Costs per Click!

ChatKat

Did you know what it costs you every time you click your shutter?

I spoke at the SmugMug User's Group on Thursday and people were astonished when I told them! My goal when I was speaking was to make people realize what it really costs to be a professional photographer and to teach photographers how to be business people.

A $1000 camera - no lens - costs about a penny for the shutter click
a $3000 camera - no lens -about three cents each
a $7500 camera - no lens - about 7.5 cents

Adding a lens adds another 2 cents on average to that cost.

Adding to the cost per click:
Your memory cards
Your computer
Your lighting - flash, modifiers, bulbs, batteries etc.
Your software
Your Internet
Your webhost and website
Your insurance (yes - you need it!)
Your supplies - lens cleaner, pec pads, case, straps, filters
Your time - to shoot, process and to learn how to do it
Your auto expenses - gas, insurance, maintenance - at least $0.50 per mile or more to get to the location

If you thing you are shooting for free for portfolio - you are paying to shoot it.

Cygnus Studios

ChatKat wrote:

Did you know what it costs you every time you click your shutter?

A $1000 camera - no lens - costs about a penny for the shutter click
a $3000 camera - no lens -about three cents each
a $7500 camera - no lens - about 7.5 cents

While I totally agree with your concept, your generic price per click does not add up (body replacement). Either that or it would help if you explained your math.

A D3 was $5000, with an average shutter rate of 300,000. That is roughly .016 cents per click, not the 5 cents per click that your math would indicate.

ChatKat

Average Use is 100,000 clicks
My research says the average camera needs a shutter replacement at 50,000 to 100,000 clicks.

I used a conservative number but many photographers replace their bodies long before and often make those cameras a backup body. A part of my goal to educate photographers on taking care of business is to make them think about things like how to calculate a cost of their product.

mercphoto

Cygnus Studios wrote:

While I totally agree with your concept, your generic price per click does not add up (body replacement). Either that or it would help if you explained your math.

A D3 was $5000, with an average shutter rate of 300,000. That is roughly .016 cents per click, not the 5 cents per click that your math would indicate.

Your math is wrong too. Should be 1.6 cents per click, not 0.16 cents per click.

Snowgirl

Regardless of the math - ChatKat's point about the cost of doing business is valid. Many people don't even CONSIDER that they're spending money every time they take the lens cap off!

If it's your hobby - great. If you want to make it your business, then a more hardened approach based on cost recovery plus profit is quite legitimate as a starting point. At least it gets one thinking, n'est-ce pas?

Art Scott

Cygnus Studios wrote:

While I totally agree with your concept, your generic price per click does not add up (body replacement). Either that or it would help if you explained your math.

A D3 was $5000, with an average shutter rate of 300,000. That is roughly .016 cents per click, not the 5 cents per click that your math would indicate.

mercphoto wrote:

Your math is wrong too. Should be 1.6 cents per click, not 0.16 cents per click.

look closely and you'll see it is .016
and that =1.6 cents

mercphoto

Art Scott wrote:

look closely and you'll see it is .016
and that =1.6 cents

No, that's not what the guy said. Look closely. He said "That is roughly .016 cents per click". There is a big difference between .016 cents and .016 dollars.

Art Scott

mercphoto wrote:

No, that's not what the guy said. Look closely. He said "That is roughly .016 cents per click". There is a big difference between .016 cents and .016 dollars.

Alright......I interpeted it incorrectly.....gotta quit multi taskingroflrofl

Cygnus Studios

mercphoto wrote:

No, that's not what the guy said. Look closely. He said "That is roughly .016 cents per click". There is a big difference between .016 cents and .016 dollars.

The proper way to write it is .016 cents. However, if you will go back and notice, I started with I totally agree with the concept of the original post.

Any business person should calculate the costs of operating a business, and that includes replacement costs, and upgrading items. However, the math still does not add up.

When it is time for me to replace my current line up of bodies, the original cost has nothing to do with it. The new lineup will not be based on the past price of equipment. Will the D4 or D5 be in line with the price that I paid for the D3? Will the DL29 or DL30 be in price with the cost of the DL28? While I have to factor in the $5000 and $15000 price tags currently, they are in no way a factor to future replacements or upgrades.

A better way would be to suggest that a photographer set aside a dollar amount per job for replacements or upgrades. This would be above and beyond the calculations for profit.

The original math offered sounds more like depreciation of equipment vs the costs of replacing.

mercphoto

Cygnus Studios wrote:

The proper way to write it is .016 cents.

Seriously? Its not 1.6 cents? Very odd. Mathematically its wrong.

aaronbrown

mercphoto wrote:

Seriously? Its not 1.6 cents? Very odd. Mathematically its wrong.

Art was correct. Steve started in units of dollars, but didn't convert to units of cents.

5,000 dollars divided by 300,000 clicks = 0.016 dollars
0.016 dollars x 100 cents / per 1 dollar = 1.6 cents

just as

1 dollar divided by 2 clicks = 0.5 dollars
0.5 dollars x 100 cents / per 1 dollar = 50 cents

Incorrect units aside, I do agree with Steve's idea of assigning a dollar amount per job for replacements or upgrades instead of averaging what your camera may or may not yield, as well as having to guestimate how much you will spend to replace it.

Snowgirl

John Harrington's book, Best Business Practices for Photographers, includes a replacement factor in the calculations. That's GOT to be the best book if you are serious about running a business - ANY business.

ChatKat

Clicks!
I would not want to be shooting a wedding - a once in a life time event (hopefully) with a camera that's got 300,000 clicks on it. It'd be like driving a beater car cross country and hoping that it doesn't die halfway through.

