Getting off the train now: Open Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review (2024)

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Well, I guess I'm getting off the G.A.S. train now. I think all my needs and all my focal lengths, and even apertures, are satisfied now. No more primes - don't use them much anyway, and all my needed focal lengths and apertures are covered from 7mm out to 400mm are covered with zooms. Then I have a plethera of P&S cameras, at least one with a 2000 mm focal length, and gadgets galore.

I don't use all the gadgets and capability built into my cameras anyway. So, I think I'm done buying photo gear - well, maybe adapters. Can't think of a thing I need. Time to pay off ALL the credit cards and enjoy life without the anxiety or need to get new photo stuff. Nothing to prove.

I've hung around long enough to have some definite opinions about how to shoot and what to shoot, but my family doesn't care and neither do most strangers - even on a photo forum. So, once the final deliveries are here, I'm done. Time to enjoy what I have, and it is lots. Of course I'll still check in sometimes to see and perhaps comment on pictures, but buying more stuff - NO!

Peace.

John

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I'm kinda with you. After my recent spate of film camera purchases I feel like I have everything I could possibly want (unless there ends up being a really light-weight, fast zoom)

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See how long you will stay off the train. I got off the train several times before. But always came back on. Sigh!!!

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kcdogger wrote:

Well, I guess I'm getting off the G.A.S. train now. I think all my needs and all my focal lengths, and even apertures, are satisfied now. No more primes - don't use them much anyway, and all my needed focal lengths and apertures are covered from 7mm out to 400mm are covered with zooms. Then I have a plethera of P&S cameras, at least one with a 2000 mm focal length, and gadgets galore.

congrats. most of us would be better served with Zoom lens, so i don't bother. in fact i like my FZ200 better than my Canon T3i, the lens is fast, wide and reaches 600 mm.

if i had to do it all over again, i would have been better off skipping the DSLR game. primes seem to be unnecessary expense and something else to haul around.

no thanks.

I don't use all the gadgets and capability built into my cameras anyway. So, I think I'm done buying photo gear - well, maybe adapters. Can't think of a thing I need. Time to pay off ALL the credit cards and enjoy life without the anxiety or need to get new photo stuff. Nothing to prove.

I've hung around long enough to have some definite opinions about how to shoot and what to shoot, but my family doesn't care and neither do most strangers - even on a photo forum.

my family likes my pictures for the memories. art shots don't interest me to much, but i do like a few landscape scenes of places we visit.

So, once the final deliveries are here, I'm done. Time to enjoy what I have, and it is lots. Of course I'll still check in sometimes to see and perhaps comment on pictures, but buying more stuff - NO!

great it is just a hobby, not your job. it doesn't matter what anyone here thinks of my shots really. shoot what you like and you are done.

really.

Peace.

John

3

I think a lot of us have gotten off -- or at least ride much less often.

We no longer see big improvements with each new introduction, and those of us who have been at it a while mostly have what we need to do our thing.

Bad news for the camera makers, and in a sense bad news for photographers because with slowing sales there is less money and less urgency to further improve the products.

Gato

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I got off the train several years ago after I bought my Canon 90D. Unfortunately it had an electronic failure so I had to switch to an R7 and add a couple of mirrorless lenses. It will take another failure or serious advance in technology for me to upgrade again. I am not sure what new features I would even want. Maybe greatly increased resolution and even better dynamic range and high ISO performance.

Boris22 wrote:

Absolutely will not be buying any more camera gear. I really am finished there. But I did spend on some photo related software yesterday . But that doesn't count as gear. Right??. Cmon- You don't want to be creatively handcuffed to that outdated primitive ,non AI image manipulation software. What'll the neighbors think?

LOL - I do lay my $10 offering on the Adobe altar every month.

The new toys in Photoshop are a lot of fun, and I can stay inside under the air conditioning. It hit 100 degrees here today.

Gato

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Boris22 wrote:

Absolutely will not be buying any more camera gear.

they'll continue to wonder about the weird old coot wth the huge, old, black cams pointing at the garden or the birds or the sky at any hour of the day or night.
Enjoy this, your time, while you can.
It's only a matter of time of time here before a Karen calls the Men In White out on me.

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georgehakim wrote:

See how long you will stay off the train. I got off the train several times before. But always came back on. Sigh!!!

I definitely don’t need another camera but I keep seeing advertisem*nts for the black Nikon Zfc with the walnut leatherette trim….

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I'm in a similar kind of boat. After going back and forth between Fuji mirrorless and Nikon DSLRs for the last couple of years, I finally decided to bit the bullet and get a Nikon mirrorless in the form of the Z6.

Bought a couple of Z lenses (28 and 40mm) to keep the form factor of the Fuji gear that I sold, kept a couple of Fuji lenses and my trusty X-T2 and then went full Nikon F mount which gives me access to really good lenses for cheap, that I can share on all the camera systems that I use.

My obsession for image rendering led me to buy a Nikon D700 and Canon EOS 5D, both for cheap and I ues them regularly, I don't need a better DSLR than this. For macro, fine art and landscapes I have my Sigma SD Quattro H, for street photography I still have my X-T2 with a small lens and for everything else I have my Z6, which can also do all the stuff that my other cameras can in a pinch.

I sat down the other day looking at what I could possibly need, and even after 10 minutes of searching in my head of what could be on the table I came to the following conclusion : there will always be something better than what I have, but there is nothing on the market today that I would want to spend money on.

Yeah, sure a Tamron 35-150 f/2-2.8 would be a super great lens... if it didn't cost a grand to buy one. My most expensive lens is my Sigma 100-400 which I bought for 450€

Sure, a Z8 is a much better camera than my Z6, but my current Z6 does everything I need it to and then some. And even then it was the most expensive camera I ever bought at around 720€, not about to spend 3900€ on a Z8.

So yeah, I'm off the train too for the moment. Don't know how long that will last but I have the feeling that I've never been completely off that train ever, I always had a foot that wanted to stay in... until now that is.

Maybe I'll start running to catch up to it again in a couple of months. I hope not.

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My GAS has traveled this path from the D700 which is the first digital camera I ever bought –

D850 – Higher MP count.

Z6ii – IBIS, no AF fine tuning, able to use any old lens via adapters and they are all stabilized now via IBIS

Nikon ZF – Better IBIS and AF tracking that actually works. And DIALS! Yay!

So there is method behind the madness but I agree - as far as I can tell I’m done.

Part of it is – I just like the gear. I’m fascinated by it. I’m a technophile and I use all the gear I have.

The camera is a tool as many folks say and that indeed is what it is. But it’s more than that for me. The camera itself is also art and a thing of beauty.

Part of GAS might also be procrastination. OK no more excuses. Go out and start making the art you’ve always wanted to make.

But I like the whole `scene'. A painter might have a collection of favorite brushes for instance.

7

Yesterday I toted my DSLR kit to a camera store, thinking it might be fun to trade. But no, spending a couple thousand dollars would’ve been ridiculous. And what I had in the bag did perfectly fine at a nearby nature preserve afterwards.

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Howard, I really like you photos especially the first one.

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I reached that point a few years ago. I need nothing else photographically.

Boris22 wrote:

Absolutely will not be buying any more camera gear. I really am finished there. But I did spend on some photo related software yesterday . But that doesn't count as gear. Right??. Cmon- You don't want to be creatively handcuffed to that outdated primitive ,non AI image manipulation software. What'll the neighbors think?

Yes, all my purchases have been on software for the last 3 years. DXO PL5,6, and 7 and Topaz Photo AI improved my results far more than any new camera could.

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kcdogger wrote:

Well, I guess I'm getting off the G.A.S. train now. I think all my needs and all my focal lengths, and even apertures, are satisfied now. No more primes - don't use them much anyway, and all my needed focal lengths and apertures are covered from 7mm out to 400mm are covered with zooms. Then I have a plethera of P&S cameras, at least one with a 2000 mm focal length, and gadgets galore.

I don't use all the gadgets and capability built into my cameras anyway. So, I think I'm done buying photo gear - well, maybe adapters. Can't think of a thing I need. Time to pay off ALL the credit cards and enjoy life without the anxiety or need to get new photo stuff. Nothing to prove.

I've hung around long enough to have some definite opinions about how to shoot and what to shoot, but my family doesn't care and neither do most strangers - even on a photo forum. So, once the final deliveries are here, I'm done. Time to enjoy what I have, and it is lots. Of course I'll still check in sometimes to see and perhaps comment on pictures, but buying more stuff - NO!

Peace.

John

I've been off it for a while now, as well. Last piece of kit I bought was a 24-240 zoom but because I had a specific use in mind. And it was a good purchase. but I haven't bought anything other than that lens in at least three years. Really, no need. Love my current cam and the glass, so why? Purchases are based on need now, not want.