If you try hard to see yourself objectively, how balanced are you?
Note that I'm talking here about your interest in gear and your own personal practice of taking pictures—you, making your own pictures in whatever way, shape or form you do it.
I've known, or known of, people smack in the middle at zero—interested in both equally—and others who are way out toward one end or the other—those who care so much about gear that they don't even take pictures at all (certain collectors, photo-scientists, some camera store owners, some repair people, etc.), and those who areway into photographing but they don't even think about gear at all any more. Longtime readers will remember this story: we got a nice portfolio at the magazine once from a woman way out in the rural parts of the Plains States, and when I asked her what kind of camera she used, she said, "I don't know...would you like me to go look?" It was a 35mm Pentax, as it turned out, but she didn't know that offhand. But she had an outstanding eye.
I have to score myself pretty well here...I'm fairly balanced. But forced to be objective, I'm probably a little more interested in gear than I am in taking pictures. Just a little. I'd score myself maybe 10 or 15 toward "Gear" on the scale. (If it's not obvious, the larger hash marks are increments of 10, the smaller ones increments of 5.)
Mike
P.S. TOP doesn't publish on Saturdays, while Yr. Hmbl. Ed. catcheth up on ye olde housework, yardwork, bills, taxes, errands, etc.
Original contents copyright 2025 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
Featured Comments from:
John Krumm: "We need another axis pointing to obsessed and casual, something like that, so you can be both gear obsessed and photography obsessed! The internet demands precision."
Bill Akstens: "I was a 95 on the Photographing side, because I buy a new camera maybe every ten years and I'm quite happy with what I have. Then you posted about the Fujifilm GFX100RF, which looks like a really fun camera. So now I'm a 90."
Peter Williams: "Once I have the tools for the job I'm 90 on the photography side. But if I decide to try a new subject/genre, I'll be 90 on the gear side until I've sorted a lens or whatever for that use."
Jed: "I have to agree with Bill because I'm still using and loving my trusty X-T1 and 35mm ƒ/1.4 that I bought ten years ago (highly influenced by you), but today I'm going on a Fujifilm workshop and get to try out the GFX100RF and X-T5. I'm so excited that I may have slid down to 0, maybe even onto the gear scale."
Bob Johnston [no relation to Mike]: "I would put myself around the 50 mark toward Photographing. My first priority is to make pictures and print them. However, I am a retired engineer and have always had an interest in what makes gear tick. I don't buy new stuff very often though, as I can't afford to do so. The fact that photography is a fusion of art and engineering makes it a perfect hobby for me."
Paul: "At this point, I mostly read about both. When my kids were growing up, I had my inspiration. Juggling the crazy schedule, I managed to capture some great memories. Never purchased a new camera. Now that I can afford one, my inspiration is not there. Photography is fun to read about as well as scan the gear offered today. It has always been a hobby when time allows, so it's quite difficult to justify the cost of most offerings today."
Mike Shwarts: "I lean towards photography. I do think about gear a lot. However, my thoughts on gear are what photos can I get with new gear that I can't get with what I own. That new lens is enticing, but only if it helps be get the photo I want."
SteveW: "Funny thing for me is that since I've been mostly using my iPhone for photography that I'm pretty much 100 on the Photographing spectrum. (Otherwise, prior to dedicating myself to the iPhone camera I'd be somewhere in the Gear range, probably 50). If photography software counts as gear, then 90 for photographing and 10 for gear."
David Raboin: "The graph should be a triangle with 'organization' forming the third access. Or, maybe a make the diagram a square with the forth access being 'sharing.'
"Organization can encompass everything from planning your photo outings to how you manage your catalog of photos. Organization can also mean having an ongoing photo project or group of projects. Without organization, one's photography results in a nebulous heap of photo files. Without organization photography can become a source of anxiety and futility. Right now, I'm building a slide show and album for my daughters graduation. I find myself both cursing and thanking my former self as I search through my stack of hard drives. On the organization front, I did some things right and a lot of things wrong.
