[vladimiroltean]

So this is not the kind of thing you'd like your wives/partners/parents/whatever to hear about. A statistic that I just made tells me that me and my girlfriend have spent almost $2600 in two years, since we became interested in photography. These include everything: two digital bodies, many film bodies and lenses, small accessories, like caps, hoods, focusing screens, flash, straps, films, anything that cost money. Considering that we are just college students with no job, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the total.
So, what about you?

[mrNewt]

I don't even want to think about it ... way above $3000 for sure. I have spent in the past month $550+ on lenses and small items like lens hoods, caps and a few film bodies as well ...
Plus close to $400 on a K-01 that I am still waiting for ...

If I have to combine everything ... huh, I don't even want to go there ...

[goubejp]

Around 10 000 $ - including 4200 euros, for a FA*600f4, though.

[Tom S.]

I bought my first ME Super in the early 80's, and since I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, I have no idea what I've spent. Considering though that I've had 35mm, medium format, and now digital, not to mention darkroom equipment and then printers, it has to be a considerable amount.

[bigted]

$2353 Canadian and change and since I'm on reduced income due to long term disability that's a staggering amount. That's everything from the odd print to the original slippery slope of a K-r, a short course and many lenses. I bought the K-r in September 2011.

[Na Horuk]

Since I got into Pentax.. just above 1500 euro, I think. not bad, considering I got quite a few lenses and two digital camera bodies, some filters..
But some of the things were bought used and I got a tripod from a friend. Hm, Pentax really didn't make much profit from me. Maybe I should gather up some money and just send it to them as a donation

[Ron Boggs]

I had an Inland Marine insurance policy covering actual receipts of $61,000 worth of photo equipment. I've pared that down to less than half that figure.

As you see, even folks at the extreme like me haven't spent as much as your neighbor spent on their motor home, race car, boat etc.

Photography is one of the least expensive hobbies available...compare your little investment to your neighbors camping, motorcycle riding, horse stable, auto enthusiast, boating etc. There are almost no other hobbies you can actively participate in for such a tiny investment...plus, most of the gear is resellable on the used market so you typically only depreciate half the value over time (camera bodies excluded as they "age out" of the system).

[boriscleto]

I've spent more than $1100 on shopgoodwill.com alone since Dec 2009. When you add in a K-x, a K-5, Craigslist and eBay...I don't want to total it up.

[Ron Boggs]

Also compare to folks who travel as a hobby. They spend more in a week than most photogs spend in 5 years and the photo buff has lenses and accessories that will last for decades. How often does a dirt bike motorcyclist have to buy a new bike (for the active participants it's annually, for duffers it's every two or three years). I spent over 20 years in the marine business as a consultant to boat manufacturers. The average turn around time for a boater to upgrade to a new boat is 4 years. And over 85% of boat purchases are made on credit.

So the moral of the story is, go get a signature loan from your bank for a measly $5000 and get whatever camera kit you want, including a thousand dollar plus tripod. If you want to do the "critter game" with a big telephoto then borrow $10,000. You spend way more than that on cars and vacations and that still proves photography to be a very inexpensive hobby. I'll bet your aunt Myrtle has $2000 in scrapbooking odds and ends, none of which are resellable. If you are shrewd about it you can tie it into a low interest refi on your home and deduct the interest too, though the money typically spent on photography is so low as to make the interest deduction a "ho hum" issue.

And before you sneer at "rich guys" like me, note that I work part time at a non-profit science center and live below the poverty level. Anybody that really wants to have a quality camera kit can do so!

[pearsaab]

i choose to not think about it...maybe you should have categories...1k, 2k,5k, 7.5k, 10k, to infinity and beyond ...i might fall in the latter category

[blackcloudbrew]

Since when? If I go back to 2008 when I really got back into photography, I'd have to say thousands of dollars and no I don't want to think about it. I will say now that my LBA is ...er... more restrained than before I'm spending less but I'm still spending more.

[Racer X 69]

When I bought my first SLR and lens around 1980 or so I started with a Ricoh XR2S and a Pentax 40~80 lens. Later I added a Slik U212 tripod, a used Vivitar 90~230 lens and a new Sigma 600 Cat and the Ricoh film winder. That initial investment has less than $1000. Over the years I likely spent many times that amount on film and processing. I sometimes think that I really don't want to know just how much I spent on film and processing.

