Do you suffer with GAS?

[postcardcv]

I'm hoping I'm not the only one!

No matter how many toys I have I am always tempted to another one. I know that I have enough cameras/lenses/tripods but often find myself reading through reviews of new ones and getting tempted.

Any other sufferers? If so, what is tempting you right now?

[sassan]

Postcardcv: Pardon and need to make a big correction in your statement before answering your question.
There is no such a thing as enough lens and camera! Or am I missing something?!
My most recent hunts are INDUSTAR-22 rangefinder 3.5/50 Russian Collapsible Lens M39 Fed Zorki Leica replica lens that is adapted for my Sony NEX E mount A6000 and then an old Olympus 300mm F4.5 that is adapted for 4/3...
God gives enough patience to my wife.

[postcardcv]

You are of course right, there is no such thing as enough. I can always find a reason (or excuse) to buy another camera or lens (or tripod, I do love a good tripod)! I have been looking at bridge cameras again recently, I have a Canon SX50 which my daughters love to use and am toying with getting a second such camera to save squabbles. But a good quality compact is very tempting too... I am trading in an old bit of unused gear to a local shop so will need to buy something!

[Adey Baker]

Mercifully WPF is mainly concerned with photos rather than equipment, but I bet most of us like to have an occasional look into a well known gear-obsessed website to laugh at the 'virtual fisticuffs' that go on there between devotees of various makes of equipment (or 'fanboys' to give them their pejorative term). It's amazing, and quite disturbing in a way, to see how many list their equipment in the signature area of the comments in the forums. They obviously have advanced forms of GAS, as not only do some own more kit than is healthy for them from one maker, thay also have an almost duplicate range in another system plus all the compacts and bridge cameras as well - 'just in case,' presumably.

I've used Canon DSLRs for quite a few years and taken many thousands of shots with them, but for a number of reasons, I've 'down-sized' to an Olympus m4/3rds system. I hadn't used my 40D for a while and when I picked it up recently, not only did it feel like a brick, I also realised I'd forgotten how to use it! So the moral of this is - if you have to give in to a bit of GAS then keep it to the system you're using already or you'll never get to the stage where use your kit instinctively.

My own worst case of GAS happened back in the 1970s. I had a nice Olympus OM system but fell for the charms of a Leica! Not just any Leica, though - having been criticised for the style of their M5 rangefinder camera, they re-introduced the older, 'classic' M4 and also made a limited batch of them with '50 jahre' engraving to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Leica in 1925. I bought one of these. Unless you've actually handled one, it's hard to describe just how silky smooth the operations like the film-wind are on Leicas (though the 35mm Summicron that I bought with it was prone to flare when shooting into the light).

Unfortunately, it had to go when I got married - otherwise it would have come in useful now for funding the purchase of the Olympus 300mm F4 (or Pana/Leica 100-400mm) which will soon be announced, and will complete my m4/3rds system - until the next version of the EM1 comes out, that is... (eek, GAS strikes again!).

[Gidders]

Originally Posted by Adey Baker

... until the next version of the EM1 comes out, that is... (eek, GAS strikes again!).

Anticipated sometime this year isn't it

[Adey Baker]

Originally Posted by Gidders

Anticipated sometime this year isn't it

Yes, probably around Photokina time in September seems to be the favourite. It's thought that the big firmware upgrade that the current model had recently was at least partly to keep users happy whilst they have more time to develop things like the much-anticipated 'global shutter' and a phase-detection AF version of the 20mp sensor (or whichever sensor is in the pipeline) plus all the 'must-haves' like 4K video (which I don't particularly want anyway).

There's also the new 4Mp evf to look forward to but for me the global shutter will be the major reason to get into GAS mode. The upgrade has given us a silent shutter but it is prone to rolling shutter effects with moving subjects but it certainly whets the appetite for anyone shooting wildlife subjects, etc. And, of course, with the mirror vibrations already removed from this type of camera, you now have the shutter movement eliminated as well - so, effective another stop's worth of image stabilisation on tap.

[Gidders]

Having upgraded from my aging 40D to a 7Dii last September & bought a GX7 as my take everywhere camera earlier in the year (with 20mm f1.7, 45mm f1.8 & 35-100mm f2.8), I don't need you tempting me with stuff like this

[Adey Baker]

Originally Posted by Gidders

Having upgraded from my aging 40D to a 7Dii last September & bought a GX7 as my take everywhere camera earlier in the year (with 20mm f1.7, 45mm f1.8 & 35-100mm f2.8), I don't need you tempting me with stuff like this

I won't mention the anticipated Olympus F1.2 prime lenses then

[Ade G]

There is of coarse a formula for the ideal amount of equipment required for any hobby, be it photography, surfing, mountain biking etc which is that the perfect number of 'tools' required to partake in the hobby effectively is (N +1) where N equals the number currently owned!!
This is why my garage is full of bikes & surf gear & my house rapidly filling with photographic gear.
My lovely wife bless her is happy as long as whilst there is an almost constant stream of couriers knocking on the door with parcels occasionally I brag about how I sold something on ebay for more than half what I paid for it!

[walwyn]

I do believe I've cured myself of this. I have a big bag of unused stuff from my film days that sits behind as a reminder, plus a loft full of darkroom gubbins that hasn't seen electricity in two decades. Back in the days I'd lug about the big bag of stuff in all weather, ferret about in big bag of stuff for the correct lens or filter, or whatever, take a shot, and then run to catch up with the people I was nominally with.

Then I got busy doing other things and when I restarted taking photos and finally decided to go to digital I was contemplating an Olympus system, but there were reports of problems with the macro lens. So I looked at what others were using and one guy was doing very good macro work with an panasonic FZ30 and Raynox lens. I'd never heard of panasonic as far as cameras were concerned but saw that the thing did 35-420 zoom had all the manual overrides and looked at the big bag of stuff and recalled the pain lugging it all about.

That pana worked pretty damn well for 8 years, still does. But eventually I decided on a new one and got a FZ200 25-640 zoom. I still use the Raynox lens and a TCON1.7 for extended zoom. For me its enough recently the wife bought a FZ72 20-1200mm it is a whole lot of camera.

I might buy some ND filters this year, or maybe not.

I stopped buy photo mags after one had an issue on macro photography and stated that a ring flash was an essential item.