"Sharing is also important. An artist needs feedback. Today, it's easy to share on social media but it's important to remember that social media is a terrible platform for sharing art. On social media subtlety and quiet contemplation are drowned out. As a photographer, you must find ways to share your work on your own terms. That might mean large prints, a book, zine, or a collage print meant for the refrigerator door.
"Shopping gear and taking photos are the fun parts of photography. Organizing is a pain in the neck. Organizing is why this hobby loses to smart phones. Out of all the young people I introduce to photography, most give up because handling files across devices is clumsy and maintaining a catalog of photos is a nightmare. The sugar rush of photography is snapping the picture and posting it on social media. Nobody wants to eat their broccoli. If Canon, Nikon, Sony, or Adobe came up with a storage and tagging solution that was as convenient as a phone, they'd rule the market. Transferring files from a card to a computer is so 2003."
G Dan Mitchell: "To frame this a bit more broadly: Are you more interested in eating at a restaurant where the chef’s focus is on replacing all of the knives every year with the latest knives that are .1% sharper, or at the restaurant with the chef who focuses on the best and most imaginative cooking? Or going to a piano recital by a musician who is always careful to own the very best piano and tunes it to .001 Herz accuracy, or the one whose virtuoso playing is legendary? Photography, like most human endeavors, makes use of technologies. But what is expressed though the use of those technologies transcends the technologies themselves."
Mike replies: Hey, no fair, you're being sensible! :-)
Benjamin Marks (partial comment): "Oof. I didn't know there would be a test. This is an unexpectedly deep question. I am not a collector, but I have a collection. Mainly this is because I am terrible at getting rid of things. But I am also (or perhaps this last quality makes me) a gearhead. I have more cameras than I need. But also more fountain pens, more safety razors, more watches, more kitchen knives, more pocket knives, more spatulas...you get the idea. It is less than healthy, but not quite hoarding. Rich people have money, and poor people have things...."
Mike replies: Here are the first few paragraphs from a post I wrote a year ago:
In 2021 (probably as a COVID distraction) I decided to start wearing a watch again. But I needed a watch. Just one. I bought, um, eight.
Last year, I decided I could make myself happier if I learned to enjoy all the everyday things I dislike doing. High on the list was to learn how to enjoy shaving. (I had always disliked shaving.) I looked into all kinds of shaving methods and decided to try "wet" shaving, the term of art for shaving with single old-fashioned double- and single-edged razor blades. Once I settled on that, I needed a razor. Again, just one. Instead, I bought a drawer full of supplies and...well, seven razors, eventually.
Sensing a trend?
Well, now I've bought three new computer keyboards. Please don't throw popcorn at me. I feel bad enough.
The number of offbeat keyboards I ended up buying? Seven. A fair amount of dosh went swirling down the drain. At least for "idealists," things accumulate when you're trying to find the "right" thing in any category. In my defense, I now use only one razor, a cheap antique; I alternate between two watches, one of them moderately expensive (~$400), although I could be happy owning just the expensive one (a Casio Oceanus that appears to be discontinued); and I've reverted to the current version of my longtime keyboard, which is being made again by Incase. I have one newish one that I'm using and two new ones waiting in reserve. So I did settle down with all the "things" listed above. I appear to have settled down with "main" cameras, too, since I got my converted-to-monochrome Sigma. I wish I had more time and money for photographing. I could do an epic project on the Finger Lakes.
Len Metcalf: "My father was way out on the camera end. When I opened my first gallery I asked if he had a few cameras to put in a display case. He had over fifty he’d collected over the years. Most were broken as he planned to repair them. After he passed I found another fifty or so in his workshop. There is only a handful of his prints. One of some trees he hand coloured and a few of my mother. Stunning, all of them. So a hundred cameras and three finished prints.
"Me, I try not to be at the gear end but unfortunately I enjoy studying what the latest and greatest is. I spent years studying lenses and cameras and trying different ones. When I was into large format this was an expensive operation. And so many mistakes at first.
"But I do have one favourite lens. And I use it for most of my work. Let’s say 98% of my work. I dream of my next purchase and spend time finding out about the possibilities. My archive is huge and is causing me all sorts of problems in Lightroom. 800,000 images in there now. So I am no slouch on the taking end. Fifteen exhibitions. Published four books and 25 journals. So my output is still consistently high.
