Invest in 4x5 equipment?

[Alan Edward Klein]

Interesting link. How does he get a decent shot with that 8x10 wobbling like crazy on the end of a long tripod column! Its really bouncing around.

That's a great question. Maybe it was a setup for just making a video.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

New US tariff starts at 10% as Trump works to hike it to 15%

New tariffs on imported goods come into effect as Trump moves to rebuild his trade agenda after top court's ruling.

www.aljazeera.com

"Reacting to the court’s ruling, the US president initially announced a new ⁠temporary global tariff ⁠of 10 percent but later said on Saturday he would increase that level ⁠to 15 percent...
An unnamed White House official told Reuters news agency Trump had “no change of heart” in his desire for a 15 percent tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, but offered no details on the timing for that increase."
...which accounts for my comment, 'before the 15% tariff is enacted'

I believe it was affected Feb 24th.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Already in effect. But how can anyone adjust their "paperwork" that fast to these sudden changes? Even a corporate systems programmer can't take a lunch nap. I'm not in any hurry to buy new gear from abroad, so will just watch the melee unfold from a distance. What has happened to the professional German and Japanese power tool lines I sold just a decade ago involves stratospheric price hikes, more than 100%. Most of that is tariff related. Even the pseudo-contractor junkier American-branded (but Chinese made) tool lines have gone up ridiculously. I'm sure glad I'm not shopping for equipment, either shop-wise, or for photographic purposes. Horse-trading more locally makes the most sense now. There's a lot of that going on.

 

[Pieter12]

I believe it was affected Feb 24th.

The 10% tariff, but the 15% is "in the works."

 

[DREW WILEY]

How can you tell what is "in the works" if it operates like a meat or paper shredder, even to your own wallet? How much of the next round is just bluster, tempting another standoffs with the Courts? The only thing predictable is the unpredictability of it, which is the worst aspect of all. I think a lot of businesses and manufacturers are holding their breath, and hoping they don't suffocate in the meantime. - not a political comment - just logistical reality if one need to seriously invest in equipment or imported supplies. Probably everyone has noticed by now that lots of vendors of used cameras and lenses have significantly raised their prices in recent time to hedge their own risk. But if that doesn't work, maybe they'll lower them instead, and start a downward trend. Hard to say.

But even domestic used equipment has gone way up ever since this melee began. There's a lot of frazzled psychology to it, and not just financial variables. I've always based my own serious equipment purchases by carefully reading these kinds of tea leaves, including exchange rate trends; but now it's getting particularly tricky. All I plan to buy in the near future is some color printing paper, which seems to already be well stocked enough in this country to be immune from price fluctuations for awhile.

 

[wiltw]

I believe it was affected Feb 24th.

Article was also dated 24 Feb 2026, "An unnamed White House official...offered no details on the timing for that increase (to 15%) ."