Anti G.A.S.

[Ko.Fe.]

I wonder if here is anyone who have tried many cameras, lenses and sold most of them to keep only few for actual use?

I'm having G.A.S. attacks every year for film gear, it is started about five years ago. Trying, do some CLA, selling often for less and giving away. And more I buy, sooner I want to let it go and use same cameras I have before G.A.S. outbreak.
Currently, I'm on anti G.A.S. stage. Selling all LF, Minox and TLR cameras, gear. It didn't made my photography better at all.

I have no G.A.S. for digital. Just using what I have for years now. Checking new things, asking about it, but not buying, even selling to have less.

 

[nikon_sam]

I'm always looking at camera gear...I think of selling some of the stuff I have but don't use much but I never do...so when I start drooling over things I don't have but lust after I look in the closet and pull out some gear I haven't used in a long time, dust it off, play with it a while and if I'm so inclined to do so, I'll load some film in it...then I think about all the money I just saved...plus I would have to live another five life-times to wear out all the gear I have right now...and that ain't gonna happen...

 

[f16sunshine]

I wonder if here is anyone who have tried many cameras, lenses and sold most of them to keep only few for actual use?

Getting pretty close here. I have things to sell.
In a year or two depending on if they bring something that fits, I would buy the next Fuji X model that "checks the boxes" that remain unchecked. Maybe another Rollei later in Spring when cash is less tight.
I have absolutely no G>A>S. 😀

Anyway... the answer is YES! 😎 Gear becomes less interesting when you realize you have what you need after trying many things.

 

[CameraQuest]

Anti GAS

bah, humbug

 

[coelacanth]

I'm pretty much on that stage for the most part. I am not naive enough to say "I'm done with GAS!" at all, but I'm definitely going leaner than the recent years.

The following will cover most of what I do:

OM-D for underwater photo, technical/work related stuff and scanning my wife's illustrations.
X-E1 for general walkabouts, air travel, and film scanning using BEOON and Elmar 50.
M4-P for road trips, traveling without X-Ray hassle, photo dedicated outing.
XA for film day backup.
GR for true EDC, digital backup, and everything else.

...for now, of course.

 

[sjones]

Leica M2 and 50mm Summicron DR. I want nothing more, and I certainly don’t need anything more, except maybe a couple more M2’s and Summicrons for backup.

I actually like shopping around for gear, waiting for this or that to arrive at the doorstep. However, I attained my ultimate goals in terms of gear, and my happiness for what I have has quelled any further desirous pursuits.

Besides, I’ll still keep the wonderful iiif / Summar and my Nikon FM2 should a twinge for change briefly, very briefly, overcome me.

 

[farlymac]

I just changed tactics. It was fun getting all the different cameras to try out, but it distracted me from my original goal of kitting out my Nikon gear. So I'm dropping three camera systems (Canon, Minolta, and Olympus), and keeping Yashica/Contax to use when I want a change of pace from the Nikons. So now my G.A.S. attacks are farther apart, and not as severe.

But that's just in the 35mm SLR realm. I'm still in between on a rangefinder system, though with my latest lens acquisition, it looks like it will be a Nikon S3 for me in the future. And I'm not done with what I want in medium format either, but just not as willing to jump on something if it means I have to put off getting a piece of Nikon gear.

PF

 

[mfogiel]

GAS for cameras is nothing... It's when you start developing GAS for lenses that you get into trouble... I think I have more than 50 lenses in the 40-60mm bracket alone... 🙄

 

[kxl]

I'm fairly content with the bodies that I have: Nikon D800e's, FM2N, A7R and ZI's, but I'm always checking out new lenses.

 

[Timmyjoe]

GAS always hits me for old film gear. Stuff I saw when I was starting out in the early 1970's all the way through the early 1990's, gear that I couldn't possibly afford back then, now is priced so reasonably. I want to try it all out. But I do tire of it pretty quickly, and much to my wife's chagrin, end up selling it much more reasonably priced than I bought it for.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Vics]

I'm through with GAS (thank you, Gus Kahn). Now I'll only be selling. Tried digital, didn't get me off, so back to Nikon FM and B&W film. Skinnin' back while the skinnin's good!

