Contentment

[tonyturley]

As I've idled away a few hours scrolling through camera forums over the past few days, I've run across scads of posts debating one camera or another. Scrolling through some of my own older posts has driven home the point that my camera purchases have been all over the place the past couple of years. I started out 2016 with an E-M5 and Sony A7. Very good IQ, both, but I convinced myself I needed smaller and lighter. Sold A7 and bought an E-M1. Wasn't all that smaller with the adapted Olympus 4/3 High Grade zooms I owned at the time. Decided low light performance wasn't good enough after renting an X100S, sold all of the MFT gear and bought an X-E1 + XF 14mm. Added a black X100. Sold X-E1 and 14mm. Bought X-T1 + XF 18-55mm. Sold X100. Bought X30. Decided I didn't care for the X-T1, sold it and the 18-55. Re-purchased E-M5 + 17mm/1.8. Purchased Olympus 12mm f/2. Sold Olympus 12mm f/2. Some of that stuff I kept barely more than a month before selling, usually at a loss.

I think the best images I have taken this year have been with the E-M5 + 17mm/1.8, although the little X30 has produced its share of excellent images. That's all I have in my pack right now, along with a tiny Olympus 35RC film camera. I spent a lot of time and money chasing after photographic Nirvana this year, all for naught. In fact, some of the best prints I have hanging around our house were done with my old NEX-6 and a Pen F 38mm lens, a primitive combination by today's standards. At the beginning of 2015, before I contracted a serious strain of gear lust, I had an E-M5 and the NEX-6, plus a ton of old legacy lenses. I purged my collection of almost all of that old glass earlier this year. I have been giving serious consideration to re-purchasing a NEX-6 and Pen F 38, returning me back to where I was before the madness started. Lusting after "better" gear has not improved my skills one bit; what did that was studying and working to improve my technique. The painful lesson I have learned is that contentment is far more important than gizmos and gadgets, and it took me far too long to come to that conclusion.

 

[Luke]

I would urge you to read this post once a week (more or less....as needed). It's certainly right. I could have written the same thing a few years back. And every 3-4 months or so, I thought I had learned the lesson you laid bare above. But as I have bought and sold dozens of cameras since then, recognizing it is only PART of the problem (at least for me). I've been much more restrained this year than years past. But I NEVER create photos any more and thought I had licked my GAS, but I've VERY NEARLY bought a couple different cameras and a lens that I didn't need this last week. Maybe it's the time of year... maybe my brain is pre-hard-wired for this illnes. But one thing I have learned FOR SURE, is that you need to fight a constant battle (if you are inflicted with the version I have) of GAS.

Good luck to all.

 

[Steve Noel]

Been there and done most of that and more. Contentment is a rare commodity and hard to hang on to. But true contentment, is being satisfied with yourself, not stuff, or others.

 

[drd1135]

I get this. I have a nice main kit right now: a Pen F, an EM5 II, an RX100 iii, and a Pentax Q7. Add to that a nice selection of lenses. Still, I look through Black Friday sales and almost bought another camera today. I'm so used to looking for sales for stuff that I'm struggling to keep in mind that I'm pretty set right now for what I do and how I do photography. What I need to do is make some time to go shooting and enjoy the gear I already have. It's really easy to let the pleasure of shopping and acquiring take the place of actually doing photography.

 

[Luke]

This must be why the Single In January so often ends up in January

 

[Ripleysbaby]

Recently I am finding contentment using only my GR

 

[Lightmancer]

Contentment never lies in things.

Want what you have, don't have what you want.

I use Advent every year to declutter my life. I get rid of one thing a day, from the first of December for the next 24 days. I don't restrict myself to tangibles, either. I review things like subscriptions and direct debits and ask myself if they fit within my ecosystem and add value to my life anymore. It's really quite cathartic.

 

[tonyturley]

Contentment never lies in things.

I agree 100%, Bill. I also experienced the catharsis you mentioned when I purged my trove of old film cameras and lenses. I sold what I could, and donated the rest to a thrift shop. That felt great.

 

[tilman]

Another thought that might help to get towards contentment is not to "compare and despair" (I first heard of that phrase in a podcast with Jamie Lee Curtis talking about her life)

We should be glad about who we are (and I guess - on the materialistic side - what we have) instead of comparing us to what we think others are (or have)...
Enjoy the process... enjoy life... It's the only one we have

 

[lenshacker]

I have not bought a new digital camera in three years, The Df bought on "small Business Saturday". Bought the M Monochrom 4 years ago, the M9 6 years ago, and an M8 7 years ago.

Not sure if "content" is the word for it, Saturated is more like it. I just don't need anything better than these cameras. I like them, and the results they deliver. And I wrote my own processing software for the DNG files from the Leica's. In Fortran-77. I'm content with that language, served me well coming up on 40 years now.

 

[Luke]

And I wrote my own processing software for the DNG files from the Leica's. In Fortran-77.

