Next time you get gear envy or GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome*) consider this:
Does the fisherman with the most expensive fishing rod catch the most fish?
Does the cook with the most cutting edge stove create the most tasty dishes?
Does the rich guy with the sports car have the best driving record?
Does the student with the most expensive calculator have the highest test score?
Some good advice from photographer G Dan Mitchell:
Photography is about seeing. Photography is not about equipment. Indeed, we must use equipment to make photographs, but when we look at the photographs we really don’t think about the equipment used to make it much at all. No one wins a prize for having the highest resolution or the least distortion.
It is easy these days to become obsessed with choosing and acquiring The Best Thing, and people acquiring good equipment for the first time are even more susceptible than (most) experienced photographers. Your photography is not your lens. The lens is a tool that is only valuable to the extent that it supports your ability to make the photographs that you will actually produce.
Resist the call of The Very Best Thing, the lure of “Rated Number One!,” “Lens Scores Highest in Our Test!,” and “Lens Blows Everything Else Out of the Water!” The real questions are about what you will do in your photography, and not about the distractions of acquiring a more expensive thing than the other guy or gal. Get a lens that works for you, head out and make some photographs!
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*Symptoms
Those suffering from GAS become infatuated with new photography equipment, often to the point of temporary neurosis. Cameras, lenses, flashes, bags, hot shoe levelers, camera straps, tripods, ball heads, white balance cards, rain covers, etc. – if camera equipment companies make it, you can be sure that a photographer with a bad case of GAS will find it. This results in an obsessive-compulsive effort to keep up with the latest product cycles, reviews, and opinions. If “new is better”, the notion that “more is better” must be equally true. While this obsession is often directed toward new gear, it can also be focused on older equipment as well. It is not unusual to find those with GAS roaming eBay, estate or yard sales, and photo forums for those vintage bargains of yesteryear. GAS victims often feed their addiction by subscribing to every photo magazine on the Barnes & Noble rack, and check major gear-oriented photography blogs multiple times per day to ensure that no gear-related press announcement – however minor – escapes their scrutiny. https://photographylife.com/diseases-that-plague-photographers