The fine art of 'de-gassing'

[Bolo Kukus]

A poster in a thread I started last week made an interesting comment, or rather I picked up an interesting point in the footnotes in his thread.

To quote him - "De-gassing progress: Rather a lot. More to go!"

How do you go about de-gassing? I have been hard at work at this since I retired in 2012, and while I can claim some successes (like getting rid of seven Hasselblad bodies including four ELs, surely an accomplishment I can proudly boast about!) I cannot really say I have achieved all that much.

Okay, I did. I had 60+ cameras when I started in late 2012 and I now have about 20 o the beasts. I tend to buy in lots of two and four - for example, four Contax G1s and four Rolleiflexes, well rather three Rollei Ts and a 'cord Vb - with the exception of digital Nikons of which I have two D700s and one D800. Also an as new small Lumix GF1 I picked up last year as a walkabout camera but being true to my own type last month I almost bought another GF1 body but my partner found out and managed to talk intelligent sense into me, so I nixed that deal at the last minute.

It seems to be something inbred in me, a sort of addiction. I have the same urge for stray kittens, old books on travel in colonial Asia and fountain pens. This morning I bid on impulse on Ebay for two beaut pens, a Waterman and a Lamy, and won both fo A$40, so it was a good deal. I hope I can intercept the parcel when it arrives in the post next week before my partner goes to clear the day's mail, or my goose will be well and truly cooked. So it goes.

Does anyone have any helpful tips to help me curb this and get out of the never-ending spiral of buying photo gear n multiples? Never mind the rest, unless someone out there is interested in acquiring one of our five resident felines, but please, only in eastern Australia - air freighting a cat overseas would surely bankrupt me.

Please...

PS Thank you Mr CharlesDAMorgan for the inspiration!!

 

[Michalm]

HI , keeping kit simple allows me to focus more on what the photography is all about for me which is fun chasing the light , colors , shades of grey , decisive moment etc. Starting photographic project , improving your editing skills and seeing results is in my view the best way to forget about the constant upgrade cycle.

 

[Spluff]

Might I ask why you feel the need to buy multiple bodies in the first place? You may not know the answer to that, but it might help in understanding how you could de-gas. If it is any consolation, I suffer from pretty much the same thing - multiple cameras, multiple (multiple!) fountain pens.

It took me a long time to understand that I have perfection tendencies, and I was looking for the "perfect" fountain pen to write the "perfect" letter/essay (oh! have dozens of notebooks unused as well! If you have the pens, you need the inks and notebooks!!) or the "prefect" camera to take the "perfect" shot.

I am slowly coming to terms with that addiction (so hard to resist that new Onoto though!) and I have come to terms with the sense of legacy - as in who am I doing this for? I am now trying to distract myself with poetry (yes seriously!) because I think I am just after the next fix, and so I am trying to "slow" down and realise I can get the perfect shot once I truly learn how to use one camera well. The addiction isn't over, but my purchases have slowed down! Good luck!

 

[Rayt]

People enjoy photography their own way and there’s nothing wrong with owning 60 cameras and hundreds of lenses. You could be collecting Ferrari’s and Porsches.

 

[ellisson]

A few thoughts...
Ask yourself:
1. Why do I really want/need these things? Could be cameras, pens, jewelry or anything.
2. What is going on in my life that these excess things serve and I serve?
3. Is there some cause or charitable group/foundation for which my money would be better spent and of greater value than more cameras or other things for my shelves?

If you want to explore these on a deeper level and change your habits, find a therapist to work with. Seriously.

 

[joe bosak]

i remember seeing some description of an experiment where a mother mouse was given a button to press, and when she did so a baby mouse would come down a chute to her. the mother repeatedly pressed the button until she was drowning in baby mice.

 

[jsrockit]

How do you go about de-gassing?

Fall out of love with gear and more in love with photography?

I definitely love photography more than gear, but I still always have something else in mind (Fujifilm GFX-50R, that's you calling me again!?). That said, there just aren't that many cameras that interest me, but more and more photography does. I've spent more money on books than gear this year.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

In the out of context, but wise words from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Give it away, give it away, give it away now."