"All in all I have to put myself in the middle."
Mike replies: Sounds good. But...you're not going to tell us what your favorite lens is? :-)
William: "I am so crazy I will buy a lens with just one photograph in mind. It's not that I am flush with cash, but I work as a photographer so can find ways of justifying this behaviour. I think this image/lens fixation amounts to a zero on the scale. I do rent equipment but many of the things I am after are pre-digital and also I am a repeat visit kind of photographer so if renting is possible it soon adds up. Just bought a 120mm Hasselblad Planar S in chrome to solve a particular problem for one artwork, oh dear; however it is a very delightful thing."
Mike replies: I like the way you think and can't perceive anything wrong with it. :-)
The scale to the right is incomplete for me, lacking printing. Taking the picture provides significant enjoyment, but making a final print of a worthy pic is my primary interest, and provides the most pleasure. Gear is about a third of it all.
[That's why I wrote "you, making your own pictures in whatever way, shape or form you do it." To include other aspects of creation like printing. So printing is included. --Mike]
Posted by: Jeff | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 01:35 PM
I wish I could give credit, but when this subject came up on a forum over 20 years ago, one clever participant had a great test to see if you were a photographer or a gear junkie. If your house was on fire and you had one fast opportunity to save one thing, would you save your images (this was in the days that we're talking physical slides, prints, negatives, not hard drives) or your cameras and lenses?
That was hard to answer for many.
Posted by: Albert Smith | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 01:40 PM
In my head, I place myself in the middle. In reality, if you measured it by time spent, I probably lean gear but I didn't used to be so I think that might in part be because gear info is so easily available online. If you measure it by pleasure though, I can sat that it's a lot more fun taking and processing photos than it is shopping for gear, which is more frustrating than anything else.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 01:43 PM
Photographing: 98
Gear: 2
That may skew a bit when I feel that I need a new camera, but that’s about once a decade at this point. Hasn’t happened in the 20’s yet, although I did need a new printer two years ago. Otherwise my eyes kinda glaze over when a gear post comes up.
Posted by: Peter Conway | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 03:08 PM
These days I’m on the photographing end of the spectrum, maybe around 90; but the five largely unused cameras on my shelf confirm that a previous version of me leaned in the gear direction.
Posted by: Mark B | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 03:09 PM
Twenty years ago when I first got into photography I would have put myself somewhere in the middle, as I was always reading about new camera and lens developments and dreaming about what those tools could do for me, while also being obsessed with taking photos, trying new techniques, and visiting new places or old places at new times for a photo adventure.
Today I would also put myself somewhere in the middle because my interest in researching or buying new gear has been basically killed by the imposition of adult responsibilities (e.g., mortgage) on my bank account. Those same adult responsibilities mean that I have much less free time (and have many other priorities for my limited free time) for actively participating in photography or visiting new places or old places at new times for the purpose of photography.
[That's rather sad for your photography, but it sounds like it's good for your life. --Mike]
Posted by: ASW | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 03:16 PM
Haven't bought a camera in months but I photograph for myself or a client every single day. Rain or shine. Hot or cold. Where does that put me?
Posted by: Gadfly | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 03:39 PM
Well over on the photography side. I'm happy with the gear I have. I only think about gear when considering what is appropriate for the particular photo session at hand. Per one of the commenters, which would you save if your house was on fire? The binder of negatives. I can always go buy the camera that would seem appropriate for needs at the time.
Posted by: Keith | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 03:42 PM
Me think I'm middle ZERO on your scale.
Gearwise: 95% analog : 4% digital : 1% toys.
Posted by: Dan Khong | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 04:27 PM
What Peter Conway said ...
98% Photographing
2% Gear
Just sat down after four hours of photography at a car show. Got another one tomorrow. Haven't bought a camera or lens in two or three years ... but I might be looking at a lens soon. Maybe.
And then there's that camera with the phone attached. Seems like I'm always taking pictures with that. And after six months of shooting I just found/learned about the "Clean Up" button.
