Sometimes habits prevent us from stepping aside and re-assessing how we do things.

As mentioned elsewhere in this blog one of my interests is photography. I still do a lot of analogue work - I enjoy it and I enjoy using the equipment. A lot of this is out of production and indeed a lot belongs in the museum. So I use Ebay frequently for those hard-to-find items. I recently acquired a 1960 Rollei 35s from a local second hand camera shop - a superb pice of engineering, and a fantastic little camera. Rollei aimed at producing the smallest possible 35mm roll film camera, while retaining almost pro quality. This means it has features like screw in filters, lens hoods etc. One of the first thigs I did was to scour Ebay for one of those tiny 30mm Rollei yellow filters to use with black and white work. I eventually found one, not too expensive, and completed the sale, quite pleased with myself. When it arrived, I was surprised to see that it was virtually brand new - B+W brand, just like I normally buy.

If I'd taken that minute to step aside and check the local camera shop I could have saved myself a lot of time, and indeed money because when you add up all the postage, the item ended up more expensive than a brand new original. I just never thought......