My form of therapeutic self-care is repairing typewriters and motion picture cameras. I purchase these things cheap and usually not working, and have been given many of them. I fix them up to working as-new condition, use them for a bit then like to give them away to others who will use them. I have five typewriters which are slated as gifts, and it's harder to get rid of 16mm motion picture cameras (no, I don't have any spare Arriflex, Aaton, Eclair, Mitchell, or Bolex.) I do have my own "collection" of gear which I regularly use for filming, still photography, and writing, but those things aren't leaving any time soon.

I get a few days of creative processing in the repair of these things, then I simply pass them on. It's better than paying $100 per month to allow my gut and backside to get larger while watching the tube, and it keeps my creative, problem solving side working.

Phil Forrest

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Keep off any forum thread, blog article or YouTube video about gear, and only indulge in stuff that makes you love photography. I mean not videos where a cool guy walks around shooting some street images as a way to show you how much he loves his camera, but videos or better books where cameras aren't even mentioned or revealed. Let good photos become your holy grail, not good cameras.

Edit: this is what I tell myself trying to get rid of the same disorder..

 

[raydm6]

Stop looking at camera porn. REPENT!!!

 

[markjwyatt]

Might I ask why you feel the need to buy multiple bodies in the first place? You may not know the answer to that, but it might help in understanding how you could de-gas. If it is any consolation, I suffer from pretty much the same thing - multiple cameras, multiple (multiple!) fountain pens.

...

It makes sense to get multiple units. Repair is uncertain and expensive these days, and replacement costs are currently increasing for a lot of desirable cameras. If you invest in lenses, then being sure you have at least one functioning body is important.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Not sure is anyone can help you. Some are calling their hordings as "collecting".
If you have urge to put another item on the shelf, here is no cure for it.
You are doing honorable thing. At some point most of your gear will end up on eBay listing with note "I don't know how it works, I picked it up on real estate auction sale".
Those are great listings. Cheap thrills. Be source of it.

Here is if you are not dead (became collector) yet:

1. I sell camera if it is not in use. With film cameras it is even more simple. Film is rarely used media of these days.

2. Buy gear with intention to use for full year. Not exactly four seasons thing, but short and long day light. At some point you might hit your limit. You can't use forty things at same time.

3. Buy gear which needs repair, CLA. Buy it if you could find youtube video how to fix it and you understand. Do not buy anything until gear is fixed and sold. Otherwise you are walking dead a.k.a. collector.

4. Instead of sitting in front of computer with "what else to buy" walk, travel. Try to take pictures. Under project or just. You will realize what gear buying does nothing for consistent results in photography. It is in the opposite. Longer you use same gear, better your pictures are. Gear hoping makes you crappy photog. It is not photography anymore. It just non creative try outs of gear. How accurate focus, exposures and else losers thing.

5. If you still can't hold it, make YT reviews about. One good under ten minutes video is 30 hours to make. Buy, make review, sell.
Do not buy anything until gear is reviewed and sold. Otherwise you are walking dead a.k.a. collector.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

Fall out of love with gear and more in love with photography?

I definitely love photography more than gear, but I still always have something else in mind (Fujifilm GFX-50R, that's you calling me again!?). That said, there just aren't that many cameras that interest me, but more and more photography does. I've spent more money on books than gear this year.

“ Fall out of love with gear and more in love with photography?”

Those two things are not mutually exclusive, nor do they necessarily conflict with one another at all.

