In Local News: June 2005 Archives
Though it was, by all accounts, cold, overcast and sometimes windy, a couple of hours were taken out of my working week yesterday when friends drove some two hundred and fifty [thousand] miles over to Cambridge to have a barbecue with me. In some respects, I feel guilty for taking time away from the work I have to do for my thesis, but then overdoing it is a very real possibility, and everyone is entitled to relax every here and there. Especially when four or five people are taking time out their day to do it with you. Hot coals, delectable munchies and a troop of hungry loved ones does plenty to dispel all sorts of grey.
On the camera front, I was asked yesterday (via email) how a student could afford the hefty price tag of Canon's EOS 10D (originally £1275 ex. VAT). There's only one answer: eBay!
In July 2004, I learned that the model was to be superseded by the most luscious EOS 20D come August; I figured that some professionals would be selling off their "outdated equipment" (it's so sinful), so I sold an ancient SLR body to raise capital, ate cornflakes and endured scurvy for two months, taught some extra developmental biology classes to undergraduates, and then sat at my computer waiting for something to happen.
Within two weeks of the 20D coming out, there were dozens of 10D bodies on eBay at shocking prices; I got mine for less than the more recent, non-professional EOS 300D (itself superseded by the new entry level 350D - mrrow!) still sells for on eBay when second-hand, despite its being a more rugged camera (magnesium alloy versus aluminium-plastic body), if functionally similar. Savings: greater than £725, and the seller threw in extra parts when he discovered I was a student - I finally came to understand the true value of market research and cutting-edge professionals with a heart.
