Gear Aquisition Syndrome, AKA GAS

[Binkie The Clown]

5. Time to check under all the sofa cushions for loose change.

It's tempting, but I think I'll stick with my Sony NEX 5N. Not the newest, or greatest, or fanciest, but it's good enough for a duffer like me.

I look at gear like that and my first impulse is that having a better camera will make my photos better, but it ain't so. When I was a kid with a Brownie Hawkeye, and begged my dad to buy me a 35mm camera like the one he had, he told me that I should first get the very best images I could with what I had before I considered getting something fancier that I wouldn't know what to do with. So I stuck with the Hawkeye and got some pretty good pictures. I never really outgrew it before I grew up and got married and put my photo hobby in the closet for 40 years.

Once I learn how to use all the features of the NEX and genuinely feel restricted by its limitation, then I'll upgrade. Given that I'm 70, realistically, that's not likely to happen.