How do you buy equipment?

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I use a credit card, because I get a extra years warranty, a 2% rebate, and the ability to reverse the charge if I'm scammed. I also get loss or damage insurance for a limited time.

I always pay my cc in full. If you need equipment for a business, in the USA, there are always small business loans available, usually at a low interest.

 

[Dantana]

I only buy what I can pay for right then, cash, Paypal, or Amex, but pay it off at the end of the month. I don't make any money directly from my habit, so I can't justify overspending or financing anything. Just the cost of living in the LA area has the budget fairly tight. Of course living here also provides some great photo opportunities.

To quell the urge to buy new stuff, I've been picking up older gear on eBay. I know it's a gamble, but it reminds me of going to camera shows to pick up used gear when I was younger. Picked up a Spotmatic for the Super Tak that came with it, but now I'm interested in trying out the camera too.

 

[RGF]

Now retired and my wife supports me (at least for another few years). Until last year we were DINK (Dual Income, No Kids - though our Golden Retriever is rather spoiled).

Purchase on credit card, pay the credit card when it comes due. Collect airline miles to upgrade.

Currently on a 12 step program ;D , weaning myself off the bag of the month club and lens of the week club. Finding I have too many lenses I don't use so I plan to sell 4-5. Already sold 4. Plus a half dozen camera bags need to go.

All to help afford new Great Whites including the 200-400 this fall (I hope).

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Now retired and my wife supports me (at least for another few years). Until last year we were DINK (Dual Income, No Kids - though our Golden Retriever is rather spoiled).

Purchase on credit card, pay the credit card when it comes due. Collect airline miles to upgrade.

Currently on a 12 step program ;D , weaning myself off the bag of the month club and lens of the week club. Finding I have too many lenses I don't use so I plan to sell 4-5. Already sold 4. Plus a half dozen camera bags need to go.

I have too many lenses and bags as well.

I sold 2 cameras and 8 lenses in the past two weeks, but only two bags. That leaves me with a dozen bags and still too many lenses. Only 5 digital cameras left.

I'll be selling more. I might buy a superzoom and sell off a DSLR and a P&S body. I like the idea of having a small superzoom in the car to capture the frequent wildlife opportunities that we see in our area.

 

[JPAZ]

The vicious cycle......

1) Purchase photo gear with credit card (pay off every month) to earn miles; 2) Use miles for trip to use said gear; 3) While using that gear on trip, realize there is yet another piece of equipment you "must" have for that purpose; 4) Return home and start by purchasing that photo gear to earn even more miles and do it again!

I have offset this from time to time selling old stuff or using 6 mo "same as cash" but it is not as exciting!

 

[Dylan777]

Now retired and my wife supports me (at least for another few years). Until last year we were DINK (Dual Income, No Kids - though our Golden Retriever is rather spoiled).

Purchase on credit card, pay the credit card when it comes due. Collect airline miles to upgrade.

Currently on a 12 step program ;D , weaning myself off the bag of the month club and lens of the week club. Finding I have too many lenses I don't use so I plan to sell 4-5. Already sold 4. Plus a half dozen camera bags need to go.

All to help afford new Great Whites including the 200-400 this fall (I hope).

NICE :

I'm in the mid 30yrs and my wife is in early 30yrs. We have 2 kids(4&2yrs). We are so DAM busy with family life...no times for anything else.

 

[7enderbender]

Good morning everyone, I would like to know how most of you acquire your photo gear, do you pay cash for everything or is there a way to finace some gear at a lower rate than credit cards? I save money as much as I can but things come up and you have to pay for stuff, and so I put my photography purchases on hold and it seems like it stays there forever. I have a full time job and I make money here and there from photography but its annoying borrowing equipment or renting all the time and missing opportunities for great shots or business.

Photo and music gear is non essential for me and at this point (for the most part) just a "hobby" (with the occasional paid gig but nothing major). So I save up for it or use "extra" money (if there ever really is such a thing) and literally buy with cash at local stores (at least the main pieces such as cameras, lenses, guitars, amps, etc). Some specialty items of course you can only get online but otherwise I like supporting the local stores and hand pick my stuff. The price difference is usually marginal.

