Gear Fatigue: A Declaration

If you like it and it does not affect your life in a negative (e.g. financial) way, why not just enjoy the ride. It is your way of relaxing/get exited/hobby.
 
I'm pretty lucky that I got over my camera hoarding pretty early. Around a year ago, in the space of around 2 months I bought:

2x Olympus 35SP
Olympus 35LE
Olympus Trip
Olympus Pen EE2
Olympus OM2n
Olympus XA
Olympus Stylus Epic
Olympus Ecru

Ended up selling all of it except the OM2n. From then on, my only other camera purchases have been my Leica M4 and Ricoh GR1s. I'm pretty content with my setup - a few more lenses and an MF camera (or two!) and I'm done.
 
I've brought and sold a lot of stuff in my time, and it's a great way of trying out different things and working out what works for you personally, plus by and large you don't lose money selling things on as long as you are sensible.

Eventually you work out what kind of things you like and then stop buying new stuff.
 
historicist said:
I've brought and sold a lot of stuff in my time, and it's a great way of trying out different things and working out what works for you personally, plus by and large you don't lose money selling things on as long as you are sensible.
Eventually you work out what kind of things you like and then stop buying new stuff.
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Yep, that's how it works for me too.
 
Wow! This made me think... I have never ever sold or traded any of the cameras or lenses I've bought in my life... Could this be conformism...? The only thing I sold, a few years ago, was my third Bowens 1000 watts studio flash, because I found it was not totally necessary... It's strange, but I had never even thought of this...

Cheers,

Juan
 
It all sounds chilling familiar. Like Keith, I am getting down to what I consider a basic sort of deal. Leicaflex SL w/ 50 Summi and 90 El, 1933 Rolleiflex Standard w/ 3.5 Tessar, Voigtlander Bessa RF w/ uncoated Heliar, Ansco Special w/ coated Apotar, and a Zeiss Super Ikonta IV. Man, that is enough! If I can't make photos w/ this setup I shouldn't own any of it. The compromise is I am having to sell the 35mm RF gear, but I shoot 6x6 mostly these days anyway so I can live w/ just one 35mm camera.

The one positive of all this buy/sell/buy/sell is I ended up w/ some very good gear. Buying and selling so much just kills my photography. It takes up so much time, so much thinking and processing of information. Glad it's coming to an end finally.

I hope.
 
historicist said:
I've brought and sold a lot of stuff in my time, and it's a great way of trying out different things and working out what works for you personally, plus by and large you don't lose money selling things on as long as you are sensible.

Eventually you work out what kind of things you like and then stop buying new stuff.
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I feel like this is the point I'm at now. This is the end of a second big wave of gear buying for me. The first one lead me to rangefinders in general, and now I've settled on the Zeiss Ikon as my camera of choice (I have a dream Leica MP a la carte I'd love to make a reality, but unless I win the lottery, that's not going to happen any time soon). I finally feel as if I can clear my head and just shoot.

As to sig's point about it not affecting one's bank account, or your point about buying and selling sensibly, it doesn't always work. Sure, I try to get exactly or nearly as much as I paid for something when I sell it, and on the rare occasion make a profit, but sometimes you end up using a sale to help pay for something else. I traded my Bessa for an M4 and added some cash to cover the difference, then sold the M4 and added a little more cash to get the Ikon. In each individual transaction it seemed like a great deal to not have to shell out a pure dollar amount I didn't quite have each time, but over time those little amounts can add up to a lot. In the end, you might not have gotten all you could have for the cumulative amount. Perhaps this is why the emphasis should be put on buying and selling SENSIBLY, but GAS has a way of clouding one's senses.
 
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There's more than one facet to the puzzle.

You have the outfit you pick up to go out and work on on a project.

You have other outfits specific to other tasks.

And, you indulge your passion in the acquisition of interesting things, though too much indulgence may not be a good thing, I think it hardly uncommon, are rarely fatal.

The angst is not really needed, but somehow a part of that indulgence.

Reason sometimes intrudes and the stuff that was so interesting when first acquired, becomes less so, or not.