Posted by: Speed | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 04:41 PM
Probably just about smack on the 0. I can be really happy geeking out about gear but if I don't have my bag in hand when I go out the door my camera in it, I feel like I'm naked. I try to take images every day. Most days I get something shot.
I need to start another photo a day project with my K-3. I wonder which lens to do it with...
Posted by: William Lewis | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 04:56 PM
OOF. I didn't know there would be a test.
This is an unexpectedly deep question.
I am not a collector, but I have a collection.
Mainly this is because I am terrible at getting rid of things. But I am also (or perhaps this last quality makes me) a gear head. I have more cameras than I need. But also more fountain pens, more safety razors, more watches, more kitchen knives, more pocket knives, more spatulas . . . you get the idea. It is less than healthy, but not quite hoarding. Rich people have money, and poor people have things. And you can only write with one pen at a time. Nevertheless.
Roughly half the cameras I own are film cameras from 8x10 to 35mm. I haven't taken a picture with any of them in years.
But if I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd have every one of my cameras in my hands every week. So where does that leave me on the scale? Maybe the question here is "where's your set point?" I am a frustrated 5 who wishes he was a 95? I'd settle for being 50, but that'd be lucky. But maybe that'd help me with my spatula problem. LOL.
There are several underlying questions here: what roles does gear acquisition play in your overall psyche. Is it retail therapy? What role does making art have in the same? My father used to say that what separated artists from non-artists was that artists were not free not to make art. Well, I'm not a bad photographer, but I am not compelled. Does that make me closer to a gearhead/collector. No shame in that, I suppose, but it isn't where I wish to be. How do you score a gearhead who uses retail therapy to deal with the fact that he doesn't have enough time for art?
Posted by: Benjamin Marks | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:06 PM
Right now, I'm definitely on the gear side having bought a few cameras lately. Nikon D3 and then a Fujifilm X-Pro2. I need to make the effort to move the needle.
Posted by: Paul Van | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:20 PM
Gear is just tools. As Peter Williams suggests once I have the tools for the job, I'm a 100 on the photography side. This is the large majority of the time.
Even, on the rare occasion, when I decide I need a new tool I spend little time looking at the options and usually make a quick decision.
I'm on only my third 'main' camera (still a dSLR) since going digital in 2004. I haven't bought a new (to me) lens in close to a decade and tend to buy used lenses.
I also have an old Nikon 1 mirror-less camera with its kit lens that sits atop my camera obscura. It has been there for close to a decade.
As for the "what to save in a fire" question, no thought needed... the negatives and prints. (I do a lot of alternative process printing.) Maybe the hard disks as well. Cameras are completely and easily replaced; the photographs are not.
Posted by: Frank Gorga | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:23 PM
When I evacuated from a fire (nothing lost, I was fortunate) I grabbed my entire Hasselblad system and left a bunch of other stuff behind. I also grabbed the stack of negatives from the darkroom which covered the about two previous years of work.
I'm probably about 40P on that scale. I have a fair bit of gear, but I take, and print a lot of photos.
Posted by: Mike R. in Colorado | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:34 PM
I've thought about this a lot since I'm a somewhat typical older male techno-geek who REALLY loves his tech toys, computers, phones, cameras, lenses. I'm a bit of a lens junkie since every new lens seems to call out to me, "Hi handsome, new in town? have I got a lens for you." In the day, I spent way too much time testing papers, Zone system measurements, densitometry, and perhaps not enough time making photos.
I used to be embarrassed by my love of tech, now I just accept myself for what I am. I think amongst photographers, it's declasse to admit one loves the toys. Esthetes love the photos, the hoi poloi love the cameras.
In the last few years I have a wonderful group of friends with whom I meet monthly to share prints. One of the best things about our group is that no one, not even me, asks what lens? what f/stop, etc. We just enjoy each other's work. It has helped me step back from my tech obsession.
I guess I'm not probably about 50 on the gear side though I really am getting better.
Posted by: Eric Brody | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:35 PM
If you think land photographer are gear obsessed, you should see the underwater guys. I have been using the same camera system underwater for 3+ years (1000 dives) but still drool when a new toy comes out.
