"G.A.S" and the dangers of internet fora/ebay on one's sanity & financial well-being

jp498 · Jan 6, 2014

I think of GAS, at least to me, as hand-on-history. Sort of like the american pickers go about and find new things that fill in the gaps of their interest in motorcycles and americana. They don't hang on it though. Or maybe they do and we just don't see that.

Simplifying is important. As someone also interested in Christianity, we're advised not to store up treasures that rust/mold, etc... No problem; I tend to collect things that are more likely junk than treasure, and I don't have multiple barns of it. Probably similarly meagerly effective is my interest in Thoreau; who had a very meaningful and enlightening time by not having much for possessions. Reminds me of college, but without the people and the city life.Things like making time for walks was good for his sanity.

DWThomas · Jan 6, 2014

I certainly have noted a personal tendency toward GAS, but fortunately that is tempered by two other traits -- practicality and frugality.

I probably still have 99.5%of all the camera gear I've ever bought (oh gosh, a hoarder too!) and compared with some of the lists I've seen flash by on these forums, it's not a very large pile. A couple items are non-functional, and not IMHO worth enough to fix or sell, so they are kept as souvenirs. I do use a fair percentage of the working stuff. In a few cases the use is rather sporadic -- the Argus C-3 goes out once a year on Argus Day, as an example, but it does get used. I purchased it new for thirty-nine 1957 dollars and have done a few things with it for 56 years! Not a bad investment (I did two CLAs myself).

That said, as I look back at my life (72 years and counting) I can see many spots where I spent some money on stuff with little to no long term net benefit. But you know what? I probably learned something from it (perhaps "don't do that!" ) but if I hadn't done that, I would have probably blown the money on something different but equally useless. See how easy it is to rationalize! :munch:

SchwinnParamount · Jan 6, 2014

When I joined APUG about 10 years ago, I snickered at the folks who had GAS. I had only one 35mm camera and a 6x6 twin lens then. Now I have 12 35mm cameras including 1 Canon... and I'm eyeing another. I went from zero Canon lenses a month ago to 3 today. And then there are the Nikons.
GAS, who me? Yes.
On the bright side, I sold 3 consumer Nikon bodies (EL2, FT3, EL2) for 1 Canon lens. And then gave my daughter in law a Nikon and lens. I'm finally learning.

Newt_on_Swings · Jan 7, 2014

Haha! more cameras for me then! jk

I really liked jp's take on it, hands on history. Handling something really is very different than reading about it or seeing pictures of it. It brings your mind to that time period, and you think about all the other people who might have handled it in years past, or where it had been before it was in you hands.

Is that time you spent going through all those cameras really squandered away? I think a lot of the time its about the journey. plus you have educated yourself in the use of many different systems and formats, people pay good money for in schools to pick up the same skills.

Had I stuck to the same darkroom or cameras I had when I started would I be at the same level or higher than I am now? I doubt it, moving onto better equipment made my photography more enjoyable, work flow more streamlined, and increased the quality of it. Having the experience of using lower end stuff, makes you appreciate higher end gear that much more, when they come along. Having the experience of stripping a camera and fixing it also gives a sense of great satisfaction, to resurrect something from the trash bin.

I dont go overboard with gas, but I can think of many times where having interesting cameras out with me were great ice breakers. Something that you could share with a complete stranger and chat about in a park, on the train, or on a ferry. Cameras and the urge to photograph have brought me out to places and and experienced events I might not gone to as well.

Randy Moe · Jan 7, 2014

Newly retired, 5 years ago, spent my life in R&D labs, helping produce better cars. Applied science and I always thought productive through efficiency. Also a motorcycle nut, bought, repaired and rode every motorcycle I ever desired, over 200, now I have 1.

Doing the same with film cameras, I buy, repair, use and wait for new users to show up. They will, they did with motorcycles. Cycles of life. Like many, I like machines, improving machines paid for my life, my fun, my 2 ex-wives...

And, I just had a very good evening in my darkroom, on the coldest Chicago day in 30 years.

