Never-ending upgrades launched onto the market versus your will to say enough!

[57even]

A few years ago, I was working abroad on a long project and lived in a apartment/hotel for 2 years. I would visit home occasionally, but essentially my whole life revolved the essentials I had with me, and my camera. I hardly missed anything.

We are programmed to consume, but we can break that conditioning.

Try hiking the Appalachian Trail. Or the Sierras. Just water water and more water. And some chocolate bars. Part of a 12 step. Cel phone only for emergencies and small small camera with couple batteries. Map and compass.

Be an explorer. Learn what veggies in the wild are edible. Comes the apocalypse, no WI FI.

I didn't work hard all my life to sleep on the ground or live without coffee ;-)

But I did once think about living in a trailer and seeing a new horizon every day. I could easily have downsized my life to fit a medium size trailer.

 

[Gerry Siegel]

A few years ago, I was working abroad on a long project and lived in a apartment/hotel for 2 years. I would visit home occasionally, but essentially my whole life revolved the essentials I had with me, and my camera. I hardly missed anything.

We are programmed to consume, but we can break that conditioning.

Try hiking the Appalachian Trail. Or the Sierras. Just water water and more water. And some chocolate bars. Part of a 12 step. Cel phone only for emergencies and small small camera with couple batteries. Map and compass.

Be an explorer. Learn what veggies in the wild are edible. Comes the apocalypse, no WI FI.

I didn't work hard all my life to sleep on the ground or live without coffee ;-)

But I did once think about living in a trailer and seeing a new horizon every day. I could easily have downsized my life to fit a medium size trailer.

Now when you start with the no coffee business you may chap some bottoms and mine as well. Caffeine always and outdoors is great. So you brew it in a can. A sleeping mat and stars makes one appreciate Serta and Sleep Number. Or you can even have a sleepin bag for two. But do not allow that dog in there they snore and kick // sn// lol

I hear ya though, hombre. (A trailer life is the life except for hurricanes, but could be cool.)

 

[EmmaNems]

I stopped at film. I saw nothing appealing about digital imaging except the expedience.

Wet process is so much more challenging and rewarding.

I'm sure the ease of digital is exactly what most need, but I also feel that an entire generation of photographers will never develop their talents and skills because of how seductive the expedience of digital is. It tends to steer people toward cheap gimmicks.

Digital is to photography as a frozen dinner in a microwave is to cooking.

 

[Gerry Siegel]

I stopped at film. I saw nothing appealing about digital imaging except the expedience.

Wet process is so much more challenging and rewarding.

I'm sure the ease of digital is exactly what most need, but I also feel that an entire generation of photographers will never develop their talents and skills because of how seductive the expedience of digital is. It tends to steer people toward cheap gimmicks.

Digital is to photography as a frozen dinner in a microwave is to cooking.

Not to me. But carry on. Never loved the darkroom that much....farmed it out all the time. As did Ansel. Glad to be dry.

Yeh. Learned celestial navigation once upon a time. No mariner will now say sextant is her first choice over GPS and inertial navigation. Learn it yeah but use GPS. More better and way faster.

 

[Donald B]

I stopped at film. I saw nothing appealing about digital imaging except the expedience.

Wet process is so much more challenging and rewarding.

I'm sure the ease of digital is exactly what most need, but I also feel that an entire generation of photographers will never develop their talents and skills because of how seductive the expedience of digital is. It tends to steer people toward cheap gimmicks.

Digital is to photography as a frozen dinner in a microwave is to cooking.

Not to me. But carry on. Never loved the darkroom that much....farmed it out all the time. As did Ansel. Glad to be dry.

Yeh. Learned celestial navigation once upon a time. No mariner will now say sextant is her first choice over GPS and inertial navigation. Learn it yeah but use GPS. More better and way faster.

me to 30 years ago. now i use it to look at sun eclipse dont ask me how to do sight reduction with a pro form. but i do remember the basic concept .

Don

 

[Jon in Thailand]

I’ve been thinking about my photography life as a hobbyist.

I consider myself reasonably sane for the most part .

-

Considering myself semi-sane is why I still use

the same camera and lenses purchased over

ten years ago. And they are used nearly every

other day in a hot, humid jungle environment

then wiped clean and stored in a dry box........

.

I grew up on a farm where one learns to

understand and use what you have

before heading off to acquire

some new fangled object .

.

 

[Ron Poelman]

and wait for the reviews, more often than not, this year's version is usually pretty easy to forego. No wonder they're ramming subscriptions down our throats.
I've got a folder on my storage disks with the original install files for quite a bit of handy stuff, ON1 effects, Picasa3, Nik, that sort of thing.
Makes ignoring "upgrades" a whole lot easier.

 

[Gerry Siegel]

Comedians joke. - How do you resist all the temptation of new offerings, Lou?

-Easy Abbott. It is all about Will Power.

- You mean you force your self to resist by force of will., Lou?

- No, no, I got a great doctor . Doctor Will Power. He keeps me straight and narrow. Best MD in town.

Never feel guilt for buying a new whatsis. Get rid of that first generation gizmo. Computers evolve Cameras are now mostly computers!!. Give them a break. Who wants one that can not be upgraded to the latest firmware. Or get RAW processed., or you name it.

But consider just out of production used stuff. I pulled off a great late model for less than 700 bucks. That is not much nowadays. Do we not all love a bargain. One that has utilitarian purpose. I keep old MF as totems of the good old days., why sell for bubkes.

 

[57even]

A few years ago, I was working abroad on a long project and lived in a apartment/hotel for 2 years. I would visit home occasionally, but essentially my whole life revolved the essentials I had with me, and my camera. I hardly missed anything.

We are programmed to consume, but we can break that conditioning.

Try hiking the Appalachian Trail. Or the Sierras. Just water water and more water. And some chocolate bars. Part of a 12 step. Cel phone only for emergencies and small small camera with couple batteries. Map and compass.

Be an explorer. Learn what veggies in the wild are edible. Comes the apocalypse, no WI FI.

I didn't work hard all my life to sleep on the ground or live without coffee ;-)

But I did once think about living in a trailer and seeing a new horizon every day. I could easily have downsized my life to fit a medium size trailer.

Now when you start with the no coffee business you may chap some bottoms and mine as well. Caffeine always and outdoors is great. So you brew it in a can. A sleeping mat and stars makes one appreciate Serta and Sleep Number. Or you can even have a sleepin bag for two. But do not allow that dog in there they snore and kick // sn// lol

I hear ya though, hombre. (A trailer life is the life except for hurricanes, but could be cool.)

I can fit a proper espresso machine, dog basket and a shower, in a trailer ;-). And as long as I have the internet, I can be long-gone before the hurricane or tornado arrives.

When I was working in the US and Canada, the sheer size, variety of scenery and climate, and the endless miles of blacktop, was like a drug. I'm naturally curious and wanted to see and photograph all of it.

 

[57even]

I stopped at film. I saw nothing appealing about digital imaging except the expedience.

Wet process is so much more challenging and rewarding.

I'm sure the ease of digital is exactly what most need, but I also feel that an entire generation of photographers will never develop their talents and skills because of how seductive the expedience of digital is. It tends to steer people toward cheap gimmicks.

99% of film camera users had their prints mangled by a drug store mini-lab.

Digital is to photography as a frozen dinner in a microwave is to cooking.

Digital is a simple or as complicated as you want to make it. Darkroom processing is extremely limiting compared to digital, and the technical aspects of digital are at least as challenging, if not more so. The bar is a lot higher.

I was scanning negs and using Photoshop for years before I went digital.

I don't see the point in learning to ride a horse if someone already invented the car.

 

[Jon in Thailand]

Comedians joke. - How do you resist all the temptation of new offerings, Lou?

-Easy Abbott. It is all about Will Power.

- You mean you force your self to resist by force of will., Lou?

- No, no, I got a great doctor . Doctor Will Power. He keeps me straight and narrow. Best MD in town.

Never feel guilt for buying a new whatsis. Get rid of that first generation gizmo. Computers evolve Cameras are now mostly computers!!. Give them a break. Who wants one that can not be upgraded to the latest firmware. Or get RAW processed., or you name it.

But consider just out of production used stuff. I pulled off a great late model for less than 700 bucks. That is not much nowadays. Do we not all love a bargain. One that has utilitarian purpose. I keep old MF as totems of the good old days., why sell for bubkes.

.

I'm not sure what you were going on about ?

What is in my camera bag still works just fine.

.

- Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-55 2.8 - Taken in the mouth of a jungle cave -

.

 

[Aberaeron]

I’ve been thinking about my photography life as a hobbyist and this post is a follow on to a recent post I wrote about gear acquisition for the sake of it.

I consider myself reasonably sane for the most part but when a piece of kit arrives on the market that catches my eye, and lets face it, in todays market we are spoilt for choice at any budget, I find it difficult to ignore said item until, a) I’ve bought it, b) I’ve spent the budget on something else, perhaps not gear acquisition but other everyday expenses, or c) I’ve managed to regain my sanity and stopped myself from buying the thing through reasoning with myself, ie; I don’t need a new camera when the one I have will work for me in most circumstances.

Throughout the past few months I’d decided ‘I needed’ the Canon M6 II. I wont go over the reasons again as I did bang on quite a bit about them in my other post regarding that camera, but nonetheless I had finally put enough money away to get the camera this week. And I had second thoughts about going ahead and buying it. Because I know I don’t need two cameras, regardless of all the reasons I’d used to convince myself I did need a lighter kit when the M6 II launched.

So here we are, still one camera and a couple of lenses in my existing kit, no new gear acquisition and all the bit richer for it.

The whole episode left me feeling a little off kilter after realising I’d been clamouring for something I never really needed and I wondered if any members, who else better to ask then a camera forum, had these impulses to buy things you don’t really need and if so, do you end up stopping yourself somehow, give in and feed the GAS, or think we've all been brainwashed into buying new gear in a never ending loop of incremental upgrades and do your best to step off the merry-go-round?

*I've just realised how similar this post is to a recent one I did and tried to withdraw it, but I wasn't able for X forum policy reason.

I don't 'need' five or six cameras. I do use four very regularly though and others occasionally. The big thing to consider is whether you can afford the money and whether you will get pleasure from using a long time after the initial purchase. I would suggest that if you need to 'save up' to purchase a camera, you would do better without it. For instance, if push came to shove, I could live perfectly well with only my phone camera. 'Disposable income' is the imperative it seems to me. If one has to save up out of weekly income for a second camera that isn't itself an income earner, then careful thought about priorities is needed

 

[David Pavlich]

I’ve been thinking about my photography life as a hobbyist and this post is a follow on to a recent post I wrote about gear acquisition for the sake of it.

I consider myself reasonably sane for the most part but when a piece of kit arrives on the market that catches my eye, and lets face it, in todays market we are spoilt for choice at any budget, I find it difficult to ignore said item until, a) I’ve bought it, b) I’ve spent the budget on something else, perhaps not gear acquisition but other everyday expenses, or c) I’ve managed to regain my sanity and stopped myself from buying the thing through reasoning with myself, ie; I don’t need a new camera when the one I have will work for me in most circumstances.

Throughout the past few months I’d decided ‘I needed’ the Canon M6 II. I wont go over the reasons again as I did bang on quite a bit about them in my other post regarding that camera, but nonetheless I had finally put enough money away to get the camera this week. And I had second thoughts about going ahead and buying it. Because I know I don’t need two cameras, regardless of all the reasons I’d used to convince myself I did need a lighter kit when the M6 II launched.

So here we are, still one camera and a couple of lenses in my existing kit, no new gear acquisition and all the bit richer for it.

The whole episode left me feeling a little off kilter after realising I’d been clamouring for something I never really needed and I wondered if any members, who else better to ask then a camera forum, had these impulses to buy things you don’t really need and if so, do you end up stopping yourself somehow, give in and feed the GAS, or think we've all been brainwashed into buying new gear in a never ending loop of incremental upgrades and do your best to step off the merry-go-round?

*I've just realised how similar this post is to a recent one I did and tried to withdraw it, but I wasn't able for X forum policy reason.

I don't 'need' five or six cameras. I do use four very regularly though and others occasionally. The big thing to consider is whether you can afford the money and whether you will get pleasure from using a long time after the initial purchase. I would suggest that if you need to 'save up' to purchase a camera, you would do better without it. For instance, if push came to shove, I could live perfectly well with only my phone camera. 'Disposable income' is the imperative it seems to me. If one has to save up out of weekly income for a second camera that isn't itself an income earner, then careful thought about priorities is needed

Amen!

David

 

[richiebee]

I don't 'need' five or six cameras. I do use four very regularly though and others occasionally. The big thing to consider is whether you can afford the money and whether you will get pleasure from using a long time after the initial purchase. I would suggest that if you need to 'save up' to purchase a camera, you would do better without it. For instance, if push came to shove, I could live perfectly well with only my phone camera. 'Disposable income' is the imperative it seems to me. If one has to save up out of weekly income for a second camera that isn't itself an income earner, then careful thought about priorities is needed

"Saving up" is definitely preferable to financing, and you can certainly spend money on hobbies, interests and passions from your only source of income, which might require you to "save up". Saving up, is in fact kind of admirable in this "gotta have it now" world.

 

[Gerry Winterbourne]

I stopped at film. I saw nothing appealing about digital imaging except the expedience.

Wet process is so much more challenging and rewarding.

Really? Have you mastered digital editing yet? if not, how can you judge?

