I’ve been in a rut lately. I don’t know why, but I can best describe the feeling as being unsatisfied with my daily routine, especially now that I’m working full time with 9 hour work days.
So here’s the culmination of events that led me to spending over a $1000 dollars at once.
- Research — I love shopping for camera gear. So much so that I’ve had the Canon 77D / 80D on my radar for quite some time. I had a small hiccup when I saw that the 6D Mark II was announced, but I determined that I really didn’t need the full frame, and that it would be a large fortune to buy new lenses for it. Also, I’ve been looking to upgrade my lenses, particularly my 18-55 or 70-300. Sigma makes a great 17-50mm for $369, versus Canon’s equivalent which is about 800+. And there’s a 70-300mm USM lens for about $500 that I would love to own eventually. Added that to my wishlist. Regardless of all of these things, its still a lot of money, and I really should be financially responsible and wait until I have a steady, reliable income before I invest in this hobby… right?
- Paycheck — I recently got my biweekly paycheck, and my bank account is the highest its ever been (which is not a lot of money, I promise you.) But I looked at it and thought about what I could do to treat myself. I probably should’ve deliberated more about it before making any rash decisions.
- Annoyance — On Sunday, 7/16, I drove to Chinatown with my parents to support my brother’s 9-man volleyball tournament, New York Mini. While I was there, I tried to shoot some sports photography with my 70-300, but the AF was not behaving and most of my shots were wildly out of focus and unusable. I did manage to get one wide angle establishing shot that I was happy with, otherwise I genuinely hated trying to shoot what I wanted while fighting my own camera for it.
The next day, while I was sifting through my pictures and editing, I decided to sell my Canon T6 with B&H. Online quote was $200 for the camera and kit lens. So I went into the city and sold it. Just like that.
So where does the $1000 purchase come from? I’m currently waiting on an Amazon shipment to come in.
Andy Chen Photography 