It's not GAS because it's film

[Alexander Ivashkin]

Do you rationalise and justify bouts of noxious gas with something along the lines of "Oh, it won't cost me an arm and a leg like a d***al stuff would, it's just an old gizwidget that I'll have for $15 on the eBay!"

 

[Sirius Glass]

I do not have to justify my expenses for anything to anybody.

 

[BrianShaw]

I dont rationalize or justify. I either need and buy, or want and buy, or don't need or don't want and don't buy. But I'm going to remember this post for the time when I need to explain a purchase to my wife!

 

[piffey]

Like when you buy a used Leica with the reasoning: "Well, they aren't making any more M2s. It'll hold its value!"? Like I'd ever sell the thing...

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

The only person to whom I justify my spending is me... and I don't give a darn what I do.

 

[Cholentpot]

Yep.

I have 30 cameras, a bunch of film, lenses, printing equipment and other stuff. I could have bought a decent DSLR for the money that I've spent over the past few years. I keep justifying it as cheap and 'Well the camera is $4, I use it once or twice and I got my money's worth' so yeah.

I the other hand I feel like much more of an artist for doing everything hands on, from choosing the film, the speed I'll shoot it at, to shooting selectively, to choosing how to develop, creating my own scanning workflow, and finally optically printing myself. I feel it does set me apart from my peer group as a whole who either use cellphones or DSLRs to get their photographs done. Film got me to the point that I can pick up any camera of any format and as soon as I find the buttons, knobs and levers I know what I'm doing.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The only person to whom I justify my spending is me... and I don't give a darn what I do.

Yet another thing we agree on.

 

[Alexander Ivashkin]

Well, in my books a GAS has nothing to do with the expenses. It is simply that nagging feeling at the back of your head that says: "You really must have that another lens / flash / thingamacallit..." If you got the gear for free - it's still gas

While I do understand and sympathise with the point of view of Sirius, Brian or Old-N-Feeble, I have a different approach. I tend to be very hard on my myself and think thrice before making any purchase. If I need something - I buy it... but before that I ask myself: "Do I really need this?.." The line between actually requiring something and wanton spending is thin and blurry...
Last time, I had to ensure myself I'd be taking lots of pictures with a cheap 135/3.5 lens before I decided to buy it. After all, I have 50 mil already, what else would I need?
(as a side note: now I'm shooting with the 135 all the time)

Or, another big item on my wish list: Mamiya C-series TLR as a foray into the MF world. I could afford it with the change I have in my wallet, but why buy something at all if I'm completely fine without it? I would love to try MF and get even slower, though, with all that waist-level finder and fully manual controls, so here's the deal:
I told to myself that if (and only if) by the end of 2017 I would be shooting 35 mil actively, produce a few great photobooks from slides and make some amazing B&W prints that the friends would love to have on their walls, then I would consider my wish to get a Mamiya justified.
And even then - instead of just whipping out a paying card at high noon, I'd need to save for it. Meaning that I'd need to cut my monthly spending a little each month to get the sum by the next spring (and load the camera with Velvia Velvia Velvia for the lush summer colours).
Not that I'm in any financial distress (quite the opposite, actually), it's just my answer to GAS (or any other addiction)

Works like a charm.

Cheers,
A.

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

RE "need" vs. "want": To those of us who never grew emotionally beyond two years old, there is no perceived difference between want and need. It's ALL want and it's all want it NOW!! I did stop stamping my little feet and screaming though... that's too much work... quiet sulking is easier and just as effective.

 

[railwayman3]

If feel that I'd like something, photographic or otherwise, I generally think about it for a while before I choose, then, if I'm still interested and can afford it, buy it, use it and enjoy it. Life's too short to beat yourself up and analyse everything. And, in the rare event that the purchase doesn't work out as one hopes, just move on, there's so many other interests.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Well, in my books a GAS has nothing to do with the expenses. It is simply that nagging feeling at the back of your head that says: "You really must have that another lens / flash / thingamacallit..." If you got the gear for free - it's still gas

If I were to ask that question the answer would too often be "no". Therefore I never ask such questions.

