what would you do?

jmdeegan · 01-22-2008, 08:09 PM

So, a friend of mine saw my cruise pictures, and in advance of her hawaii trip she has asked to borrow my camera. No dice, I say to myself, but I like her, and I had been debating buying a backup body anyways, so I snagged my k100d as a backup using her trip as my justification...

So, here is my next issue. I am tossing in the 18-55, no issues there, as i have it covered by the 16-45 as well. I never use the kit lens anymore.

However, she has requested the one lens in my kit which I really love more than the rest-my fisheye. I have no backup for this lens, and also no backup for another lens I intended to loan her, the 50-200mm kit lens.

So, what would you do?

1-give her the k100d with just the 18-55? After all, shes only used to point and shoots, so keep it simple right?
2-Use her trip as a justification to splurge on a second fisheye or alternate wide-angle lens, ie the sigma 10-20 (and in doing so, allow her to take the sacred fisheye)
3-Similarly use her trip as justification to splurge on another lens to take the place of the kit 50-200. such options included another sigma (70-300) or the uber-cheap pentax 70-320.
4-Give her the lenses, buy nothing new and hope that you don't miss them while they are gone

One reason for my conflict is that the span of time she wants them for, at least for part of it, I will be in Brazil. This is one of my business trips, but I recognize odds are I'll never be there again. I'd be mad if I was there, had a shot and said "if I'd only had xx lens!". It still bugs me that I went to Germany and Poland last year before the k10 was mine, and I find myself saying "if only I'd had this camera then"

not looking to spend a ton, so obviously the sigma 10-20 is the max amount on a single lens, and part of why i was looking at more frugal options on the longer end of things....curious what folks here would do.

I am keen on loaning her the lenses and camera, part to spread the pentax experience, and part because shes my friend and thats what friends do....but it kinda puts me at a predicament too, and i dont want to tell her no

ryan s · 01-22-2008, 08:22 PM

The kit lens sounds like more than enough for her IMO.

I get reallllly nervous when people want to use my cam, even when I'm standing next to them. And others driving my car? Ha, no. I'm an incredibly laid-back person, but it takes time to learn how to "hold" the SLR (I mean just carrying it around).

HGMonaro · 01-22-2008, 08:55 PM

Be sure to discuss what happens if it gets damaged, broken or stolen BEFORE she borrows it.

dantuyhoa · 01-22-2008, 09:14 PM

IMHO , The kit lens will be fine . Just like the others said : DSLR takes time to get used to it . Friends will ask you for favors but there's time you can't do it . Simple fact of life . Heck , I like to "borrow" my friends' credit cards for my LBA but I guess it won't fly

pop4 · 01-23-2008, 03:19 AM

What's her photography experience? As has been said, a dSLR does take time getting used to, and even though your cruise photos might have been good, that doesn't mean that her Hawaii photos will be just as good; even though it would be from the same camera. If she's coming from a P&S background with minimal understanding of exposure, aperture, ISO etc, then I think the K10D + kit lens is plenty. I'd even be tempted to suggest that she buy one of the high end superzoom P&S cameras, unless she is genuinely interested in learning about photography.

Edit: saw you're giving the K100D instead. That's still probably more than she needs.

Hehe, or another suggestion: just give her the body and lenses, and splurge on a new wide angle/fisheye, a new tele, and the new K20D!

jmdeegan · 01-23-2008, 07:14 AM

experience wise, shes always been a point and shoot type, but she's smart enough and i've explained things a bit. the camera still will likely end up in green mode, but can't help her on that one.

the reasons she really wants the gear is because she wants the fisheye effect. can't get that without the fisheye lens.

Peter Zack · 01-23-2008, 07:38 AM

First if you're set on lending the K100D and the kit lens that's fine. But Insure the gear before it goes anywhere, if that's not been already taken care of. Make sure she's prepared to cover any deductible or cost should the gear be damaged. Money is a great way to destroy a friendship should there be a problem and she doesn't clearly understand it's her responsibility if anything goes wrong.

As for your trip to Brazil. I'd say if you are prepared to get the 10-20mm then loan the fish to her. If that's not in the budget, then she should be understanding enough to realize it's your gear that you paid for and you have a trip as well. Chances are she'll use several different lenses far less than you due to lack of experience. Give her the manual as well.

As for a 70-300 vs 50-200. Well again you have to spend some money and that's up to your budget. If you can afford the Tamron, it's a great lens for the $$. You can always sell the 50-200 after you get all the gear back to defray some of the costs.