Posted by: Bill Van Antwerp | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:37 PM
Well the passion is hard on the image side of the spectrum, I’ve had my Canon 5dII for 15 years. I’ve replaced a couple of lenses (they stopped communicating with my camera)but I am still using a few lenses that are even older. I do try and keep up with what is going on with gear. If I don’t it’s an ordeal to catch up if something dies and needs replacement.
But the passion is definitely on the images.
Posted by: Terry Letton | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:38 PM
I was about -30 toward gear until I found a system I like (Pentax Q-7 in manual mode), now I'm about +80 toward photographing.
Posted by: Stephen Cowdery | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 05:39 PM
I would say 40% towards photographing when I am here in Florida. When we go to France twice a year, there is no room for much gear and I am reduced to three PEN-Fs and four lenses that I love. Then it swings to 100% photographing.
Be interesting to see that scale be live to tell you the bias of your readers. My guess would be close to the middle with a lean to photographing.
Posted by: James Weekes | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 06:00 PM
What a great question. Well, I love things. I'm a Taurus, and we're quite materialistic. I was taught about the quality of things by a friend's father back in the early '70's, and I can't shake it.
But I'm really keen on art. All its aspects. So that trumps gear. Except sometimes in photography, where good gear actually can translate into better images.
Am I a 0? Hmmmm.....
Posted by: Tex Andrews | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 06:27 PM
Where I am on the scale has a seasonal dimension. Picture making slows down for me dramatically in the very cold months, for various reasons. However, the desire to be in the photography world doesn't slow down, so that leaves time for a lot of "fine tuning" of my kit. This is when I'm most heavily on the gear side. When the weather warms and my work schedule opens enough to allow more field days, I slide well over to the "making images" side.
A complicating factor is that I practice a kind of photography that has a lot of room for skills development, learning, designing and building. I don't care about the latest and greatest. But I thoroughly enjoy figuring out how to get absolutely the best performance out of modestly priced equipment. That side of photography feeds my tinkering and inventing appetite.
Posted by: Rob de Loe | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 06:50 PM
I'm pretty much with Peter Williams.
But no just on new subjects, etc. I have always had photo things I'd like to be able to do, but can't because of the limitations of the gear available. They remain relatively patiently dormant — until gear that will do them appears to me. Then, I investigate pretty thoroughly, and often buy. Most of the time, I'm out there on the right end of the scale. But at new capability time, I speed over to the left end, temporarily.
I just had such a spasm. You will be getting spiff $$ from B&H . I'll be testing, then seeing what I get in So. Utah in late April.
Posted by: Moose | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 07:05 PM
I agree with the comment from Bill A. I have shot Canon digital since digital was worth the effort as relates to image quality, my transition from Nikon file to Leica film was a function of gear, particularly image quality.
However Mike, your write up on the GFX100RF has caused me some concern. It is toolate in my life cycle to invest that much moola into a new camera, but it sure as H**L tempting.
Posted by: Michael | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 07:16 PM
It ebbs and flows but at the moment I lean towards the gear side since my camera was made over ten years ago and a lot of tech has happened in the meantime. However, I have been using the same one camera and one lens for about eight years and whenever I look at the latest gear I find good reasons for not buying it. I guess that means my photos are good enough and that nothing new will make them all that much better. I am looking at gear now though as my children are becoming good soccer players and there is definitely some sport-specific gear needed to catch them in action. Considering a used Nikon Z6ii with 180-600mm lens or a used OM-1 with 100-400mm lens. Trying to keep this new one camera and one lens soccer setup below $3k. Any advice?
Posted by: Jeff | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 07:34 PM
If I could somehow impose a time reference onto this scale:
From about 2012 till maybe 2022, I had a strong bias to the gear side, tapering off as 2022 approached. Since then, my interest has increased on the photography side. Especially so since I decided that the tools I have are good enough, and I have little interest in the latest and greatest.
As an aside, I also have a small collection of vintage film and some early digital cameras, all on shelves. They're all mostly something to look at, though some are occasionally used, when I just want to play.
As always, the print is the thing.
