Either
box 1
a) buy yourself a new 40-50d you pick , keep tamron.
b) give your current camera and kit lens to daughter
box 2
a) same as 1
b) suggest she pays it off to you $100/month or quarter
box 3
a) buy her a 30d
b) same as 2
I had box # 3 but bought a tamron off the B&S before our dollar fell over.
Its now paid back, daughter is very happy, takes better photos than dad and importantly doesn't change anything on my camera.
30D is a great camera but if I did it now then I go for for box number 2
I only have one daughter, and I have to admit ... if I thought she would really make use of it ... I'm sure she could get my 1Ds or 5DII and a couple Ls out of me if she asked. I can buy new cameras and lenses (I already have way more than I use anyway), but making my daughter happy trumps toys any time. Especially when it means I can buy new toys without the wife being angry! What's the point of working and making money if we can't use it to help or please the people we care most about?
I'd consider the camera gone, but personally, I wouldn't be too heart-broken about it, as long as you can afford to replace it. The Christmas gift thing would never work with me, though. Maybe if it was October or November, but Christmas is a long way off. :-)
You may have actually saved yourself some money. For christmas you give her the 50mm f/1.8 II. She'll never know how cheap it was by the image quality.
And now of course you have the excuse to get yourself a new camera.
bought my eldest a cheap p&s for here 6th birthday and she's pretty good with it, but when we are out together she likes to have a go with my kit, pretty good with the 70-300 IS but doesn't like it when I put the 80-200L on it as she thinks its too heavy. so then she goes and rests it on a fence and shoots from there I guess its only a matter of time before its gone forever
How many more serendipitous opportunities do you believe that you will have to spoil your daughter before she is grown and gone?
I rest my case.
[EDIT] Oh, and on edit, after having seen your post with the shot of your daughter which references your clientele - before I retired a few years ago, my practice was litigating federal contracts, specializing in DoD developmental weapons contracts - trust me when I tell you that your clientele is far more worthy of respect and trust than was mine . . . and it really doesn't matter which side of the street that I worked for that statement to be true. [END EDIT]
reprobate wrote:
before I retired a few years ago, my practice was litigating federal contracts, specializing in DoD developmental weapons contracts -
Woo-hoo.....that's were the real money must have been. Nothing beats doing "free enterprise" business with taxpayers money involved.
No, you can't say no. I let my six year old use my, ahh, errr, ahem, 10D with grip and 28-70 f2.8 all the time. My evil plan is to get him hooked so that I can 'give' him that camera and get myself a gently used 5D.
Yes, it is gone forever, but that is good. Now you can get the upgrade you have been jonesing about!
There should be a flash, memory card, or some other accessory under the tree for the apple of your eye
Call it a blessing that they are interested in something you like.
Time to get yourself a late Christmas/early Birthday present for yourself.
The best presents are the ones you give yourself.
Just say goodbye to the 30 and Tammy. Be happy and proud. You are more likely than not going to be losing more gear, if she gets into photography.
In my case, I am slowing losing my gear. My daughter started off with a Rebel XT. She got so good with it that she aced her photo class and started to get requests from her friends for photos. Being a proud dad, I got her a 40D. With it, she won several high school photo contests and was named one of the top ten high school photographers in the state. She is in demand and making some sideline money. Now, I come home and find my 1D2 gone along with some of my Ls. I have to hunt her down to get back my stuff to use. I haven't seen my 35L for 3 months now.
I am worrying what I'll have to give up when she enters college this year. But at least her talents are getting her into all the programs she has applied for.
jhom wrote:
You are more likely than not going to be losing more gear, if she gets into photography
That's a big if. As much as we'd love to get our friends, family and children involved in the same thing we like, it rarely gets them in the same way that it gets us. My girlfriend may be interested in getting a Wii, but that doesn't extend to all video games as I can't get her to play my 360 with me. My mom is more interested in photography now than she was earlier, but not because she's interested in composition, lighting, whatever. It's because she wants nicer looking pictures when she travels (on business and otherwise), which is why she purchased a G11.
