Unless you've got a great deal of disposable income lying around impulse buying photographic equipment is a non starter...on the other hand if anyone wants to give in to their impulses and buy me some equipment I'll have a 35mm f/1.4G thanks.

Most thing with Nikon written on them I reckon....

Maybe my latest aquisition - a D90 when I already have the D5000. Already I can see features on the D5000 I'll miss when it goes :^(

My D700/14-24 2.8 combo was my most extravagant.

Probably my Hasselblad 500EL/M, I was staying up late at school writing a paper for one of my classes along with my girlfriend, and I was very amped up on about 6 cups of coffee and decided it would be a good time to finally get a Hasselblad. Granted it wasn't a terribly expensive purchase, but even so...

warprints said:
I'm with those of you who have long lists and do extensive research before buying - which in a way is usually on impulse, because I'll just suddenly whip out the computer and place an order - not like I'm telling myself ... when I have $1500, I'll buy that new lens. I've got the $1500, it's just that there are soooo many things, and just spur of the moment, I pick one thing and order it. Most of my purchases are like that.

Same, I spent a long time looking at the D40, it'll serve me for a long time from now, long as the shutter holds out.

d3s - I was planning to get this camera one day in the future, but ended up sooner than later :) - and I don't regret

Long lists and extensive research is the only way to avoid buying dud equipment.

I've got most of what I want, I have great cameras, great lenses and great supporting equipment. I know that when it comes time to get the image - excepting something extraordinary, I'll nail the image. That's a nice feeling to have complete confidence in your camera equipment, that it'll work even in nasty conditions.

I'm with those of you who have long lists and do extensive research before buying - which in a way is usually on impulse, because I'll just suddenly whip out the computer and place an order - not like I'm telling myself ... when I have $1500, I'll buy that new lens. I've got the $1500, it's just that there are soooo many things, and just spur of the moment, I pick one thing and order it. Most of my purchases are like that.

The D40. It was an impulse buy, yet the best piece of technology I've ever owned. (Until I get my hands on the D800, of course.)

Nikon 10.5mm 2.8f fisheye. We were in the "big city" loading up at a large camera store and the credit card was already slammed to about $4k and my wife and I looked at each other and said, meh, why not?!

Also, having a shooting partner/wife as excited about buying gear makes both for exciting purchases, as well as a scary tendency to rack up bills buying "stuff!"

1) The 12-24 F4 nikkor.. I told my wife it was for her real estate business ;-)

2) The 35-70 F2.8 .. Found it gathering dust in a corner of a shop... got a great deal for it.. == $80 USD!

You say you had been thinking of buying it for a while, so strictly speaking you can't include it here, but anyone who drops Aus$10,000 on an item without specifically going out to do so, I think deserves to be cut some slack:-). Yes, I bet that was not a box you could have hidden!

Probably the 200-400mm Zoom-Nikkor at nearly AUD$10,000. I had another lens that could suffice, but I could afford it and thought it might be useful, so that was that. Walked back to work with this enormous brown box - and dead arms by the time I got back. Very bulky box, that one.

I'd been thinking of getting that lens for a long time, but a few things pushed me to get it. The absence of a Sigma lens that went missing for a long time due to service (it sat in a warehouse for ages before being shipped for service) was one of those reasons. When the Sigma came back, I traded it in on a 24-70mm F/2.8G Zoom-Nikkor. Best lens ever!

man-agog said:
Totally True. It is a kind of ridiculous looking combo but I've hardly used any of my other lenses since I bought it over a year ago. Also, it gives me a great excuse to impulsively break down and go full frame some day.;)

Haha, that's awesome. Hey, it's an AF-S lens, it would work right?

I'm saving up for a 105mm 2.8, that too will be paired with a D40. :D

jonnyapple said:
I love it. Is this true?

I can't think of any photography-related impulse buys. I usually have such a long wish list that any money I have goes to something pretty well-researched.

Totally True. It is a kind of ridiculous looking combo but I've hardly used any of my other lenses since I bought it over a year ago. Also, it gives me a great excuse to impulsively break down and go full frame some day.;)

70-200mm VR II, after playing with a friend's. Definitely the nicest piece of glass I've every owned, and worth the steep price tag even though I'm only an amateur and won't make any money from the lens.

My first was my F5 that I got for myself for my birthday and the second was my 28-70mm 2.8 lens.

Knowledge still doesn't mean that impulse goes... I knew about the paper specs of the 300 f2.8 before I ever owned one but then I made the mistake of trying it...

Gareth said:
this site is hardly going to turn up amazing impulses. the nature of the whole site is to research, therefore, anyone who follows the site is likely to know just about everything that is available.

What about the people who made them before they discovered this site? One or Two who made purchases before there was an internet! You know who you are :-)

Now that would make an interesting sub question, "how much less likely in the age of the Internet, is it that anyone makes a snap decision to buy anything?". Are we all so clued up that impulse buying today is a thing of the past? How many of us actually go to a shop today and physically see/handle the things we buy, as opposed to buying them based purely on research and peer recommendation? As I said earlier, I'm not an impulse buyer, but I frequently buy things that I've never seen based purely on their test results. Like the 85mm lens I'm waiting for, never even held one, but have parted with nearly £1300 for it. Am I mad?

Easy answer for me, my Leica M9 that I have loved so much these past 3 months :)

Nikon has a lot of my money as well especially the past 3 years..

I think the biggest impulse buy I have made was getting CPL filer, which I hardly ever use.

yuppie

this site is hardly going to turn up amazing impulses. the nature of the whole site is to research, therefore, anyone who follows the site is likely to know just about everything that is available.

you might make a thread on http://www.imaleicayuppy.com

jonnyapple said:
I love it. Is this true?

I can't think of any photography-related impulse buys. I usually have such a long wish list that any money I have goes to something pretty well-researched.

I guess my 35mm 1.8 was an impulse buy too- the lens was so cheap and I wanted fast glass.

Simple enough.

man-agog said:
14-24 to accompany my D40.

I love it. Is this true?

I can't think of any photography-related impulse buys. I usually have such a long wish list that any money I have goes to something pretty well-researched.