Gear Lust (part two)

where were we? ah, yes. i was spilling guts about one of my greatest weaknesses: my gear lust. and i was about to get to the crux of the point when i realized that the backstory had eclipsed the original purpose. and even now, i think more explanation is needed. in order to truly understand the magnitude of the problem, i need to lay it all out there.

before i get into it, i realized after posting the first post in this series that my timeline was a bit off, so i should rewind. sometime last year, i started to notice what looked like scratches on my photos, and i was convinced that these were a product of the scratches on my lens because i kept losing my lens caps on the road. as it turns out, what i was seeing was dust on my sensor, and i was able to get rid of it using a senor cleaning kit. i don’t know how much it cost since i bought it in store, but it wasn’t expensive, and honestly it’s something i didn’t realize i should have had anyway. but kudos to canon’s built-in sensor cleaning kit for successfully managing debris for four and a half years before finally meeting its match in the form of a formidable stray eyelash.

but i digress. earlier this year, my wife and i decided to take a trip to iceland, and one of the things we were most looking forward to on the trip was seeing the northern lights. given that at the time i was convinced it was time to replace my lens, and that i really, really, really wanted to take a picture of aurora borealis, i started to look into new lenses. so that’s really where it all began.

i eventually landed on the sigma 20mm f/1.4 art lens, and i bought a used copy from adorama about a week prior to our trip. it had some issues with what astrophotographers call “coma” which essentially means that stars on the edge of the frame get stretched out a bit, but i figured with 20mm to work with, i could always crop that out.

well, two things happened in iceland. first, i realized that i am not a big fan of prime lenses. i had gotten so used to using a pull-focus technique (zooming all the way in, focusing on the subject, and then zooming out to frame while holding focus), and i was not impressed with the need to use live view zoomed in digitally 10x to nail my focus. seriously, who’s got time for that? the second thing that happened was that we never saw the northern lights. so i basically spent $860 on a new lens that was really too heavy to be a travel lens, not versatile enough to be a travel lens, and to be completely honest, not even very well-suited to astrophotography, which was kind of the reason i bought it in the first place. so i returned it. thankfully, adorama is pretty cool about returns and took it back no questions.

but as a result of that purchase, i now had $860 to spend at adorama from in-store credit (i used the adorama credit card to purchase the lens since they offer no interest financing on purchases over $500), and i was still feeling a pull to get a new lens. at the time, i was gravitating toward the canon 70-200mm f/4 image-stabilized lens, and adorama had a decent used copy of that lens listed as in stock, so i initiated the return. but this was during sukkot, and adorama didn’t get my order for almost two weeks, and by the time they did, that lens was gone. i’m actually really glad about that, because as great as canon’s glass is, i don’t think i’ll ever be a fan of their bright yellowish white telephoto lenses from an aesthetic standpoint.

to rant a bit about that, first of all, gross. they’re just plain ugly. second, they’re like a beacon for anyone who might be prone to snatching a camera in the seedier areas of the world. might as well just wear a neon sign that says “my camera is super expensive and you’ll make more by selling this than you’ve probably made all year on nabbing travel wallets from hippies.”

ok back on topic. so in the interim, while i was waiting for my telephoto lens to ship out, wifey and i went camping in new hampshire, and as i said in my last post, that’s when i broke my canon 24-105mm f/4 lens. had that not happened, i might have just bought a new telephoto lens and not spiraled down the drain of gear lust as i have over the last couple of months. so how bad is it? well, let’s just take a tally of how much i’ve spent on new camera gear since, let’s say, august this year, when it all began, and you tell me.

1. tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4: $652.16

2. canon 50mm f/1.8 STM: $136.09

3. tamron 70-210mm: $795.82

4. sekonic flash meter: $163.75

5. cowboystudio remote flash: $19

6. yongnuo 560 flash: $60

7. neweer softbox: $34.99

8. glow handheld speedlight:/softbox grip: $10.89

9. light reflector: $10.99

10. flashpoint stands (9.5’ and 13’): $31.57

11. LED string lights: $7

12. Rogue Flash Gels: $33

13. tamron TAP-in console: $54.44

14. peak design L-2 leash: $37.95

15. peak design capture POV: $43.60

16. peak design eos lens kit: $45.73

17. peak design micro plate: $21.72

18. kenko macro extension tubes: $79.00

19. lexar 32GB compact flash card: $56.00

20. squarespace website (12 months): $129.60

21. thumbtack lead generation fees: $64.60

22. godaddy domain registration: $27.33

23. eBay selling fees: $8.50

ok, so obviously some of this stuff isn’t gear. but if you want to be a hired photographer, you need to have a professional portfolio website, and thumbtack has been a pretty successful platform for me to connect with new customers, so that portion of the investment has already paid for itself. but how much as all of this set me back? try $2,523.37.

holy shit, right?!

now, let’s put this in perspective. i already own a canon 5d mark iii, which has been fully paid for by previous work for customers. today, you could get your hands on a used copy for about $1,500. i’ve also already got a couple of backpacks from lowepro, the bp250 that cost around $100 when i bought it and the bp160 that i bought recently for about $30. and i have a davis & sanford travel tripod that cost about $76 (just a plug here - that tripod is great if you’re in the market). i’ve also got an amazon basics remote trigger for my camera that was about $10. oh, and a couple of five-pound sandbags that set me back $15 or so. so let’s just round it up and say that my photography set up has a present-day value of about $4,300. keep in mind i paid about $3,000 for my 5d mark iii when i bought it in 2012. accounting for the $850 i spent buying my 24-105mm lens off craigslist, that brings money out the door to right around $6,650.

even more holy shit, right?!?!?!

that’s a literal fuck ton of money. and you would think that with all of this gear (and i haven’t even gotten into my iphone photography kit and video gear yet), my thirst would be sated. that i would be able to comfortably say that i have everything i need. and you’d be right. but i still want more.

i’m pretty sure it’s a disease.

Gear Lust (part one)

i have a confession to make. i’m an addict.

i’ve become addicted to the hunt for new gear. lately, i feel like i am constantly scrolling through the used section on adorama’s website. searching for some great unpassable deal on the next piece of kit that’s going to take my photo game to the next level.

i say it’s an addiction because no matter how much i acquire, it’s never enough. there’s always one more thing i need to complete the cycle and end the search.

the latest round of acquisition was initiated when i tragically dropped my camera while on the summit of mount monandnack in new hampshire, breaking my Canon 24-105mm f/4 image-stabilized lens in two and putting an end to a six-year run of photography that almost exclusively relied on that amazing piece of glass.

at the time, i had been eyeing new lenses to expand my kit as my wife and i became more and more committed to our traveling lifestyle, and i saw the halving of my lens as a metaphor for what i needed to do: split the difference, and expand my range outward in both directions. 24mm was no longer wide enough, and 105mm not nearly long enough to quench my thirst for new compositions. and so it was, that i dove unwittingly into the world of online reviews.

until that point, i had no idea how many channels and blogs and review sites existed. i also didn’t know how far cameras and lenses had evolved in the six years since i last seriously looked into purchasing new equipment in earnest. so instead of what would’ve formerly been a choice between quality canon glass and cheap third-party knockoffs became a true search for the specific set of parameters that define my own personal  perfect kit.

after countless hours of poring over and weighing the highly nuanced and extremely technical pros and cons of dozens of lenses, i came to realize that the characteristics that i most highly prize are image quality (duh), portability, and value for money. in the end, i opted to buy:

• a tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 variable aperture lens. its image quality is absolutely superb, it weighs just over one pound, and it cost less than $700 - by far lighter and cheaper than any other worthy ultrawide with autofocus on the market,

