How many IS too many?

benjiboy · Dec 31, 2014

Sirius Glass said:
You have been afflicted with GAS [Gadget Acquisition Syndrome] and the only way to control it is to buy more equipment. At APUG we all have this. For you there is not hope so get out your credit card, check book and cash so you can start spending.

I had Gear Acquisition Syndrome once really badly Steve and working in camera stores at that time didn't help, but I think I'm cured since I've only bought two cameras in the last 25 years, and I will never buy another.

BradS · Aug 28, 2015

Eight years have passed since I started this thread...Today, I'm down to just seven 35mm SLR bodies...

Nikon FM3A
Nikkormat FTN (two of these)

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP
Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP-II
Pentax KX
Pentax MG

The Pentax MG and Spotmatic belonged to my mom...they are staying. The MG electronics are flaky so, I don't use it anymore. The KX is my first "real camera" it has frame spacing issues but its a keeper. The Spotmatic SP-II, one of the Nikkormats and the Nikon FM3A get used occasionally. The other Nikkormat will serve as backup for travel.

EDIT: Now that I see the list in print, it still seems like TOO MUCH gear. Maybe I should dump the Nikkormats :/

OptiKen · Aug 28, 2015

That's about half of what I suffer with.
I'm on a waiting list for AA (Analogs Anonymous) and another for GA (GAS Anon) but the list is so very long, I don't know if I'll get in before I'm out of money and room

RalphLambrecht · Aug 28, 2015

Yes, Youare sick but I'm willing to help you;Send them all to me and I promise to give them a good home ib my collection.They won't be lonely.

goldenimage · Aug 30, 2015

8x10 is where I stopped . There is no way I would pay even for what an 11x14 holder brings

removed account4 · Aug 30, 2015

BradS said:
Eight years have passed since I started this thread...Today, I'm down to just seven 35mm SLR bodies...

Nikon FM3A
Nikkormat FTN (two of these)

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP
Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP-II
Pentax KX
Pentax MG

The Pentax MG and Spotmatic belonged to my mom...they are staying. The MG electronics are flaky so, I don't use it anymore. The KX is my first "real camera" it has frame spacing issues but its a keeper. The Spotmatic SP-II, one of the Nikkormats and the Nikon FM3A get used occasionally. The other Nikkormat will serve as backup for travel.

EDIT: Now that I see the list in print, it still seems like TOO MUCH gear. Maybe I should dump the Nikkormats :/

i wish i had that problem with 35mm cameras
looks like a nice affliction, i like pentax cameras.

BradleyK · Aug 31, 2015

How many is too many? Too many is when you need an Excel spreadsheet to determine your last rotation... Post, "Thinning out the Horde," however (I am now down to 10 Nikons, in my 35mm SLR arsenal), my GAS is in remission...(except for an M3...just to satsify my curiosity re the constant chattering of the Leica Fanboys - and $600USD is really pretty cheap..haha).

Roger Cole · Sep 1, 2015

BradS said:
Well, I kinda skipped right over medium format and went stright to 4x5...then 5x7.

8x10 is calling me. I can hear it beckoning...

I did too, because when I did so, in the mid 90s, 4x5 was paradoxically less expensive to get into. I got into medium format after my return to photography post-digital-devolution when MF gear had become affordable.

You know, and I've said it before and will probably keep saying it, I enjoy working with the 4x5 but the PITA factors, including but not limited to dust, often sorely tempt me to get an RB or RZ 67 and give up 4x5. 6x7 with modern films actually gives more quality than I can actually use at any size I print. The movements and the slower work flow of LF do appeal though.

I've almost lost interest in 35mm since, though. I mainly shoot it now for very low light and for slides for projection.

EDIT: Wow, I just noticed the date on the post I replied to. Holy necro-posting Batman!

DannL. · Sep 1, 2015

I can't recall the last 35mm camera I had, when I sold it. That's just shows how much I miss it. I do recall that every time I left the house, I would inadvertently stumble across a camera, and then it would find it's way home with me. I would always test them, just to see if they would perform. Sadly, as the old saying goes . . . "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear". But, bad habits can be broken, and eventually I stopped dragging them home. My personal policy today . . . One camera per format that I actually use regularly. The old "I might use it someday" is a recipe for hoarding. And that's a horrible condition to find one's self when we're older.

hsteeves · Sep 1, 2015

I am moving out of my house - the hoarding is out of control. I think the cameras have set up a breeding program - I think I am seeing bodies with no particular brand with odd feature sets.

