Haggling for light

Someone from our office was selling his Yongnuo 460 II for P2,500, with rechargeable batteries and a charger. Knowing the fact that the YN 460 II is a good manual external flash, I nearly grabbed the offer. I said I have to test it with my camera first. I also asked if he can lower the price. He said yes to P2,300, and I said I will check; I made a little price research after that conversation. When I got home, I immediately checked the flash's compatibility with my camera, it worked very well with all the functions working smoothly and as expected. Before I went to sleep, I charged the batteries, when I woke up the charger is still lit on red, isn't it supposed to be on green? That was after 6 hours of sleep, nothing happened to the batteries. I figured that there is something wrong with either the charger or the batteries. Back at work, I talked to my officemate and asked if I can buy it for P1,500 because the batteries are not working, he said it's too low and offered me P2,000, I said P1,700, he offered P1,900, I said I have P1,800 right now. He said "sold". I handed him the money and returned the batteries and charger. I now have the YN 460 II for a dirt cheap price and just 3 months used. I had a great bargain!

The price I bought the external flash was great, with the coming expenses of spending for additional equipment like:

1.) Light stand
2.) Flash diffuser
3.) Umbrella/s
4.) Soft box
5.) Reflector
6.) Snoot
7.) Grid
8.) Remote Trigger
9.) Extra rechargeable batteries

All of those for the art of photography.

Reviews and photographs to follow.

My Top 10s: Essential Photography Gear for Beginners

The image above was first posted here

Here are some not so expensive items you may want to purchase when you just had your first DSLR body:
1.) Pop-up flash diffusers - So you can practice diffusing the light of your camera's built in flash. You have to learn this first before you buy an external flash, those are powerful lights are expensive.  These diffusers are very useful in softening the light whenever you need it. It comes in three colors. White for just a soft white light, Yellow for that warm look, blue for coldness.

2.) Blower - To get rid of those dusts from your camera body's tight spots and crevices as well as from the lens. I had this incident when I don't have a blower yet... There was a speck of dust on my kit lens and I blew it away, with droplets of saliva included. Good thing the droplets were wiped away by #3

3.) Lens cleaner cloth/LCD cleaner cloth - Very important

4.) Remote - For self portraits and so you (the photographer) can get in the picture too!

5.) Tripod - Very important. For those light streaks at night, self portraits, so you can get yourself in the shot with the use of a remote, for night photography, and in low lighting conditions where a still camera is very essential to prevent camera shake.

6.) A very discreet camera bag: here are some brands...

• Crumpler - Very unique and fun designs, very expensive prices.
• Lowepro - They have a very wide range of bags for every photographer's need as well as the number of equipment. Prices are not as expensive as Crumpler's, but these bags are very durable and reliable.  

      Mine's a Lowepro Fastpack 200

7.) Lenspen - To clean your precious lenses the right way!

8.) Drybox - To properly store your camera and lenses as well as other photography equipment. Alternative to a drybox is a big plastic container with lots of #9.

9.) Silica Gel packs - To keep moisture out. There is an electric version of this stuff.

10.) Extra memory cards - Just in case.