Focus 2011

It’s just over a month away (NEC March 6-9), time to look back on last years post about focus….

Went to Focus on Sunday morning (must have been mad) and the prices made my decision for me. The cheapest the 5D mkII was going for was £1,599. The other option was the 7D, which was going for £1,149. Both too much for me being a cheapskate. I may pop in Tuesday/Wednesday to see if the price drop further, but I doubt it. With only 2 main retailers being there (Jacobs and CameraWorld) it’s unlikely they’ll be a massive shift in prices.

Well the same decision process is stirring again. Though looking at the current prices and last years – nothing much has changed. Sure, the 2.5% VAT rise has been largely absorbed.

The Retail price did dip around March last year, roughly matching the Focus show prices. So what to do/or get. I’m still looking at the 5D MkII, although it’ll be replaced in the Autumn it’s still a great camera, plus the MkIII will no doubt be expensive and you’ll have to spend the first 6 months telling everyone that the ‘problems’ actually haven’t occurred on your camera.

As the 5D is around £1,595 at present I’m hoping for a dip of around £100 for me to Jump.
Though it’s not just £1,500, I need the battery grip which is a stupid £200 at the moment.

So it’s looking like £1,700 for the update. I reckon I can get around £5-600 back for the old 5D and probably £50-75 for the BG-E4 (Grip). As I should have the £1,700 before selling anything that puts me in a another position. A what if position. Now I seriously doubt it, but what if the 1D Mk IV drops a fair wedge? Currently it’s an eye watering £3,399, so at around £2,500 I’ll jump at it. Will it fall? I personally doubt it, but you never know.

I could save the money of course, but you know that’s not going to happen.

Oh, as a side note I’ll should be providing my Twitter/Twitpic Focus price list service again. Follow Twitter.com/Kebabselector for updates on Sunday 6th March. If you want anything specific checked tweet me before the day.

Cheap bits…..

…….will I fry myself?

That’s the current dilemma, do I fry myself financially and spend £150 on a Canon branded battery pack for my speedlites or get a cheap ‘replacement’ from Ebay for £20

Well….

Cheaper

….in this case price won the day. O.k. it’s probably not weather shielded and the quality is probably missing in places. But the reality is it’s just a battery pack but it’s £120 cheaper from an almost identical Canon branded item. I do prefer Canon branded items, however the official one is a joke in terms of price.

So will it fry me? possibly – but only the same way the official product can. I know what this product does, it provides a more powerful voltage directly to the flash head. In certain circumstances it could be quite dangerous – so I will not be using it in a pond, or heavy rain.

To accompany tonights typing I’m listening to Martin Gore’s Counterfeit EP.

/edit It arrived, and to confirm – I haven’t fried myself yet. Noticed that the device appears to be weather sealed at both the battery end and the plug. So maybe I can go flashing in the pond then :p

Decision made…..

…..or possibly delayed.

Went to Focus on Sunday morning (must have been mad) and the prices made my decision for me. The cheapest the 5D mkII was going for was £1599. The other option was the 7D, which was going for £1149. Both too much for me being a cheapskate. I may pop in Tuesday/Wednesday to see if the price drop further, but I doubt it. With only 2 main retailers being there (Jacobs and CameraWorld) it’s unlikely they’ll be a massive shift in prices.

I did however get to play with a 7D, and was very impressed. Still not too sure if I want to drop down to a cropped body though. I’ve done a few test shots to check out noise (compared with my 5D, a MkII and a 7D), will post once I figure out how to post some EXIF info into the image (I have a PS script which almost does it. However the camera model doesn’t display)

Indecision post #428

Having one of those mmmmmmm moments, rather than a nice shiny camera I could pay off more of my Barclaycard. That indeed is the sensible option, however when I have a pile of cash sensible seems to go out of the window.

Sure there’s bundles of Apple product to buy also, but at the moment I’m not overwhelmed with glossy screens. So I should give them a miss.

What’s a reasonably chubby bloke to do?

So long 24-105…..

….well, it should come back. Eventually after waiting a few months I’ve finally gotten round to sending the thing off for repair. Naturally being the cheapskate I decided to send it to Canon for a fixed price repair (£102) versus Fixation (£200+vat). Hopefully the lady on the other end of the phone quoted me the right price, we’ll see.

Hopefully this will mark a reversal in my current equipment related Fail. Sending it off failing should mean it’ll returned fixed. 5 – 10 days apparently (from Tuesday 9th Feb – currently it’s in the hands of Royal Mail Special delivery).

So stayed tuned for the outcome, it should be one of these:

1) It’s Fixed and Returned
2) They’ve not got the parts in
3) They messed up on the priced
4) Royal Mail have lost/broken it more

Anyway, I’d like it back I feel I’m missing something since it’s been knackered.

/update:

Royal Mail have Delivered it.
Canon are happy with the £102 I sent them
Unable to track the progress of the repair though as their website isn’t accepting my details.

/edit 2: It’s fixed and on it’s way back 🙂

/edit 3: It has been returned and it looks to be fine. They’ve calibrated it, replaced the Lens assembly and the Dust Seal (not too sure what is left of the original!). Seems like new 🙂 It’s like having an old friend back. As much as I like the 17-40 it’s not the 24-105.