Life is good, never look back, life is short. Take a picture it will last longer.

darkosaric · Jan 7, 2014

Randy Moe said:
Life is good, never look back, life is short. Take a picture it will last longer.

+1
Amen .

semi-ambivalent · Jan 8, 2014

Randy Moe said:
Life is good, never look back, life is short. Take a picture it will last longer.

We had a couple over for Christmas eve dinner this year and I gave that wife prints of she and my wife and their sons, just before her son left for college the prior Summer. He eyes teared up and she mentioned they had almost no 'paper pictures'. At that moment I knew I had made a good choice to stay with analog.

s-a

Dan Fromm · Jan 8, 2014

semi-ambivalent said:
We had a couple over for Christmas eve dinner this year and I gave that wife prints of she and my wife and their sons, just before her son left for college the prior Summer. He eyes teared up and she mentioned they had almost no 'paper pictures'. At that moment I knew I had made a good choice to stay with analog.

s-a

What a wonderful place APUG is! I continuously learn new and surprising ideas and facts on it.

Did you really mean to say that images captured with a digital device can't be printed?

removed account4 · Jan 8, 2014

thanks randy, and s-a

perspective is a great thing.

benjiboy · Jan 8, 2014

I find personally that being happy with what I have liberating, I realized more than thirty years ago that buying more and more equipment doesn't solve anything, and that most of the Worlds most legendary photographers had become so with less and in some cases inferior equipment to that which I already owned.
I have only bought 2 cameras in the last 25 years to replace ones that were faulty and uneconomical to have repaired

Thomas Bertilsson · Jan 8, 2014

I find that I really only NEED one camera and a couple of lenses. But a few of my handful of cameras have sentimental value, which means I keep them around. Since they are around I use them, and since I use them I sometimes get in geek mode and look at filters, lens shades, a new lens, a new film back, or whatever, and end up adding to the pile.
But with a grand total of six cameras that I actually use, I don't think I have a problem.

I dream about the anti-GAS existence where I only have one camera to use, maybe two. Of course I'd have a back up for each one, an extra body, a few extra backs, and so on, but simplicity appeals to me more and more as I age.

benjiboy · Jan 8, 2014

Thomas Bertilsson said:
I find that I really only NEED one camera and a couple of lenses. But a few of my handful of cameras have sentimental value, which means I keep them around. Since they are around I use them, and since I use them I sometimes get in geek mode and look at filters, lens shades, a new lens, a new film back, or whatever, and end up adding to the pile.
But with a grand total of six cameras that I actually use, I don't think I have a problem.

I dream about the anti-GAS existence where I only have one camera to use, maybe two. Of course I'd have a back up for each one, an extra body, a few extra backs, and so on, but simplicity appeals to me more and more as I age.

I have six cameras too Thomas which I don't think is excessive for someone who has been into photography for over 60 years.

RalphLambrecht · Jan 8, 2014

retail therapyis a verycommonmyth. pride of ownership is very real.I'm as much of a gearhead as the next guy, but to my protection ,I'm to cheap to overspend.

Dan Fromm · Jan 8, 2014

RalphLambrecht said:
retail therapyis a verycommonmyth. pride of ownership is very real.I'm as much of a gearhead as the next guy, but to my protection ,I'm to cheap to overspend.

There's overspending and there's overspending. I don't regret getting a 35/4.5 Apo Grandagon and a center filter for it. Two used items, two transactions. Even bought somewhat below market neither was inexpensive but there's nothing else that will do what they do. I sold a lens that was effectively a flea market (eBay before many people knew what was what) find to pay for both but the purchases were still two ouches. Understand, one 35/4.5 AG is enough. Two would be wretched excess and then some.

Christopher Walrath · Jan 8, 2014

As a recovering G.A.S.-oholic, I , too, am more than familiar with the pitfalls of gear acquisition. I cannot count the Minolta sr- / X- camera systems I have purchased over the years. I know that when I would find myself to have too much gear (I know, the horror...) I would invariably offer a starter kit to a friend who had expressed interest, at least a dozen times. The Mamiya and Bronicas, the 4x5 cameras (3 of them). And the lenses and assorted accoutrement. It boggles the mind.

