Christmas possible lens indecision

Well, it’s coming up that time of year were I think about spending money once more – I had planned to save up a bit of cash and pick up a 56mm lens but funds aren’t there at the moment.  But Fuji are running cash back offers again – typically £45 for cheaper lenses moving up to £90 and higher for expensive glass.    For some reason because they like me* they’re also offering an extra £100 off as well so that’s got me thinking once more!

The 90mm is currently at £799 so that’s another temptation (as it’s a replacement for my old Canon EF135 F2), but also some shorter ranges are superb

I’ve been thinking about the 18mm for a while to use on my X-E3.  Currently that gets at £45 cash back, so with the £100 extra off it’s available for around £300  which on the face of it is a steal, but it can be obtained 2nd hand via MPB for £259!

One other option is a bit of a gap filler – the 55-200.   It’s a small zoom and ideal as a carry around lens instead of the monster 100-400 – that has the advantage of being available at John Lewis so I can get 12% discount, plus £90 and £100 cash back.  It ends up around £360 give of take a quid or so – but do I actually need it?

*Probably a generic email

 

/edit  Just noticed the t’s & c’s:

Excludes XF8-16mm, XF200mm, XF18mmF2, XF23mmF2, XF27mmF2.8, XF35mmF2 and XF50mmF2 lenses.

That that knackers my idea of a discount on a short lens!!

/edit 2 Just noticed John Lewis isn’t on the retailer list either!!

/edit 3 Decided to get the 14mm in the end.  Not bought it yet – but Wex are getting one in for me and hopefully I’ll pick it up at the weekend 🙂

 

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.