At some point I realized that there would be considerable savings using positive film over negative, so I bought a projector, and then began collecting the carousel slide trays because I didn't want to be bothered with putting the slides in a tray to view and show them, then pull them out to view and show others. I have never counted how many slide carousels I have, but at one point I bought a 4 drawer filing cabinet and it is full, and there are a few boxes sitting next to it full of carousels too.

More dollars spent.

Over the years I have had selected images enlarged, mounted and framed, to have on the walls of my home or to give away as gifts. Sometimes I almost choked at how much an enlargement would cost, only to really choke when I had to pony up for framing.

Then I bought an enlarger and darkroom equipment, used from a friend. That helped tremendously on the cost of enlargements, and sometimes I even made my own frames, but still had to pay someone else to cut mats for me.

Enter the end of what had become my favorite medium, Kodachrome, the disappearance of pretty much all the little counters in the grocery stores where you could drop off film for processing, and the advent of the DSLR.

So a day or two spent at my local camera shop, learning about the DSLR. (A side note here, the original shop where I bought my RIcoh many years ago, Cameras West in Seattle, is long gone, the victim I assume of the internet, and the large mail order shops in New York City. Also, the local camera shop, a fixture in my hometown, Ken's Camera is also gone now.) The friendly sales guy at the local camera shop was very helpful, and pointed out that I could use my film SLR lenses on the new (at the time) *iStDL.

I went home to think about it, as the new *iStDL with the 18~55 kit lens was around $1,000. This seemed like a lot of money to me, even considering that I would not be spending lots of money on film and processing. I started looking on the internet, and after finding this new camera there (at one of those New York City places!) a bit cheaper, I gave in and placed and order.

It wasn't too long and I was actually making some decent images, and once in a while I would look at the current gear. So when the K10D came out I thought that going from 6.1mp to 10.2mp was a pretty good jump, so almost another $1,000 was spent.

I've added to the lenses in my bag (all Pentax), a 10~17 Fisheye, a 50~200, and a 100 macro (the macro was not cheap, as most of you know!). Add to that a AF-540FGZ flash I picked up used from a member here, wired and wireless remotes, filters, etc. and again I am reluctant to total it all up.

The thing is, just like my Gearhead Hobby ( cars, racing, actually anything mechanical), it isn't really how much I spend or what the monetary cost is.

What is important is that I enjoy what I do with this stuff, and the results from it.

Like the Gearhead side. I have flown several light planes over the years, but have never owned one or obtained a pilot's license. I would like to, but have chosen to be an unlicensed pilot. I had a chance to buy a ride in a World War II Mitchell B25 Medium bomber a few years back. Of all the propeller driven planes this has ranked among the top of the ones that I really like. The Collings Foundation has one, along with other beautifully restored WWII aircraft, and was at an airstrip near my home offering rides to support their living museum of these wonderful planes.

I went there to get a ride, and they were all sold out for the day, but they offered me a one hour "flight lesson". I about choked when the guy told me what it would cost, but this was one of those opportunities that doesn't come along every day. So I ponied up, and off I went. An hour of right seat time in a plane that is a part of history. As soon as the wheels were off the runway the pilot handed the controls over to me and I flew that plane wherever I wanted. It was 26 miles from the airstrip to my house, so I took it that way, found my home, did a couple of turns with the wing dipped so I could grab a couple shots of the house, then some other "flying around" and back to the airstrip, where the pilot took back over and landed.

That was 5 years ago and it still gives me that warm fuzzy feeling when I recall the memories of the experience, or look at the pictures from that day. The cost rarely, if ever enters my thoughts.

[neil1]

I have a total of about $8000.00 in the last 4 years. Don't take long a couple of hundred here and there an i no time you have spent a small fortune!

[Julie]

I started photography in 2010 so I'll start counting from there... and I'm not counting bodies/lenses that I've sold. (those themselves probably come out to at least $8000)

Comes out to just under $1500. (which seems very little for the equipment that I have, but I'm a very frugal person that hops on the best deals. )

[lightbulb]

This thread should be deleted in case the wife read it.