P3D Re: Mint vs. bargain, part II

[Peter Davis <pd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 06:42 AM 6/10/98, George Themelis wrote:
>"Most people don't like to drive a beater"... Are they driving it 
>to show off or to enjoy the ride?  Are they using the camera to take
>pictures or to impress their friends?  Is the pleasure coming from 
>looking at good pictures or from walking around with the camera?  
>I know people with fancy cameras but no pictures to show. 

Some people prefer to put the miles on for themselves.  "Mint" doesn't
imply unused.  It simply means the camera has been well cared for.  I don't
think you can assume that a camera sold as "mint" has never been used, and
you certainly can't assume that a camera which is "well worn" is
necessarily in good working order.

>As Mike said, if you use the camera a lot, then the mint camera 
>will not be mint any more.  Unless you are extremely careful
>not to abuse or put the camera in any danger, in which case you
>care more about the camera than potential interesting pictures.  

That's a bit of an over-generalization.  It's possible to take splendid
photos without putting the camera at risk.  What about studio
photographers?  Do you assume they all care more about their cameras than
about photography?

>Same with the flash bump.  It gets in the way of the flash.  Why carry
>expensive adapters and inconvenience yourself when all you need is
>to file down the bump?  Because you don't want to harm your mint
>Realist?  Another example of looks getting in the way of use.

I'd rather file a groove in the foot of my $15 flash unit than file the
bump off a $100 plus Realist 3.5 or a $300 plus 2.8.  I don't carry any
adapters.

I would say that some people care about photography, some people care about
the condition of their equipment, and some people care about both.  They're
not mutually exclusive.  Also, there's the the "resale value" issue ...
although I may not care about the appearance of my equipment (actually, I
do), it will affect how easily and for how much I can later sell that
equipment if I decide to.

-pd
--------
                             Peter Davis
               Funny stuff at http://world.std.com/~pd

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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 2777
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