Having said that, I know I have way too many cameras, and am in the process of slowly eliminating entire systems. Which is difficult, because the “too many” that I had settled on years ago, are all very nice, and every one of them offers me things that none of the others do. These “too many” are the ones that remain after trying and winnowing out the lesser ones that constituted way,way,way too many. Yet now am down to the part where everything that goes offered me something either in the experience or the result, that won’t be there once it’s gone. And having less won’t at all make me a better photographer, just a different one. I can walk and chew gum at the same time, so having multiple systems really isn’t taxing my limits of understanding any one of them, nor should it tax anyone else’s.
I’m just too old to have all this as there is not enough time left to do justice to all of it, that’s the reason it’s time to move a lot of it on.
My main reason, however, for going through the somewhat painful process of eliminating systems, maybe the only reason, is that any time I go on a trip it takes me 15 minutes to pack my clothes and three days to decide which cameras to take, and then fill the large car up with the result. No matter how much I take there is always something I wish I had brought when a given scene presents itself. Since that’s always the case, I might as well just have less and let someone else enjoy these.
I want them, I always knew I didn’t “need” them. Enjoyment is rarely related to need.
BTW I know a therapist who owns and enjoys over 60 cameras. It’s not whether you have “too many things” that is a mental health issue, it’s how you relate to them. Fun is never a bad thing.

 

[zuiko85]

Sounds like the OP had some high value items. For some of us bottom feeders....well I have lots of 'stuff', but mostly low value $5-$50 type cameras and lenses. For myself de-gassing is mostly give away to some youngster even more broke than me who are, (hopefully) happy to get it.
The few items I've owned that were more expensive I've sold to pay for some other photographic doo-bob that caught my interest.
Now days employ the 24 hour cooling off period before pulling the trigger. I find the madness often subsides.

 

[CMur12]

I have the two conflicting tendencies of collecting/hoarding and thinning out to a minimum.

Can't say I've done much thinning out. For one thing, many of my cameras would benefit from a CLA/new seals/etc, and I wonder if I should have them serviced first, even if not a financially sound choice, just to be sure that they will stay in circulation and not get pitched into the dumpster.

When I hear/read people say that it is cheaper to replace an old camera than to repair it, I fear that a lot of potentially serviceable cameras will be lost. I don't see any camera manufacturer making new film cameras in the future, so we need to protect the ones we have for future film users.

As a mental exercise, I often like to think of which cameras I would keep as a minimum. I have too many cameras, and getting rid of them is a hassle. At some point, I may start having them serviced to sell or give away. (There's always hope!)

- Murray

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I got my GAS under control by no longer buying anything over the internet.

I realize that this is impossible for some people. It’s what works for me.

All the best,
Mike

 

[zuiko85]

I got my GAS under control by no longer buying anything over the internet.

I realize that this is impossible for some people. It’s what works for me.

All the best,
Mike

Impossible is right.
When I need some photo chemicals or a filter adapter ring there are simply no local options within a 200 mile round trip, and perhaps, as with the adapter ring where in the whole of North America would I find a 43.5mm to 43mm step down filter ring. (Necessary to make a Olympus 35RC workable.)

 

[Doug]

I too need to pare down the gear. Not a collection, but I did sorta trend that way briefly, fortunately nipped that in the bud.

The strange thing is that I like things in pairs, or nearly the same. Like, two M8's, one chrome one black; same with Hexar RF. Two Pentax 6x7 one with mirror-lockup and one not. And not just camera gear: two Mazda station-wagons at the same time one rotary one boing-boing, two Corvair coupes one near-stock and the other a mid-engine V8 conversion. I'm puzzled by this pairing matter.

When I'd buy a camera on eBay it often went to expert service, sometimes pretty radical. I felt a responsibility to ensure it was in the best possible condition. A few years ago I quit browsing eBay and largely stopped buying, and began plotting how to dispose of the unused gear. So I'm interested in hearing the suggestions and experiences shared in this thread! I'm not adept at selling...

 

[skopar steve]

You already gave away a method of curtailing future purchases. Ask your partner before making a purchase. You will get good council about why it's a bad idea, and our partners like it when we listen to them. Win-win You save money and score points.

Steve

 

[PRJ]

There is a perfect quote from a Reese Witherspoon movie when her father, talking about two men, tells her "you can't ride two horses with one a$$ butterbean". Lol. That sums up cameras. You can only use one at a time.

I can feel your pain though. I have tons I've accumulated over the years. I really need to start selling them. Such a pain to do though.... I don't think I've made a concerted effort to sell a camera for maybe a decade or so.