The Hidden Costs of Owning a Digital SLR Camera
The first thing we must admit is that most camera people are addicts. We are addicted to accessories. That being said, there are costs associated with owning a Digital SLR camera that many people don’t think of. Before you start going hog wild, you might want to take a bit of time and consider the possibilities, and how much money you might spend once you start down the DSLR road.
Lenses
Most people are hung up on mega pixels, but if the truth be told, the glass you put on the front of your camera will be more responsible for good quality photos than the mega pixels are. However, this can be a dilemma when it comes to costs. A decent quality lens for a DSLR can easily set you back $300 and if you go for the gusto and want a high quality prime lens, then you can drop more than $1000 on a single lens. If you want to take a variety of pictures, you will likely need a few different lenses, so you can expect to drop about $800 total on 2-3 lenses.
Computers and Software
The “D” in DSLR stands for ‘digital’. Digital means ‘computers and software’. If you buy a DSLR, you will need the software to edit your photos and a computer on which to install it. While you can spend as little as $30 for a basic editing program, if you want to have more controls and be able to achieve certain effects in your photos, you will need something more than ‘basic’ editing software. You can spend as much as $500-$600 on a program like Adobe Photoshop Cs5. This program is not small and requires a decent computer to function properly. This means you can add the cost of a good computer to your total.
Accessories
Like I said…we are junkies. Bags, flashes, reflectors, tripods, brackets, gels, filters, white balance cards, extra memory cards, remote triggers, backgrounds, cleaning kits, and the list goes on and on. While not all of these are necessities, we tend to ‘want’ them and try to tell ourselves we ‘need’ them. In many cases, the will help us to take better and more interesting photos, but they are usually not ‘necessary’ except for a few items like bags, a tripod, and maybe a reflector or two.
Most people aren’t aware of all of these ‘hidden costs’ of owning a DSLR. Food for thought before you jump on the bandwagon.
There are 4 comments on this post.
Trackback URL | Comments RSS FeedHow useful are backpacks? I’m thinking of getting a Lowepro Micro Trekker 100 for day trips? Is it any good?
Hello Zain. I appreciate you reading my articles and actively commenting… I just love feedback from fellow photographers!
Regarding your question – well, I don’t have any experience with that particular model, so I can’t say if it’s good or not. But I can tell you one thing for sure, backpacks are very comfortable compared to shoulder bags. Comfy camera bag means more walking, more photos, and happier photographer… so I don’t see why you shouldn’t buy it
I have the LowePro MiniTreker AW backpack, and it’s very good. Only one down side, the extra space will encourage you to take more things than you need.
You can never find the perfect solution in one bag, you’ll more likely end up with a collection of small, medium and large ones by the time you’re done. Sometimes my shoulder bag is the right size, and sometimes it’s too small or too much weight on one shoulder for heavier lenses.
One other nice thing about a backpack is that it doesn’t scream “Hey, I’m full of camera stuff, steal me!” unless you have one with a big Canon logo on it. Take a felt pen to it if needed. One pro photographer used to carry his big expensive telephoto lens in a beat up Igloo ice chest, complete with a ‘medical specimen’ label. Nobody wanted to mess with that.
Keeping a small lock and cable in your pack is a good idea too.
@nic
So true… I have four camera bags, and they still don’t cover me for all possible scenarios.