 

[removed account4]

Do you rationalise and justify bouts of noxious gas with something along the lines of "Oh, it won't cost me an arm and a leg like a d***al stuff would, it's just an old gizwidget that I'll have for $15 on the eBay!"

some digital stuff doesn't cost an arm or leg, and some film stuff is quite expensive.
while i understand your post and what you are getting at, it isn't really the case ...
for example, i can buy a lens for a film camera that cost $10,000.00 and i can buy a lens for a digital camera for $25.00
i can buy a digital body for less than $100 or even less than $50, and i could easily spend $1,000.00 on a film body...
of course one could say and do the opposite too.
i don't go by the mantra that digital gear needs to be replaced or upgraded every few months, and i did not go by the mantra that
film gear needed to be upgraded every few months when it was king either...

YMMV

 

[FujiLove]

Today, a person of modest means can own and use the finest film cameras ever made. I appreciate that fact every time I pick one up.

I say, buy them, use them, love them.

Just not on credit.

 

[Ces1um]

Do you rationalise and justify bouts of noxious gas with something along the lines of "Oh, it won't cost me an arm and a leg like a d***al stuff would, it's just an old gizwidget that I'll have for $15 on the eBay!"

I have to agonize over every purchase I make. I have very limited storage space so generally speaking if something comes into the home, that means something else had to leave it.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Replying to the part I understand (buying cameras).

Mamiya C series models XX are as good as CXXX models and less expensive. I don't know why, they seems to be doing the same and "blue dot" lenses works on CXX cameras.

 

[TheGreatGasMaskMan]

This is something I'm hoping to avoid- but let me put my situation like this:
My Photography professor told me I need a new digital camera because of how serious I seem about photography- but that quickly got thrown on the backburner after I realized I'm going to need a new car in the next year or two.
In my introduction post, I've been told I have more than enough and some pretty good equipment, though I'd really like a wide angle film lens.

Also,
I haven't quite gotten into ebay buying yet, but now I think I should hold off.
old film equipment is always going to be pretty cheap, either online or in store (except for the specialized and specific item I'm looking for)
finding stuff outside of the internet and photography stores isn't as easy as it sounds
- and when I do, it's not the greatest/ not going to work with my camera/ probably doesn't even work anyways.
I feel like I'm going to have only a few specific lenses I'm to use- so why bother with having too many of them.

so I guess my advice would be
Don't let others or yourself influence you into buying something unless you think you'll really need it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Check out Dead Link Removed They are very conservative in their equipment ratings. Also if you buy at a particular grade and when they go to ship if they are out of that grade they will substituent the next higher available grade. They also have a very good return policy so it is less risky than eBay. I either buy my used equipment at a camera store in person, on APUG, on Large Format Photography Forum, or KEH, but mostly on KEH.

 

[Arklatexian]

Like when you buy a used Leica with the reasoning: "Well, they aren't making any more M2s. It'll hold its value!"? Like I'd ever sell the thing...

But if you keep the thing long enough and don't live that long, it may be family that will be stuck with selling it. If it is a good camera or good cameras, it/they will probably outlast you. They can be immortal, you, on the other hand are not.......Regards!...Hate to bring things like this up, but life is life!

 

[Soeren]

Ill recieve donations for my analog asylum where I take in and gives a new home for abandoned analog cameras and lenses. I see it as my duty as a human being to save these endangered species

 

[Ces1um]

I generally agonize over every purchase I make. I don't mind spending money but I hate wasting it. Everything must have a use or purpose. I also have very little storage space so GAS fights my OCD tendencies to have a clean and organized house. If I find I stop using something, I sell or donate it. That being said, I have 10 different cameras but they all do something the other won't. I've probably had 25 different cameras go through the house though. These are the current batch and there are two cameras that I would never think of getting rid of.

 

[Down Under]

Much food for thought in this thread. Cholentpot in post #6 comes closest to my thoughts about all this, but as befits a good Sagittarian, I also share those many others here.

To me GAS is GAS. Whether it's applied to film or digital gear, doesn't make it any less GASsy.

