The Cost of a New Camera

YOU CAN spend over $50,000 on 50 plus megapixel, medium format Phase I or Hasselblad cameras alone. I doubt there is more than a handful of photographers in the world who would buy one of them just for hobby purposes. Or, you can jump down to the next level, still near the stratosphere, as far as I am concerned, and pay over $8,000 for the latest and greatest or Leica, Hasselblad medium format models and nearly that much for the "flagship" Fujifilm medium format camera. Even the highest end full frame cameras are now north ot the $5,000 range. But the cost of the camera body isn't really what I am getting at here. The cost of the camera you choose will become a given. Everything else you buy along with it (and you will buy things along with it) are variables. I am talking about the "extra" purchases that at first blush we may not even be considering. I am talking about potentially addtionally hundreds of dollars of additional outlay to ensure you setup works for you.

BEFORE I get too deep in the weeds, lets make a few assumptions about the intended audience. You are not buying your first camera (that would entail a much longer post with much more detail and commentary). You are not a professional photographer who is purchasing business equipment (again, a very different discussion). You are probably buying what we often call an "upgrade." A new camera, but not a new photographer. I have written a lot here about my philosophy for making that decision, and as I said earlier, that is not really what this is about. You likely already have a lot of basic gear, like a bag, tripod, lenses and filters. Lets assume, finally, that you have made your choice of camera and are about to pull the trigger on it (or already have).

I HAVE recently made an upgrade within my Sony a7 family. I knew, going in, that it is very uncommon in the modern camera world for the camera body to be identical in size and shape. It is pretty much a given, today, with sophisticated cameras, that we will need to match up a few essential accessories. There will be a handful that you will be able to easily anticipate. Then there will be the surprises.

Batteries and Charger

FOR YEARS (since I bought my first a7 body over 10 years ago) I have been very fortunate that each new iteration used the same battery. I got lucky, and in terms of planning, perhaps complacent. But these guys demand power. They generally come with one battery. You aren't likely to get along with just one. OEM batteries for a modern digital camera currently approach $100 each. I deem it essential to carry at least 2 extras.

THAT ALSO means you need a charger.These days, most manufacturers have done away with shipping a separate charger. Documentation suggests you can charge the batteries in the camera. But I wouldn't recommend it. First, the average Mirrorless Digital Camera  costs from hundreds to thousands of dollars. That is a pretty expensive battery charger (especially if something goes wrong). Moreover, it is totally inconvenient. You cannot use the camera while it is being used as a charger. If you carry (and you should) more than one battery, you can only charge one at a time in the camera. Whether you purchase OEM or after-market, this is likely going to be a cost to acquiring new gear.

Memory Cards

A SUBJECT which will vary among photographers depending on the camera specs and the intended use, is what spec memory cards you will need. Will your new camera demand faster cards? Since I first started shooting, I have moved from 6 megapixels to 10, 12, 24, 36, 46; and now 61. That means that cards have become progressively larger and I have had to "re-gear" a couple times. Again, I generally carry a handful of cards with me. My theory is to use different cards (generally) every day with the thought that a catastrophic failure would not ruin a whole trip or shoot. Newer cameras usually mean more megapixels and often faster continuous focus speeds, meaning the card write speeds may need to be faster than what you have. Those newer, faster cards, I am finding, are expensive!

Camera Mount

I AM an unabashed tripod zealot. I firmly believe that if you are serious about your photography, you need to have a quality tripod. For purposes of this post, I will assume you have that covered. And I will assume you also have made your choice of a tripod head (most commonly a ball-head; but growing more common for landscape shooters, some kind of 3-way - or geared head). Either way, you will need a way to affix the camera and lens to that tripod. Unless there is a mounting plate on a lens bracket (some of the large telephotos and zooms), that means something mounted to the camera base using the "tripod" screw. I want to believe that nobody mounts their tripod screw directly to the camera base any more.

LONG TIME readers here have heard me preach the virtues of the L-bracket. I since I first discovered, and began using them years ago I have considered them an indispensible accessory. In the beginning, I only knew of 2 manufacturers of L-Brackets: Kirk Instruments and Really Right Stuff. Both are American companies and manufacturers, and that, together with trying to recoup R&D and patent costs, means that they are quite expensive. Over time, a number of competitors arose and prices for other brands (they are virtually all manufactured offshore - mostly in China) became more affordable. In my experience virtually all of them have been of good quality and I have not hesitated to purchase the much less costly alternatives. They are pretty simple in design; essentially a piece of machined, anodized aluminum. Since the mid-2000's, I have probably owned close to a dozen of them. The reason for that is that in order to be useful, they have to be designed as a camera-specific fitting. If not, they will rotate on the camera base, rendering them useless for their intended purpose.

