122 Better Available Light Digital Photography
Let’s take a minute to catch our breath and talk about these
lenses, their price tags, and our need to have them. Joe has
always wondered why professional carpenters are not more like
us in their feelings for their tools. Like us, they need expensive
equipment to accomplish their work, and cameras and lenses are
nothing more than the tools of our trade. Yet although cabinet-
makers may covet a new saw, they usually don’t rush out and
buy one unless they can actually put it to work. That does not
seem to be the case with photographers. We are more prone to
acquire an item for the prestige of owning an interesting piece
of hardware. Maybe carpenters would be more like us if they
could hang an orbital sander around their necks.
One of the biggest mistakes many of us make when purchasing
new equipment is doing so in anticipation of getting an assign-
ment. Does this sound familiar? The phone rings and a client
you have been after for a long time is on the line. They have a
big job coming up and want to know if you can handle it.
“Sure,” you say, all the while realizing that you do not have the
right equipment to do the best job possible. You ask if you can
call back with a price quote. Then you sit down and price the
job according to your rate sheet, schedule of costs, and studio
policies. Now’s the time to see what impact the cost of the new
equipment will have. Oh no! Where will that money come from?
Your bottom line, that’s where.
If you can cover the cost of the new equipment and manage to
make a profi t on the job, you may want to go for it, but only
after the assignment is guaranteed. The way this scenario usually
concludes is that our eager photographer runs out, slaps the new
gear on his plastic, and the job is given to someone with a lower
bid. If this sounds familiar, you know what happens next. The
new hardware ends up sitting in a corner or becoming a very
expensive bookend.
It pays to look at alternatives to purchasing new equipment,
especially if you have no assignment at all. Have you thought
about rentals? Rental photographic equipment tends to not be as
clean as your own personal gear and occasionally will fail on
the job. That’s happened to Joe, but haven’t you had your own
equipment fall apart while on assignment too? Rentals do offer
signifi cant cost savings and you may be able to bill a client for
the rental cost. Used equipment is available at a variety of places,
mostly online. eBay is the fi rst place that comes to mind and
many of the larger camera stores maintain extensive used-
equipment departments.One more time, boys
Indoor arenas—especially high school gyms, classrooms, hotel
conference rooms, and ballrooms—are usually dimly lit. Yet