Maybe selling Aptus 65

[Terence h]

Hello all i am at bit of a crossroads in my career.
At the beginning of the year i bought a Aptus 65 , i also bought a Hasselblad SWCM had it serviced, also a mint 120 macro from KEH and various accessories.
So my point is i made a large financial outlay.

I though am not getting the returns that would enable me to keep this camera, when i bought the camera i was up for 2 large jobs which i never got.
My photographic career is  in more of a down turn than it has ever been, for what ever reason, usually you can only blame yourself.

I show my customers the difference in quality but they usually say for their purposes the Nikon D80 images are fine (brochures)
And the Aptus 65 images are superb, i have never seen better , but i suppose i have to be brutally honest with myself if it is not paying for itself it has got to go.
Hell for some photographers  a MFB is totally indispensible.

My back is getting replaced soon, because i had a back focus issue, this means the Aptus 65 i would possibly be selling is brand new.
Would there be a market for this back, how would  i sell it.

I hope i have not offended anybody by this mail, thinking it should be under the selling forum.

Regards
Terence

[Dustbak]

Sorry to hear you have to sell. You can try selling it via this or other forums or via Ebay. I think you will be disappointed with what you will get for the back.

Maybe you should try to find clients that do want that extra bit of quality. I know I did and they do exist. I actually won clients because of the extra IQ I was able to deliver. It took me several years to get there though.

Naturally I do not know your current situation but this is just my belief.

Goodluck to you.

[peterhorsley]

Well looking at your site it's not the photography that is letting you down; there's lots to be proud of there.

But in professional photography making the pictures is a small part of the business.  Selling the photographer and the work seem to be the main job for many of us.

I have only a passing acquaintance with South Africa, but the sense I have is that in a large population a small number of people can afford the high priced services. So for you the challenge is to find the right clients in a competitive situation.  Chances are that it would be easier in the largest cities.   It's hard to do, but pushing aside the blues and putting a big effort into getting your folio/book in front of your idea of dream clients should be your focus.  If the A65 finances the next step, so be it. It probably has to be your shoe leather for immediate results, but an agent- a professional seller - might help too.

Either way, I'm sure folk here would like nothing more than to see you succeed.

Peter

[nicolaasdb]

Hi

Sorry to hear about your selling the A65....to be very honest I have been thinking about it as well...not because of financial reasons (eventhough they can always be better ofcourse)..it is just that my clients don't really care what I shoot with. They book our team for the final output, which is always heavy manipulated and the Canon Ds1 MarkII is a great camera and very close in quality of image output to the Aptus 65.

It is just a large investment...and most of the time a pain in the butt to shoot with (heavy, slow, shitty auto (and only center) focusing. The output is amazing and I personally like the A65 files a little better than the canon files....more film like. But who cares what I like..in the end it is what the client likes because he/she pays the bills.

Keep on marketing yourself...don't give up...because your work is of good quality...it takes years (you mention on your site you are shooting for 30 years) and maybe travel to Europe to get fresh ideas (if this is possible ofcourse) or Capetown over the winter and start shooting fashion and beauty..there will be a lot of foreign models during the winter months.
goodluck

[Terence h]

Hello guys thanks for the replies and support.

It seems that the price i could achieve for a used MFDB is not much, not even settling the outstanding
financing charges after having a good trade in.

So at present i think i will press on and market myself a little more effectively , one gets a bit tired of  the same old movie every year but i suppose that is the reality of being a photographer, it is not always the skills and talent but the ability to market and sell yourself, and in my town have a lot of "friends" in decision making positions.

But at the end of the day it is not only a business for most of us, and i have a lot of ideas for images especially given the people and enviroment i live in. But still do you take a Aptus out into a situation
where crime is a every day reality. Better get the insurance up to date.

What Nicholaas said is another of the reasons i have considered selling, people like the increased speed of 35mm based systems and they do not care to much about the increased quality, which can really wipe the smile off my face when they cannot see what i  see.

Anyway just had a call for a life size poster of a welding machine, exactly where the Aptus shines.

I suppose it is not always a good idea to lay yourself bare like i did yesterday with ones posts available via search engines for many years, or is occasional self doubt expected of photographers.

If i was shooting  fashion i think i would be shooting with the Canon myself.

We will see. what transpires.

Cheers for now.
T