MODERN DIGITAL cameras have made the relatively simple concept of the "L-bracket" much more complicated. Newer cameras have multiple electronics ports, battery doors and card slots with doors. More recently, the manufacturers have been designing the rear LCD screens to flip out and articulate. This means new challenges for the designers of brackets to ensure they do not interfere with these essential functions on the camera. Indeed, I have found it more difficult with each newer body to find a bracket that does not interfere with some one of these features. In some cases, the only models available are limited and therefore expensive. In recent years a couple new camera-orientation solutions have appeared on the market. There are now circular that mount to the camera body and allow it (much like the lens collars on some bigger lenses), to spin the body around. Slick idea. I tried one of the early ones and concluded it wasn't as useful to me as the simple and elegant approach of the L-bracket. And they are also camera-specific in their design. Just recently, I have seen a modified version of the collars which are more of a half-circle and are designed primarily to rotate between portrait and landscape orientations. It looks to me like they are not necessarily camera specific, as they mount on the tripod screw mount, but I haven't had an opportunity to really look at them. The bottom line is that you are going to need some kind of mounting bracket and depending on which one, they can be a substantial added expense.

OH, AND it gets worse. 😏Every time a camera maker rolls out a new and different model, they tend to move controls around, including ports, battery and memory card doors. When they do, our existing designs and approaches to L-Bracket (or equivalent) mounting hardware gets re-assaulted. It is almost like the camera designers aren't considering these issues any further than the historic inclusion of a tripod mount screw on the base of the camera.

I SAID above that there will often be a surprise or two. I had one, which resulted in an unexpected purchase. For a long time, I had coveted a geared, three-way head for my landscape shooting, but the alternatives were just too expensive for me to justify, or weren't compatible (Bogen) with my chosen arca-swiss dovetail mounting system. When Benro finally introduced one that was reasonably affordable, I jumped on it. I have been happily using it for a few years now. But it seems like every change begets another chain reaction. This time, it was the continuing saga of trying to find an L-bracket for the a7CR, which has a fully articulating rear LCD and a memory card door on the right side of the body. Both make the design of an L-bracket problematic (note that I don't say impossible - just problematic - and it remains a peeve of mine that engineers don't design around those things).

AFTER A couple "fits and starts" I stumbled on a solution. Indeed - in my view - a quite elegant one. I am not sure who did it first, but I'll give accessory manufacturer, SLIK credit. They designed - in lieu of the L-Bracket, the "i-bracket." Reasoning that the dovetail fitting didn't have to be wide in order to be retained solidly in the arca-swiss dovetail clamp, it is pretty much a classic dovetail bottom plate with the end sticking just far enough from the camera to mill in a dovetail just slightly more than the thickness of the rail, at a 90-degree angle. The milled aluminum is stiff enough that the clamp will hold that narrow piece and the camera solidly. There are a couple negatives.Handholders might find that slightly sharp dovetail uncomfortable (that doesn't really concern me much as I rarely handhold the camera and the vertical mount is much more of a priority for me). The i-bracket still partially obscures the bottom flap on the camera body which houses a charging port and a headphone port. You know my thoughts on charging. The headphone thing? Maybe this isn't a good vlogging camera. 😉

BUT WHAT about the incompatibility issue? For reasons unfathomable to me, Benro incorporated its own proprietary version of the tried and true arca swiss clamp for its geared head. The design deviates from the arca swiss standard clamp, with a gap of well over an inch of middle of the clamp surface. No problem for most L-brackets. But the vertical portion of the i-bracket dovetail is only 1/2 inch wide. The Benro won't clamp on it in portrait orientation. Fail. Another purchase, now as I replace the Benro (the integrated clamp on the Benro isn't replaceable without going full "Rube Goldberg" which kind of defeats the elegance of the whole thing). Fortunately, my new K&F Concepts model incorporates the standard arca-swiss clamp and I am back in business. But not without another expenditure.

Camera Bag

YOU MAY or may not need to consider this issue, depending on how you configure your new "rig." Your existing carry solution might fit the new body. But if it doesn't, (or if you want to carry the new body plus accessories) and the old setup as a backup or second body, you will probably find yourself re-thinking this also.

Reference Book

THIS ONE maybe isn't a necessity. For some of us. For myself, I consider it to be. I need some expert, experienced guidance to effectively configure the camera. I know there is You-tube, but I am old school. Your mileage may vary on this one. But here is the thing. I am so old school, that I want a print book that I can highlight, flag and/or dog-ear. And print books have suddenly becomes both scarce and frightfully expensive at the same time.

THERE ARE other things, like dedicated flash equipment, etc., which I think are for a more limited audience who had probably already thought those items and their costs through. For the rest of us, thinking about some of these necessary extras, will put the true cost of a new camera in a more realistic perspective. I have estimated that I have personally added an additional $400 to my cost of acquistion at this point. If it turns out that I need new or additional memory cards, that could easily double. This ain't a cheap hobby. 😐