What is it that you are renting (a lot)?

 

[cayenne]

Good morning everyone, I would like to know how most of you acquire your photo gear, do you pay cash for everything or is there a way to finace some gear at a lower rate than credit cards? I save money as much as I can but things come up and you have to pay for stuff, and so I put my photography purchases on hold and it seems like it stays there forever. I have a full time job and I make money here and there from photography but its annoying borrowing equipment or renting all the time and missing opportunities for great shots or business.

I buy a lot from Amazon.com. I have their store card, and for certain amounts of purchases, I get 6mos up to 12mos interest free. I do that and pay them off before interest sets in.

I've gotten some $$$ gear from Crutchfield, and entered their points rewards system. I bought my 5D3, kit lens and 85 f/1.8 from them...first purchase bonus points, plus found coupon code to double those rewards points.

Next time things went on sale, I got my 70-200 f/2.8 II USM L lens for about $1490 or so (i'd have to look up exact figure). Again, they offered 'instant financing' on site, I have on that one I thinik 6 mos interest free. I set up auto pay from my checking account and will have it paid off by close of deal date.

I order off the internet. No sales tax charged from any of the online sites to my state, and I take advantage of free shipping and interest free financing.

I'm the type of person that HAS the money in the bank before I buy things, I'll never get into credit card h*ll again, it took awhile years back to get out of it. But I will take advantage of interest free charge/financing...and keep my cash in the savings drawing interest and let those companies 'pay' for my financing of nice shiny toys.

cayenne

 

[lilmsmaggie]

Money? You mean that fiat currency they call the dollar? ;D

I use to have money until my divorce took most of it in spousal support and attorney fees. Then after the system and my Ex decided that I wasn't the walking wallet they assumed I was, Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to furlough California state employees (yeah, I'm one of those). That was the straw that broke the camels back. I had to file for bankruptcy. Then the transmission on my 15 y/o hoopty went south.

And Jerry Brown came in and decided we needed to be furloughed some more

So now, everything is pretty much on a cash basis.

But seriously, I use one hobby to fund another (or at least I did). I collected coins and paper currency. Sold off most of my coin collection and all of my paper currency collection. I also have way too many cameras. I think I'm down to 3 film bodies, several lenses for those cameras; 3 DSLR's and a few lenses; and a P&S. I've bought and sold on eBay and have a few bucks in my eBay acct that I use now and again. I also sell on various photography forums (and Astromart) to fund new gear purchases. I bought all but two large format lenses (Schneider & Rodenstock) I had for my 4x5 kit from KEH, then later sold them on the large format photographers forum for just about what I paid for them. With the exception of a Leica M5, I'd like to sell off the remainder of my film gear. I wait until after I get my tax refund to buy some things.

Bottomline: If I ain't got the moolah - I don't buy it.

I buy equipment using money.

 

[tiger82]

I wait until some yahoo upgrades to a new release so I can buy a barely used, under 5000 actuation pro camera.

 

[tiger82]

Since all the local shops here have zero to no selection of finer gear I buy almost exclusively from B&H. During the past two years I did quite a bit of selling bodies and glass to fund new buys and with Canon gear having 95% of original cost resale value for like new gear it has been easy to do so. Now I'm in a happy place with what I have with little to no gear lust save for a new film body. (Thinking of switching from an Elan 7 to an EOS 3) I do use a card for my purchases but we pay all our bills off every two weeks. Credit card companies hate us.

On the contrary, they get the 3% fee and their money back in two weeks, CC companies love you. The proof is the offers you get for new cards.

 

[eml58]

Lend myself the money from my savings account and repay myself at variable intrest rates.

Thats actually very funny, and I agree, it's still the best way to buy anything, often the only way, but still, very funny.

 

[Kristofgss]

I hear ya and I do the same thing pay off my credit card every month and haven't paid interest on either card. Guess I should as for a raise haha. What do you mean pay yourself at variable interest rates?

It means that on months when there is a lot of money left, i repay more, on months when there is less left, I repay less. In the end, I repay a little more than I took, so my savings account ends up with a net profit. (it's kinda linked to what my wife looks good in and how much the latest drresses cost as well