What is this 'GAS' that everyone speaks of?

[Honus]

Because I think I have been infected with it.

Background: I decided about a year ago that digital was the future, so I sold off all of my film gear and bought a Leica Digilux 2. Nice camera.

About a month ago, I was just browsing a camera shop, and noticed that they had an old screw mount Leica on display. I asked to hold it. ... I haven't been the same since.

In the past month, I have purchased a Leica IIIc, VC 35/2.5 Skopar and Jupiter 8. I have shot Delta 400, Neopan 100, 400 and 1600, Ilford XP2 and HP5+. I am possessed.

My productivity at work is horrible. All I can think of is collapsible Summicrons and Noktons, Minolta scanners and Epson printers. I just bought a camera strap from Gordy, which seemed to calm me down for about half an hour.

Please help me. What does 'GAS' mean and do you think I am infected?

 

[Terence T]

GAS = Gear Acquisition Syndrome

There's no cure...

 

[Heath]

There is no use in fighting GAS. You may go into remission, but you will relapse soon after. One major side effect of GAS is EWS. This is the acronym for Empty Wallet Syndrome.

Heath

 

[RML]

EWS is the only thing that can contain GAS, unless you care to suffer from TBS (total bankrupcy syndrome), which I don't recommend.

GAS can be battled but it takes effort and guts, and lots of support from family and friends.

Beware! WE are NOT your friends! 😛

 

[sf]

yes. Infected you are

yes. Infected you are

probably terminal. Definitely chronic.

We all suffer from it, some worse than others. I considered cancelling my masters degree loan and instead investing in cameras - with the expectation of starting a studio. Then I realized that my GAS was getting to me, and the only real motivation was just more cameras, and I was losing grip on reality.

I have sold my entire collection more than twice (which is too many times in one year), to buy new toys, and still I lust for further camera gear. I have the best of all worlds, the price efficient DSLR, the nice little 35mm Canon for quality when I have the money for it, and the 4x5 monorail that I use for landscapes when time and weather invites me out to play hard.

But I want a Contax 645, an Alpa, a Mamiya 7II, Leica MP with a Summicron - really probably the Summilux, and of course, a Leaf 22 megapixel back for that Alpa and the Contax 645. And an X-pan II with a really wide lens. I really want a few Zeiss lenses, just to fondle. I like that Hologon. I think that amounts to . . . .$60,000 (very conservatively). Before tax. And to think, my entire college education, AND grad school amounts to less than that, with room to spare.

I am always thinking of ways to make money - more accurately, to procure cameras. Trading and selling everything that isn't nailed down, and digging up what of those that I can. I thought about selling my car and moving somewhere that I could use my bicycle exclusively for transportation. I think the bluebook on my car was $5700. That buys the MP and the Summilux, and maybe some peripherals. Just for a camera, I was willing to move out of state, change my life. That is a sign of mental illness. That is GAS. To the max.

 

[sf]

There is no use in fighting GAS. You may go into remission, but you will relapse soon after. One major side effect of GAS is EWS. This is the acronym for Empty Wallet Syndrome.

Heath

Yes, Empty wallet syndome will certainly kill the symptoms of GAS (excessive spending and lots of camera stuff) , but only in certain circumstances. I will find ways of making money to buy cameras. Selling things. I have actually had Pawn Shops tell me "Look, you need to find somewhere else, somewhere that you will get a decent payout for your stuff. I am only giving you a small percentage of that. Why don't you try Ebay?" SO I did, and that opened up more doors, more ways of getting, selling, borrowing to get . . cameras.

 

[lubitel]

LOL!

After being here for months, I finally know what GAS stands for!!! Thanks for asking the question, I never had the guts to do so!

GAS can also be somewhat reduced by getting married to someone who is not in danger of catching it. That means someone who only has one P&S camera from a company you never heard of, someone for whom one film with 24 shots is enough for the whole year. Ridiculous, dont know how these people survive, but they do.
If I wasnt married I would have had no money left for food or clothes.

Joining this forum INCREASES GAS attacks dramatically!

Productivity at work has really decreased. I only think about cameras and photography for the past months.

 

[Bertram2]

That is a sign of mental illness. .

Reading this story I tend to agree. :bang: :bang: :bang:

 

[ChrisPlatt]

In advanced stages of the illness, sufferers become delusional, believing
they are just one piece of equipment away from shooting masterpieces...

Excelsior, you fathead!
-Chris-

 

[peter_n]

Reading this story I tend to agree. :bang: :bang: :bang:

Me too! And I thought I had it really badly earlier this year because I bought one camera body and three lenses in a period of about 6 weeks. That was nothing compared to this! 😱

 

[DougK]

It comes and goes like malaria...

I went for a whole two months without getting any new camera gear at all, just film and developing. Blew that record all to heck with my purchase of a Stylus Epic. Now I'm trying to convince myself that buying a 50mm lens for an existing camera isn't really a GAS attack, it's more like obtaining something that should have been included with the camera in the first place.

Yeah, it's a sickness.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Talk to your quack about Gadgetra. Don't operate expensive machinery or any rare collectibles while on this fake medication. If symptoms persist, then ban yourself from eBay. Gadgetra, because GAS isn't just a passing fancy.

 

[Poptart]

Speaking of equipment, I just started that GIII I mentioned before in my eBay listings. Click the "go to my home page" link in my profile.

 

[Skinny McGee]

Bloating of the wallet... and in one release you feel much better but your wallet feels empty... so you have to fill it up again for another gas attack!!!! ahhh! Gasssssss!!!!




It is kinda like bakedbeans but different and way more expensive

 

[eric mac]

GAS arch enemy SWMBO

GAS arch enemy SWMBO

Don't forget GAS arch enemy SWMBO- She who must be obeyed ;>)

Eric

 

[jdos2]

It comes and goes like malaria...

I went for a whole two months without getting any new camera gear at all, just film and developing. Blew that record all to heck with my purchase of a Stylus Epic. Now I'm trying to convince myself that buying a 50mm lens for an existing camera isn't really a GAS attack, it's more like obtaining something that should have been included with the camera in the first place.

Yeah, it's a sickness.

Feh. That's the argument I used to get the Elmarit 28mm (type-I, then traded straight up for a type-4); I had a G2 kit I traded for the Noctilux, and 35mm (Summilux ASPH) isn't really wide, and since the G2 had a great 28mm, I should have one with this camera...

Convinced me!

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Nothing cleans the taste of GAS better than thinking it's just an upgrade: necessary, indispensable, useful and inherently good, wholesome fun! 🙂 Long live ye gods of capitalism! 😉

 

[Film dino]

"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."
Yoda
😀

 

[peterbilitch]

Yoda's cautionary words are indeed wise...

Francisco, with theories like that, you are clearly far along that path...

Peter

 

[jdos2]

I wonder if Bee-Bop-a-Ree-Bop Rhubarb Pie would help? It's good for shame and humiliation...