$4400 showed up at my door today.

[do0dfromcali]

I welcomed it into my loving arms :biggrin:

Long story short, I received some money that was owed to me. Now I am trying to decided what to buy with it.

First things first though. I have a student loan that payoff is $3211 at 7%. Obviously the smart choice would be to pay that off. Paying that off would leave me $1189. Add 600 for the gov't sending out money...I am at $1789 for some purchases.

I am happy with my current lenses. Nik 50 1.4, Nik 18-55 kit, Tam 28-75 so I don't think I need any lenses right now.

I have been thinking the D300. The money would be right in that range.


OR....

I was thinking keeping working the best I can with the D50 I have and using the money to upgrade my Macbook pro.

I was thinking either more memory (but I think my macbook pro is limited to 2GB) and a external monitor or a imac 24in and upgrade the memory on that when I get it.


Hmmmmmm. Any thoughts?

 

[latazyo]

24" imac or lenses

dont get a new body yet

 

[wingspar]

In my opinion, you have too much of an overlap between your 18-55 and 28-75. I don’t know anything about 3rd party lenses, but you might be able to upgrade your computer memory with the sale of the 28-75. You might be able to sell both of those lenses, and pick up a D300 and an 18-200, which seems to be a popular lens. There are still some new D200's left also for $999.95 at B&H. If it was me, I’d be thinking about glass first, computer second, and body third.

 

[olddogg]

I'm afflicted with NAS. That 24-70 would be calling my name............That's just me.

 

[spalding12]

hard question to answer, unless you tell us more about what YOU need and YOU want for your PHOTOGRAPHY future

but....
as someone who paid off $120,000.00 in student loans many years back (for college and medical school).... i'm THRILLED to hear you say you'll be paying of yours first. so many folks never do that

good for you

 

[cleoent]

you'll see a bigger jump in IQ with better glass than with purchasing a d300.

 

[Spudsbud]

Glass, glass, glass !

 

[trublu]

you have a lot of overlap with your zooms. if you don't shoot at the wider end much I'd suggest selling both the 28-75 and 18-55 and putting funds with some of the cash you just got towards the purchase of a used 24-70 ($1400-$1600). With left over cash you could easily upgrade your macbook pro memory.

 

[Big Daddy]

hard question to answer, unless you tell us more about what YOU need and YOU want for your PHOTOGRAPHY future

but....
as someone who paid off $120,000.00 in student loans many years back (for college and medical school).... i'm THRILLED to hear you say you'll be paying of yours first. so many folks never do that

good for you

I absolutely agree with Greg. I see so many people living under the crushing debt of student loans and/or having very bad credit practices. I'm very impressed that you're using the "new" money to pay off he loans.

Without knowing more about what you like to shoot and how you shoot, I think it'd be presumptuous of me to recommend "what to buy." E.g. while it's been suggested you get rid of your lens overlap, I would actually like to have, say, both a 17-55 and a 28-75. A 28-75 or a 24-70 is just too long for a lot of my indoor shots, but a 17-55 is a bit too short for a lot of my outdoor shots. "Like to" doesn't means I'm budgeting for it, though.

You did say you're happy with the lenses you have, so you just have to ask yourself if a D300 gives you enough "bang for your buck" for your particular shooting. E.g. will its added benefits over its D50 make a significant enough difference to you.

Congratulations again on managing your finances well.

(Greg, your $120k in student loans is making me ill. My kids are 5 and 7 and what they'll end up needing for college is terrifying.)

 

[Scottn_photo]

24" imac or lenses

dont get a new body yet

I agree

 

[Mike S]

I welcomed it into my loving arms :biggrin:

Long story short, I received some money that was owed to me. Now I am trying to decided what to buy with it.

First things first though. I have a student loan that payoff is $3211 at 7%. Obviously the smart choice would be to pay that off. Paying that off would leave me $1189. Add 600 for the gov't sending out money...I am at $1789 for some purchases.

I am happy with my current lenses. Nik 50 1.4, Nik 18-55 kit, Tam 28-75 so I don't think I need any lenses right now.

I have been thinking the D300. The money would be right in that range.


OR....

I was thinking keeping working the best I can with the D50 I have and using the money to upgrade my Macbook pro.

I was thinking either more memory (but I think my macbook pro is limited to 2GB) and a external monitor or a imac 24in and upgrade the memory on that when I get it.


Hmmmmmm. Any thoughts?

That D300 sounds pretty good to me! :smile: :smile:

 

[spalding12]

(Greg, your $120k in student loans is making me ill. My kids are 5 and 7 and what they'll end up needing for college is terrifying.)

yeah...
i went to the university of miami from 1980-84 and the university of south florida college of medicine from 1984-88....

120K is NOTHING compared to what folks COULD rack up in loans THESE days... :redface:

 

[ANDS]

Image quality isn't everything. Form, functionality and usability sometimes are worth that premium. Depending on what you are using the D300 for, I would say body and a specific lens if you can afford it.

 

[latazyo]

yeah...
i went to the university of miami from 1980-84 and the university of south florida college of medicine from 1984-88....

120K is NOTHING compared to what folks COULD rack up in loans THESE days... :redface:

I put that 120 to shame

 

[RichNY]

If you had debt before this money you might want to put it all towards savings. You should have a minimum of 6 months income liquid for emergencies as well as putting money away for retirement, yada yada.

 

[digi.film]

If you had debt before this money you might want to put it all towards savings. You should have a minimum of 6 months income liquid for emergencies as well as putting money away for retirement, yada yada.

... and if you wished to, and could make the payments, borrow against your own savings towards gear, ....at a MUCH lower interest rate.

 

[spalding12]

I put that 120 to shame

yeah....
and that makes me VERY SAD, actually
i look forward to the day when you can begin to DISMOUNT yourself from that incurred debt... i really do

you've worked hard... and are still working hard
all will be well... i feel sure about that

 

[latazyo]

thanks Greg, the costs are getting outrageous


OP, in all honesty I think RichNY has the best advice and Im sure most of us could use a little savings...at least I know I could, I only have 25.01 in savings

 

[do0dfromcali]

Wow. I appreciate ALL the responses. I am so glad I posted this in here because you all have given me some good insight.

Loan was paid off this morning. Feels good to have that off my back.
I am at about 5 months of my emergency fund saved up without the 4400 helping.


Anyways....to the purchases...muhahahahahaha:biggrin:

I have the 18-55mm because that is what came with the camera. I have turned out some very neat shots with it so I plan on keeping it just for fun. I wouldn't get much with selling it on the used market.

The 28-75 I got for family parties. I used it at one of my co-workers family party and it did really well. I was impressed and I bought it from a nikoncafe-er for 225 shipped. I thought it was a good price for a lens to get experience with.

The 50 1.4 is just plain cool. I love that lens. Plus it is so light! I like doing family pictures and getting those emotions that are natural.

I did get asked to do some senior portraits. I am going to practice with the 28-75 and see how well that does.

I haven't run into any situations where I would need any other lenses so I don't know what else to get at this point and time.


I looked at my Macbook Pro and it can only max out at 2gb ram. :frown: So then I think, get a newer computer with more memory to process files quicker.

If I think new body, I think more mega pixels which means bigger files. Which means even slower on my Macbook Pro.

Luckily, I am in Chicago for a couple days visiting family. My mom has a D300 and I have all my lenses here. I am going to play with it and see if I like it.

Also there is an apple store close by. I have to bring the iphone in for service so i will play with a 24in imac while I am there.

One again....I REALLY appreciate everyones responses. It helped me to think about different options that are out there.

I love this site....and everyone here lol :biggrin: