Any ideas how to heal from GAS?

[Paratom]

I am at the point where I really think to own too many lenses for the M.
And I understand that for good photography I wouldnt need more than 4 or 5.
But everytime when I try to decide a lens I find some reasons why I dont want to sell it.
For example Noctilux 0.95. In one way I find it too heavy, and use Summicron much more often, but then I tell myself it is a unique lens.
Or the Zeiss 85/2.0 same here, pretty big and heavy, and I allways use the 75/2.0 instead. But then I say the 85/2.0 draws so nice and who knows if I would find such a nice sample again in the future if I wanted one.
....
Overall however I often wonder if these minor differences in "character" of certain lenses are not really overrated. If it would be more important to just focus on the subject/photography thing and less on the gear.

But how can one get rid of this "gear" lust?
Same true for the MM...can I see a difference? Yes. Did I ever feel B&W from the M9 are lacking something: No. Do I want to sell the MM? No... but why?
Strange

 

[Vivek]

Tom,

GAS and photography are not related (speaking from experience). Neither is a bad thing to have/do. As long as you are in control, there is nothing to worry about. Even otherwise, there is nothing wrong with it. It is your personal prerogative. No one can "help".

 

[fotografz]

I just had this very discussion with a friend.

It is interesting that we apply a shop keeper's mentality to a creative endeavor. "Oh, I didn't use this or that so I must get rid of it". When in truth, inspiration or circumstances happen in no certain order, nor keep to any time line. They are random and wickedly unpredictable.

You may have some expensive tool you use far less frequently than another, so what? It is there when inspiration or circumstances arise that makes it of paramount value over any other tool. My M21/1.4ASPH is such a lens ... very expensive, less use, and irreplaceable when the call comes.

I also think subtile differences are more for our eyes than others. They are in the service of our own enjoyment and satisfaction. We become endeared to a tool that produced a signature image for us even if the tool had little to do with the success of the image. It is just human nature.

It is different if you have need of the money, or just flat out do not like some lens or camera, and no matter how good it is supposed to be you can't seem to get anything out of it ... that is an easy decision.

-Marc

 

[innerimager]

As so often, I can let Marc speak for me! I'll just add the obvious but important fact that GAS for Leica lenses definitely has the best impact on financial longevity than any other type of GAS I have encountered because the value of these lenses at the very least holds up and generally appreciates favorably to anywhere else the money would have been placed. A rare win, win.

Where I think GAS can be more pernicious is when having too much choice and spending too much time thinking about the tools interferes with the creative process they are meant to serve.....Peter

 

[mmbma]

Sometimes to cure it, you just gotta overdose on it.
I got rid of my Noctilux lust by looking into medium format systems. No I ridicule myself for ever wanting to spend 10000 on a 35mm format lens....while there are Rodenstocks and Scheiders and Leica S...

 

[seakayaker]

There are times when working on a project around the house and I do not have the correct tool and spend way too much time . . . . .

. . . . . then there are times when I ask a person who works for a living doing what I am attempting . . . . .

I am never surprised when he has the right tool for the job and spends little time in completing the work.

It can be gas, then again it just may be having the right tool for the right job.

. . . . . then again it just might be gas.

The only true way to know is sell off some items. Then if you have the need (urge) to buy them back, then you know it is just gas.

 

[Jeff S]

It is interesting that we apply a shop keeper's mentality to a creative endeavor.

I agree completely, but only insofar as one views photography as a creative endeavor. For those who 'collect' gear for its own sake, or who use (even expensive) gear for essentially 'point and shoot' or for 'web sharing', for instance, your well articulated points have less relevance.

First one needs to decide the purpose of owning camera gear, either as a means to a creative end, or something else. There are also various degrees of creative commitment, and many folks haven't worked hard enough to know the difference. For them, the subtle distinctions that gear may provide is not a means to an end (even though it's perceived that way); rather, it's an end in itself, e.g., as a source of pride.

Jeff

 

[Paratom]

Sometimes to cure it, you just gotta overdose on it.
I got rid of my Noctilux lust by looking into medium format systems. No I ridicule myself for ever wanting to spend 10000 on a 35mm format lens....while there are Rodenstocks and Scheiders and Leica S...

The price and size of Leica S lenses has proved me, that one can get along with 3-4 fixed focal lengths for a system quite well.
Cause by the size I even often just bring 2 lenses (35+70 or 35+180) with the S and get along fine. So thats why I know that having 10+ M-lenses is GAS IMO.

Regarding that Leica is a good brand for GAS because of consitant prices:
The good thing at the moment m-lens prices are quite stable. But that does not necesarly has to be like that forever!
Look what happened with R lens-prices. What-if Leica announces a new system of weathersealed AF lenses with the optical quality of M lenses?

 

[bradhusick]

Set yourself a rule: you can't buy anything until you sell something of equal or greater value first.

Bonus: it keeps the wife happy too.

 

[segedi]

Been mostly in purge mode having sold Hasselblad kit, Mamiya 7 kit, Bronica RF645 kit and most of my Canon lenses in the last year. All of them were great, but didn't see much use. Now I have settled on the RZ67 and Leica M. Expensive lessons to learn which tools I wanted to use the most, but all part of the process.

 

[innerimager]

Regarding that Leica is a good brand for GAS because of consitant prices:
The good thing at the moment m-lens prices are quite stable. But that does not necesarly has to be like that forever!
Look what happened with R lens-prices. What-if Leica announces a new system of weathersealed AF lenses with the optical quality of M lenses?

Nothing is forever. M lenses holding thier value is close enough for me. This has and does play a role in my decisions about aquiring these lenses.

 

[MikalWGrass]

Can someone please tell me what GAS means? Does it stand for Gear And S--t?

 

[algrove]

Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

All very good comments. Although I often feel we talk gear too much instead of just going out and creating images we like. That is the only way I can lessen my GAS because after I am back it takes me weeks of PP and printing to bring those images back to me in the way they talked to me while out in the field.

 

[baudolino]

One way to rationalise the size of your system(s) is to get only those 3-4 lenses for each system that best emphasise that system's most important strength, as you see it. Just like you, I use the S and the M systems - I first sold the M9 and lenses to get an S2 and lenses, then earlier this year I got one of the last new M9Ps, as I missed the portability of the M9 for the week-ends with the family etc. However, I made a decision not to buy the bulkier M lenses again and instead bought only the physically smaller lenses (e.g. Cron 35 v4), to maximise portability. So, apart from the Lux 50 Asph which I could not resist (and which is not large anyway), there won't be any other Lux's this time, nor will there be any Cron 90 Apo, etc. even though I really like the "character" of some of these lenses.

Of course, you may value the M system for different reasons, e.g. availability of very fast lenses with characteristic rendering - in that case, using my approach, you might decide to just get/keep a Lux 24, Lux 35, Cron 90 Apo (for example).

Another way for me to rationalise the choice of lenses is to settle on "kits" that I take with me on different types of "adventures". These "kits" also determine (or are determined by) the bags. So, for example: one of my kits is just the S2 body with the Summarit 70, going in any kind of smallish bag (or in a Lowepro 200 rucksack that has just one small padded compartment - when skiing, for instance). Or I take the S2 body with 35/120, carried in a Billingham 307 bag. If I need longer reach (e.g. for a car-based safari), I may add the Hassy 210/f4 on adapter, then it all goes in the Billingham 405 bag.

To summarise my approach: (a) consider why I value each system most and maximise that single utility through the choice of 3-4 most appropriate lenses and (b) have just enough lenses for say 3 "kits" that I may take with me on different types of outings / assignments.

Finally, a great way to keep your mind off equipment is to focus it (and the spending) on (a) new adventures (I'd rather take less than perfect gear on a great adventure than use the best camera and lenses on the 150th visit to the local zoo...) and (b) studying the work of outstanding photographers - you can buy a lot of interesting books for the price of one Leica lens and the benefits for your creativity and results will probably be greater (my experience).

I am off to a week in Malta this afternoon, with wife and two small kids, so don't want to carry a heavy bag. Taking the M9 plus 3 lenses (Elmarit 24 Asph, Lux50 Asph, Elmarit 90), all fitting nicely into a small Wotancraft shoulder bag, together with 2 extra batteries, charger, wallet, phones, extra cards etc.

 

[glenerrolrd]

Think about your children . GAS is hereditary ! I can still remember eating at a small counter in our kitchen when my Dad would explain his latest Hasselblad splurge . In those days a HB lens was equal to a years tuition at our State college .

How could that crappy YashicaMat ever compete with Dad s Hasselblad s? Thus a life long quest for ultimate IQ and the perfect equipment begins .

Now my youngest daughter has it . Gee Dad can I get that Canon 85 1.2 for Christmas ?

 

[Godfrey]

As the last person in the land to know how to reduce gear addiction, I'd say just listen to your heart and make more photographs. When you no longer hear the Magpie urging you to buy more stuff, you can start selling what you no longer want.

G

 

[ramosa]

Shoot more and spend less time on online camera sites

 

[algrove]

baudolino makes many good points and I tend to operate often the way he describes.

However, another approach has arisen since I succumbed to Monochrom GAS, is to pick lenses which can use same B&W filter sizes. 46mm being my most favorite. 55mm also has its uses and then there is 60mm.

Once you GAS yourself to death with lenses, then you can begin to GAS yourself with filters, lots of filters. I speak from experience.

 

[Vivek]

Once you GAS yourself to death with lenses, then you can begin to GAS yourself with filters, lots of filters. I speak from experience.

You are a newbie when it comes to this. In addition filter sizes and a few colors, add various IR and UV bandpass filters, then you will know!

 

[jlm]

Rocco figures it out...
Key Largo - Humphrey Bogart & Edward G. Robinson - No Johnny Rocco Scene - YouTube