So for me, if it were my choice and the funds were there, I'd get the 10-20 and the 70-300 and give here the 3 lenses as long as the terms of the loan are clear (and I've been around the block enough times to ask for those terms to be put in writing to avoid future arguments). If the budget isn't there for the 70-300, then she gets what you can live without. But I'd never short change myself on a trip to Brazil because that will impact the friendship every time you kick yourself for not getting the shots you wanted.

jmdeegan · 01-23-2008, 07:46 AM

Will definetly be heavily insured-been burned on other stuff where sender didn't insure, and for how much it costs, it's stupid not to.

I had been hoping to hand off in person, but she's a shift nurse and I travel too much to make schedules work. Tried to this past weekend, but wasn't in the cards.

Manual is already packed in the bag

.

I believe my budget can fit the two lenses in, and of course she knows she's on the hook. She's actually one of the best friends I've dealt with in terms of being responsible and whatnot.

And correct, as was suggested when all cameras are back in my hands, I may opt to sell the kit, or some lenses at least. I traveled to my upstate NY house the other day and had 3 camera bags with me-one was empty, one had my stuff and one had the k100 and kit lenses. Plus a tripod bag with light stands....I have too much stuff LOL. The more experience I get the more I can look and say what I probably could do without, but thought at one point that I "had to have".

Of course, the profits of any sales would inevitably lead to finding something else that I "have to have" LOL. The curses of LBA

TheWengler · 01-23-2008, 11:19 AM

YOU bought the camera for HER trip? Now she wants more? Tell her that the photographer makes the pictures great, not the camera...You must like her a lot to buy an extra camera for her...

jmdeegan · 01-23-2008, 11:52 AM

No, I didn't buy it for her....I used her trip and her request as the ultimate reason to finally buy my backup body...and then loan it out to her.

I know its the photographer not the camera....but I don't think I've seen anyone ever easily create a fisheye effect without a fisheye lens

And she's convinced that her olympus p&s can't hold a candle to my pentax. who am i to argue...

loudbay · 01-23-2008, 11:59 AM

Get some travel insurance for the camera/lenses (not just shipping insurance), show her the deductible, loan her what you can do without on your trip. Pentax guys are NICE.

You could also consider yourself fortunate that she doesn't know much about your da* lens. Shh.

jmdeegan · 01-23-2008, 12:02 PM

She'd have to be a lot more than my friend to be borrowing my * lens, that's for certain!

loudbay · 01-23-2008, 12:15 PM

Do you love your 50-135? I have the tamron 28-75 2.8 and a manual focus (w/ A setting) Tokina 80-200 2.8, so I'm totally covered along that range, but DANG everytime I find myself just dropping by the camera store, that 50-135 is mounted up and sniping people all over the store. It really is a joy to use. Not that I would know if that joy lasts for longer than 10 minutes or so. LOL.

Cheers, Matt

Edit: my current delusions are to find a 1.7x af converter for my 80-200 converting it to 136-340 which conveniently leaves a gap from 75-136. Which lens fills that spot beautifully? Delusions, delusions. Err.. Decisions, decisions.

jmdeegan · 01-23-2008, 12:19 PM

In terms of her borrowing it, part of it is love and part of it is money LOL

but yes, it is quite enjoyable and I know the times a bad picture came out of it, i know it was my fault. wicked sharp

**SCGushue** · 01-23-2008, 01:22 PM

Hmmm!

One thing I don't loan anyone is my camera gear. If I have a meeting with some of the forum members on an outting, I will loan/swap lenses as they have been people who respect lenses and photographic equipment and act responsibly when in possession of anothers' property.

One thing I learned is that people who do not have a vested financial interest in photographic equipment simply do not take care of the equipment. I have seen it time and time again come back to bite the loaner when the camera is returned... broken... damagesed... dirty... parts missing.

As Stephen R. Donaldson once wrote. "The only way to hurt someone who has lost everything is to give him back something broken." In this case: A broken camera, or part thereof.

Geez, I won't even lend my adult kids any of my equipment.

