Justified GAS

[zuiko85]

Had GAS for decades, mostly gone by now. After a time I have found that the wanting is very much more pleasant than the having. It is not logical, but it is often true. (To *******ize a quote from Mr. Spock.)
Now have the 24 hour rule. If, browsing through ebay or other venue I chance upon some bauble that tugs at my acquisitive nature, then I wait 24 hours before pulling the trigger, and, 99% of the time, after that time, the madness has left me.

 

[mani]

Respectfully disagree! Selling is easy (if the price is reasonable) and buying something in good condition at a reasonable price is much more difficult (unless you buy it new)

Haha well I guess our experience is very different.

I've always tended to buy new-old stock or new-in-box from people like Schouten Select, Leicashop in Vienna or stores in Japan. And it's only natural that people aren't inclined to pay a dividend for good quality equipment after I've used it. But sometimes I've taken a massive loss on every transaction - so my experience is that it's harder to sell than buy.

But take a look at the items I'm selling at the moment - both of the remaining unsold items I'm selling at well over 100+ euro loss each. That's just the price I pay for enjoying playing with new or special items for a while. Take a look at my sales feedback page if you doubt me.

Once I decided to give up 1700 euros on a sale - the buyer turned around and sold the items straight away.

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Being a good seller is often the flip side of being a good buyer (I'm not either, sometimes I get lucky, mostly not). I tend to take the view that defending a price that is the historic value is often a great way to fail to sell but normal for most people. But having been in partnership with someone who would never budge on price ever (classic Mercedes estates) I have learned the very hard way that having the most expensive item on sale for two years is economic insanity.

Anyway, I find myself in the dispiriting position that the only things I now want (not need) are so immensely over what I want to afford to pay there's nothing I actually want to buy. Add in selling all the equipment I no longer use or have any real need for, and the ever decreasing systems I have have fewer gaps.

 

[seany65]

You're not off the deep end yet. Bulbs, and all the wondrous cords and reflectors that go with them. That's the deep end.

Ah, the little blue bulbs! Or rather the little blue flashcubes-their "look" before and after use, their smell (which probably didn't exist as they were in little plastic cubes, but you know what I mean), the fact that the cubes had four bulbs in them, the ridiculous over exposure and horrible red-eye. What memories.

I still wish I'd NOT asked for a kodak 177x camera, a LED alarm clock and LED wristwatch for Christmas that year. I really wish I could go back to the time I was looking through the mail order catalogue and find out whether that little black camera I decided not to ask for because I couldn't work out how you aimed it because I couldn't see a viewfinder, really was the Rollieflex SL26 I now think it was.

Anyway, I may be stepping closer to the edge, I recently received a folding L-bracket and I've just ordered a straight flash bracket, and I'm beginning to look at light-modifiers to shove on my flashes when the ceiling and walls are too far away.

All this even though I hardly ever use flash. lol.

 

[Pál_K]

Ah, the little blue bulbs! Or rather the little blue flashcubes-their "look" before and after use, their smell (which probably didn't exist as they were in little plastic cubes, but you know what I mean), the fact that the cubes had four bulbs in them, the ridiculous over exposure and horrible red-eye. What memories.
...

Just for fun, I bought some flashcubes for my Polaroid Super Shooter and EE 100 Special. They are definitely fun to use. I've also got a Flashbar for my SX-70, but haven't used it yet.

Next on the list is a Nikon BC-5 flash (with folding fan reflector) and real flash bulbs for my Nikon S2.

Here you see a partially used cube among the boxes.

 

[David Hughes]

Ask yourself how it can be "justified" and "GAS" at the same time. With a bit of luck you'll feel a lot better afterwards. It also helps when you are playing with your new toy to call it research...


Regards, David

 

[dee]

I have had severe problems with GAS recycling Dinky Toys into USSR cameras , just substituting one useless collection for one not-quite as useless .
Sometimes GAS can lead to an awakening -
mid 2016 - Fuji X-Pro1 body in store @£168 know-nothing about it , looks it up - went back GONE.
Wife asked - new boxed found , added 27mm = amazing synergy with camera which , seems 'real' at last .
Fast forward 2018 - X-T 1 department store reducing over months - aware of Fuji and menus - captured @ £500 = reminiscent of Minolta SRT/XD7 .
2x real camera companions .
2020 hankering after used XPro2 = hope that I can overcome it !! Even success can't eliminate it !
dee

 

[seany65]

@Pal_K: Have you ever accidentally nearly blinded yourself by firing the camera while looking at the flashcube while it was in place on the camera just to see if the thing worked?

