Friday, October 22, 2010

On Order

Well I have finally accumulated enough pennies in my savings account to order the Nikon D7000 DSLR camera that hit the stores on October 17th.  However, every store is sold out and every online store is on backorder.  It appears as though Nikon has released the camera with lens kit first, which I already have lenses.  So I ordered the body only at a discount since one can buy the 18-105 lens it comes with in the kit cheaper as a seperate piece, doesn't make much sense.  Since the body only will be released a couple weeks later than the kit I am looking at an early November delivery date, worth the wait.  It could be worse, Amazon has noted that they have 1,000's of customers on backorder and I have found a site that has 12 on order with a 2 week delivery date to them but I am number 3 on the preorder list.  To top it off, Abt electronics took $25 off of the price since the item is not in stock, great company to work with.

Furthermore, I was able to save another $30 off of the extended warranty to cover the camera from everything ranging from dropping it in a lake to smashing it somehow.  Such insurance for 3 years would cost anywhere from $249 at Bestbuy to $300 else where but square trade has a great reputation and price for coverage that is equal to their competitors.  By looking for a discount at retailmenot.com I was able to get a coupon code saving me 30% off of the insurance cost bringing the total to $179 to fully cover a $1,199 camera with yearly cleanings as well.  However, if you were to buy the insurance through the retailer you bought the product from you cannot get the discount.  It was cheaper to bypass the retailer and go directly to the source, the insurance company in this case.  Square Trade pays a commission to stores to sell their products, by buying directly from them that savings is passed down to the consumer.

I'm sure it's obvious by now that I am quite happy with all of the money I saved by spending a little time researching the interenet.  So all together I saved $50 off of the lens, $25 off of the camera and $30 off of the insurance bringing my total savings to $105 plus what I didn't spend in taxes, $101.43 since I did pay taxes on the insurance policy.  At the end of the day I saved $206.43 and even got a bonus with the lens I bought on ebay since the seller included 3 filters that would've cost me $149 for the polarized filter alone if I was to buy it new.  Since they are used filters I looked up what they were going for online and came up with a figure of $115 for all 3, truly a nice bonus for a grand total savings of $321.43.

So now one can understand why I get a lot of requests from friends and family to research everything from flights to figurines for them.  Some would call this being a researchaholic but I attribute it to the fact that I am just cheap and want to rest assured I got the best product for my money at the best price.

I hope everyone learned a little from this since much can be taken from the above text.  First, save your money, it is better to pay cash than to use credit.  Although, I did use my Airtran credit card to get air mile points since I know I have the cash in hand to pay it off when I get the bill.  Second, patience pays off, if I would've been spontaneous and ordered through Amazon like everyone else I would've spent $25 more and been waiting for the camera longer.  Third, do your research, with all of the cameras, lenses and coverages out there one could easily get lost, frustrated and get taken advantage of so do your due dilligence and don't be afraid to ask for a discount.  Last but not least, do not have buyers remorse, you've worked hard and deserve whatever it is you're buying so click BUY and enjoy the fruits of your labor now that the thrill of the hunt has passed.

This is a photo of the Nikon D7000, isn't she a beauty......

Friday, October 1, 2010

Transition into Fall and beyond

Today is October 1st, I can't believe it but more so because I turn another year older this month, 34.  It's amazing how we mature, some faster than others but time eventually matures us all.  This year has been a big year of maturing on many levels for me ranging from my spiritual walk to my artistic ventures.  At the end of the month I will face one of my biggest artistic challenges to date, the Sarasota Chalk Festival where I will one of the many artists creating art with chalk in front of many spectators over 2 days.  I will put a link below for those of you who are interested but it has grown into an amazing event if you have never made it out to see it. 

In addition to this I will be meeting with a potential client to showcase and capture her beautiful custom carpenrty work.  I have an amazing feeling about this for many reasons from helping another artist share their one of a kind creations to the doors this would open for me by adding this to my portfolio of work performed.  So say a little prayer that this job works out and that I create exactly what she has in mind for her work and that it allows opportunities that weren't possible before in this field of photography. 

I apologize for the time lapse, blogs can be like any other task an artist takes on.  Artists are notorious for a variety of artist blocks in all fields but it's how our minds work.  I wouldn't change the way this mind of mine is wired for anything because without it I would not be who I am today so you just have to smile and learn to love me for the way mind is designed.  Until the next time I look forward to continuing to open doors and fuel my artistic fire as I prepare to get the new Nikon D7000 by the end of the month, take care and enjoy all the beauty Fall brings with it & even some pumpkin pie.

http://www.chalkfestival.com/