gdanmitchell
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Yours is a classic situation, and one I run into fairly frequently: A person who is enthusiastic about the idea of photography, passionate about acquiring lots of expensive gear, but not really doing a lot of photography for whatever reason.
I’m going to approach this from more than one perspective.
First…The kind of photography that appropriately relies on the kinds of gear you have is not for everyone. High end gear and many lenses (some that are arguably specialized) may not be what you really can or will do. You don’t mention what your specific photographic interest(s) is(are) aside from the worth goal of photographing your family activities. If the latter is the interest, perhaps getting all that high end gear is not especially relevant to that goal? In fact, it can interfere with the very family activities you want to photograph — you and your family may well see the time taken to set up shots worthy of that gear to be an intrusion and you may not want to cart around a bag with all those lenses. And, unless you are regularly making quite large prints of your family adventures, the high quality of those expensive lenses and body is not all that relevant.
Second… it is quite easy to become overly equipment-centric in your relationship to photography. In particular, the “I must have the very best” thread can lead people to focus on supposedly “best” gear rather than their actual, realistic photographic needs. The “shiny object” syndrome afflicts quite a few photographers, and forums and media and advertising push those buttons pretty effectively, generating a kind of disabling FOMO that can cause normally rational people to get swept up.
Third… There’s nothing at all wrong with engaging photography at a level that doesn’t require a ton of expensive gear, and in reducing the amount of gear you acquire to a more realistic level. Not everyone needs the very latest camera, multiple specialized camera, and a shelf full of lenses.
Fourth… why not just keep that A7R4 and the two lenses you like? They cover a lot of ground, especially for the subjects you shoot.
Fifth… If you do look at Fujifilm, while the little X100vi is a nice camera for those who are happy to restrict themselves to a single prime, also consider the XE5 which is equally small and will allow the use of other lenses. (It sounds like your favorite lenses are zooms, right?)
Sixth… or maybe just stick a very small 35mm f/2 or so lens on your A7r4 to produce a quite small setup and see how you like that style of shooting.
One more thing. I don’t know your history with photography, so the following may not be relevant. But I often think that if people found a way to make the same investment in learning photography (classes, books, time in the field, workshops, gallery visits, etc.) that they make in acquiring gear… that it might have an even bigger positive effect on their photography.
Good luck.
ramesesthe2nd wrote:
I’m starting to lose interest in this hobby again. With a busy family and work life, shooting, editing, and posting take up too much time. Phone cameras have improved a lot, so I mostly just use my phone now. I’ve also collected more lenses and cameras than I need, as I tend to do, which feels like a waste given how little I actually shoot. I purchased an A1 last year, soon after the A1II was announced, but I only took around ten photos with it. Since then it has been sitting unused in my dry cabinet. My plan was to replace my A7RIV with A1, but I kept shooting with it occasionally because it did everything I wanted from a camera.
I’m thinking about heavily downsizing and simplifying to make this whole thing as easy as possible. Here is what I have in mind.
Keep the following:
• Sony A7RIV
• Tamron 35-150, my most used lens by a huge margin
• Sony 20-70, which I like a lot because of its compact size and ultra-wide coverage
Sell the following:
• A1
• Loxia 25/35/50/85
• Sony 20 G
• Sony 35 GM
• Sony 50 GM (f/1.2)
Buy:
• X100VI for everyday carry and to experiment with Fuji’s simulations and community
Part of me says I should sell everything and just stick with Fuji to keep things simpler. But I take pictures of my kids when we go to the zoo and at family events like birthdays and anniversaries, and I find the Sony and Tamron 35-150 are perfect for that.
I would love to hear your thoughts. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but then get busy with other things and never really do anything about it....Show more →
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