@David: My "flash-stuff" collection is both "justified" but "GAS" because:

1) Justified, because it's getting together a range of equipment which will cover almost all eventualities in flash use I may find I have to cover.

2) Gas (and unnecessary at that), as I've actively used proper flash (not flashcubes to nearly blind myself) "in anger"/real life about twice in a number of decades.

 

[Pál_K]

...
mid 2016 - Fuji X-Pro1 body in store @£168...

That is low! Paid full price for mine in 2013. I'm afraid to see what they sell for today.

@Pal_K: Have you ever accidentally nearly blinded yourself by firing the camera while looking at the flashcube while it was in place on the camera just to see if the thing worked?
...

Haven't done that. Although I wasn't certain whether it'd work or not when making the photo, I could see with my left eye that the flash fired.

Never being a flash user for over 50 years, somehow I got hooked on buying old analog-control flash units (SB-15, SB-20, Vivitar 285) and finding excuses to use them. Initially I wasn't confident that the flash really synced with the shutter, so as a test I'd open the camera back and look through the shutter to see if the flash fired. It does work, as you'd expect, but I find the experience satisfying.

 

[Ambro51]

I came CLOSE to buying the camera from a Leitz Panphot setup. Oh Yes.... it’s a 4x5 Leica View Camera. But....I’m not a big macro fan, don’t like sheet film, don’t want to get wrapped up in Linhof roll holders etc. Tough to mount n a tripod, quite ugly, heavy and impractical. Not rare enough to excite collectors, and unlikely for me to get really nvolved with it. Glad I didn’t BIN!

 

[dee]

Incidentally , I agree that the journey is more fascinating than the arrival .
Not that I am dissing my bargain digital trawling , but i just loved the finding or waiting breathlessly for my X-T 1 to drop within my grasp ....
dee

 

[maigo]

I hit up my favourite thrift store yesterday and found some treasures.
Pentax K1000 with 55mm f2 ($50 CAD) and a Gossen Variosix F2 (aka Luna Star F2) complete with case, incident and reflective domes, 5 degree spot meter and manual. ($64CAD).
Both are in excellent working order but are not as good quality as what I already own (Pentax P30T with 50/1.7 and Sekonic L358).
The treasures will be sold on Craigslist or FB marketplace for about 2-3 times what I bought them.
At least, that is what I told myself when I forked over the CC.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I recently made the jump into the wonderful world of Digital Medium Format. To make that leap I decided that I didn’t want to finance this with my own money out of my bank accounts so I sold camera gear that I no longer used. That got me the Fujifilm GFX 50R and Fujinon GF 63mm f2.8 R WR lens. By selling old gear (and I had a lot of it) I also managed to free up a lot of space in my Dry-Air cabinets.

The next issue was that I wanted a second lens for my Fujifilm GFX 50R; something a little wider, something exactly like the Fujinon GF 45mm f2.8 R WR lens. The problem was that I still didn’t want to dip into my savings and I didn’t have any gear left that I wanted to sell.

By chance my wife and I were out for a walk in Yokohama and I noticed another couple in front of a shop that bought and sold jewelry. They were pointing at a sign in front of the shop that had the daily rates for buying various precious metals and were discussing how high the value of gold was. An idea was born!

I had some gold jewelry I’d bought over the years. Nice stuff but somewhere along the highway of life I discovered I’m not a bling wearing kind of guy so my nice shiny stuff just sat in a drawer doing nothing for nobody.

I took some of my bling to a local (and reputable shop) here in Yokosuka and sold it for more than I imagined it was worth. It was worth far more than I paid for it. As a kind of joke my wife brought an old gold tooth filling (very small and lite) and they gave her $30.00 for it.

Anyway, some old gold jewelry that was gathering dust in the drawer financed my new Fujinon GF 45mm f2.8 R WR lens. Happy day!

All the best,
Mike

 

[jsrockit]

I recently made the jump into the wonderful world of Digital Medium Anyway, some old gold jewelry that was gathering dust in the drawer financed my new Fujinon GF 45mm f2.8 R WR lens. Happy day!

That's awesome...especially the tooth.