Stephen

01-22-2008, 08:09 PM	#1
jmdeegan Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: nyc Photos: Gallery Posts: 564	what would you do? So, a friend of mine saw my cruise pictures, and in advance of her hawaii trip she has asked to borrow my camera. No dice, I say to myself, but I like her, and I had been debating buying a backup body anyways, so I snagged my k100d as a backup using her trip as my justification... So, here is my next issue. I am tossing in the 18-55, no issues there, as i have it covered by the 16-45 as well. I never use the kit lens anymore. However, she has requested the one lens in my kit which I really love more than the rest-my fisheye. I have no backup for this lens, and also no backup for another lens I intended to loan her, the 50-200mm kit lens. So, what would you do? 1-give her the k100d with just the 18-55? After all, shes only used to point and shoots, so keep it simple right? 2-Use her trip as a justification to splurge on a second fisheye or alternate wide-angle lens, ie the sigma 10-20 (and in doing so, allow her to take the sacred fisheye) 3-Similarly use her trip as justification to splurge on another lens to take the place of the kit 50-200. such options included another sigma (70-300) or the uber-cheap pentax 70-320. 4-Give her the lenses, buy nothing new and hope that you don't miss them while they are gone One reason for my conflict is that the span of time she wants them for, at least for part of it, I will be in Brazil. This is one of my business trips, but I recognize odds are I'll never be there again. I'd be mad if I was there, had a shot and said "if I'd only had xx lens!". It still bugs me that I went to Germany and Poland last year before the k10 was mine, and I find myself saying "if only I'd had this camera then" not looking to spend a ton, so obviously the sigma 10-20 is the max amount on a single lens, and part of why i was looking at more frugal options on the longer end of things....curious what folks here would do. I am keen on loaning her the lenses and camera, part to spread the pentax experience, and part because shes my friend and thats what friends do....but it kinda puts me at a predicament too, and i dont want to tell her no

01-23-2008, 07:46 AM	#8
jmdeegan Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: nyc Photos: Gallery Posts: 564 Original Poster	Will definetly be heavily insured-been burned on other stuff where sender didn't insure, and for how much it costs, it's stupid not to. I had been hoping to hand off in person, but she's a shift nurse and I travel too much to make schedules work. Tried to this past weekend, but wasn't in the cards. Manual is already packed in the bag. I believe my budget can fit the two lenses in, and of course she knows she's on the hook. She's actually one of the best friends I've dealt with in terms of being responsible and whatnot. And correct, as was suggested when all cameras are back in my hands, I may opt to sell the kit, or some lenses at least. I traveled to my upstate NY house the other day and had 3 camera bags with me-one was empty, one had my stuff and one had the k100 and kit lenses. Plus a tripod bag with light stands....I have too much stuff LOL. The more experience I get the more I can look and say what I probably could do without, but thought at one point that I "had to have". Of course, the profits of any sales would inevitably lead to finding something else that I "have to have" LOL. The curses of LBA

01-23-2008, 12:15 PM	#13
loudbay Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 114	Do you love your 50-135? I have the tamron 28-75 2.8 and a manual focus (w/ A setting) Tokina 80-200 2.8, so I'm totally covered along that range, but DANG everytime I find myself just dropping by the camera store, that 50-135 is mounted up and sniping people all over the store. It really is a joy to use. Not that I would know if that joy lasts for longer than 10 minutes or so. LOL. Cheers, Matt Edit: my current delusions are to find a 1.7x af converter for my 80-200 converting it to 136-340 which conveniently leaves a gap from 75-136. Which lens fills that spot beautifully? Delusions, delusions. Err.. Decisions, decisions. Last edited by loudbay; 01-23-2008 at 12:24 PM.

01-22-2008, 08:22 PM	#2
ryan s Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Madison, WI Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,383	The kit lens sounds like more than enough for her IMO. I get reallllly nervous when people want to use my cam, even when I'm standing next to them. And others driving my car? Ha, no. I'm an incredibly laid-back person, but it takes time to learn how to "hold" the SLR (I mean just carrying it around).

01-22-2008, 08:55 PM	#3
HGMonaro Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Melb. Aust Posts: 840	Be sure to discuss what happens if it gets damaged, broken or stolen BEFORE she borrows it.

01-22-2008, 09:14 PM	#4
dantuyhoa Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: California Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,245	IMHO , The kit lens will be fine . Just like the others said : DSLR takes time to get used to it . Friends will ask you for favors but there's time you can't do it . Simple fact of life . Heck , I like to "borrow" my friends' credit cards for my LBA but I guess it won't fly

01-23-2008, 03:19 AM	#5
pop4 Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: YMML Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,879	What's her photography experience? As has been said, a dSLR does take time getting used to, and even though your cruise photos might have been good, that doesn't mean that her Hawaii photos will be just as good; even though it would be from the same camera. If she's coming from a P&S background with minimal understanding of exposure, aperture, ISO etc, then I think the K10D + kit lens is plenty. I'd even be tempted to suggest that she buy one of the high end superzoom P&S cameras, unless she is genuinely interested in learning about photography. Edit: saw you're giving the K100D instead. That's still probably more than she needs. Hehe, or another suggestion: just give her the body and lenses, and splurge on a new wide angle/fisheye, a new tele, and the new K20D!