Posted by: MikeR | Friday, 28 March 2025 at 09:29 PM
I am totally on the right with photographing, processing and printing being of equal interest, all of which keep me sane in my dotage - maybe with a score of 85 or so. Sure, I buy gear that takes me there, but I am more interested in how instinctively I can use the gear (i.e. tools), than pixel peeping with photographs of brick walls for marginal quality differences, or be in mental anguish because I cannot shoot 30fps in RAW. I use Nikon for no other reason than I have been shooting with the marque since 1968, so it feels most instinctive and natural in my hands, not because of any perceived superiority. Two other brands I used extensively have since fallen by the wayside - Leica M in the film days (as eyesight faded) and Fuji in the early mirrorless days (before Nikon got into the act). Incidentally, my personal view, maybe a contentious one, is that, by and large, people obsessed with gear are those who do not have the artistic sensibility to take good photographs - not as in technically good, but as in artistically good. Technique just requires repetitive practice to master, but artistry requires imagination. It is also much easier to discuss and pontificate about numerical values than amorphous topics like facets of what makes good art.
Posted by: Jayanand Govindaraj | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 12:09 AM
It varies. I go for months perfectly happy with what I've got, then suddenly have a period when I obsessively pore over the 'Used' sections of photo dealers' websites to see what's available. It's also the case that I follow the rumour mill regarding new iPhones pretty obsessively because these days my principal camera is my iPhone, but there again I'm an Apple fanboy so actually I follow the rumour mill regarding *all* new Apple products pretty obsessively. (You wouldn't believe how much time I've spent trying to work out whether the new M4 MacBook Air is a match for my M1 Pro MacBook Pro. Answer: it is and it isn't; the two laptops have different strengths.)
These days I'm mainly buying ancillary equipment. For example I came back from a photo show in London with neat little Adaptalux lighting system for my new macro photography table, plus a new mini-tripod together with associated gear from PlatyPod. Around the turn of the year I bought a cage for the iPhone - this transforms its handling for photography & videography. Again,I spent a long time selecting and choosing which manufacturer's cage to buy.
But I've also used my cameras - smartphone & mirrorless - to take a lot of pictures. So overall I don't know where on the scale I sit, but I'm happy.
@Albert Smith: I'd grab my passport. Gear is just gear, and all my data is backed up to cloud storage, but the hassle of getting a new passport might break me.
Posted by: Tom Burke | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 03:58 AM
Sometimes I fall for the hype. The latest and greatest camera ever. I have a Leica M2 but I wanted to go digital and get out of the darkroom. So I got a Leica 240. Now I want the Fuji vi! So I guess I am a gear.guy.
Bill
Posted by: William Giokas | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 06:54 AM
This begs another issue. A working professional does not spend 100% of his or her time photographing. More like 20% if they're lucky. The rest of their time is in marketing/sales, research, image processing/organization, and gear (both maintenance of as well as investigating whether new gear provides tangible benefits).
Thus, there's not a continuum at all, but more like pie sharing.
Posted by: Thom Hogan | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 08:17 AM
I enjoy learning the history of cameras (mostly from you), as well as the history of photos and photographers (also, mostly from you). I have good gear, and use it frequently, but what I really enjoy is the processing in Capture One. I suppose that's the equivalent of darkroom work, which I enjoyed. I don't care about the PC hardware, other than a big, accurate monitor, so I guess that puts me over on the photo end of the scale.
Another photo book? Sure! And, wow, that's a slick new tripod head! Let me try that.
Posted by: Luke | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 08:22 AM
If I had the sufficient financial resources I would be close to the middle as I would love to play with the newest and best cameras every year or two. But realistically I am close to 10 on gear and 90 on photography. I recently changed camera systems which was my first camera acquisition in 8 years so the only additional purchases would be an additional lens. I think the constraints imposed on me to not chase gear in the end has made me a far better photographer.
