Inspired by some comments in the classified section, I would be interested in your opinion. Everybody likes to buy new gear. Some buy more, some buy less.
I would be interested in your own story.
What have you used in the past, for how long and what has to happen that you would be happy with what you have and no longer have the desire to buy new gear (lenses, bodies, P&S)?
My story is this.
I started well over 25 years with analog photography. Contax was the brand. Zeiss made the lenses. As a student I did not have much money. So I bought always second hand and I could not afford more than 2 lenses.
After a couple of years I switched bodies more often (always Contax), but had never more than one at the same time to be able to fund it. I never needed more than 3 lenses, I was happy. Tried out Nikon and Leica inbetween but sold it always very soon afterwards without a loss. Good old analog times...
Then the digital phase started. My first real comittment for DSRLs was a used Nikon D70 with a used a Sigma 28-70/3.5-4.5 and later in addition a Nikkor 50/1.8 second hand. Boy, I was proud like hell. I loved it. But sensor innovations made it hard to keep up with that speed. Second hand was rare these days with DSLR.
The caroussel began. It was really GAS, because there was each time a significant step up in image quality. But prices were not stable, obviously. Buy and sell as soon as the image quality became meaningful better meant burning money fast. The hunt for better image quality was more on the sensor side. I had always only 3 lenses max. at the same time. To name a few bodies: Minolta 7D, Nikon D80, Sigma SD14, S15, Sony A850, Nikon D7100, Fuji XE1, Nikon D800.
That was a kind of 2 year cycle all the time until I switched to MFT in 2016.
I did not trust MFT 100% at the beginning, therefore I decided to keep my Fuji as my "security". That was the first time I had 2 systems at the same time.
It turned out I was happy with MFT. No GAS feelings anymore. I almost never used my Fuji system anymore. I was close to sell Fuji. There was not really a reason to keep Fuji. MFT did all I needed and it was smaller and lighter than Fuji X.
But in 2018, Nikon, Canon and L-Mount announced their new mirrorless systems. I knew that this would change the market dramatically and that Fuji need to work really hard to fight against it, because fullframe cameras without a mirror become smaller and enter into Fuji territory. The more competition, the better for us.
I wanted to see and compare what the different brands have to offer in this new mirrorless competition compared to MFT (and Fuji, which only collected dust).
Sony was out of question, because of my experience with the brand in the past. They experimented too much at the cost of the customers. You never knew whether your product line becomes obsolete within 6 months.
I was never interested in Canon as a brand. A personal, subjective thing. Therefore no Canon R for me.
In 2018/2019 Panasonic fullframe was too expensive and too big. But I was totally excited about this new alliance and its opportunities from the very moment of the announcement. L-Mount with its 3 alliance partners was my hottest bet for my dream system next to MFT.
I had to wait for the prices to come down and to see what lens choice will be offered.
It took me another 3 years before I bought new stuff in 2021. No digital system survived so long in the past at my home like MFT (6 years at that time in 2021). I still loved MFT.
So, I started only 3 years later in 2021 with Nikon Z6. The Z6 was great, the Z lens mount not. Z lens mount was too big for me. APS-lenses will be always too big because of this, but even Z fullframe lenses have a volume which is too big for me.
In 2021 Panasonic introduced also the Lumix S5. Finally a smaller body than the S1!
The lens mount for L-Mount is smaller than Nikon Z. That means smaller lenses are possible. But Lumix lenses were kind of big for my taste and "too modern" looking/ no aperture ring.
Luckily, L-Mount has Sigma and Sigma slowly introduced one i-series lens after the other. Exactly what I dreamt of. Metal, high build quality, aperture ring and small & light. The modern Leica & Zeiss lenses of the analog times
This felt like a rebirth of the Contax system. One brand makes great bodies (Kyocera/Panasonic), the other brand makes the great lenses (Zeiss/Sigma). I love it!
These 3 factors (S5, size of lens mount and Sigma lenses) convinced me to buy L-Mount myself. I still kept MFT and Fuji, because it was still smaller than L-Mount and I wanted to wait how L-Mount evolves over the time.
The more L-Mount lenses got introduced, the more I did settle. Finally I knew I can buy more than my standard 2-3 lenses I used to buy the last 20 years. It is not a waste or risk anymore. This lens mount has AF, electronic communication and is mirrorless. This lens mount will not change within the next 20 years.
The image quality of current sensors is more than enough for me for the next 20 years, too. All lenses produced after 2018 are significant better than everything before anyway (true for all brands). I do not need more image quality. I am not a professional. Finally time to get peace in your mind.
Status quo 2024/10. Nikon Z system is sold. Only 3 systems (LMount, Fuji and MFT) are with me as of today. Over the coming 6 months I hope to be able to make a decision whether Fuji or MFT or both have to find a new home.
The timing of this decision depends on (for me) missing products for L-Mount (28/2.0, smaller telezoom, smaller body) and for MFT (smaller body). At the same time I try to figure out how much a high quality compact camera (Ricoh GR3/3x, Leica Q3/Q3 43) can replace some lenses or even a complete second camera system
I think my GAS is gone. Only this finetuning is needed, which depends on the producers, not me.
I don't have any motivation for new products after these gaps are filled if it does not solve any other major problem in photography for me.
I love to try out new gear, but I do not love to pay for it, if I do not really need it and it does not make my life easier.
Therefore GAS is (hopefully) over for me.
How about you? What has to happen that you feel that you reached your goal and be happy for the next 15-20 years?
I would be interested in your own story.
What have you used in the past, for how long and what has to happen that you would be happy with what you have and no longer have the desire to buy new gear (lenses, bodies, P&S)?
My story is this.
I started well over 25 years with analog photography. Contax was the brand. Zeiss made the lenses. As a student I did not have much money. So I bought always second hand and I could not afford more than 2 lenses.
After a couple of years I switched bodies more often (always Contax), but had never more than one at the same time to be able to fund it. I never needed more than 3 lenses, I was happy. Tried out Nikon and Leica inbetween but sold it always very soon afterwards without a loss. Good old analog times...
Then the digital phase started. My first real comittment for DSRLs was a used Nikon D70 with a used a Sigma 28-70/3.5-4.5 and later in addition a Nikkor 50/1.8 second hand. Boy, I was proud like hell. I loved it. But sensor innovations made it hard to keep up with that speed. Second hand was rare these days with DSLR.
The caroussel began. It was really GAS, because there was each time a significant step up in image quality. But prices were not stable, obviously. Buy and sell as soon as the image quality became meaningful better meant burning money fast. The hunt for better image quality was more on the sensor side. I had always only 3 lenses max. at the same time. To name a few bodies: Minolta 7D, Nikon D80, Sigma SD14, S15, Sony A850, Nikon D7100, Fuji XE1, Nikon D800.
That was a kind of 2 year cycle all the time until I switched to MFT in 2016.
I did not trust MFT 100% at the beginning, therefore I decided to keep my Fuji as my "security". That was the first time I had 2 systems at the same time.
It turned out I was happy with MFT. No GAS feelings anymore. I almost never used my Fuji system anymore. I was close to sell Fuji. There was not really a reason to keep Fuji. MFT did all I needed and it was smaller and lighter than Fuji X.
But in 2018, Nikon, Canon and L-Mount announced their new mirrorless systems. I knew that this would change the market dramatically and that Fuji need to work really hard to fight against it, because fullframe cameras without a mirror become smaller and enter into Fuji territory. The more competition, the better for us.
I wanted to see and compare what the different brands have to offer in this new mirrorless competition compared to MFT (and Fuji, which only collected dust).
Sony was out of question, because of my experience with the brand in the past. They experimented too much at the cost of the customers. You never knew whether your product line becomes obsolete within 6 months.
I was never interested in Canon as a brand. A personal, subjective thing. Therefore no Canon R for me.
In 2018/2019 Panasonic fullframe was too expensive and too big. But I was totally excited about this new alliance and its opportunities from the very moment of the announcement. L-Mount with its 3 alliance partners was my hottest bet for my dream system next to MFT.
I had to wait for the prices to come down and to see what lens choice will be offered.
It took me another 3 years before I bought new stuff in 2021. No digital system survived so long in the past at my home like MFT (6 years at that time in 2021). I still loved MFT.
So, I started only 3 years later in 2021 with Nikon Z6. The Z6 was great, the Z lens mount not. Z lens mount was too big for me. APS-lenses will be always too big because of this, but even Z fullframe lenses have a volume which is too big for me.
In 2021 Panasonic introduced also the Lumix S5. Finally a smaller body than the S1!
The lens mount for L-Mount is smaller than Nikon Z. That means smaller lenses are possible. But Lumix lenses were kind of big for my taste and "too modern" looking/ no aperture ring.
Luckily, L-Mount has Sigma and Sigma slowly introduced one i-series lens after the other. Exactly what I dreamt of. Metal, high build quality, aperture ring and small & light. The modern Leica & Zeiss lenses of the analog times
This felt like a rebirth of the Contax system. One brand makes great bodies (Kyocera/Panasonic), the other brand makes the great lenses (Zeiss/Sigma). I love it!
These 3 factors (S5, size of lens mount and Sigma lenses) convinced me to buy L-Mount myself. I still kept MFT and Fuji, because it was still smaller than L-Mount and I wanted to wait how L-Mount evolves over the time.
The more L-Mount lenses got introduced, the more I did settle. Finally I knew I can buy more than my standard 2-3 lenses I used to buy the last 20 years. It is not a waste or risk anymore. This lens mount has AF, electronic communication and is mirrorless. This lens mount will not change within the next 20 years.
The image quality of current sensors is more than enough for me for the next 20 years, too. All lenses produced after 2018 are significant better than everything before anyway (true for all brands). I do not need more image quality. I am not a professional. Finally time to get peace in your mind.
Status quo 2024/10. Nikon Z system is sold. Only 3 systems (LMount, Fuji and MFT) are with me as of today. Over the coming 6 months I hope to be able to make a decision whether Fuji or MFT or both have to find a new home.
The timing of this decision depends on (for me) missing products for L-Mount (28/2.0, smaller telezoom, smaller body) and for MFT (smaller body). At the same time I try to figure out how much a high quality compact camera (Ricoh GR3/3x, Leica Q3/Q3 43) can replace some lenses or even a complete second camera system
I think my GAS is gone. Only this finetuning is needed, which depends on the producers, not me.
I don't have any motivation for new products after these gaps are filled if it does not solve any other major problem in photography for me.
I love to try out new gear, but I do not love to pay for it, if I do not really need it and it does not make my life easier.
Therefore GAS is (hopefully) over for me.
How about you? What has to happen that you feel that you reached your goal and be happy for the next 15-20 years?
