Prime lens or cellphone?

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Which one should I get first?! I want to buy them both, but the budget constraint (I'm finally saving up this year, since the car has been fully paid) allows me to get only one this year... and that means I have to choose the one I needed more.

Choice #1: The prime lens

The lens I'm looking at is the 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor glass; it's supposed to be better at portraits, and more suited for no-flash-allowed low-light photography. Since I tend to take pictures at night or indoors, I have noticed that I'd always get blurry shots in low-light, no-flash conditions. A few nights of online researching, a discussion with my brother, and an interview with a camera supplies person in Makati, convinced me that to get crisp pictures at night, I need to use a faster lens than the one supplied with my camera.

Choice #2: The mobile phone

The mobile phone I'm currently using (courtesy of Ate Maddie) is a dual-band phone, very simple and inconspicuous enough for everyday use. However, past experience tells me that I need at least a tri-band phone with some CDMA connectivity.

Choice #3: Save up

Then before even having enough money to position myself into buying either of the two items, the logical side of me kicks in: I do have a new and decent piece of glass, and my phone works, so why get something that isn't really an immediate need? It is a more prudent choice to invest in an instrument that has compounding interest, and/or in mid-term fixed-income instruments. With the current state of the market, financial security should be my first priority (after three years of having nothing saved - because of my car loan - I need to catch up!).

Summing all these, I guess I would be buying the lens OR the mobile phone next year. *sigh*

Comments

  1. j rMarch 10, 2009 at 7:02 PM

    my logical mind would really feel like telling you to save up..

    "pero kung hinde ka rin naman makakatulog sa gabi..you know how it is when you just stare at the ceiling- thinking about how "50mm f/1.8 Nikkor glass" could better your portrait blah blah...

    give in to temptation. hihi!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carlo CuevasMarch 10, 2009 at 11:36 PM

    i think you should buy a manual early prime lens which is very cheap then buy my iphone. because i badly want the 3G ones..

    ReplyDelete
  3. noah-angela pagdangananMarch 11, 2009 at 2:52 AM

    i would go for choice #3. hahaha... wag kang makinig sakin, gastadora ako.

    ReplyDelete
  4. rochie cuevasMarch 11, 2009 at 8:20 AM

    thanks for the comments y'all! i'm leaning towards saving up first. :D

    bibs, the nikkor lens is manual, which isn't very cheap here (it costs as much as the phone i want to get!). how much is your iphone :D haha! big sister discount ha! hehe

    julie, i can still sleep at night even without buying the lens. hehe. thank goodness! i just have to settle, in the meantime, towards how to get away with blurred shots. sigh

    noan, haha! i won't yield to your bugging me to buy either one! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Francesca ZosaMarch 16, 2009 at 5:35 AM

    its best to save up coz you just have been free from your car loan
    maybe you could save this year and when you have already saved then when you have sufficient savings you could spend now for the things you want coz both are not that important and of little value, those things doesn't gain value through time but rather looses its value since every after 3 or less months a new model comes in the market, product development always moves fast in due time you'd be able to see a better model than your current liking ^_~

    ReplyDelete

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