Posted by: James C Chinn | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 08:42 AM
I thought I was more gearhead than photographer. I’ve used the same camera and occasional walk-about kit zoom for more than eight years and the same two main prime lenses (eBay lockdown purchases) for five. I like low-light photography but have accepted reluctantly that camera improvements that affect my type of pictures are incremental now and I can I can live without them. My camera doesn’t do the best job, technically, but is such a joy to use. You once wrote about how using a camera enough is the one thing that makes you appreciate it. It’s true. If I’d been such a keen photographer during film’s heyday, perhaps I’d never have considered myself a gearhead. And perhaps that’s just wishful thinking :-)
Posted by: Bahi | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 10:31 AM
Based on the comments is seems we need a three circle Venn diagram. The three big circles could be printing, gear and processing/editing. Between printing and gear could be collecting, between gear and processing/editing could be organization and between processing/editing and printing could be sharing. The center intersection would be photographing. If you were to focus on photographing with an older smartphone that might place you just over the border into the sharing intersection. If you like to create elaborate composites you would fall into the processing/editing section, etc.
Posted by: Jim Arthur | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 11:51 AM
I'm with those who believe it may be useful to add some kind of qualifier to separate technical necessity or curiosity from... can I say "syndromes"? Similar to David Raboim's "organization" axis or John Krumm's "obsession" axis.
How about a meta-qualifier like "How worried am I?" or perhaps more usefully: "Is this ruining my fun?" If your bliss is all the way at one end of an axis, any pull toward the other end is a drag, whether it comes from necessity, guilt, peer pressure, insecurity or something else.
It looks like most commenters assume that by "gear" you mean cameras and lenses, but what about computers and software? Enlargers? Lights? Framing tools?
Posted by: robert e | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 02:42 PM
Addendum to my previous comment (really more of a conclusion): As many comments reference, trying to look at this as a one-dimensional scale is quite problematic, and perhaps futile. I look forward to more.
[I'm just asking where your interest mainly lies. Is it balanced or does it skew one way or the other? I think it has elicited some good, thoughtful comments. I'm satisfied. --Mike]
Posted by: robert e | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 02:56 PM
Mike. I wrote direct to you about the same thing. If you had the same line about the content of TOP which had at one end gear and non photography topics and the other end "actual photographs". I would put TOP at about 50 towards the gear end and in the most recent period nearer 70 towards gear.
Its why I explained I rarely drop in to TOP nowadays. My interest is the images.
Who knows or cares much what gear/film/developer/paper was used by the past masters. I feel the same about current master's photography.
Photography is about LIGHT not gear.
AS always its your blog, your choice.
[I appreciate your input, Louis, and I hear you, but no, there are plenty of stretches when I can't get up much interest in gear. I go in stretches just because that's the way my interest goes. And the audience speaks: more posts about art and pics, traffic goes down; more posts about gear, traffic goes up. It's reliable, and it's always been that way. If I were being cynical about it, I'd post about gear more, not less. --Mike]
Posted by: louis mccullagh | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 06:42 PM
On the one hand, I enjoy reading about gear because I fantasise that if only I could had the perfect camera, system, lens, tripod, flash, etc, etc, my photography would magically improve. Yet not only do I know that that's not true, I also know that I will never buy or even try almost any of the stuff I read about. The truth is that it takes me so long to decide what gear I should acquire that my choices are obsolete by the time I've made a decision. Hence, my main system is still based on my trusty Nikon D3 acquired in 2008 (at what was a vast expense at the time) and a collection of old F mount lenses (from my prior Nikkormat FTN which I bought about 30 years earlier with a couple of newer AF primes and zooms), which keeps trucking on (although I admit that I am using it less and less for want of resolution). Although I decided to replace it with each of the D800, D850, D7 (marks I and II), D9, and D8, as they came out, every one was succeeded by the next before I did anything about it. Somewhere in there (2014?), I bought a Sony RX1 for a specific overseas trip with tight weight restrictions, which I still have. It was to be replaced by a RX I ii but that was withdrawn from the market before I could bring myself to buy it. I eventually acquired my now beloved Leica Q2 (but then ONLY because it went on a Black Friday sale at 30% off for one day only, which tipped me over the edge). Nevertheless, I was about to trade it on a Leica Q3 when the Q3 43 was announced (I must have expressed a truly serious intention on the Q3 because I scored an invite to the Melbourne Leica store for the launch of the Q3 43). Then I couldn't make up my mind if I should buy the Q3 43 AND keep the Q2, or trade in the Q2 for both a Q3 and Q3 43. But if I was going to do that, I thought perhaps instead I should just stump up for a M11P with a 28 mm and a 50 mm lens. At which point, the M11D came out. So here I was going around in circles on a Leica system when it occurred to me that I could buy a Hasselblad X2C and a couple of lenses and get a bigger sensor and IBIS for about the same price. Then along came the announcement of the Fujifilm GFX100RF (and I am fond of fixed lens cameras), which seems to do 95% of what I want (with a bit of compromise for digital zoom and the FOV/DOF issues plus that I've never really used larger than FF sensors before) for half the cost of the Leica or Hasselblad systems, so I could buy a XT5 and a couple of lenses and finally replace my Nikon as well - but the GFX100RF doesn't have ibis, although it does have a leaf shutter. And ... so on ... (sigh). Instead, I just read about other photographers's opinions about gear.
