p.1 #1 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
Curious what everyone thinks about this. If you had a camera setup you really liked but felt like you were carrying too much gear, would you actually downsize or just keep everything and deal with the extra weight?
For anyone who’s done it, did you end up regretting getting rid of some of your gear?
p.1 #2 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
No, never. I have plenty of gear, but only carry or travel with what is needed for that activity.
For example sometimes I would have in RF 3 camera bodies, 24-105, 70-200/4, 100-500, 600/4 if I don't hike far. Other times a totally different setup, maybe 16-35, 24-70, 70-200, 100-400/500, 24 TSE II, 17 TSE, etc. Other times it would be Sony like 200-600, 70-200, 12-20 Tamrok, etc.
I do admit to having too much, like 9 Canon lenses that cover 300mm and 8 that cover 400mm. I would not recommend it.
p.1 #4 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
Downsizing? What is this downsizing of which you speak??
In all seriousness, I do try to at least occasionally sell gear that has become redundant and I pass on some older equipment to my son, so I don't tend to accumulate an outrageous amount of gear. Thus, I don't really need to think about downsizing.
p.1 #5 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
I dealt with heavy gear by adding light gear so I can choose the weight and photographic ability as I see/feel fit. An R10 + 100-400/8 for wildlife and an R100 + 10-18 RF-S for any wide stuff, thats pretty powerful as well as ultra light compared to far lesser capability just half a decade ago.
Good enough is usually very much good enough except at rare occasions when everything align. Those occasions can be anticipated to a reasonably high degree. And I´m trying to accept that I dont have to get everything fantastic on photo with the best gear I have. Relax and enjoy is at least as important.
p.1 #6 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
I "downsized" by adding an APS-C kit.. whoops. At least I now have a travel / ultralight hiking setup!
I actually sold off my entire Canon FF setup when going through the gear shuffling process, only to end up missing it and repurchasing all of the same bodies and lenses a few months later. Now I'll probably only sell if I know for sure that any upgrades will 100% replace something. Especially because some of the gear is older, so the $ I'd get for it is probably on the borderline of worth getting rid of or not.
p.1 #8 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
I downsized and I’m still downsizing, but even when I’ll be done, I’ll still have a ton of stuff, so I don’t think I can really say I’ll miss something.
My one major move was when I decided to ditch all my long Canon lenses and switch completely to MFT for bird photography. Never regretted that move.
p.1 #9 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
johnvanr wrote:
I downsized and I’m still downsizing, but even when I’ll be done, I’ll still have a ton of stuff, so I don’t think I can really say I’ll miss something.
My one major move was when I decided to ditch all my long Canon lenses and switch completely to MFT for bird photography. Never regretted that move.
I hear/read this a lot.
Seems MFT is a real dark horse.
I’m too invested and too old to change now, plus photography as a hobby is beginning to stagnate a little for me.
p.1 #10 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
I "downsized" by adding a small body (SL1) and picking smaller lenses (50mm f1.8, 100mm f2, 17-40mm) out of my pool of equipment. I've never sold off stuff, because I tend to keep everything till the point they're not worth anything anymore.
That's one of the benefits of being in a system--the manufacturer keeps things compatible so you have multiple uses for each piece. For example, I bought the 17-40mm f4L almost twenty years ago to attach to my slightly used 5D, as a full frame UWA. It was never fantastic, but Canon didn't really have great UWAs back then. Later, I used the 17-40mm f4L on the SL1 for family trips. Lately I had it on a Canon C100 as a regular lens for video. It's great on there as it focuses silently and doesn't extend out making it ideal for mattebox and Steadicam balance. That single lens has multiple uses across its lifetime.
p.1 #11 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
ViolenceFinder wrote:
For anyone who’s done it, did you end up regretting getting rid of some of your gear?
When I scroll through my digital albums, I tend to slow down between 2010-2015. It was the best 5 years of my life, I guess we all have periods like that. All of those images were taken on the Canon 5D II, and some of the best ones (artistically) came from that era + camera as well.
The before and after cameras didn't last long, maybe 3 years tops. That 5D II was the only body I drove to the ground. The LCD cracked, but I didn't care. Then the top LCD cracked. Then one of the wheels stopped working reliably, but I kept shooting. It even fell out of a moving car on a highway once. With all the dings, scratches, lost paint, stiff on/off switch, it looked like a war correspondent's camera. I finally retired it around 2018 with probably over 300k shots on the (still working) shutter.
I found it in a box with old electronics last year and sold it here for parts. The moment I came home from the UPS office, I felt like I just betrayed a friend. It was awful. Instead of $200 or whatever I got for it, I should have put it on a display or something. Only after selling it I realized that this Canon mattered to me just as much as the photos. :-(
p.1 #12 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
old-gregg wrote:
...
I found it in a box with old electronics last year and sold it here for parts. The moment I came home from the UPS office, I felt like I just betrayed a friend. It was awful. Instead of $200 or whatever I got for it, I should have put it on a display or something. Only after selling it I realized that this Canon mattered to me just as much as the photos. :-(
That's why my EOS-1N and FM2Ns stay with me, even if they just sit in a dry cabinet. Too many memories taken with those bodies. Call it mental clutter, camera clutter. I'm OK with that.
p.1 #13 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
I kind of wish I had kept my EF 24-70 f/2.8 II lens - it was a great one and worked just fine on the mirrorless bodies. I was downsizing prior to moving and probably should have kept that one.
p.1 #14 · Have You Ever Downsized Your Camera Gear and Regretted It?
Yeah, I regretted selling off gear numerous times. Most recently this past Summer when I sold what used to be the backbone of my Canon gear: the 1D Mark IV camera, the 16-35/4, 100-400 and Tamron 45mm lenses (and also the 24L and Sigma 14mm). I did feel like a traitor afterwards, though at least I couldn't bring myself to parting with the remaining three EF-mount lenses, most importantly the 70-200/2.8 IS that has been with me for 18 years now. I did even think of buying back the 45, because I saw it a few times since, sitting in the store showcase like an epitome of reproach.
However, mostly I sell gear not to downsize but to replace it with better stuff. With the exception of the 45mm, all the lenses have been replaced - the 16-35 and the 100-400 with the new Tamrons 16-30 and 50-400, the 24L with the Sony 24GM, the Sigma 14mm with the Laowa 10mm. I keep telling myself that tools are just that; tools. It doesn't necessarily work all the time though.