!!!

You win.

 

[tilman]

If you look at today's photography at its most basic level, it's actually pretty amazing what we have, even in our simplest devices:
We can capture a memory with one click on a pocket-sized device - and then instantly share it with friends and family in all parts of the world.

I know we take it for granted these days - but it's pretty amazing if you think about it.
Everything in addition to that is just the icing on the cake...

 

[tonyturley]

I have not bought a new digital camera in three years.

It's been about that long since I've bought a NIB camera. I have been able to find my gear at significant discounts from the new price. So at least I haven't been forking over huge sums of $$$.

 

[olli]

I find that moving country every year is an excellent disincentive to accumulating unnecessary clutter. I've also reached the point where I no longer find gear forums interesting. If I won the lottery no doubt I would waste a big chunk of my winnings on the self indulgent purchase of unneeded camera gear, but that's highly unlikely given that i don't actually play the lottery I'm using an X-E2 bought over two year ago and a RX100 bought over four years ago. I might buy another RX100 sometime soon just because I have the original version and my middle aged eyes are no longer that good at composing on a small screen, so I need a viewfinder. If Fuji ever make an X-E3 I would buy that eventually. These days, though, I'm more likely to buy photobooks or get photobooks of my pictures made than spend money on gear. I think I'm pretty content photographically.

 

[tonyturley]

I guess I should probably stop talking about gear - I bought another lens. Granted, my stash of lenses is very small (6), but wasn't I just saying on another thread I was considering going all native? So why did I spring for a mint condition RMC Tokina 17mm f/3.5 in PK mount?

Here's why: I have been looking for a suitable wide angle lens since I sold my Olympus 12mm f/2 and all of my other MFT gear. The Rokkor 24mm is wide-ish, but I like to photograph waterfalls, and sometimes the 36mm FOV isn't quite enough. The Rokinon 12mm f/2 is highly regarded, but really too wide for my tastes. I once owned a Fuji 14mm/2.8, but Olympus and Fuji have both taught me that I am not a fan of focus-by-wire, and I can't get past the fact that I enjoy MF . . . probably for the same subliminal reason that I insist on driving a manual transmission vehicle.

Fuji's 16mm/1.4 is by all accounts I've read an excellent lens, but even used costs 4X what I paid for the Tokina. I compared the size of the Tokina to what I'm presently carrying, and there won't be a big size difference, if any. Throw in that I already have on my shelf CP and ND filters that will fit this lens. In the end, it was this guy's photos that helped seal the deal after a lot of research: Gorge Harvest ~ dustingent adventures

So for the time being I'll be sticking with my older MF lenses. Perhaps some day I'll go all modern. Then again, naaaah.

 

[Ray Sachs]

I seem to be in a pretty good state of photographic contentment. By mid-2014 I had a kit that consisted of a Nikon DF, a Coolpix A, and an RX1. Although I've bought and sold one compact in the interim (a Canon G7X - great camera that I didn't use much, a fate suffered by every compact zoom I've owned), and sold the old RX1 and eventually bought the new model, my kit now, 2 1/2 years later, consists of a Nikon DF, a Coolpix A, and an RX1. The only other camera during this time that's caught my interest is the Nikon DL 18-50, which doesn't exist and may or may not ever. If it does, I'll probably at least give it a look and may or may not end up with one. If I do, the Coolpix A and a little Voigtlander 20mm lens will probably go to help pay for it. I love the Coolpix A - it's been my mainstay and best street camera for about four years now, but with the improvements to the new version of the RX1, it can now do what the Coolpix A can do plus all of the amazing things the RX1 has always been able to do.

But my kit really hasn't changed substantially in 2 1/2 years, which is amazingly stable for me, given how much I used to buy and sell cameras...

Of course, true contentment has nothing to do with cameras, but this is a camera forum and that's as philosophical as I'm gonna get here...

-Ray

 

[tonyturley]

Of course, true contentment has nothing to do with cameras, but this is a camera forum and that's as philosophical as I'm gonna get here...

-Ray

You're right, Ray. Contentment really has nothing to do with stuff. I need to figure out for myself why I always seem to be looking for the next lens or camera.

 

[bartjeej]

I haven't bought a new camera in the past 3 years either, apart from a new smartphone. Although to be honest, if I'd had the budget, I probably would have bought something along the way. Provided that I could settle on which camera best suits my needs for long enough to make it to the store and buy one, that is... roll on waterproof truly pocketable built-in-evf DL18-50.

Back to the subject at hand: I have a few photo projects (mostly inspired by Ming Thein's blog) that I promised myself I'd give a try, before buying a new "good" camera. I'm sure I could learn a lot more with the X100 I already have.

 

[Armanius]

Contentment is being able to call BH home. J/K!!

With a little one in the house, it certainly has made a difference on the way I look at gear. Not having disposable income due to the costs of parenthood also helps to keep me more content!