$6000 to go pro with leica?????

["BIRKEY, DUANE" <dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec>]

>My old Canon camera, lenses and filters were stolen and I now intend 
to
>replace them.  I am a landscape/wildlife/travel photographer. 
>Previously a hobbyist, I intend to pursue these interests
>professionally.  I use lenses from wide-angle to 600mm.  I'm 
frequently
>in low light conditions (existing light, early am--late pm).  I
>understand that leica has the best optics around.  It appears the best
>optics are with the rangefinder M series which would be good for
>landscape and some travel photography, but then I would be without
>telephoto/zoom lenses for wildlife and some travel photos.  The 
R-series
>is the next step; however, I've noted the discussion of poor 
viewfinder
>visibility in low light with the R-series camera/lenses.

>I have approximately $6,000 to invest.  I would appreciate your
>recommendations.

>Thanks,
>JT

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My recommendations are:

Don't quit your day job just yet.

Go through your photos.  Try to remember and make a tally sheet of  
what lenses you used to make those shots and whether  you could have 
taken them with similar lens lens of slower speed.

Hopefully you'll be able to discover what focal lengths you tend to 
prefer most and how fast of lenses you need.   Get a Shutterbug 
magazine or look at some web pages to see how much new or used Leica 
lenses cost at those focal lengths.   $6000 doesn't go very far even 
buying used Leica.  You'll spend nearly that to buy 2 used M-6's a 
35f/2,  50f/2 and 90f/2.  If you want to have lenses ranging from 
superwide to 600mm, either take out another mortgage, buy another brand 
or just shoot yourself to put you out of your misery.  (that's a joke)

If you you really want to do serious lowlight wildlife photography you 
can easily spend between $6000 and $10,000 for a single new Nikon or 
Canon tele lens.  If you can't recover that cost in a reasonable amount 
of time, rent one instead.  The reason many photographers never make it 
as a pro is that they spend all their money on capital things like 
equipment and studio space.  They have no money left to live on while 
they try to make their new business work.  Besides that, most have no 
idea how to run a small business anyhow, how hard can it be they think. 
 It sounds easy when you read about it in a magazine.   Do you know why 
people write for magazines, (besides building up their egos)????   It's 
often because they need the money to pay the bills.  Think about it,  
If you could make more money shooting than writing and doing workshops, 
wouldn't you shoot instead?

I've said it before, I'll say it again.   For many people, photography 
is a far better hobby than a profession.  Hobbies are fun, professions 
require hard work. 

Duane Birkey
HCJB World Radio
Quito Ecuador

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