Now, the 200 fishing reels--- ;-)

Regards, John
 
Steve M. said:
The one positive of all this buy/sell/buy/sell is I ended up w/ some very good gear. Buying and selling so much just kills my photography. It takes up so much time, so much thinking and processing of information. Glad it's coming to an end finally.

I hope.
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I feel similar, I am pretty content with my Mamiya 6, and my Contax G2, at one point I thought - what I really need is a Rollei GX or a 2.8F, but I know what you mean. You arrive at a setup, that is primo, and you just want to work your excellent gear. Each lens has a different look, and you want to take enough images, so that I could say, "yeah, that's what a trademark Biogon 21m Zeiss looks like, I really found it's sweet spot with that image..."

Trying and selling gear, has it's pleasure though, I wouldn't scold yourself too much, it's like sampling wines until you find that really nice Syrah, or Tempranillo, the arrival to that great taste, took many sips of bad Cabernet or heavy Merlot/Mamiya 645's, or Bulky Polaroid 600SE's .. ;) I think I have a nice small collection, where I am content, 1 for each format, and a necessary digital camera, but it took several iterations to realize it. Good thread BTW, I am enjoying it. Here is my list over the past 3 years:

Leica DLux 3 (stolen)
Fuji G690II (too heavy, missed not having a meter, fixed lens -limiting)
Mamiya 645 (too bulky, not a subtle pull out camera) 45mm, 110 and 80 1.9 - great lenses though
Polaroid 600SE (instant film is too limited - doesn't scan well)
Rollieflex 6003( required batteries, decided I wasn't into mirror slap - too noise-y) 80mm lens, had an odd color tone to it, but sharp
Mamiya C-220( actually great, I replaced the screeen with a Beattie Split Screen, and with the 80mm Sekor Blue dot, took some great images, wish I hadn't sold it, for it's value it was a great TLR)

Lumix G1 (Love it, small, not horrendously expensive for a digital camera, that tends to loose value and be outmoded quickly, traded it for the GH1, love the 20mm 1.7, and the 7-14 super wide)
Leica M4-P (actually very nice, but I fell in love with the Mamiya 6) Voigtlander 40mm MC, really, really nice lens, regret selling it

Contax G2, all 4 lenses - just discovering this camera, the lenses are spectacular, all the stories about this camera are right, amazing lens, annoying AF.
 
I must admit that in spite of having far more gear than I seem to actually need I don't go with the theory that it's a hinderance to good photography. A camera is a camera and although they can have dials etc in different locations there's not really much complication in any of them ... it's about light and composition the judgement of which is made by the individual. The machine in your hands, whatever it is, just records the moment!
 
Every hobby can make a big dent in your budget and time, but as long as you (and the people around) can live with it, it is OK. It is only when it gets too much of it you need to scale down. And too much has to be decided by you and the people/fam around you (and not us). So if you find joy/relaxation in GAS and can justify cost/time used, keep up the good work!

It is not better to have 1 camera with 1 lens and use so much time on photographing that when you get home after the available light is gone, your partner is gone with it. OK I have to go now, wife and kids are getting angry with my priorities.......
 
FrankS said:
Right. I don't buy into the too many cameras is bad for my photography idea either.
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Well, I don't really either, unless I'm thinkng more about buying gear than actually using it. To draw a parrallel, I can say that, as a musician, I have a great number of instruments, and it certainly doesn't make me a worse musician. When I was younger I definitely went through similar phases of heavy gear acquisition. I can only play one guitar at a time, yet I have more than a dozen, which seems ridiculous to most people, but they all do different things. The only time I've ever sold one was when it was redundant, which is what I'm planning on doing with my extraneous cameras.
 
I've had some luck controlling GAS over the last 6 months, just because I have a bunch and "improvements" are very expensive. It's hard for me to justifying getting a 50/1.4 Summilux when I have a 50/1.5 Nokton and a buttload of student loans.

As mentioned by t.s.k., being married helps. We talk about big purchases. A $1,000 lens would be a big purchase. The response would be, another camera? I'd like to get the Summilux ASPH 50/1.4 someday, but I'm also willing to be patient. We live in a world were 20-somethings want everything today that their parents took 4 decades to accumulate.

