Glass is the most important?

[adhocphotographer]

I am a geek. I have a PhD in biophysics, and built my first computer at 13 in the early 90's (yes yes i'm 'young' too). I love gear and i love the technical aspect of photography. i like charts, graphs and statistical significant repetitions. I am a gear junkie and i am going to go cold turkey!

There are many MANY lenses i want. There are many lenses I can mental justify that i need. There are maybe a couple of lenses i genuinely need (ok, i'm good at convincing myself)! But in 2014 I am aiming to have a kit free year. Baring disaster, I am not going to buy any new kit, lenses, bodies, anything (well maybe film if it should arise).

I have just up-graded my laptop and updated my LR catalogue to include all my old photos... I obviously perused my old shots, sauntering down memory lane and i realised that there are some really good ones. Granted not the ones i thought were good at the time, but still. These were taken with a basic DSLR kit.

I am a gear-head and i believe glass is more important than the body. But I also believe the picture is most important of all!

So, I am putting my efforts into creating new photographic importunities over new gear.

A pint to the person who can correctly guess what week of the year i fold!

Now where did i put my drink....

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

In the digital age, with various sensor sizes and capabilities, its no longer as clear cut as it once was. The best advice, imho is to keep things in balance. Its wasting money to use super high end glass on a low end body, and vice versa.

Another thing to consider is that going to FF will make low end lenses look better. So getting a inexpensive used 5D series body or a 6D can effectively upgrade your old EF lenses. Then, you can upgrade the lenses as you see fit.

There are lots of options, just don't go overboard with any one thing.

 

[NancyP]

I plan to collect my pint of Guinness around June 30th. If I am wrong, well, I will buy my own pint and have a nice chat about biophysics - what's your current research area?

I have given up on GAS management, because I am experimenting with film, 4 x 5, for the first time, and besides buying a camera recently, am on the look out for some used lenses. Why bother? I used to shoot film, in fact my first job after college was as a part-time photographer/darkroom tech and part-time mouse wrangler and general lab tech in a developmental biology department. I am sitting here at a university some 30 years later, realizing that those research floor darkrooms are still around, under-used, I have access, easy temperature control with my waterbaths - why the hell not?

 

[IMG_0001]

Ok, wild guess... 2014 is the year your research grants end, so you won't have time for photography as you'll be filing all those funding request and trying to have as much of your latest results published to back up those request?

If I'm right, you may pretty well be able to get through the best part of the year...

 

[dickgrafixstop]

OK - you've talked the talk, now walk the walk. A good way to start is to convince yourself to absolutely master
the equipment you have. Not only is it a good way to "discover" what you're missing, it will show you what you
have. Once you decide, avoid the popular photo magazines and blogs - including this one, that discuss "new"
equipment. If you can't break the browsing habit, force yourself to only read technical and technique articles.
When your self-imposed sabbatical is over, then survey the current market and pick something that allows you
to do something you haven't been able to do (photographically, that is) and have at it.

By the way - during your exile, save your shekels because whatever it is you'll want to acquire will be expensive.

 

[AmbientLight]

Why don't you experiment with different subjects to take photos of? You can systematically acquire new techniques instead of new gear. I tend to experiment a lot seeking to optimize my technique like that. GAS helps in bringing in new gear to play with, but that shouldn't imply that you can't do new things with your old gear.