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[OM] Re: A cautionary tale

Subject: [OM] Re: A cautionary tale
From: Winsor Crosby <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 07:57:58 -0700
John, I don't know about a couple of things there.

The 1D Mark II replaced the 1D and it is available for about $3000 
currently. The $8000 1Ds is a higher level full frame model in the 
lineup, not a replacement.

You may be right about your calculations for a sole proprietor studio. 
I do know that I have a friend who works for a studio that has been all 
digital for several years. I am not sure how many photographers work 
out it, but they do some school pictures and the community bread and 
butter kind of things like that. They supply D1x Nikons and 10D Canons 
to their crew. I don't know whether that is a high or low profit end of 
studio work or whether that is what you had in mind.

When I was talking about replacement I really had in mind the 
photographer that really wished to "keep up" and for who the further 
developments  in digital like resolution and noise are important. I 
think that currently for many kinds of studio work with the limited 
enlargement size, further digital developments will not obsolete what 
is out there now. If you are thinking about an art print kind of studio 
you may be right. But maybe the one man business is a thing of the past 
now.

Winsor
Long Beach, California, USA



On May 3, 2005, at 11:53 PM, John A. Lind wrote:

> 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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