LarryP · Sep 1, 2015

How many is too many? One more than you are comfortable owning.I noted in another thread I sold off 2 k1000's in nice user condition and a spotmatic with a 50/1.4 because I hadn't used them much other than checking them out.Now I don't have o look at unused gear and people who want to use them have them. Winners all around

ciniframe · Sep 1, 2015

Yeah, recognize the OP's compulsion. I had the same history, at about 40 I bought a second body. For 15 years I'd had one body and 3 or 4 lenses. Then when I reached 40 something snapped and, starting with that second OM-1 there was an explosion of GAS. At one time I had 90 to 100 cameras. Just in the last 2 or 3 years, now in my mid 60's, the madness left. I still have way too many cameras but have divested myself of at least half and the rest are going away slowly. I think I'll finally wind up with, in 35mm, an OM-1md, OM-4Ti, a Pen F and 10 or 12 Zuiko's (that includes 6 half frame Zuiko's)

I also dabble in 4X5 and, if if it ever arrives, I'll have a Trevelwide 90. I sorta backed into 4X5. Four or five years ago I stumbled on 6 filmholders at a garage sale for $5. Up till then I hadn't considered it but once I came home with those 4X5 DDS's.........well, what could I do? I bought a ratty camera that had been a u-build kit from Calumet in the early 80's for $25, took it apart and built it into a serviceable but simple 4X5

DannL. · Sep 1, 2015

I too must have gone through a hundred cameras in the past ten years. I didn't keep them very long after testing. I thought that if I missed the opportunity to try a particular camera, I might be missing the "silver bullet" that would change everything.

Ha! Lesson learned.

Sirius Glass · Sep 1, 2015

I never get too many because I sell the cameras that I do not use.

LarryP · Sep 1, 2015

I haven't needed a silver bullet since i gave up hunting werewolves.

benjiboy · Sep 1, 2015

I don't have a problem with too many cameras I own seven cameras, only two of which I have bought in the last twenty five years.

Theo Sulphate · Sep 1, 2015

benjiboy said:
I don't have a problem with too many cameras I own seven cameras, only two of which I have bought in the last twenty five years.

How are your F-1N's configured? AE finder? Power winder? Both? Neither? I suppose it mostly depends on what you like to photograph and your style. I'm mostly a landscape and architecture photographer and work pretty slowly (though I do motorsports, too).

As for the Canon EF, that is such a nice camera.

Sirius Glass · Sep 1, 2015

Well we all know that one is not enough.

benjiboy · Sep 2, 2015

Theo Sulphate said:
How are your F-1N's configured? AE finder? Power winder? Both? Neither? I suppose it mostly depends on what you like to photograph and your style. I'm mostly a landscape and architecture photographer and work pretty slowly (though I do motorsports, too).

As for the Canon EF, that is such a nice camera.

The EF is one of the two cameras I have bought in the last twenty five years and is indeed a lovely camera the other being my Fi-N with the eye level prism. My three New F1's two of which are fitted with the AE Finder FN and the third the Eye level finder FN to which I have permanently attached the Motor Drive FN to give me shutter priority AE if required, or I can attach one of the AE finders if I think I may need aperture priority as well. These are just about all the cameras I want or need in this lifetime and don't hanker after anything else

frank · Sep 2, 2015

It's hard to go back to 135 once you've tried medium format. For me, it's the perfect balance between portability/ease of use, and image quality. YMMV

Marvin · Sep 2, 2015

One reason I keep all of my old cameras is they just don't make them any more. If you go to B&H and click on film cameras there is not much of a selection. I still have 35mm, medium format, and 4x5 cameras. I have others but, this is my main film cameras.

Quantity Camera
2 Nikon N80
2 Nikon N75
1 Nikon F5
2 Minolta X700
1 Minolta X370
2 Bronica ETRSi
1 Mamiya RB67
2 Toyo 45CX

I also have some of those D*****L things but we won't go into that.

benjiboy · Sep 2, 2015

That's true Frank but it's "horses for courses" but there's no raeson you can't use both, I have a Mamiya C330F camera and and four lenses as well as my 35mm gear that I use mainly for portraiture if I require big enlargements and better image quality.

Sirius Glass · Sep 2, 2015

frank said:
It's hard to go back to 135 once you've tried medium format. For me, it's the perfect balance between portability/ease of use, and image quality. YMMV

If you use Hasselblad, you will never go back.

4season · Sep 2, 2015

I'll know that I've gone too far when it starts feeling less like fun and more like a chore: It's not an investment, a legacy for my family to treasure, or historical preservation (except for my own amusement). To anyone else, I figure it's just some curious old junk of iffy monetary value.

How many IS too many?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency