Not cool!

[Dolby]

May save me some money

... or force you to beat the increase and buy now!

 

[Keeper]

Jeezus! How the hell does one blow R38,000 on a camera?

I would rather put flatscreens all over my house, a 42" in the bathroom, a 26" on the microwave, a 50" in the living room, another 32" inside the fridge and lastly another 32" in the doghouse, just for the heck of it

 

[bwana]

How does a thread called "Not Cool!" end up with a very cool Mr Potato Head? I'm so delighted that I am too poor to be affected by a lens shortage.

Mr Potato Head rocks.

Jeezus! How the hell does one blow R38,000 on a camera?

Actually 1/3rd of that 38000 is for a camera - the bulk of it is for the lens.

Dolby - I had that lens on my camera for almost all of the ironman yesterday, with both of canon's teleconverters at one stage or another, and I think you're going to be very pleased with it. I didn't even need to take the 300mm f/2.8 (or the 7D) out of the car at all.

 

[Paul_S]

Jeezus! How the hell does one blow R38,000 on a camera?

I would rather put flatscreens all over my house, a 42" in the bathroom, a 26" on the microwave, a 50" in the living room, another 32" inside the fridge and lastly another 32" in the doghouse, just for the heck of it

It's not that much money for quality equipment and if I had the money right now I'd pick exactly the same body and lens as Dolby.
Decent glass is expensive but you get what you pay for and if you look after a lens it it last a very long time.

To try to put it into perspective:
You can't even buy a decent second hand car for R38000 and if you did it will most likely be high mileage and not even last another 5 years before falling apart.
A decent lens can easily last 20+ years and because the mounts are kept the same you just have to upgrade the camera body every few years.
The Canon 70-200mm MkII lens costs less than R100 per month over a 20 year period. A decent investment in my opinion.

 

[Dolby]

I would rather put flatscreens all over my house, a 42" in the bathroom, a 26" on the microwave, a 50" in the living room, another 32" inside the fridge and lastly another 32" in the doghouse, just for the heck of it

... there's only one of me - with no dogs So a single flatscreen is enough actually!

Dolby - I had that lens on my camera for almost all of the ironman yesterday, with both of canon's teleconverters at one stage or another, and I think you're going to be very pleased with it. I didn't even need to take the 300mm f/2.8 (or the 7D) out of the car at all.

I can't wait actually!

My next purchase is going to be a TC, as my parents have a place near Kruger and I'm going to try my hand at taking wildlife. I'll be lacking a short lens ... but the longer lens will be more beneficial to me now.

It's not that much money for quality equipment and if I had the money right now I'd pick exactly the same body and lens as Dolby.
Decent glass is expensive but you get what you pay for and if you look after a lens it it last a very long time.

To try to put it into perspective:
You can't even buy a decent second hand car for R38000 and if you did it will most likely be high mileage and not even last another 5 years before falling apart.
A decent lens can easily last 20+ years and because the mounts are kept the same you just have to upgrade the camera body every few years.
The Canon 70-200mm MkII lens costs less than R100 per month over a 20 year period. A decent investment in my opinion.

Also, what I noticed is that SLR cameras and especially the lens hold their value quite well. If the point arrives where I need money, I could sell this equipment quite easily and not lose too much

 

[hilton]

I read in the You magazine that Canon will not be re-opening their factory in Japan after the quake and tsunami. I think we can expect quite a long shortage of Canon gear worlwide for a while.

Garbage in, garbage out.

From Canon's press release dated April 4th 2011.

Although the Canon Group sustained damage to buildings and production equipment, a concerted Company-wide effort has already made possible the resumption of production activities at multiple Canon Inc. operation sites and Canon Group companies. In addition, through ongoing recovery measures being carried out in conjunction with related divisions, all Canon Inc. operation sites and Canon Group companies are expected to achieve a full recovery as of the end of April.

 

[Dolby]

Garbage in, garbage out.

From Canon's press release dated April 4th 2011.

They have increased pricing and there is a stock shortage.

www.sacamera.co.za have said from 01 May 2011 prices will increase - and a number of people I phoned on Friday had very little stock. Whether this is the quake or Tsunami - or something else (the normal increase? new models?) I'm not sure :/

I also read that that it was the supplies, rather than Canon itself

 

[bwana]

I can't wait actually!

My next purchase is going to be a TC, as my parents have a place near Kruger and I'm going to try my hand at taking wildlife. I'll be lacking a short lens ... but the longer lens will be more beneficial to me now.

Here's an off-centre 100% crop from yesterday with the 2x - I use the Mk2 converter. There's a little fringing but considering the lighting nothing to bemoan.

400mm f/5.6 1/1000s ISO 400.

 

[Dolby]

That's very cool, bwana!

Definatley the next thing on my list. With the crop budy, I should get a 640mm .... and the main thing I was worried about was lighting. That looks pretty decent to me!

 

[noxibox]

all Canon Inc. operation sites and Canon Group companies are expected to achieve a full recovery as of the end of April

That still means a disruption. Even two weeks offline can create a fairly large supply glitch. The price increases though are simply opportunism somewhere in the supply chain.