Too Many Choices – Or GAS

GAS, or gear acquisition syndrome. Most of us are guilty of it. We read articles and watch videos about a camera or piece of photography gear, and we lust after it, sometimes more than actually using it.

Not all GAS comes in the same form. Some of us want the latest and greatest released cameras. All those bells and whistles are hard to resist. We seem to think that we need the latest feature, even though we’ve made great pictures without them for decades.

Then there are others that really enjoy exploring the older, very capable cameras and lenses. I find myself mostly in that camp. Finding value where most others seem to think the stuff is outdated. It’s amazing the deals that can be found in DSLR’s from 10 years ago that were once out of reach for me and many others that were not professionals at the time. Completely capable cameras that easily can be used for professional work if wanted.

The problem with acquiring all this gear is finding the time to use everything enough to learn it. At least acquiring it all in a short amount of time. If you can make the time to shoot every single day, then I don’t think it’s a stretch of the imagination to find the time to learn the camera in a couple weeks. If you’re shooting less frequently, like maybe going out once a week (this is me right now), then it’s hard to get in the reps with your gear.

I currently own quite a bit of gear myself. I was experimenting and shooting a lot. I had more time a year ago. I think many of us did because of the plandemic. Though my free time wasn’t due to that; I was just at a slower time in my life in between life events. Now, I find myself in the middle of a move, a busy work schedule, and remodeling a new home. Photography has taken a bit of a back seat right now. I am able to get out once every one or two weeks. I’m hoping that will change in the near future. Something needs to free up.

When I take a trip or just schedule a local photo walk for myself, I get analysis paralysis with which gear to take. I’ve learned to not take too much, but the days leading up to the event, I’m trying to decide which two cameras I will take. Always 1 film, 1 digital, and sometimes a compact camera, either film or digital depending on my mood.

There are definitely cameras and lenses that don’t see much use right now. To be fair, they all don’t see much use right now. But some are seeing very little use. It seems to lean on anything that is inconvenient. Large cameras and lenses barely come out now. My beloved EOS 3 or my Fujifilm GSW690. I have a Sony A7C, but I mostly only pair it with a fixed 45mm Rokinon or a 28mm Rokinon for their size. I sold my Sigma Art 35mm f/1.2 because of it’s size. Beautiful lens, but I never carried it. It was too large. I rarely bring my 24-70 f/2.8 zoom for the same reason. It just feels huge.

I’m undecided if I should sell any of these cameras. I don’t need the cash for them, but it’s a shame that they don’t get much use. Though, they do get some use. I just don’t know if it’s justified to keep them.

The same is true of lenses. I have a decent collection of vintage glass. Lot’s of Minolta Rokkor’s, Pentax Takumar’s, canon fd glass, zuiko lenses, leica m and L39 mounts. They’re not in the rotation as much these days. Well, the zuikos and the leica’s are, but that’s because Leica still mounts to their modern digital cameras all the same, and the zuikos get used on my om-*’s for film shooting.

Could I thin out the collection? Definitely. There are some things that I picked up that I just never shoot anymore. They’ve been replaced by something I like better. The Minolta SRT101 has been replaced by the lighter, nimbler OM-1, OM-4, and OM-3. I really like the minolta glass, but not as much as I like the workings of the Olympus OM cameras.

Even after thinning out the never used cameras, somewhere I still think that I’m doing myself an injustice with all these choices. That I should be mastering 1 or two cameras and get rid of the choice.

What do you think? Does having too many choices hinder you? How many cameras is too many? What about lenses?

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