My 2022 toy budget is in. How should I spend it?

nonicks wrote:

Zaax wrote:

If you want to be a better photographer spend your money on books, education or travel.

Take the money, book a one week trip to NYC, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris. London etc. Pick one based on which is closest. Go out at various times to shoot. Before rush hour, late rush hour, right before sunset, after dark, etc. Find good spots to shoot and just stand and watch for an hour or two. You will come home a far better photographer.

Now if you just want to buy more crap that is another story.

Figure out what gear of yours is holding you back from shooting (fill in the blank) and buy that. But will whatever you buy make you any better?

More gear usually does not make one a better shooter.

Are you a photographer or a GASer?

Thanks for the comments!

Being a person who loved to read photography books and photography magazines epically in the past 20 years, I totally agree what you said! If I want to be a better photographer, I need to focus on learning.

And as technology and internet have changed the information pathways in a big way, I now use apps and YouTube videos to pick up new techniques and to refresh my knowledges.

Yes, It is important to go out at various times to take pictures. Totally agree. No question about it. I am doing my best to achieve that goal but the busy work schedules (and the covid situation) are not particularly helpful.

You said "Take the money, book a one week trip to NYC, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris. London etc. Pick one based on which is closest. Go out at various times to shoot. Before rush hour, late rush hour, right before sunset, after dark, etc. Find good spots to shoot and just stand and watch for an hour or two. You will come home a far better photographer."

Good suggestions! Traveling is not ideal at the moment. But THB, $3500 USD may not be a good budget for us to travel even if I could use the budget that way. And I would propose to do the same things you suggested in my home town, and I probably will end up with some good pictures too. Although I've been making efforts to do it too, I definitely should to do it more often.

Many, including myself, ask the same question you asked, " will whatever you buy make you any better?" My take is that you will not know until you have an immersed relationship and user experience with what you buy. I won't just dismiss the possibilities blindly without actually going through it.

My recent experience was my upgrade from XH1/XT2/XT20 to Xpro3, and changing from mainly shooting zooms to mainly shooting primes. The form factor and the camera features are inspiring. The experience is different and very satisfying. I probably would miss a lot if I insisted to tell myself to stay away from the X-pro3 and convince myself it was just GAS.

Your mileage may vary but I feel that the so called GAS is a little overrated sometimes on the internet.

Not sure if you have a good tripod but if not you really should consider one. You can afford a very nice carbon fibre tripod and a quality one will last a lifetime.