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Financial tightening is affecting the photography industry: Seven ways to protect your wallet


As a wave of international unrest shakes the world of photography, how will the industry be affected? Also, are there ways we can protect ourselves from this economic mess? Here are seven options.

During the pandemic, people don’t spend money. So there’s a short period of time where those lucky enough to have savings can buy items they wouldn’t have thought of. For example, the OM digital system was surprised by the large absorption of $7,499 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25X IS PRO Lensand, soon after, Camera OM1 $2,199. Both lenses and cameras have become financially viable for many people who previously couldn’t afford them.

Moreover, these two products are a huge step up from their predecessors, which we rarely see in cameras. Many of the upgrades are just slight tweaks over the previous model.

Then there are a lot of positive reactions from people who have bought them. That has a stimulating effect, encouraging others in a way that no other marketing campaign can. Therefore, that demand is continuing.

It was a fortuitous timing for OM Digital Systems, but now one has to wonder if other manufacturers’ products that missed that moment might fail with their upcoming releases or not. are not. That moment was short-lived, and the market has changed dramatically over the past few months. So it will be interesting to see how well other new products will perform in stores.

Here in the UK, we have a struggling economy going into recession and hyperinflation caused by a tripling of GDP. Brexitthe international fuel crisis caused by Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, and the consequent Covid-19 pandemic. With the exception of Brexit, those economic factors have led to similar problems in many other countries. In short, there is less money in our pocket. Sadly, for too many people, this is a serious problem.

Apart from a lucky few, everyone now finds it difficult to have little disposable cash. As a result, the photographers I’m talking to have decided that their current cameras work well enough and aren’t buying new ones. I hear very few rumors about upcoming releases.

Photography is not a cheap activity, so how can we save money in these challenging times? There is no single answer, but a combination of small changes can make a difference and help us manage our budget.

Cancel or change subscription

Many software companies have switched to subscription plans. These are very expensive for photographers in the long run. The best known of these is the Adobe Photographers Plan. Since the introduction of the subscription model, Adobe’s revenue has skyrocketed. Now it’s almost four times what it was ten years ago.

Adobe hits record $15.79 billion in annual revenue in fiscal year 2021, representing 23% year-over-year growth – Adobe.com, December 16, 2021

$14.573 billion of that is from subscriptions. If they make a profit, that money is coming out of our pockets.

Try to exit the plan on any day other than the renewal month and you’ll find out it’s not so easy; they will charge you a sizable penalty for doing so. However, there is a way around it. Just change the subscription to another plan and then cancel right after. You will be charged for it and then refunded.

I’ve been wanting to see the Adobe package for a long time for one main reason: most of my images I develop are in raw form, and I don’t like the results of Adobe’s underlying engine compared to other software I own. Furthermore, I found other ways to develop videos meet my needs.

For photography, I currently use the perpetual license of ON1 Raw Photos 2022. The initial outlay was more, but I’ve saved almost $20 over a year. I imported my Lightroom catalog into ON1. If that is done before canceling Lightroom, it includes generating an approximate value of the development settings.

There are still cheaper options. Serif . relationship photo is popular software that costs just under $27 one-time, but sadly it doesn’t have a category. The good news is that even if you cancel Lightroom Classic, you’ll still have access to its gallery module, although you’ll have to go through a file explorer to open the photos in another program; plugin will not work.

For even more substantial savings, most manufacturers offer free raw development software for their cameras. There are also free development and editing tools like Lightzone to grow rough plus Paint.net (Windows only)combination of UFRaw and Gimpor Raw Therapee.

All these programs give different results. Many will say that the output from one is better than another, I say. Like I said, I don’t really like Adobe’s raw output, nor am I interested in Affinity, but that’s my opinion; others love them.

Using older camera equipment

Step back seven years to 2015. It was a great year for the camera. Canon 5DS and 750D, Sony a7 II, a7S II and a7R II, Pentax K3 II, Nikon D810A, D5500 and D7200, Lumix DMC-G7, plus Olympus OM-D E-M5 II were released that year. All are great cameras; Check out their reviews. Every handle can make great photos. Moreover, they still can.

So you may not be able to get a clear image at ISO 25,600, but do you need to? Does that extra dynamic range make much of a difference to your photos? Sure is not.

Some photographers need that extra performance, especially those who make a living from photography. But for those with a hobby or passion for photography, what was possible in a camera seven or even ten years ago is good enough for what they do now. Furthermore, reputable dealers in the second-hand market are flooded with second-hand models that can be purchased for a fraction of the original retail cost.

Sell ​​you old kits

A friend just sold three second-hand lenses he never used, a couple of extra old tripods, and a few other accessories for over $1,200. If it doesn’t work in your closet, let someone else take advantage of it.

Computer running slow? Can’t buy a new one? Switch to Ubuntu

It’s a constant annoyance when once a high-speed computer becomes stale and slow. Is this a built-in obsolescence? I’m pretty sure it is. I built my desktop about seven years ago. It has an 8-core processor that was considered fast when I installed it. It has 32 GB of RAM and a solid-state drive. Windows 11 will not work on it because the processor is not compatible. It’s also much slower than before, despite a clean install of Windows.

Macs also slow down with age. In 2020, Apple paid a fine of $113 million for deliberately slowing down their iPhones. One has to wonder if the operating system was intentionally made slow to encourage upgrades.

Next to my main computer I have an antique single core laptop with 2 GB RAM that I have loaded Linux-based Ubuntu OS. I installed Raw Therapee on it and it’s as fast as my Windows desktop. (Raw Therapee recommends 4GB of RAM, but my old laptop works with 2GB.)

Not directly related to photography, but there is a great word processor, spreadsheet, presentation and other free software built into Libre Office that can save you considerable administrative costs. compared to Microsoft Office. This feature is available for Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems.

Ubuntu isn’t the answer for everyone, but it could be a possible solution for those who are having a hard time accessing and their computer is running slow due to older specifications.

Turn off the vampire device

My computer draws about 125 Watts. Now I get in the habit of turning it off whenever I’m away from it for more than 15 minutes. Compared to leaving it running all the time, this saves me over $100 a year. I also unplugged the camera’s battery charger and didn’t charge the phone overnight.

There are other appliances in your home that draw electricity when not in use. Gaming devices and TV set-top boxes are particularly thirsty.

Turning everything off also helps avoid house fires.

Looking for cheap cloud storage

If you have a Sign up for Amazon Prime, it comes with Amazon Photos. This gives you unlimited cloud storage of your images, including most raw files. There are some exceptions and PSD files are included, but if you are already a subscriber, then Amazon is a good choice.

Even if you cancel your membership, the images will be stored in the cloud for 180 days before they are deleted. As long as you sign up for another month before that time runs out, you can store your photos for almost a year for the cost of a two-month Prime membership.

If that’s not for you, then you should shop around for cloud storage options, they vary considerably.

Get your prints from a respected printing service

I gave up printing my images years ago. When I need prints, it’s a lot cheaper if I call the services of a top quality printing service like White wall compared to printing in place. Also, I don’t have a cluttered office space with a bulky printer, and I don’t have trouble with printheads and ink cartridges drying out from lack of use.

In an ideal world, we would all have unlimited access to enough wealth to be able to pursue our passion for photography. Sadly, we don’t. However, we can still change the way we work in this amazing art form to make it affordable.

Some of these suggestions won’t work for everyone, but there are people who could benefit from adopting one or two of these methods, others who will find photography unreasonably expensive. so amazing.

Do you have a photography recommendation you’d like to share with readers who might need to save money on photography? It’s great to hear them in the comments.





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