Over the last decade I've worked through all this in my mind. When digital hit big time in the early 2000s, I still held off for some years, largely because image quality even in Nikons was not up to the minimum standards I held to in my film work. Then Nikon released the D90 in Australia in 2009 and I realised thye time was finally right for me and it was time to bite the bullet and invest in digital. I began pricing Nikon DSLRs, but then, due to an odd series of events I still don't fully understand, I took some trusted advice and went with Canon, first a G10 and then a 450D kit with several lenses.

Unfortunately for me I never really bonded with either camera and I sold the 450D the same year, but held on to the G10 til last year when it finally went to someone on Ebay who wanted one badly and was happy to pay me a little extra dosh for my G10 with only about 2,000 clicks on the counter. In 2010 I finally bought a demo D90 which even with the kit 28-55, has delivered the image quality I want. I've been very happy with it and it's still used, more so by my partner who creates very fine images with it.

In 2012 I went on to FX with a D700 and a pile of D lenses, 20mm to 180mm. I've never been big on zooms, but a 28-85 D I picked up cheaply produces some of my sharpest images, with a little care and paying attention to the straight lines at the 28mm setting.

My twenty or so film cameras (Nikkormats, Contax G1s) sat unloved on various shelves at home for some years until early this year, when I began taking them down one by one, dusting them off, putting in new batteries, stuffing them with films. My reason(s) for returning to analog after almost a decade of digital is/are basically twofold: I have a fridge and a freezer full of film and enlarging papers I want to use up while I can, also the quality of black-and-white images shot on film, especially the mid tones, is such that I prefer film for my 'art' imagery such as landscapes and esoterica, to my DSLRs, which I nowadays mostly use for garden and architectural shooting overseas.

With film I enjoy the total control I have over the process. I'm now retired and I have the time, sufficient income (for the time being) and, fortunately, the good health to indulge myself in slower shooting and processing. In a few more years there will be less money, and I'll have to make some different decisions. But for now, GAS is okay.

With digital I enjoy the convenience, the ability to shoot two, twenty or two hundred images if I want to (most often I indulge in the first two and have never let myself go the way of machine-gunning shots to pick a few out of hundreds, that's just not me), and the joy of being able to see my results immediately if I want. Some pooh-pooh this approach, but it suits me just fine, thanks.

So here I am with five Nikkormats (three ELs and two FT2s, down from seven or eight a few years ago), two Nikon F65s, four Contax G1s (down from six), five Rolleis (added two this year, GAS!), and an assortment of other cameras, mostly 120 6x6 folders. Now and then I part with a camera, often as not when I acquire another that is better than the one I sell or give away. So it is with GAS. After years of just buying, buying, buying, I've finally learned to control the urge to gather in piles. If I had my time again, I would never ever repeat my impulse buying - at least I think I wouldn't. But that's just me. My partner is also an avid photographer and now has an M3 kit we picked up earlier this year. So the camera cycle for this lifetime, now seems complete. Maybe. For now anyway.

Film is now expensive in Australia. My Rolleiflex TLRs mostly sit on the shelf as I find I can no longer justify spending big for a dozen shots on a roll of 120 film when I can get just as good results with my Nikon D700 and a fixed D lens.Yet I still pick up film cameras.this year, a Rollei 2.8E2 kit, a Leica M3 kit, and recently, a beaut Rolleicord Vb on Ebay auction from with a starting price of A$90 - I was the only bidder. So yes, GAS.

So what do I do with it? Well, I use it. Sort of. I try to shoot one roll every year in every camera I own. I did in 2015, also last year. This year, well, you know. It has been a cold, cold winter down here and all that...

My stepkids in Malaysia and are keen to get their hot little hands on my film cameras. Unfortunately for them, their approach to date has been "how much do you think it's worth?" which tells me a lot. I mean, I can sell it all myself and enjoy the returns. For now, I hang on to it.

Time passes, things change. GAS endures... not forever, but it lasts. I prefer to embrace it and enjoy it.

 

[guangong]

I have more than enough cameras and lenses, for both still and movie photography. Yes, sometimes I would still like own a Super Ikonta C but even then I would like to buy one in person and not by mail. A friend put one aside for me at Olden Camera years ago but new baby expenses came first. But the real GAS quests are not cameras and lenses but those little accessories such as filters, finders, lens shades and caps, adapters, etc. I incline towards the attitude of Serious, et al.