I've recently been buying quite a lot of new kit (much of it chosen after reading opinions on this site, for which I am very grateful) after several years without buying anything. I always subscribed to the idea that “you only get what you pay for” but now I'm rethinking this. In some cases, at least, it seems one can now get very good kit for relatively low prices. Value for money has never been better. One example concerns the Sigma 150 – 600 mm lenses, already very popular and nobody seems to have a bad word to say against them. Another concerns flash guns. Like many people I now have Yongnuo which give the same functionality as the Canon equivalents at a fraction of the price, while my new ring flash also has full TTL etc at a lower price than I paid for a purely manual one 25 years ago.
Much of this is obviously down to China. True, you can still get very cheap rubbish from there, but they seem to be increasingly able to also produce quality products at a good price.
I'm wondering what people think of this. Are there other things that can be found at good prices but with decent quality? Conversely, are there items where one really has to pay to get quality? What about filters, such as polarisers and grey grads? Do all the cheaper ones give colour casts, for example?
Much of this is obviously down to China. True, you can still get very cheap rubbish from there, but they seem to be increasingly able to also produce quality products at a good price.
I'm wondering what people think of this. Are there other things that can be found at good prices but with decent quality? Conversely, are there items where one really has to pay to get quality? What about filters, such as polarisers and grey grads? Do all the cheaper ones give colour casts, for example?
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