Instead of craving a particular lens, I have started looking at other types. I got a Rolleiflex Automat and luckily there are no other lenses! Additionally the later models that go for 10x the price have little functional improvements. I am casually looking for a nice MF folder. I also got a Miniature Speed Graphic.

I am now mostly busying myself with beginning to develop my own black and white film. There are plenty of things to try out and it's much cheaper than a new lens.
 
There was a time, about 6-7 years ago, that the only camera I owned was a Konica Hexar AF (black) and I couldn't have been happier. It was amazing to use. Just one camera with a fixed lens that is the best at doing what it does. Out of MANY cameras owned and used over the last two decades, that's the one which I miss the most.
I sold it to buy my my M2 and have never regretted that choice, just lamented not having the Hexar.
Phil Forrest
 
Seller's remorse, --- I repurchased a few, the S2's, and everyone should have a good Rollei or two, and then the M6-- hopefully it only involves money and not your soul. ;-)

Watch the ads, going to be a hell of a yard sale one day.

In the mean time, if you have the gear you want and need, you just work around the rest.

Zu gets some pretty good "cast offs".

Regards, John
 
maclaine said:
I feel like this is the point I'm at now. This is the end of a second big wave of gear buying for me. The first one lead me to rangefinders in general, and now I've settled on the Zeiss Ikon as my camera of choice (I have a dream Leica MP a la carte I'd love to make a reality, but unless I win the lottery, that's not going to happen any time soon). I finally feel as if I can clear my head and just shoot.

As to sig's point about it not affecting one's bank account, or your point about buying and selling sensibly, it doesn't always work. Sure, I try to get exactly or nearly as much as I paid for something when I sell it, and on the rare occasion make a profit, but sometimes you end up using a sale to help pay for something else. I traded my Bessa for an M4 and added some cash to cover the difference, then sold the M4 and added a little more cash to get the Ikon. In each individual transaction it seemed like a great deal to not have to shell out a pure dollar amount I didn't quite have each time, but over time those little amounts can add up to a lot. In the end, you might not have gotten all you could have for the cumulative amount. Perhaps this is why the emphasis should be put on buying and selling SENSIBLY, but GAS has a way of clouding one's senses.
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This is a song I've been singing for a long time. You spend your money on "what you can afford" and on "bargains" and on "things that look interesting" and you end up with a load of second-rate kit, some of which you never actually use at all and much of which is used very briefly then put aside. You also end up without the money to buy the kit you really want.

It can take years to come to this realization -- it certainly did in my case -- so it's a phase that most of us go through.

In all fairness, it can also take years to find the equipment that's best for you, and there's always the possibility of an unexpected and handsome profit: my 90/2 Summicron, new, was a straight swap for a tri-lens turret for which I paid £100, and a black M3 for £200 got me a new M4-P. I suspect that these profits are a lot less common than they used to be in the days when there were many, many more camera shops with well-stocked second-hand sections: both the Summicron and the M4-P were deals in the early-to-mid 80s. But buying and selling new kit is a short cut to losing a LOT of money.

I tend not to buy anything new unless it does one of two things. Either it must do something I couldn't do before (digital, Thambar) or I must like the look it produces vastly better than what I had before. Of course 'vastly better' is subjective but it's why I replaced my 50/1.2 Canon with a 50/1.5 C-Sonnar: I just like the look much better.

Cheers,

R.
 
historicist said:
I've brought and sold a lot of stuff in my time, and it's a great way of trying out different things and working out what works for you personally, plus by and large you don't lose money selling things on as long as you are sensible.

Eventually you work out what kind of things you like and then stop buying new stuff.
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Yes, I think you've essentially nailed it. Or, as Joe Jackson once put it, you can't get what you want till you know what you want. Sowing one's wild oats, photo-gear-wise, can be useful to this end.

And I did a lot of that until about eighteen years ago, when, in an actual fit of gear-fatigue, I settled into a two-body AF SLR system (Minolta 9xi), and actually stuck with that for about a decade, and only ditched that when I decided I'd pretty much had it with SLRs (film or, potentially, digital) as my main shootin' iron, and moved to my current RF setup (a pair of Hexars), which I've used almost exclusively for the last eight years. The Hexen are, in fact, the last cameras I've bought brand-new.