Had I saved all of that hard earned dough and sunk it into he gear I now own I could have saved myself hardship and invested in Pamela Anderson paraphenelia. Alas, if I only knew then what I know now...

pdeeh · Jan 9, 2014

Sometimes, acquisition of equipment is both accidental and unintended.

On Monday, I dug out an old Zenit TTL I'd been given so that I could try 35mm pinhole photography. Unfortunately the shutter was jammed solid, and as I have insufficient mechanical skills to try and fix it, I dumped it and placed another Freecycle ad for a "beater" to play with.

Within half an hour, I received an offer, which turned out to be this:

my new free camera ...

Now, I've never hankered after a F2, or indeed any Nikon, and I don't need or want another "good" 35mm camera, and I have very low funds and no income at the moment. I've also managed to let go of nearly all urges to buy cameras for the sake of buying cameras. I really only wanted another crappy old Zenith or Praktica to mess with.

This camera has an intermittently jammed film advance/shutter release, the lens is slippy and full of fungus and the head only works sometimes.

Nevertheless, once "in the hand", I can't bring myself to give it away, sell it (which is against the Freecycle ethos anyway) or dump it. It is a fantastically well made, classic, rather beautiful photographic tool. And so I'm going to get it restored by Sover Wong and take photographs with it.

(I'm now going to get the Zenith out of the bin and cut the shutter curtain out, which is what I should have done in the first place and wouldn't have cost me what servicing the F2 will cost ... plus the cost of any lenses I'll end up buying. Sigh.)

semi-ambivalent · Jan 9, 2014

Dan Fromm said:
What a wonderful place APUG is! I continuously learn new and surprising ideas and facts on it.

Did you really mean to say that images captured with a digital device can't be printed?

I mean to say she valued analog prints, but also possibly had few prints of any sort. Don't be so defensive; digital can take care of itself. (And next time don't forget to use the [snarky] and [/snarky] tags.)

s-a

Dan Fromm · Jan 9, 2014

semi-ambivalent said:
I mean to say she valued analog prints, but also possibly had few prints of any sort. Don't be so defensive; digital can take care of itself. (And next time don't forget to use the [snarky] and [/snarky] tags.)

s-a

[boojum]I wasn't being snarky, I was being astonished. I'm still astonished. And if the agony in eight fits has it right, all who read this will vanish softly and suddenly away.[/boojum]. All safe now, if there are survivors.

semi-ambivalent · Jan 10, 2014

Dan Fromm said:
[boojum]I wasn't being snarky, I was being astonished. I'm still astonished. And if the agony in eight fits has it right, all who read this will vanish softly and suddenly away.[/boojum]. All safe now, if there are survivors.

Why are you astonished that someone might prefer analog wet prints? Why are you astonished that there are still people alive who automatically think of analog wet prints when someone says "prints" or "photographs"? Do their preferences, does their history, count for nothing in the face of your digital new found land? How can you, after 3k posts to a site like APUG, possibly be astonished by someone, who might very well have grown up with wet prints, actually having the unmitigated gall to prefer them? How?

Let me tell you something Dan. I don't give a rat's ass if people care for one or the other; I know I've made the right choice for me, and those prints I gave to a friend were the right choice for her. And when I'm out there with a beaten up SLR it's the people with digital cameras that make ignorant remarks like 'I didn't know they still made film'. It's the digital strangers who walk up to me in Pennsylvania buffet restaurants and say 'By the way, I like your camera, it's really cool'. It's digital tourists who smile at me benignly but with a look in their eye that says 'why does he use that, he knows something I don't'. I don't imagine this stuff Dan, it really happens to me. Maybe they're just weak, in which case you're better off preaching to them than to me. If you want to be astonished talk to them. That'll do it.

Meh, now I've thrown me off my Grahams...

s-a

Dan Fromm · Jan 10, 2014

semi-ambivalent said:
Why are you astonished that someone might prefer analog wet prints? Why are you astonished that there are still people alive who automatically think of analog wet prints when someone says "prints" or "photographs"? Do their preferences, does their history, count for nothing in the face of your digital new found land? How can you, after 3k posts to a site like APUG, possibly be astonished by someone, who might very well have grown up with wet prints, actually having the unmitigated gall to prefer them? How?