On the other hand, the whole point of the exercise is to make images and I enjoy reading about the whole of that process too - from darkroom chemistry (even though I know I can never go home again) to software to discussions about specific prints or photography as art or science in itself.
Also, I do actually enjoy the process of photography, which for me means making images for exhibition and, hopefully, sale.
That's all a very long winded way of saying put me in the middle. But as a suggestion for TOP, and I know they're not as popular as they used to be, but may I request some print sales? Maybe from a baker's dozen competition - one print being Mike's choice, another being popular vote from the finalists? I bought several over the years and most are still framed and hanging...
Now just don't get me started on Hi Fi, cars, or motorcycles ...
Posted by: Bear. | Saturday, 29 March 2025 at 11:52 PM
If you think land photographers are gear-obsessed, you should see the underwater crowd. I've been using the same camera setup underwater for over three years (about 1000 dives), and I still drool every time a new toy gets released.
Best regards From Denmark
Rene Terp - https://asmussenfoto.dk
Posted by: Fotograf8 | Sunday, 30 March 2025 at 07:34 AM
I can honestly say that at the moment I am at about 80-90 on the Photography side.
Every time I get the urge to buy major new gear, the words of Thom resonate with me, and I paraphrase... If your existing gear is not holding you back, you do not need to upgrade.
Too true dat. You may think you need new stuff but will it improve your results ?. This is the yardstick by which one should make a rational decision, as we all know.
But rationality goes out the window when the GAS bites. SO far I have kept that demon in check.
Posted by: Nick Reith | Sunday, 30 March 2025 at 08:51 AM
Thanks for making me/us reflect on this !!
Having given it some thought, I'd say 70 on the "photographing/photography direction". I have about 200 photo books and only 15 cameras :-)
Incidentally, the cameras that I enjoy the most by far are the old, mechanical ones - like my 1938 Leica IIIa with contemporary 3.5/3.5 Elmar that I brought for a photo walk (organized by the Copenhagen Leica Store) yesterday.
Posted by: Soeren Engelbrecht | Sunday, 30 March 2025 at 01:45 PM
I think I can safely put myself on 50 on the right side of the scale. I don’t think too much about gear because I have something I really like but still my mind is always thinking about photographs and photographers.
Posted by: David Lee | Monday, 31 March 2025 at 03:10 AM
Well, my house burned down with all my camera gear inside (along with most of the town—80% of the houses, most of the schools, 2 of the 3 grocery stores, library, most of the churches and most of the commercial buildings) so I’m rethinking my gear. There will be less but it’s a good time to shop….
[Very sorry to hear that. May good luck be with you. --Mike]
Posted by: schralp | Tuesday, 01 April 2025 at 02:22 AM
The Sigma 30, 1.4 works well with the Sony a6600 though one's expectations may cloud(or not) the lens value. It has lateral and longitudinal chroma issues but in B&W the effect is negligible.
If I may:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/146601120@N02/albums/72177720324817724/with/54423863414/
Posted by: Omer | Tuesday, 01 April 2025 at 07:07 AM