Drought?

Weather or blogposts?  Well since most of the UK has been declared to be in drought it appears to not have stopped raining.  Our river levels in Stratford are now well up and as I type this there is an absolute deluge coming down.

On the blog, as I mentioned when I last blogged a week and a half ago we would be cutting back and so it has been a drought on that front too.  It has been quite a lift of a mental weight in some respects.  Blogging even every other day is a big time commitment and so when you dont 'have' to do it, then it is quite a lift.

I have had a successful spring sale on kit with everything that I have looked to sell going for pretty much the expected prices, except for the 7D where I have been dicked about by the winning bidder but will relist soon.

So Canon users, I have mentioned before and I can confirm my theory was true in respect of the Canon big lenses.

Both the 300f2.8 and 500f4 proved amazingly popular, judging by the number of those watching and bidding.

Having bought the lenses before Canon gave all these lenses a 20% price whack a few years ago and with the current lack of Mark2's available and no new Mark 1's left, the only option if folks need one is second hand.  I got a decent amount more than I paid for each of those lenses as I expected I would so if you are thinking about selling/making the switch to Nikon etc, now really is the time.

I learned through the process that nearly all of those that Ask to 'Buy it now' within a few hours of the item being listed are just chancers.  In each case I asked the questioner what they were prepared to offer, after they asked me what price they were prepared to offer rather than me answer their quetion.  With a single exception, they generally came back with an offer of about 50% of what I knew it would sell for, so I politely suggested that they put that on as a bid, and if it was worth that little then they would win.

The funny thing is, in every case, not a single one of these even put a bid in.

Favourite question on the camera body was what is the shutter count and was it a UK or  overseas internet sale, so if you get to sell a camera body, put that information on your listing, it will save you having to answer it later on, even if they never bid.

If selling anything over £1000 then check out the insurance cover.  Royal Mail Special delivery next day was generally my preferred delivery method, but that only insures the item for £1000.  

My 500f4, weighing in at over 20Kg once boxed with all if its gear, fell into that criteria, so I marked it for collection or buyers arranges collection.  The courier cost was almost £100 but the buyer arranged that, but depending on how far it has to go, you may want to think about putting some flexibility in your listing.

So I now find myself in a position that I have not been in for over seventeen years, and that is not having a lens longer that 200mm.  I am not sure how long that will last, but keep watching this space as to what I may or may not do when it comes to kit.  I will not be rushing into any deicisions about either the D800 or 5Dmk3.  In each case, the mantra of letting the early full price payers do the beta testing continues to be proved.

On the wildlife front, I have not been at all active but I did see my first Swallow today, which doesnt make it summer, obviously.  In the pond here, the tadpoles are progressing at a great pace.  After being slow to get off the mark, they are showing rapid growth now and it will not be too long before we start to see 'legs'.

So finally, many thanks for the kind comments of those of you who replied recently about the announcement of less blogging.  We are grateful and your kind words make the previous hard work valued to us.

Until next time

Martin