When do you know to move on?

[donoreo]

I upgrade when I think I can sneak the purchase past my wife I was disappointed the other day on my birthday (The Ides of March for you Shakespeareans) when I jokingly asked if there was anything else for me like a 10-20mm lens. She then said "You did not tell me to get you one or you might have". I went to bed sad

[MattUK]

Originally Posted by donoreo

I upgrade when I think I can sneak the purchase past my wife I was disappointed the other day on my birthday (The Ides of March for you Shakespeareans) when I jokingly asked if there was anything else for me like a 10-20mm lens. She then said "You did not tell me to get you one or you might have". I went to bed sad

Schoolboy error!!

I put a D7000 on my Amazon Wishlist, then at Christmas my girlfriend plonks it down in front of me! And yes, I was shamelessly spoilt!

[eysha]

All interesting reading. I have only had my camera a few months, a Panazonic FZ38 and to be honest i am not sure if it is me being new and useless or the camera but i am not really happy with my photos. Maybe also i just like the Nikon D90 and so wish i had one. I have spent over £500 on my camera investing in a macro lens and a long lens with adapter so i feel i have to persivere with it but have kinda lost interest in it being unhappy with it. I woul d never get my money back of course and would feel guilty loosing that kind of money and cannot afford another camera without gettting the money back. catch 22 i think.
I look at the DSLR forum and drool then look at my Panasonic and ...
Oh well we live and learn i guess.
E.

[Drew Smith]

Your gear must have some resale value Eysha! Why not do an ebay search to see what your bits of kit and camera have sold for (completed sales)?

If you can get enough back to buy a DSLR with a kit lens then that must surely be better than losing interest in photography because you are disgruntled with your current set-up and wasting the total value of your kit.

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by Drew Smith

Your gear must have some resale value Eysha! Why not do an ebay search to see what your bits of kit and camera have sold for (completed sales)?

If you can get enough back to buy a DSLR with a kit lens then that must surely be better than losing interest in photography because you are disgruntled with your current set-up and wasting the total value of your kit.

Absolutely right. You probably won't get enough to completely cover an SLR, but there are a few on eBay at the moment and they're all being bid on and they're all at least £130 and not near the end of their auctions yet.

It's a really tough decision to upgrade, especially when you've not had something for very long but it's often the right thing to do. I agonised over it for ages when I upgraded. Twice! It's always been the right decision.

Recently, Julia (the other photographer in my company) also had the same issue. She was frustrated that she wasn't happy with her photos but she was unsure if it was the camera or her ability. So, we swapped cameras. She used mine and I used hers on an outdoor shoot. I think we'd been going for about 5 minutes when she wandered over and said "OK - I'm going to Park Cameras once we're done here"!
If you've got someone who has a D90 (or similar) perhaps they would let you play with it for a while?

Finally, if upgrading does nothing else it will excite you and get you using your camera. And there really is no better way to learn than by doing...

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by MattUK

I put a D7000 on my Amazon Wishlist, then at Christmas my girlfriend plonks it down in front of me! And yes, I was shamelessly spoilt!

Wow! Aren't you a lucky b*gger!

[KeithT]

I think you will know instinctively when its time to change your gear. I like to do it before the old gear drops too much in second hand value and is still popular enough to sell quickly. Buyers of used equipment are not just looking for a bargain, they want to know if their purchase is going to be well worth the dosh they are parting with too. Like most people, I need to use whatever money I can get for my old gear as part of the new purchase, so I try and time it to the point where it won't cost me an arm and a leg to do so. I recently sold my EOS 5d in mint/perfect condition at the high end price of £800, which went a long way to purchase the MKII with my small budget to add to it.

[dan123]

if you feel yor ready then go for it, i say as soon as you now your camera and all of its flaws and you want more features and different things then its time, id love to upgrade from my 400d, think ive outgrown it now, and it doesnt have soem of the features i want, the iso's are grainy, so jsut a ,atter of saving up the pennies for a new camera,
and matt thats just nice, good way to lay hints too, lol, my gf wanted to buy me a 5d m2 for xmas/birthday, and for some stupid reason i said no, regretting that a wee bit,

dan,

[donoreo]

Originally Posted by MattUK

Schoolboy error!!

I put a D7000 on my Amazon Wishlist, then at Christmas my girlfriend plonks it down in front of me! And yes, I was shamelessly spoilt!

I cannot complain, the camera itself was a gift two years ago now. I just wanted a super zoom compact/bridge and got a Canon 450D.

[James Blonde]

It sounds to me that you are ready to change, and you've hit the buffers with the limitations of your current kit and cant live with them in a similar way to what happened to me - and it doesn't matter how long you've had your Panasonic! If it doesn't do what you now want it to, then you'll get frustrated.

Personally, I don't think I'd find an upgrade to a bridge to be of any benefit, as I see those as having the same limitations as a compact (slow, fixed lens), but with a few extra features. (Do system cameras have the speed of an SLR???)