Camera Envy ... It's A Disease!!

There is nothing worse than a bunch of photographers getting together.  A horrible disease begins to grow, permeating the entire group.  It's called Camera Envy and is the cause of many overcharged credit cards.  It usually ends up with big smiling faces, but causes the disease to grow even more throughout the family of friends.

Having met up with my old instructor and a classmate with seemingly unlimited cash reserves, we were drawn together like magnets.  Let's meet up again and check out Frank's new gear!!  The disease set in quickly.

Frank makes good money as a prison guard, plus he has a father retired from several jobs, making for lots of disposable cash.  Together they make up their new venture, H & H Photography.  For a time, Frank had the same gear as I, so Camera Envy was not a problem.

Out of the blue, he sold ALL his Nikon gear worth around $12,000 and switched over to the new Sony Mirrorless cameras and lenses.  This baby sells for $4,500 WITHOUT the lens.  It weighs less than half of my camera and the images are stellar.  I know because we sat in his house and looked at the latest wedding images he took.  I do have to insert a note of caution here ... a fancy expensive camera does not always mean fabulous images.  It's all in the operator.

Although the disease spread quickly, thank goodness the accountant in me did some quick addition and brought my brain to a screeching halt like a shot of penicillin.  Nikon lenses don't play well with Sony cameras, meaning you have to sell literally everything and start all over from scratch.  Then there's that part where you  have to learn an entire new system of menus with thousands of settings.  No thank you!!

I really like my Nikon because all of the important I-need-to-change-this-constantly settings are on the OUTSIDE of the camera.  The Sony has them all buried in menus.  There's nothing more frustrating than trying to find something 10 steps down.

Unfortunately, it did not go well for the Instructor.  He had all of his camera gear stolen from his vehicle a few years ago.  The insurance company of course denied everything and he had to start all over, purchasing some of my gear.  He's not loaded down with $$$$$ worth of equipment and he's not an accountant.  I'm pretty sure I see a Sony in his future.  I'm clairvoyant like that!!

Here's my tip for saving money.  Do NOT take a photography class of any kind.  Camera Envy disease is just waiting behind that door like THE BLOB, to overtake and smother you into maxing out your credit cards, thereby limiting your intake of important things like food and a roof over your head.

Just for the fun of it, I played around with my camera a little bit, trying to further convince myself I don't need to change.  This is my Christmas tree with it's reflection in the window behind.  

You can do the same trick ... just move your phone or camera when you take the image, instead of trying to keep it still.  The movement of your hand will determine the direction of the lines.

I know, photographers are weird.  We're always coming up with crazy images of blurry tree lights and garbage ... things most people would never think to photograph.  

Luckily I was saved from the final results of Camera Envy ... I haven't purchased a new camera.  I did however purchase a new book on Flash Photography that promises to make me LOVE my flash, which I now hate with a passion, having spent three hours yesterday trying to get it to work wirelessly.  I failed miserably.  I'm re-reading the book!!