Affected with GAS, Gear Acquisition Syndrome

KKCFamilyman said:
Also I agree about collecting enough lenses to mask the purchases. My wife would not know at this point which lens I added except maybe the 300-600mm super tele's. I want one of those but not going to be able to get away with a $6k lens.
He he he ;D :D ;D :D ... +1
 
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Rienzphotoz said:
KKCFamilyman said:
Also I agree about collecting enough lenses to mask the purchases. My wife would not know at this point which lens I added except maybe the 300-600mm super tele's. I want one of those but not going to be able to get away with a $6k lens.
He he he ;D :D ;D :D ... +1

I know... I've purchased lenses which I've smuggled home with the box collapsed and the styrofoam in the front pocket of my laptop bag. Not sure i'll be able to manage with the 200-400 I have on order.
 
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jdramirez said:
When I had all I really needed I started buying stuff for my daughter. Just go with the flow and buy for less than you can sell it for. That way people are paying you to hold onto the gear.

Did you know ... Good, sensible practical advice counts for nothing when it comes to GAS? ;D ;D ;D
 
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Michael_pfh said:
davet4 said:
I need help! Spring is in the air and I am coming down with GAS, I am spending to much time looking at lens reviews....how can I rid myself of this affliction?..? ;) ;)
Fortunately I seem to have some sort of immunity against GAS... ;)
Looking at the gear in your signature, is there anything left to buy? :-P
 
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J.R. said:
jdramirez said:
When I had all I really needed I started buying stuff for my daughter. Just go with the flow and buy for less than you can sell it for. That way people are paying you to hold onto the gear.

Did you know ... Good, sensible practical advice counts for nothing when it comes to GAS? ;D ;D ;D

Sometimes I just buy stuff with the knowledge that I'm going to sell it... but in the mean time I get to play with it. I get to satisfy the urge to buy stuff... I get to play with new gear and when it sales, I get some extra money in my pocket to buy more stuff.
 
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wsmith96 said:
Michael_pfh said:
davet4 said:
I need help! Spring is in the air and I am coming down with GAS, I am spending to much time looking at lens reviews....how can I rid myself of this affliction?..? ;) ;)
Fortunately I seem to have some sort of immunity against GAS... ;)
Looking at the gear in your signature, is there anything left to buy? :-P

I see only one camera body. That's impossible!
 
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wsmith96 said:
Michael_pfh said:
davet4 said:
I need help! Spring is in the air and I am coming down with GAS, I am spending to much time looking at lens reviews....how can I rid myself of this affliction?..? ;) ;)
Fortunately I seem to have some sort of immunity against GAS... ;)
Looking at the gear in your signature, is there anything left to buy? :-P

The 600, 800 and 1200 L's look to be missing ;)
 
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Certain aspects of this thread (re. smuggling) remind me of a) first sneaking better and better bottles of wine into the cellar; then b) what is euphemistically called 'off-site storage'; then c) a separate charge card... I wonder whether the difference between a 5D3 and a 1Dx is visible to the untutored eye. Not the photos. The body.
If all else fails, eschew GAS for a month, take the money you 'save', and spend a month on the road in, say, Mongolia or Argentina. Take lots of CF cards.
 
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1. If you really want to avoid GAS, steer clear of review/chat sites that blow subtle differences among bits of equipment out of all proportion to the difference, if any, they're likely to make to the photos you make with them.

2. On a related note - which could, of course, cut both ways - one way of dealing with GAS is (assuming this is an option where you live) to rent the latest expensive toy that everyone is getting excited about. This will satisfy your curiosity, which may be enough - you could easily discover, as I sometimes do, that your reaction is indifference: yes, it's good, but the results aren't appreciably better than what I'm getting now. And, by the time you send it back the initial urge may have passed anyway - yes, this is surely best 35mm 1.4 lens ever, but, frankly, I don't really like how the world looks at 35mm....

3. There's nothing wrong with GAS if you can readily afford it. And it needn't be that expensive. For instance, if you bought a digital body that works well with old manual lenses (i.e., a mirrorless body of some sort - a second-hand m43 with IBIS is a good idea) you could acquire many new lenses to play with that are really cheap and a pleasure to play around with, in part because they're made so well, in part because they can be really good. And while doing all of that you may be distracted from wanting to buy $2000 lenses - especially once you get used to how inexpensive lenses can be....

4. And on a note related to *that*, if you're disciplined and don't keep everything you buy, it's worth remembering that, unlike camera bodies, good lenses don't depreciate much: you won't lose much if you sell an L lens you bought new, and if you bought it second hand in the first place you may even sell it for more than you paid for it. (When I ditched all my Pentax equipment on switching to Canon, the only notable loss was on the camera body; I sold several lenses for more than I paid for them, and they were far from L quality.)

5. You need more lenses.
 
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I ran out of GAS about six months ago when I felt there was nothing left to buy that would add any real advantage to my style of shooting.

My 5D3 is basically the camera of my dreams, so no need to upgrade there. I have every lens I need. Some of my old lenses that did not focus well with my 5D classic suddenly became precision tools.

I added lighting equipment, so now I have four Alien Bees - as many as I can reasonably deploy.

Canon has been slow to come out with any interesting new lenses that might tempt me. I'm still waiting for a fast, stabilized 50mm prime. Until then my Sigma 50 is as good as anything available in that class, more or less.

It can be really disconcerting when you have had GAS for while, then suddenly have nothing more to buy. I'm still trying to deal with it. (seriously)

I'm trying to put more time into my web site instead of reading reviews. Blogging is more fun than I expected. If you want to avoid the online reviews, check out my blog instead! (warning: some posts are NSFW)
 
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When I'm "bored" and feeling like trying out a new lens I buy used, then sell/ trade for another used lens when I want to play with something else. You can really play in this little pool without losing much money at all while satisfying that need for something "new". Anything I need as a workhorse professionally I'll invest in a new purchase with the plan to keep long term.
 
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In the last couple months, I've bought a 500mm F:4 IS and a couple 1DS Mk IIIs, along with a 1D Mk III and 300mm f:4 (just for backup). In addition, I've acquired a PIXMA Pro-100 printer and a 9000F Mark II scanner. And, a 17mm TS-E is on order!

I, too, have a bad case of GAS!
 
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This is old new... but I buy and sell gear all the time at a small profit which builds up. The other day I noticed I had about $2000 to spend on gear. Great... but what the hell do I want... so I have cash burning a hole in my pocket and few needs. It is unsettling.
 
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wsmith96 said:
Michael_pfh said:
davet4 said:
I need help! Spring is in the air and I am coming down with GAS, I am spending to much time looking at lens reviews....how can I rid myself of this affliction?..? ;) ;)
Fortunately I seem to have some sort of immunity against GAS... ;)
Looking at the gear in your signature, is there anything left to buy? :-P

1DX, 600L II, 800L as well as the Zeiss versions of the Canons I got. Fish Eye and TS are second priority
 
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