In January 2025 I purchased a Leica Q3 43 for my 50th birthday, my first fixed lens camera. Partly out of curiosity and partly to justify the absurd cost, I told myself I was going to use only the Q3 43 for all of 2025. While I did resort to the A7CR and Sigma 100-400 (or recently the 25-200) a couple times for bird pics, otherwise I was able to stick to my goal and do pretty much all my photography with the Leica. It ended up being a huge success for me; I had a ton of fun, learned a lot about manual focusing and composing in general, and got some of my favorite images so far. It also taught me that gear doesn't matter so much (I realize the irony of saying this while using a $6K camera).
As 2026 approaches, part of me is definitely missing the flexibility of a zoom lens so I'm considering selling the rest of my Sony compatible lenses and just keeping either the 25-200 or the 20-70 on my A7CR camera at all times. Instead of stressing about which of my 5 or 6 lenses to bring on a trip or photo outing all the time like I used to (or carrying multiple lenses, which I dislike as well), just focus on a single zoom lens and learn it well.
The smart thing to do would be to just box up the other lenses and hide them in a closet for a year, but I know I typically need something more drastic and final to mentally make leaps like this. Knowing I can just go to the closet for something is too easy an out for me
Dec 29, 2025 at 03:55 PM
Previous versions of Tarekith's message #16957143 « Your current gear thoughts (we all have GAS) »
