When Photography bites you.

[jgredline]

Hi folks.
A buddy of mine I work with got himself a DSLR. Nothing unusual with that, but now I see packages arriving from E-bay, Amazon, etc. The bug has bit him. When he first got it, I told him to be careful and not to let LBA get the better of him ''as it has done so to many others myself included''. He said ''LBA'', ''What's that''"...I said, ''Lens buyers addiction''

He said ''no way'' , but here we are a few weeks later...LOL. Anyway, it's too late for him, he is hooked. Has fallen in love with birding in particular. Now he sits outside early morning and at lunch and shoots birds. Here is a bird bath he made yesterday out of an old crank and flywheel. He is now making bird houses to hang around the outside of the shop.

How hard has the Photography ''bug bit you?

[another view]

How hard has the Photography ''bug bit you?

It goes in phases - at the moment not so much as I've been busy with other things. However, the interest in picking up the camera and picking up the credit card don't always happen in sync with each other. I tend to think of shooting and gear as almost two different hobbies.

Haven't heard of LBA before, but musicians call it GAS - gear aquisition syndrome.

[Liz]

Like Steve, I too go through phases. Right now I'm struggling with having enough time to for photography. I really have to begin putting it in my schedule....seriously.

I did go through a phase after I purchased my first "L" lens - Canon 17-40. After using that lens, I thought all my lenses had to be "L" lenses. So I purchased the 24-105L IS lens. However, I had a conflict with my budget so that ended my dreams of having more "L" lenses. Until last year I used my tax returns each year for photography, but lately I've had to pay Uncle Sam - so that little perk was gone.

Unfortunately, about a year ago I ended up selling my heavier lenses due to a back/neck problem. However, I'm happy with what I have - Canon 50mm/f1.8, 28mm/f1.8 and the Tokina 11-16mm/f2.8.

I also had the G9 which is an awesome camera - p&s doesn't get any better! However, I ended up selling it because I really wanted something smaller with a wider angle. It was a very difficult decision because I really liked the G9. However, I purchased the Panasonic DMC TZ5 which is a great camera with 28mm wide. I still have some money in my photography budget - leftover from selling my "L" lenses, but for the most part, I've basically sold something to buy something. So it limits my buying phases a bit.

Liz

[Frog]

So when's he joining our forum?

I spent a couple of hours today just sorting my camera stuff, finding things I'd forgotten about, finding other stuff I couldn't remember where it was. And I only have 4 lenses.....all the other stuff gets messy sometimes. Haven't bought anything for a while though....been eyeing some 18-200 lenses though.

[jgredline]

Hi Folks,
Thanks for the responses.

GAS, I need to remember that

Liz, Sorry to hear the G9 is gone, but I could not agree more about the wide angle. That is the only thing that bothers me about the G9. ''Unfortunately'' it bothers me enough where I too am considering selling mine as well.

Frog, It seem that these 18-250 Lenses are really taking off. That Tamron Version of that lens for Nikon (My wife is a Nikon girl) is really sharp straight through. Don't know about the 18-200 lenses though..

As for me, I have spent way to much money these past two years on Photo equipment. Time to relax and learn to use what I have.

[Didache]

For myself, I REALLY got bitten about 5 years ago. I joined a local camera club due to encouragement from a friend who told me I had "the eye" but needed to work on it. After about six months in the club I worked up the best picture I could (it was a portrait of a dance teacher posing in front of a mirror). The judge on the evening gave it a Highly Commended (which is the highest for a weekly photo comp in my club). I suddenly realised the joy and the possibilities of competition photography. As I said, that was around five years ago and I dread to think what might have happened had the judge rubbished it. I owe her a lot (and have told her that on subsequent meetings).

You can see the image here: The Dance Teacher

Re the gear thing, I am 1001% of the view that equipment is much, much, MUCH less important than "the eye". Almost all modern gear will do the job very nicely, thank you very much! I admit to a wry inward smile when I read threads about people buying this lens or that lens - I know that certain applications require good gear and it isn't my business to tell people what they should spend their money on, but imo an expensive lens will not make you a better photographer - what makes you a better photographer is getting out there and shooting!

Cheers
Mike