Here's a somewhat wordy Friday post.
I suppose there are hundreds of thousands of others like me in the U.S. who always are on the lookout for some new item of "gear" or a new technological marvel. Whenever something new is developed for retail, it does not take too long afterwards for other manufacturers to copy the original and offer it at less cost to the buyer. The issue then becomes, buy the original item for more, knowing it's well built and reliable, or get something identical as advertised but from a lesser known manufacturer you know little about, but at far less cost.
Yesterday I was faced with such a situation. Next month my wife and I are taking a trip to Northern Arizona for two weeks. My cameras will obviously go along, given all there is to see and photograph in that beautiful part of the Southwest. However, many of my photographs will probably be taken during sunrise and sunset, so as to offer better lighting possibilities. Shots like those require longer exposures and therefore a good camera tripod will be needed. The one I have is, well, not that good, and it's darn heavy to lug around. So, I decided it's time to get a new, lighter model. The better brands that meet my needs are somewhat costly, but "cost" sometime equates to what you can afford. Still, being sort of stingy with my money at times, I was drawn to bargain brands (made in China) that are exactly the same capability-wise as the more costly versions, but cost less than half of the original, better known brands.
At first, my fingers hovered over the "buy" button for a cheaper but supposedly equally capable tripod model on my online photo equipment retailer's website B&H Photo, but I chickened out at the last minute. Hours later, I went back and looked at tripod models I knew about and trusted and finally pushed the buy button for one of those, thereby paying twice as much, but having more confidence what I was going to get would meet my long term expectations.
I'm fortunate to be able to elect to spend more for something, given I'm able to afford to do so. Others are not so fortunate. Many times, both of us get satisfaction from our purchase and reliability is not a factor. But, I recall the time my wife went TDY to Korea on a business trip (she worked for the government) and she bought me a pair of the top-of-the-line New Balance running shoes from a street vendor at about one-quarter of the PX cost. They looked identical. Until my first AM run, when they got wet, and the poorly glued soles fell off, exposing cardboard beneath. Lesson learned.