• a canon 50mm f/1.8 STM lens, which replaces the 50mm f/1.8 ii lens and comes with two added aperture blades for smoother background blur as well as a quieter autofocus motor and a more professional finish (to be completely honest, i probably would’ve been just fine sticking with my old 50mm ii lens, but i didn’t want customers to have reasons to doubt my kit), and

• a tamron 70-210mm f/4 telephoto lens, which is among the lightest and cheapest in its category, and produces top-quality images, performing well even in low-light conditions despite its lack of f/2.8 aperture.

that’s where it should’ve ended.

but something happened along the way, and i became like adam in the garden, suddenly aware of my  nakedness. i couldn’t seem to stop the train of thought that kept carrying me back to youtube and the camera store, where i was inundated with shiny new things. and i coveted.

my wife and i made a deal before i started buying up new lenses. i was allowed to purchase new equipment so long as i earned enough money to fully offset the cost through photography work. so i started to shop for gigs, and quickly realized there is a huge market for portraiture in nyc. to get into that game, though, i needed to get a softbox kit, a second flash, light stands, a flash meter and a reflector. so i obviously wasn’t done spending. part of me was anxious, but another part of me was excited by the prospect of a new genre of reviews and tutorials to dive in to, and the devil on my shoulder was very pleased.

luckily, a portable portrait setup can be acquired for pretty cheap on amazon or from camera stores like adorama, but it all adds up, and the tally on the ledger continued to rise.

shortly after acquiring my lenses and lighting equipment, i was hired to photograph an infant baptism, and i came to realize - the hard way - that having three lenses instead of just one versatile lens like the 24-105mm came with its own unique challenge: i needed to be able to access all of those lenses and slap them onto my camera body quickly during event photography in order for them to be useful. so i had another choice to make. should i acquire a second camera body so that i have quick access to my long and wide lenses simultaneously, or should i find some cheaper solution that doesn’t require another $1-2k investment? i definitely couldn’t afford another camera, so the research began anew. 

that’s when i came across a camera system that i wish i would’ve known about all along, one that could’ve saved me from ever breaking my lens in the first place. in case you’ve never heard of it, the peak design system comprises a combination of several different items that work together to provide seamless integration of the photography workflow.

the capture clip can be used to mount a dslr/mirrorless, action camera or two spare lenses (depending on which attachment is applied) to either a belt or backpack strap so that they are readily accessible, drastically reducing the time it takes to move from the stored to the active state. the leash l-2 (first generation) camera strap uses tabs that remain on the camera body to allow for quick attachment to and detachment from the strap, which can remain wrapped around the photographer’s body whether or not the camera is connected. meanwhile, the photographer can leave an arca swiss compatible plate attached to the camera at all times to attach it to either a tripod or the capture clip.

the reason i dropped my camera in the first place was that i was so used to letting it hang on my black rapid strap. i was walking to my gear pile after shooting a long exposure, and forgot it wasn’t on strap (the black rapid screws into the bottom of the camera and therefore is not compatible with tripod plates). if i was using peak design gear at the time, i could have saved a crap ton of money and avoided this whole spiral of acquisition in the first place.

wow, this post turned into an endorsement real quick, didn’t it? apparently i’ve been watching way too many product reviews lately. let’s get back on topic. 

so yeah, i’ve bought a lot of shit in the last couple of months. including a couple of things i haven’t even talked about yet. a high-speed compact flash card to use in tandem with sd cards to ensure that i have built in redundancy of storage to avoid catastrophic loss of images for paying customers. a used set of kenko macro extension tubes that turn all of my lenses into macro lenses for detailed product photos and photos that make minute details larger than life. and probably some other crap that i am forgetting to mention. 

so i told you at the beginning that this is a confession. i’m not confessing about how much i’ve spent, though. i don’t feel the least bit bad about it, because every piece of equipment has been used for steady, paid work over the last few weeks. and the customers have been very satisfied with the results, so i can confidently say that i made good purchasing choices, no regrets. 

this confession is to say one thing:

i want more.