to the PhotoPlus East trade show at the end of October.
I like to try and tailor my content to my readers, after all, you’re the reason that I keep my blog going in this format. If I didn’t genuinely enjoy helping foster people’s excitement and knowledge about photography, I’d just post photos and call it good.
So, here’s how we play. Visit the Amazon Photography Store, since they pretty much have everything, including books, training videos, bags and accessories, shop around, and them come back and tell me how you’d spend your hypothetical $2,500. You can even tell me why you think that particular gear would make a difference in your photography. After all, we don’t just blow money on gear for no reason, we buy it to help us make better pictures, right?
I’ll start. I wouldn’t mind having a Nikon 45mm f/2.8D tilt shift lens for those times when a Lensbaby just doesn’t cut it. Tilt shift lenses add really interesting flavor to action, sports and people images, as long as you don’t overdo it.
Also wouldn’t hurt to have a couple more Sandisk 16GB Extreme SD cards and Sanyo Eneloop AA rechargeable batteries for my speedlights – you can never have too many of those.
Ok, your turn. Go fill your proverbial shopping cart and then come back and leave a comment to tell me what you “bought”.
Have fun!
$2500? No problem. I’ll take the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS please. I’ve already got the f/4 non-IS version of this lens, but extra stop of light and IS would come in so handy.
Fuji X-E1 with the 18-55, 14mm and 60 macro.
I would upgrade to a Nikon d800, and invest in a tripod, several books and maybe a backpack since I travel a lot!
Since it is not enough for the 600VR, Next on my list would be a Nikkor 200mm macro. I would use the remaining money towards upgrading to CS6 and upgrading my Color Efex Pro
I know I’m late to this game, but as I’m new to your site ( which I love, by the way) I thought I would add my wish list. What I really want is a second camera body to supplement my Nikon D800. My dream second camera hasnt been made yet. In fact it may never be made. I’m still waiting for a “D400” with high frame rate, excellent in low light, preferably only 16 megapixels (not going to happen – sigh), and 9 brackets. Neither the D7000 or D600 quite fit what I’m looking for. But I can still dream.
Lynn, I’m still waiting for my dream camera, as well. I was hoping that the D800 would fit that bill, and if they had made it 24MP with 6 fps, it would have been perfect in my mind. Oh well. We’ll have to keep dreaming. As far as a backup to the D800, I would think that a D600 would be the best choice. What about that camera doesn’t quite fit your needs as a D800 backup?
Hi, Dan. Although I knew I was taking a chance, I was hoping the D800 would be two cameras in one for me – a full frame landscape camera and a 15+ mp handholdable DX for snapping shots of my grandkids, dog, backyard birds, etc. Actually, with the added battery grip giving me 6fps in DX mode, it’s pretty close. But then it’s larger and heavier than I like.
The D600 sounds really great, but as wonderful as 24 mp sounds, I just don’t need that many mps for my runaround camera, I worry that so many megapixels would make handholding more difficult than say 16 mps, and my brand new MacBook Pro protests over huge file sizes. In addition I think I would miss the 51 AF points of my D800 and former D300. I know I would miss the option of being able to shoot (occasionally) 7 to 9 bracketed shots for HDR.. Actually, I miss my D300! That sounds like heresy from a D800 shooter doesn’t it? For now i think the D800 as a two-in-one camera is the best option for me. But I’m still dreaming. : )
$2500?? Easy: Zeiss 21mm ($1843) + Canon EF 70-300 ($649) = $2492
Why? Actually the max focal I have is 105 (Canon 24-105), and I’d like to have more (I’ve bought the Canon 6D just a month ago and the teles I have are EFS mount, so I can’t use it on the 6D).
And the 21mm Zeis…… well, I love wide-angle lenses… and I think Zeiss are the best lenses in the market. The 15mm is very expensive, and I prefer the 21mm than the 18mm.