Photographer Shares 9 Pieces of Gear He Wished He'd Never Purchased

Many people suffer from gear acquisition syndrome (GAS), regardless of occupation or hobbies. It’s part of living in the materialistic Western World. The problem with photographers is, however, that we often feel justified in our purchases because we’re “making money” with our new toys, rather than simply allowing them to collect dust in the garage.

But, how many of you GAS-sufferers actually put to good use every piece of gear you buy? Allen Murabayashi of PhotoShelter wrote a great piece where he fessed up to having made ridiculous purchases that were never put to proper use.

In his nine-item list, Allen included a variety of items, from lighting to lenses to card readers, that were purchased while he had GAS. Some seem like no-brainers, while others surprised me a bit.

Allen’s list consists of:

Strip Boxes – Great if you’re working the studio, but the only times he used them was when he grabbed them by accident.
24mm f/1.4 – The focal length was too wide, and he ended up just going back to his 24-70mm f/2.8.
LED Light & Video Support Rig – Never used them as expected, one light still unopened.
50mm lens – The focal length was too tight (getting a little picky there, eh?), so it sits on a shelf.
Circular Polarizer – It only works if you remember to bring it.
Best Buy Card Reader – Total piece of crap that was purchased in a pinch.
86″ PLM Umbrella – