The Pub Meal - Olympus Counter Special

Anyone who has eaten at a Perth pub has noticed that there are generally three things on the menu: a dish that is so expensive that it makes the rest of the stuff look affordable…a dish that is so cheap that you know it is going to taste bad…and everything else in between. If you are wise enough not to order fish surprise on Monday or vegan-free gluten salad at any other time you should be able to get along pretty well. If the price of a pint is the same price as filling your car’s fuel tank, drink petrol. Same goes with cameras and lenses. You can glance over the wildly foolish shelves to start with and marvel at the temerity of the manufacturer. Then you can look at the goods that are so down-market as to be subterranean. Then you can shift to the sensibly-priced section and actually get down to business. We all do this and the business gets down... But what does the reconditioned camera or lens bring to this? In real terms, what are the savings going to be? Well, barring a Lotto win or the delivery of your Nigerian legacy, the money you save on the reconditioned camera way well be the difference between you getting into good photography and you just footling around the edges. Take the star of this week - the Olympus OM-D E-M10 with the 12-50mm macro zoom. From the price sticker in the window of the Murray Street shop it would appear that you can walk away with this warranted bargain set for $ 594. It will be a still, video, portrait, tourist, studio, macro camera for that price and the results may well beat goods that are 2 to 3 times more expensive. I’ve proved it to myself in my own studio and I can see where it may well be the same for many others. I am talking to wildflower shooters, tabletop shooters, small-product shooters, family shooters, travel shooters. I guess it is mainly people who are not trying to pretend to be professionals and not trying to impress others with the size of their equipment - but who appreciate results. The ones who wear clothing for more than one season and drive cars for more than one year. The ones who order the small porterhouse and enjoy it instead of the $ 50 prime cut impressive hunk of prestige on a plate. Frugal? Cheap? Saving? Choose your own words, but consider that the money saved by the first-time buyer who elects to do it with a reconditioned Olympus can be put toward a carry case, a tripod, memory cards, a flash, etc. It can be put towards a trip to go out to where they keep the wildflowers or the landscapes. With a bit of luck the Perth prices may not have permeated out as far as the country pubs…