Ekaj

That is assuming you should just throw your camera out once the shutter goes. And how exactly does the lens wear out?

Cygnus Studios

However you wish to write the cents is fine with me.

Here is how I figure the costs of operating the business.

I will replace my current lineup of bodies every 2 years, factoring in 1 repair for each body during that time.

I currently use 4 bodies. (2) Nikon D3 and (2) Mamiya DL28

I currently use (as main lenses) (4) Nikkor (2) Mamiya

I currently have (as backups) (12) for Nikon (3) for Mamiya

I add 1 backup lens for each main lens every 3 years.

The initial cost of opening the business required me to back up everything, so that I am not hindered by accidents or equipment failures.

If I take care of my glass, and routinely send them back in for service every 2 years, they will last quite some time.

Adding backups is key to increasing the life cycle of the business.

At the end of the body life cycle (2 years) the original bodies will be sold/traded offsetting the costs of replacements.

There can only be a guess as to the value of the used equipment, but I have figured 50%.

The key is knowing (or estimating) the costs for upgrades/replacements and figuring out how to get that money.

Since I know that I will be replacing every 2 years, I need to estimate those costs divided by the number of assignments/jobs that I accept during that time.

The math is simple. Cost divided by the number of jobs = amount needed for replacement.

If you stagger your main and backups every other year, you can essentially extend the life cycle to replacement from 2 years to 3 years. (depending on how busy you are).

For the amateur who is not averaging 200 clicks per day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year, their replacement/upgrade costs are deferred over a longer period of time. (Taking into account proper care for their equipment).

Servicing your equipment is considerably cheaper than replacing. Regular cleaning and inspection will extend the life for the casual user.

There is simply no way to put a price per click, whether that figure is 1 cent, 10 cents, or a dollar. Since your costs are fixed (to a point), it will depend on the amount of work you get to determine your costs of using the equipment. Whether you use your camera a little or a lot has no effect on the new replacement cost. If you have properly maintained and serviced your camera the number of clicks will have little effect on the resale value also.

aaronbrown

Ekaj wrote:

That is assuming you should just throw your camera out once the shutter goes. And how exactly does the lens wear out?

Every time you focus and / or zoom. Those are moving parts inside wearing out from friction.

aaronbrown

Cygnus Studios wrote:

However you wish to write the cents is fine with me.

Well, since you started in this thread by offering a larger average of clicks to the OP's formula for click-cost, you should at least acknowledge that insisting poor math

Cygnus Studios wrote:

The proper way to write it is .016 cents.

shouldn't be fine with anyone. Trivializing dollars and cents may discredit any further business advice you have to offer in the eyes of those reading, here, especially with newbies like me. This is a perfect example of why photographers do not always make the best accountants... except maybe for Kathy.

Cygnus Studios wrote:

There is simply no way to put a price per click, whether that figure is 1 cent, 10 cents, or a dollar. Since your costs are fixed (to a point), it will depend on the amount of work you get to determine your costs of using the equipment. Whether you use your camera a little or a lot has no effect on the new replacement cost. If you have properly maintained and serviced your camera the number of clicks will have little effect on the resale value also.

I agree that costs are fixed. People have already purchased their camera and spent the money (unless they obtained their camera through credit, and then they would need to calculate in interest rates on top of the purchase price), but the OP never referred to replacement cost -- just a way to calculate how much you've paid for each click you take. If you only take one click with your camera, then it's equal to the total amount you paid. If you take two, it's halved. And so on.

ChatKat

Pricing your product
The whole idea of the thread is to make people think.

@ Cygnus - yes - you are correct about replacement of gear in that you can sell it to fund the purchase of new equipment; More frequently than not, people keep the old and acquire new stuff. Maybe by your post, people will see that it could be worthwhile to do that I assume that every 18 months to two years, I will get a new "main" body and and my main body will become my 2nd body. My husband shoots as a hobbyist and he gets a new camera every 3 years s his camera becomes another backup. We don't sell our stuff. we just keep it as backup and we alternate the older cameras as 2nd camera sometimes.

@Aaron: You are right - if we are going to have this be a math place, our decimal points should be in the right place. And frequently, math skills elude many photographers. Yes, I am an accountant by trade.

It's ok to disagree about the shutter click/replacement. The thing is people are reading this and they are thinking about the cost of shooting.

Next, we can tackle being business people.

Gary Peterson Photography

Lol..

ChatKat wrote:

The whole idea of the thread is to make people think.

@ Cygnus - yes - you are correct about replacement of gear in that you can sell it to fund the purchase of new equipment; More frequently than not, people keep the old and acquire new stuff. Maybe by your post, people will see that it could be worthwhile to do that I assume that every 18 months to two years, I will get a new "main" body and and my main body will become my 2nd body. My husband shoots as a hobbyist and he gets a new camera every 3 years s his camera becomes another backup. We don't sell our stuff. we just keep it as backup and we alternate the older cameras as 2nd camera sometimes.

@Aaron: You are right - if we are going to have this be a math place, our decimal points should be in the right place. And frequently, math skills elude many photographers. Yes, I am an accountant by trade.

It's ok to disagree about the shutter click/replacement. The thing is people are reading this and they are thinking about the cost of shooting.

Next, we can tackle being business people.

Totally agree, everything costs money, and you have to be able to replace everything you have in a moment to stay productive.

I just hope that none of my future clients ever read these posts...because I can already hear their reverse sales pitch to me...."Well, I realize that you are creative and all, but the price of that wedding seems a bit high..I mean. I only want a 40 image book, and at .16 cents an image..." .