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[OM] Re: A cautionary tale

Subject: [OM] Re: A cautionary tale
From: "John A. Lind" <jalind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 01:53:50 -0500
At 11:22 AM 4/25/2005, Winsor Crosby wrote:
>It seems that the real cost would be the short lifetime of the camera 
>because of technical advance. No chance for that 20 year relationship with 
>your picture making tool.

I don't believe the manufacturers want anyone to have a long relationship 
either . . . being for-profit businesses with the goal of maximizing profit 
they want revenue from selling new stuff and deliberately work to shorten 
product life cycles.  It's always been that way.  Not making a judgement 
about that . . . simply calling it as I see it (as it appears to be playing 
out in the marketplace).

I worked up the capital investment cost some time ago to put together a 
minimalist small sole-proprietor studio . . . it was into the $30-50k range 
depending on definition of "minimalist," desired capabilities and how 
"image conscious" one wanted to be with brand name.  Replacing major camera 
components with new ones every 5-7 years to stay abreast with a moving 
technology breaks the business case.  It's either unprofitible (takes a 
continuous loss) or is non-competitive with market pricing to support that 
frequency of capital replacement with new gear.  I concluded that only the 
top end studios in high-cost regions that can command premium pricing can 
afford to do that.  Manufacturers seem more aggressive at forcing 
obsolescence than they were in the past.

Among the CWMNBN, the 1DS is $8k, the 1D it's replacing is $4k, and the D2X 
is $5k . . . and that's just the body . . . batteries not included, some 
lenses and computer hardware required.  A studio *will* have backup for 
critical equipment.  Add lenses, high powered flash, flash brackets, studio 
lights, light modifiers, backdrops, props, etc., and the capital required 
mounts up quite fast.

-- John Lind


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