Let me tell you something Dan. I don't give a rat's ass if people care for one or the other; I know I've made the right choice for me, and those prints I gave to a friend were the right choice for her. And when I'm out there with a beaten up SLR it's the people with digital cameras that make ignorant remarks like 'I didn't know they still made film'. It's the digital strangers who walk up to me in Pennsylvania buffet restaurants and say 'By the way, I like your camera, it's really cool'. It's digital tourists who smile at me benignly but with a look in their eye that says 'why does he use that, he knows something I don't'. I don't imagine this stuff Dan, it really happens to me. Maybe they're just weak, in which case you're better off preaching to them than to me. If you want to be astonished talk to them. That'll do it.

Meh, now I've thrown me off my Grahams...

s-a

s-a, what on earth is the matter with you? You wrote

He eyes teared up and she mentioned they had almost no 'paper pictures'.

'Paper pictures' are prints, with no indication at all of how they were made. Interpreting 'paper pictures' as what you would call analog prints is dumb.

I don't understand why you think I'm a proponent of digital. I shoot Graphics and Cambos, can't afford a digital back for any of them. I recognize, however, that digital is here to stay. Whether film is here to stay is an interesting question that I can't answer. The omens, at least for those of us who shoot color, aren't as good as I'd like. We can only hope that movie theaters in the rest of the world don't switch to digital projectors.

Before you try to breathe fire on me again, read what I wrote. I don't advocate any technology.

I'm sorry that you're feeling lonely and persecuted, regret that its likely to get worse. Take two rats asses and call in the morning if you're not feeling better.

DanielStone · Jan 11, 2014

boy, some folks sure are gassy here, this place is startin to stink of bad attitudes

ah heck, this is the internet folks, not some pity party mushy face session where we pump fists and grind our teeth at the guy/woman/person/thing at the other end of the line/world, whatever... we're here to support each other, talk photo, not tear each other down for misconstrued(maybe?) one-liners or misunderstood internet grammar...

now, lets all make up, and make friends. cuz cameras can't hug you back, but friends can(as long as you have a good attitude and you're not too stinky)

night night

-D

Dan Fromm · Jan 11, 2014

DanielStone said:
boy, some folks sure are gassy here
-D

Dan, I've been wondering how best to respond the first post in this thread. You wrote it.

My, you were gassy.

I'm glad that you changed direction and are happier with what you're doing than you were before the change. But your new direction is yours and not everyone shares your preferences.

IMO the best policy is to accept that and let people do what pleases them, whether or not its what you would do. Be glad that they're happy going their various ways, and go your own way.

Cheers,

Dan

p.s., so you'll know, that little 45/8 Dagor you sold me is now in an adapter that holds it in a #1. It just covers 2x3 (ok image in the corners) but the corners are a little dark due to mechanical vignetting (in the lens, the shutter and adapter are innocent). On the whole a 47 SA is a better lens for 2x3. And now we know. I don't regret buying it from you.

BrianShaw · Jan 11, 2014

:confused:

gleaf · Jan 11, 2014

Perhaps I was traumatized by Peter Pan... in all seriousness wisdom does not come from doing it right. It is the effort results in zero or negative consequences that give us perspectve and the more areas of exploration the larger that coverage circle gets. Keep on learning at what ever rewards your mind and your soul. And when the grand plan of the moment fails check off the result box and regroup for your next try. My failures give me pause.. and the ability to say .. I'm retired.. take your time... I am the customer that is not in a rush. And a good day is breathing air, taking nourishment, and not being on life support. Been there done that near death experience thing. Give yourself some favour, and beyond constructive go light on self criticism. See the horizon.. there is somewhere out there waiting to be discovered. Ok I'll get off my stump by saying that I agree with every one of you. Because you know you best.

"G.A.S" and the dangers of internet fora/ebay on one's sanity & financial well-being

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