Smaug01
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Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) - are you afflicted?
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brownie314
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GAS gets a lot of bad press - especially on this site (ironically). I don't see it as a bad thing. People get GAS with cars, motorcycles, phones, furniture, real estate - really anything. I think cameras is the only arena where people who do this are seen as somehow 'lesser'. I don't have a problem with it. I don't do it because I can't right now for various reasons. But I will be glad to take gear off of anyone's hands that doesn't want it any longer.
Phil A Martin
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Really? I think gas is a problem in all arenas and I say so as someone with large book and music collections. It would take me years to listen to all my LP & CDs once and that truly is a stupid situation to get into.
brownie314
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Well, if acquiring and having things is a problem - talk to Adam Smith.
Phil A Martin
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Up to a certain point where your needs are satiated, then sure, as with food. If we consume enough to stay healthy, fine but if we gorge on food until we are obese, then that is gluttony and that is a health issue.
Likewise with camera gear. I've seen them in online Pentax groups, there are other groups available, one particular individual had about twenty 50mm lenses, a couple of them identical but what's the point? Are they so different that real and tangible differences can be seen in the images? When the acquisition of gear overcomes the need to take photographs and the only photographs you take are to test the equipment, then in my opinion, that is a problem and the person can no longer consider themselves a photographer. They might be a gearhead, but that's something else.
I'd rather see people get IAS - image acquisition syndrome, than pouring over specs in pursuit of an unreachable goal, because no matter how great the upgrade, you know damn well that the next version is already underdevelopment and in 12 months time your new shiny camera will be last years model and where's the kudos in that?
brownie314
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" I've seen them in online Pentax groups, there are other groups available, one particular individual had about twenty 50mm lenses, a couple of them identical but what's the point? Are they so different that real and tangible differences can be seen in the images? "
Is it up to us to decide that? If he gets pleasure from having them and isn't harming anyone else - who are we do decide who should own what?
brownie314
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Look - I am going to let you off the hook. I once had a take similar to yours. "it is in poor taste - or shows lack of restraint...". Yeah - it does. But - in the end - people make their own choices. Maybe someone likes being surrounded by mountains of gear - it makes them feel good. If that is the case - who am I to tell them that what they are doing is in poor taste. To me - it is. But so what - I am not the one who has to live with those choices.
Phil A Martin
Veteran Member
His choice but are denied the right to have an opinion about it? Surely that's our choice.
Phil A Martin
Veteran Member
Don't you think it odd that so many of us are so obsessed with collecting things? I don't remove myself from this habit. I have every edition of the British Journal of Photography going back to the 1980s, all tidily stored in boxes but it's doubtful I'll ever reread them. Other magazines are easy to dispose of, I'm having a sort out and fifty copies of the Amateur Photography went out with the recycling this week.
Actually, GAS cures a lot of illnesses, including depression, anxiety, acute boredom, shinks, massage. Say, I got my first Summicron v1 the past week. How can I complain about ANYTHING. I even became more productive at work, more motivated to cook delicious cheap dishes, and even more committed to doing the laundry more often, as I now need to get our and use this beauty.
Actually, GAS is probably a term invented by all other competing uses for our money, including the shrinks, to deprive us from the things we love the most: cats, chocolates and used photo gear.
onlyfreeman
Senior Member
Some people gamble whenever they please without it becoming any kind of illness either, but gambling addiction is still a real thing.
Look up compulsive behaviour, it's closely linked to addiction, and does destroy lives. It's not always that extreme, however still very real.
I see no reason to believe that someone could not experience any compulsion or addiction to buying certain types of products.
A non-issue, for anyone without the issue.