Since then, there's been a Ricoh GR-1 (bought used, then used a lot until I dropped it; it's still on the I'll-get-it-fixed-someday waitlist), a Konica Auto S3 (working, but unused for over a year), Konica POP (ditto), Holga 135 (a gift from a friend in Hong Kong, which gets used sporadically), an early Leica M2 with almost-as-old 35 f/2 Summicron (on extended loan from a client of mine, with the remote possibility of a sale), a Contax Tvs (which I bought from FrankS here, and gets used a LOT, possibly a bit more than the Hexars, which is saying something), plus two digital jobs: an Olympus C-8080 which I actually like a lot (save for a pretty slow data buffer when shooting RAW), and a Casio EX-850, which is tiny, fast, and rather capable for something that only captures in JPEG.

That's eight cameras, seven operational. (Edit: make that nine...forgot about the lone SLR in this bunch, an Olympus OM-2n with a 50 f/1.8 and a rare (so I'm told) Sigma 21-35 zoom, which, when it does get used, spends most of its time atop a tripod as an ersatz miniature view camera. (It's also my main excuse for not acquiring any M-mount lenses wider than 28mm.) So the "too much gear" thing is rather subjective: you can have too much gear if it's the wrong gear for much of you want to do. Also, even if you have a piece of hardware you only use a few times a year, it's still useful if that's the gear you need to get (or make) a particular image. And, sometimes, for the sake of shaking things up creatively, is useful to haul something out you haven't used in a long time and spend a day or two (or longer) working just with that. (That's where the Holga and POP come in for me...I regard the POP as a Lomo with nicer looks, a much lower price, and proper QC ;))

Of course, the one thing you can't have too much of hanging around is film...


- Barrett
 
OP: that's an impressive list (I thought I was bad :p) But, IMHO the fact that you are buying gear is beside the point. Your addiction is about buying and gear just is the apple of your eye to justify it.

Buying in general can be addictive (reason there's so many jokes about women going shopping) but buying over the internet can be even more addictive.

To people who are vulnerable to it its more addictive, because there is no 'time-delay'. When at the mall, there's escapes: the next shop, take a walk, have a coffee and think it over, etc. When at home behind the computer, the next shop is in front of you, taking a walk might help but its too easy to just stay put, and having a coffee you will obviously do in front of the screen.

You probably made a first step by compiling that list. Next, put the numbers to it, so you can see how much cash you have tied up in it at any given moment. Chances are you are losing money on the sales because you want to buy.

I recently sold off a lot of stuff to pay for an education and as a result do not have that much cash to swing around for a purchase. I'm spending more time shooting and less browsing & acquiring. Gear that best fits me has remained and I feel a better man now that this whole episode is over :D

But then again I might be totally wrong, and all this applies to someone else. YMMV!
 
It's interesting. I found myself looking at a wonderful Leica R4 with lens on the classifieds for a song (nice camera at a nice price) and lusting after it. After a few minutes I realised that if that camera had not sold in the past 6 hours how on earth was I going to sell my last few SLRs here? ARRRGGGHHHH!

I really have no use for it, but lusting is OK. Being out of money these days has it's advantages in that I can't do it. It's teaching me that I can be very happy with just two small digitals and on SLR. I could go DSLR and be quite happy but again with no funds to do the deed film is fine.

If I took photography as a way to make money I have to agree with Keith on the setup. I would add a wider lens for the M and dump the 85. I would also add a longer lens in the SLR space but that is me. Might also look for something wider on the Crown though I'm not sure what. But as I'm not, I'm quite happy with what I have.

For full disclosure I have a few older cameras (IIIa, Retina IIc, Crown Graphic and a Kodak 4x5 View) that I got from my father that will never go, but they are not currently used either.

As photography seems to still be in a wild transition mode I can not say that I'm done. But I know I'm not going back to having fifteen cameras sitting in bags and on the shelf not being used.

B2 (;->
 
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