 

[vladimir]

I am always looking at film camera bodies Leica M5 or M6 as well as Nikon FM2, but thought of developing film again (done it for years) stops this GAS effectively. At the same time I am regretting selling: FE2, FM2N, X Pan, Zeiss Ikon, Nikon F100 and some others. So than I remind myself to make a more use of what I have, all digital now Ricoh GXR with M module, Sigma DP2M that I use for B&W and produces incredibly high quality images, and an M 240 and Leica lenses. PF 2016.

 

[nikon_sam]

I agree...Lens Gas is a bad thing to have...so many ways to justify buying another lens...I honestly don't know the numbers of lenses I own...not wanting to count either...

 

[steelheart]

I agree...Lens Gas is a bad thing to have...so many ways to justify buying another lens...I honestly don't know the numbers of lenses I own...not wanting to count either...

[COMEDY] What a dreadful problem to have!! [/COMEDY] 😛

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I'm not getting this lens thing as bad as 50-60 to try. Why?
Because it is easy to check them on-line.
And I might sounds naive, but in lenses you are paying for what you are getting.
I went though old film lenses on DSLR, never been impressed. Zeiss Cosina is superior to Zeiss Y/C on digital. Yes, I went through regular DSLR lenses, yes it works, but in my brand it is L-series and I need just couple of them.
On film, I don't care for any SLR (many lenses to try for sure), I'm just RF person on film and lenses with optimized construction, size and optical characteristics comes to me from "mid-age" Leitz and few CV. Which limited selection as well, because I could afford and need maximum two, three lenses.

BTW, Interesting comment from Vladimir (Sydney) regarding source of quality digital bw. While here at RFF we were told it is Monochrom prerogative. 🙂

 

[hepcat]

GAS for cameras is nothing... It's when you start developing GAS for lenses that you get into trouble... I think I have more than 50 lenses in the 40-60mm bracket alone... 🙄

Is there a 12 step program you can get into?😀

And I thought I was over-doing the whole thing with two 50mm lenses in my case!

I have two Leica bodies, an M4-P and an M9P, and an X-T1 body with ten M-mount primes from 21mm to 200mm, a visoflex, and a Fuji 18-135 zoom. Other than a three-lens Hassy setup, I think that's sufficient for any imaging I do. I don't have need for anything else. That setup will shoot anything I need to.

 

[farlymac]

I'm very pragmatic when it comes to lenses. If I already have one of a particular focal length, the only reason to get another is because it is of a newer, improved design. But only if it is a big improvement. If I'm happy with the currently owned model, I don't go looking.

PF

 

[zuiko85]

As always the answer is, 'it depends'. If I find a really and I mean REALLY good deal I might buy just because. That ain't a good enough reason but sometimes I just cannot help myself. And yes, a lot of my gear does not see much use.

 

[ferider]

Selling is just the other side of the GAS coin. As is posting on RFF.

Take a Bino.

 

[Ruhayat]

I still have a love/hate relationship with GAS. On the one hand I think it is part of what makes photography enjoyable. On the other I think it is a disturbing psychological condition brought about by materialist excess in an age of abundance.

In 8 years I went from a Digilux 2 (which I still have but no longer use) through various Leica M models, buying and selling one almost every year -- M6TTL, M7, M4-P, M6, M8, MDa in that order. It finally stopped after I got an MP in 2014, which is the main film camera I use these days with the MDa and CL as backups.

At one point I had it in my head to collect classic mini SLRs complete with 50mm lenses. I had 8 before I finally felt it was pointless. Fortunately, they cost below $50 each. Then I started a more expensive compact classic fixed lens camera binge, accumulating Ricoh GR, Fuji Klasse, Contax, etc. At the beginning of last year I sold them off but kept all the silver coloured ones for a classic collection.

These days I feed my GAS by changing a small digital compact every year when I feel it. Last year I swapped an Olympus Pen Mini for a Sony A5100. This year I'm using a Ricoh GXR. Just something new to keep me entertained. It doesn't cost as much, as my deal to myself is to keep it under $400. For the big guns, my deal is I can't buy a new camera without getting rid of one older one to partly fund it.