It must have begun as a joke among the upper crust, perhaps in the Hamptons, Palm Beach or along the North Shore around Rockport: If you have to ask how much it is, you can’t afford it.
The phrase usually applies to yachts, and certainly not those little 53-footers, but to sailing vessels with crew members and a smoke stack.
Those luxury yachts are how the storied rich, the other half, wile away their idle days cruising from island to island as the rest of us worry about paying the light bill and stretching the paycheck another week.
Many things nowadays easily fit into that yacht category. Who ever thought cameras would be included?
Last week a friend and I went to the Photo Plus Expo in the Jacob Javitts Center in the Big Apple.
It’s a reality check, if nothing more, for anyone who uses a camera more often than at birthday parties and vacations.
Virtually every camera on display had traits similar to a sports car.
They were faster, sleeker, and could attain feats last year’s models could not.
Yes, it is like a toyshop for grown ups.
After all, who wouldn’t want to grab that high-powered, precision-made digital Hasselblad that could be in your camera bag for a mere $12,995, give or take some change?
The company, in its bid to make it more affordable, thank you, was offering a $2,000 instant rebate, so the camera, a beauty to be sure, would only set you back $10,995.
If that was a bit more than the budget for a camera could allow, there was that digital Leica, the M8 that comes in wonderfully crafted pieces, the body being the basic element at about $5,495.
Since a camera body is useless without a lens, to focus the beam of light, the 50-millimeter lens, a super-fast f/1,4, will add a scant $2,995 to the tally.
Mind you, there are Leica devotees who would no more leave home without a Leica on their person than without clothes to cover their nakedness.
It’s easy to see how, if one were in the yachting upper crust, purchase of either one of those fine photographic instruments would be just a signature away.
Although many lusting photogs were salivating as they got near the Leica and Hasselblad booths, and actually got to touch or handle one of those little light boxes, it made me wonder who could actually afford them.
Companies and heavyweight pros may be potential buyers. Big firms with hefty contracts with Fortune 500 firms that need impeccable photographs are probably ordering their cameras right now.
Having been to prior photo shows, I have mellowed. That old “streetcar named desire” I used to experience on the bus ride home has run out of gas.
It’s like waking up from a dream and reality slaps you in the face. Instead of a glistening new Leica or Hasselblad, in your camera bag there is an aging Canon or Minolta, Yashica or Pentax. It is kind of dusty, has a bang or two on the lens, and yet still takes great photos. As the bumper sticker proclaimed, “It ain’t much, but it’s paid for.”
Admittedly, everything at the photo show could be attained, but would take years to pay off.
Once again, if you had the gall to ask how much something cost, you probably couldn’t afford it.
Those photo shows are like going to a casino. There is no shortage of money, neither is there a drought of people in line to buy. Many would never admit they couldn’t afford those cameras and other gadgets.
Those who take the leap will surely come to understand that; price is forgotten long after the quality has been realized.