I clicked on the ad for this because I casually assumed it was a piece of audio gear: it was not!
First guy: I compulsively buy everything I see that has to do with the Beatles.
Second guy: Sounds like you need help.
First guy: No, I already have three copies of that.
So I'm a little worried about myself...I used to be "camera obsessive." Poring over gear and daydreaming about it set my endorphins to firing (as they say; I don't actually know what that means). Lately, however, not so much. Photo gear doesn't really do it for me any more.
Is there something wrong with me, or am I just...recovering?
Mike
P.S. I have to add that I do love to operate my own camera, and pictures are "doing it for me" more than ever.
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The curve has flattened. I've not obsessed over technology for some time now, flat curves for phones, tablets, computers. Vehicles. Appliances. TV's. Most stuff is just good, and has been good for some time.
Same thing with camera gear and processing software. Okay, at least for how I use this stuff, which is amateur hobbyist. I have to admit I did get a Mac Studio so that I had a computer that could handle DxO PhotoLab's noise reduction. Of course, a short time after that Apple updated the Mac Mini with a faster processor that would have done the trick, but I do like the extra ports on the Mac Studio. The curve is not entirely flat, but still, not much dramatic change either. I guess we'll save the dramatic change for AI technology that looks like it's being unleashed with very little forethought or care.
Posted by: SteveW | Wednesday, 12 April 2023 at 12:59 PM
Its the photo not the gear. Get a quality printer like Epson p700 and some canson platine fibre rag and reignite your passion.
Posted by: louis mccullagh | Wednesday, 12 April 2023 at 02:56 PM
Makes sense to me that owning the "camera of your dreams" more or less--custom made at that, at least in a sense--would affect your relationship to cameras you don't own. Congratulations!
Posted by: robert e | Wednesday, 12 April 2023 at 03:06 PM
I never had a copy of Help (the single). From late ‘64 to mid 67’ I was such a Beatles fan that I ordered each single in advance, and collected it on the day it was released. But it so happened that I was abroad - a school pupil exchange scheme - on the relevant day for Help, and when I returned I never quite had the impetus to buy it. Looking back, I suspect that part of the pleasure was to have the record first of anyone I knew.
As regards cameras, in recent years I’ve mainly followed a strategy of buying last year’s good model (when i’ve bought). I’ve also sometimes bought used - there is a good camera dealer in Sheffield with an excellent used department. But I’m a sucker for the latest Macs and iPhones.
Posted by: Tom Burke | Wednesday, 12 April 2023 at 08:04 PM
You're allowed to change your interests.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Wednesday, 12 April 2023 at 09:24 PM
We visited Marrakesh many years ago and were taken to a carpt warehouse by our guide. The sales technique was simple. We were set down, given a cold drink, and a assistants started showing us different turkish rugs. We were told not to select but rathr reject. The rejects were cast to one side and the non rejected ones presented once again withe the same instructions.Eventually we were left with a few that had not been rejected and allowd to select from among them.
A very effective technique
Posted by: Thomas Mc Cann | Thursday, 13 April 2023 at 05:24 AM
Maybe you have satisfied "the chase" since you have the B&W camera of your dreams.
I went through Datsun Z cars in my twenties, a Volvo wagon in my thirties after becoming a mom, and during this period, a BMW Z3 was leased because my feet continued to have a need for speed, but my dream vehicle was always a white Toyota Land Cruiser. Then in 1999, I bought a brand new white Land Cruiser. Putting my foot to the peddle was like a hot knife going through butter!
After the Land Cruiser episode, I could care less about cars. Now I look to them to serve a purpose, to safely get me from A to B with better economics than not. The Land Cruiser did it all except the economics. Back then, filling it up cost me $80, and glad to have traded it when I did, but it satisfied whatever it was I was after. Since then, I will happily drive granny’s car if it gets me to where I need to go. Nothing wrong with feeling satisfied.
Posted by: darlene | Thursday, 13 April 2023 at 12:52 PM
I have never obsessed over gear, whether it's cameras, motorbikes, bicycles, guitars, cars, computers or whatever. I think it's a distraction and we are told all this by people who want us to replace our current gear with this shiny, new, 'better' version.
I like to read about them, mainly about how to look after them, get the best out of a piece of equipment and maximise their lifetime. No-frills functionality is definitely my thing.
I learnt plenty about the Olympus OM Mailing List in the late 1990s yet I found that, for my purposes, the fewer items of gear I carried the more enjoyed my picture-taking; that the fast lenses were really only more useful in specific low light situations (usually music gigs); and that for general picture-taking even moderately skilled photographers simply didn't need expensive hardware.
Posted by: Simon | Saturday, 15 April 2023 at 04:52 AM