I'm sure the ease of digital is exactly what most need,

As was the ease of sending film to commercial developers - for the vast majority of people taking photos there's no difference, except that with digital one can see the results sooner.

but I also feel that an entire generation of photographers will never develop their talents and skills because of how seductive the expedience of digital is.

A long time ago I was taught the difference between the rational process of thinking and the irrational process of feeling. With the ability to see problems instantly and correct them on the spot; and to have all the parameters recorded for reference and comparison, digital offers a convenient - and relatively cheap - means whereby many more people are enabled to develop their talents and skills.

The fact that some of these skills are different from the ones you have developed doesn't make them less valuable.

It tends to steer people toward cheap gimmicks.

I simply can't work out what this is intended to mean.

Digital is to photography as a frozen dinner in a microwave is to cooking.

Actually the comparison is more the other way: it is to photography as using a fully equipped kitchen is to cooking on a camp fire.

 

[tbcass]

I would argue that money accumulated by saving up is disposable income. If you have extra money accumulated it’s through saving up.

 

[Geoworker]

Indeed, my bank account always lets me know when enough is enough.

 

[Aberaeron]

I would argue that money accumulated by saving up is disposable income. If you have extra money accumulated it’s through saving up.

 

[tbcass]

I would argue that money accumulated by saving up is disposable income. If you have extra money accumulated it’s through saving up.

Let’s put it this way. I let a couple of houses out and I often get applicants who turn up, middle aged with nice clothes and reasonable family cars that have zero savings to pay a deposit. Know similar people with smart BMW class cars and seemingly high standard of living that can only afford to buy heating oil for their house five gallons/25litres at a time. They have top of the range latest iPhones and all the gadgets, no doubt paying silly interest rates, but nothing in the way of saving, only debt.

Sure but that doesn't mean people "saving up" are in that position, in fact just the opposite. The people you describe might not even be capable of "saving up" for anything which is why they are in that position in the first place. They use credit card debt and pay high interest rates. People who "save up" don't get in such a dire financial position. I have a high income and a lot of money in the bank but I always save up for my cameras because I don't want to dip into my savings for frivolous things.

 

[ISQ1993]

I’ve been thinking about my photography life as a hobbyist and this post is a follow on to a recent post I wrote about gear acquisition for the sake of it.

I consider myself reasonably sane for the most part but when a piece of kit arrives on the market that catches my eye, and lets face it, in todays market we are spoilt for choice at any budget, I find it difficult to ignore said item until, a) I’ve bought it, b) I’ve spent the budget on something else, perhaps not gear acquisition but other everyday expenses, or c) I’ve managed to regain my sanity and stopped myself from buying the thing through reasoning with myself, ie; I don’t need a new camera when the one I have will work for me in most circumstances.

Throughout the past few months I’d decided ‘I needed’ the Canon M6 II. I wont go over the reasons again as I did bang on quite a bit about them in my other post regarding that camera, but nonetheless I had finally put enough money away to get the camera this week. And I had second thoughts about going ahead and buying it. Because I know I don’t need two cameras, regardless of all the reasons I’d used to convince myself I did need a lighter kit when the M6 II launched.

So here we are, still one camera and a couple of lenses in my existing kit, no new gear acquisition and all the bit richer for it.

The whole episode left me feeling a little off kilter after realising I’d been clamouring for something I never really needed and I wondered if any members, who else better to ask then a camera forum, had these impulses to buy things you don’t really need and if so, do you end up stopping yourself somehow, give in and feed the GAS, or think we've all been brainwashed into buying new gear in a never ending loop of incremental upgrades and do your best to step off the merry-go-round?

*I've just realised how similar this post is to a recent one I did and tried to withdraw it, but I wasn't able for X forum policy reason.

To be honest, I've only been active on DP Review for about 3 months as I like reading people's views and seeing good shots with gear and lenses etc.

One thing I have noticed, however, is how there are a lot of people who like to sit on here and comment on posts for hours on end or talk about chromatic aberration and distortion on Fuji/Sony's latest lens etc, yet I never see any of their photos nor do I see how some of these people maintain jobs/lives off the forum and have the time to go out and take photos.

This site has 100% given me GAS (well, more than usual) and has made me think that because I don't have the latest gear that's somehow a mark on me...which it isn't obviously. 100% have we been influenced by companies like Fuji/Sony with their slick marketing campaigns and army of youtubers/photography personalities who will always big up their products.

I use two Fuji cameras, the X100F, which is relatively up to date, and an XT1, which is old now, because I like the cameras and most importantly love shooting with them. I have to say though, I'm unsure whether I'd purchase any of their products new. I don't want to be a cash cow!