I have had a serious case of GAS for the last few months. I have had it in the past, but never to this extent. It hits at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes I can’t sleep because of it. Susan tells me that I need to get over it, as if I can just make it stop. Every time I think that I have finally reached the end of it, something else comes along and it starts right back up.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome -GAS, hit me back in February, when Canon released the EOS RP. I was looking to go mirrorless and full frame, and this was an affordable option. Affordable to me that is, Susan would disagree. Of course, moving up from a crop sensor body to full frame would necessitate a new lens to take advantage of the bigger sensor. It just happened that Canon had thought of this and paired the RP with a brand-new RF 24-105 F4 L lens. Perfect, new body, new lens, all set.
The GAS started back up again shortly afterwards, my 120-400 just didn’t have the reach on the full frame body that it had on the crop sensor. This time B&H came to the rescue with a one-day promo price in a Sigma 150-600mm lens. The price was too good to not buy it, so I did. Recognizing my illness, Susan barely put up a fight. Now I have the reach with the RP that I had with the 70D, and even more reach when I put the 150-600 on the 70D crop sensor body (which I may have told Susan that I planned to sell, but probably won’t).
So we visit the kids and grandkids for Easter. I take my new EOS RP with the 24-105 F4 and wait for the Easter Bunny to arrive. We get up and I get lots of great shots of the grandkids hunting for Easter eggs, diving into their Easter baskets, and playing with all the new toys. All the while, I am pushing the ISO higher to get a fast enough shutter speed at F4. I start feeling GAS all over again. If I only had a Speedlight, I could shoot in low light at ISO 100. A short while later, Canon just happened to be running a special on refurbished Speedlights. Hey, Susan, look, I can get a flash for half price! At this point, I think that she may have developed an illness of her own, her eyes just rolled up and she went silent.
I shoot mostly nature, landscapes and wildlife. The 150-600 takes care of the latter. For landscape, I use an EF-S 10-22, a terrific lens for a crop sensor camera. the EOS RP came with an adapter for EF and EF-S lenses, and it works great. Except for one thing; EF-S lenses are cropped to only utilize part of the full frame sensor. So my 10-22 is only producing 10 MP photos from a 26 MP sensor. I’m feeling those GAS pains again. Let’s see who can help this time. Canon’s refurbished promos once again offer the relief that I needed. A 17-40 F4 is on the way. Susan’s eyes may be permanently stuck in the rolled back position.
Oh, and by the way, I have some gear for sale….