this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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That one is just plain truth though. I’ve got a few hobbies like photography, watchmaking, gaming, knives… The cheapest options are never good.
You should always buy more than you think you need at that time. Because if you do grow in that hobby, you won’t be limited right out of the gate.
You just wouldn’t enjoy playing the cheapest guitar, painting with the cheapest paints or cursing the cheapest woodworking tools.
I’ve always bought better stuff than I needed and have never regretted doing so.
As a counter example, I bought a $100 camera from a pharmacy when I was 15 that took low to mid quality photos and I was so happy with it. I learned about focus, bokeh, framing, etc despite having like 6 preset settings, and that got me into photography. Later I bought a low end DSLR and took 1000 pictures a day during the summer.
For wood carving a $60 set of knives was enough to get me into the hobby, now I get to spend too much money on stuff.
Cheap options can be very helpful to find out if you like something.
There is some minimum that seems to work well enough in a lot of hobbies. Can't always go for the cheapest, but you may not have to go that high, either.
Amateur astronomers tend to hate on Walmart telescopes, and there are reasons for that. Still, the optics in any of them are better than Galileo had, and he saw a lot (admittedly, he also didn't have a hopelessly light polluted sky). It's a matter of setting expectations.
A $25 Baofang can get you into amateur radio after getting your technician license. There's even a version now that doesn't spew spurious emissions on harmonic frequencies and fuck things up for everyone else.
I once traded a somewhat older GPU for a fretless bass, amp, and effect pedal. The guy had just moved, his GPU died, and seemed like he wanted to get rid of some of his stash. While that was an exception, there's probably some guitar guy in your city that wants to clear some stuff out and is willing to make a deal.
I started off with a Canon Digital Ixus as the first ‘real’ camera that I bought. Absolutely adored it. A full metal build and about the size of a cigarette packet. I took it everywhere and shot a few vacations on it.
But it honestly wasn’t until I got my Canon EOS 350D that I could actually attempt to really learn photography. Because now I could use manual settings, learn how to use them, use filters, try new techniques, get more creative, etc.
When I needed to invest in something like a flash, tripod or lens I always applied the same thinking: buy it so it can grow with you. Of course, eventually we got full circle and I ended up back at analog photography developing B&W Minox film in my kitchen :D
Anyways, I’ve never regretted buying better, but I’ve definitely regretted cheaping out. So I don’t if I can avoid it.
Because I take on a new hobby like every five years, and sometimes give up before then, I generally recommend for people like me that you start out with the cheapest possible option and work your way up from there.
But my biggest hobbies are art, writing, fancy writing, preserves, baking, and game dev, so they don't rely require much in the form of materials