01-23-2008, 07:14 AM	#6
jmdeegan Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: nyc Photos: Gallery Posts: 564 Original Poster	experience wise, shes always been a point and shoot type, but she's smart enough and i've explained things a bit. the camera still will likely end up in green mode, but can't help her on that one. the reasons she really wants the gear is because she wants the fisheye effect. can't get that without the fisheye lens.

01-23-2008, 07:38 AM	#7
Peter Zack Pentaxian Moderator Emeritus Join Date: May 2007 Location: Edmonton Alberta, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 10,643	First if you're set on lending the K100D and the kit lens that's fine. But Insure the gear before it goes anywhere, if that's not been already taken care of. Make sure she's prepared to cover any deductible or cost should the gear be damaged. Money is a great way to destroy a friendship should there be a problem and she doesn't clearly understand it's her responsibility if anything goes wrong. As for your trip to Brazil. I'd say if you are prepared to get the 10-20mm then loan the fish to her. If that's not in the budget, then she should be understanding enough to realize it's your gear that you paid for and you have a trip as well. Chances are she'll use several different lenses far less than you due to lack of experience. Give her the manual as well. As for a 70-300 vs 50-200. Well again you have to spend some money and that's up to your budget. If you can afford the Tamron, it's a great lens for the $$. You can always sell the 50-200 after you get all the gear back to defray some of the costs. So for me, if it were my choice and the funds were there, I'd get the 10-20 and the 70-300 and give here the 3 lenses as long as the terms of the loan are clear (and I've been around the block enough times to ask for those terms to be put in writing to avoid future arguments). If the budget isn't there for the 70-300, then she gets what you can live without. But I'd never short change myself on a trip to Brazil because that will impact the friendship every time you kick yourself for not getting the shots you wanted.

01-23-2008, 11:19 AM	#9
TheWengler Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Brisbane, CA Posts: 79	YOU bought the camera for HER trip? Now she wants more? Tell her that the photographer makes the pictures great, not the camera...You must like her a lot to buy an extra camera for her...

01-23-2008, 11:52 AM	#10
jmdeegan Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: nyc Photos: Gallery Posts: 564 Original Poster	No, I didn't buy it for her....I used her trip and her request as the ultimate reason to finally buy my backup body...and then loan it out to her. I know its the photographer not the camera....but I don't think I've seen anyone ever easily create a fisheye effect without a fisheye lens And she's convinced that her olympus p&s can't hold a candle to my pentax. who am i to argue...

01-23-2008, 11:59 AM	#11
loudbay Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 114	Get some travel insurance for the camera/lenses (not just shipping insurance), show her the deductible, loan her what you can do without on your trip. Pentax guys are NICE. You could also consider yourself fortunate that she doesn't know much about your da* lens. Shh.

01-23-2008, 12:02 PM	#12
jmdeegan Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: nyc Photos: Gallery Posts: 564 Original Poster	She'd have to be a lot more than my friend to be borrowing my * lens, that's for certain!

01-23-2008, 12:19 PM	#14
jmdeegan Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: nyc Photos: Gallery Posts: 564 Original Poster	In terms of her borrowing it, part of it is love and part of it is money LOL but yes, it is quite enjoyable and I know the times a bad picture came out of it, i know it was my fault. wicked sharp

01-23-2008, 01:22 PM	#15
SCGushue Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,449	Hmmm! One thing I don't loan anyone is my camera gear. If I have a meeting with some of the forum members on an outting, I will loan/swap lenses as they have been people who respect lenses and photographic equipment and act responsibly when in possession of anothers' property. One thing I learned is that people who do not have a vested financial interest in photographic equipment simply do not take care of the equipment. I have seen it time and time again come back to bite the loaner when the camera is returned... broken... damagesed... dirty... parts missing. As Stephen R. Donaldson once wrote. "The only way to hurt someone who has lost everything is to give him back something broken." In this case: A broken camera, or part thereof. Geez, I won't even lend my adult kids any of my equipment. Stephen