Phil A Martin
Veteran Member
Agreed
I think it is fair to say that there are healthy and unhealthy reasons to buy things. Since none of us are immune to consumerism, we know from experience that material goods are sometimes bought to alleviate depression, perceived inadequacy, anxiety, or just plain ol' boredom. Other times, we want to belong, to feel relevant, to keep up with the Joneses, hide weaknesses, or flaunt personal wealth. The point is, we have all been guilty of buying shiny things to fill voids. Although I haven't been on this planet that long, I know enough that when I buy things for some of those unhealthy reasons, the happiness is always temporary. And for some people, maybe that's good enough. Not for me.
Let me be clear, I'm not advocating we sell off our goods and go be a monk somewhere. I ain't pointing fingers or casting stones. This thread is about how to deal with the temptation of buying excessive camera gear. So we're just sharing different ways of curbing that temptation. For me, it's about being honest and having the courage to admit that I am often tempted by (and sometimes fall prey to) some of those unhealthy rationales. i just want to move the needle in the healthier direction.
Don't expect sound advice for cure of GAS at gearhead forums, any more than get sober abstinence counselling at a bar.
Get a cat. Then another. Pretty soon the whole house is packed with felines and litter boxes. Cat Acquisition Syndrome will become life's singular obsession.
Once that reeking frenzy wears out, try DAG. Get a dog, then another...
Just don't binge on literal intoxicants.
Get a cat. Then another. Pretty soon the whole house is packed with felines and litter boxes. Cat Acquisition Syndrome will become life's singular obsession.
You'll then completely forget about old guitars or cameras. All rubbish. Bah! GRS becomes a cinch. You'll need to sell or pawn everything to feed the mewing herd.Here a cat, there a cat, everywhere a kitty-kitty.
Once that reeking frenzy wears out, try DAG. Get a dog, then another...
Just don't binge on literal intoxicants.
Phil A Martin
Veteran Member
Agreed, we've all been there, we've all done it and some of us accept we've been there, as I have, whilst others appear to be in denial and refuse to discuss it. Especially it seems, those with the deepest wallets or maxed out credit cards.
brownie314
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Odd - maybe. Expected - yes. Neurotic people who don't know what to do with themselves who are in search of meaning in their lives. Yeah - about right.
Look - it isn't just you. It is all of us. It is the type of person modern society produces. We are creatures who outgrew our meaning a long time ago and now are aimlessly searching to find it again. Maybe it was never there to begin with. But we are the creature who thinks about it.
Phil A Martin
Veteran Member
Many people have already been there, if their galleries are anything to go on, look how sharp the whiskers are using my canikonpus alpha a f/1.0 lens ;-)Don't expect sound advice for cure of GAS at gearhead forums, any more than get sober abstinence counselling at a bar.
Get a cat. Then another. Pretty soon the whole house is packed with felines and litter boxes. Cat Acquisition Syndrome will become life's singular obsession.
You'll then completely forget about old guitars or cameras. All rubbish. Bah! GRS becomes a cinch. You'll need to sell or pawn everything to feed the mewing herd.
Once that reeking frenzy wears out, try DAG. Get a dog, then another...
Just don't binge on literal intoxicants.
StarPortraits
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I do portraits. Most of the gear I have now is when I was making good money. Now this year despite the pandemic I bought a minolta slr classic and a macro lens. All used. Its quite a contrast to the year before where I dumped serious cash to buy the bulk of my equipment. Up to now grs has not happen but I have hopes that normalcy comes back and have full use of my equipment again.
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brownie314
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"Let me be clear, I'm not advocating we sell off our goods and go be a monk somewhere" - why not? If that is what it takes to cure the disease (instead of treating symptoms).
We live in a consumer society. That is the bottom line. It produces shallow people who collect material goods. There is no cure inside of that society. The cure is only if you can step outside of that society and take a critical look at your place and it and your part in it.
Because life isn't binary. You don't have to achieve enlightenment (whatever that means) to be happy. You don't have to be a full blown addict to be miserable. You just have to know what sort of behaviour brings you short-term happiness vs long-term joy, and then decide which way you want to go. There is no end point. Just live life in a way that makes you the most happy, most of the time.
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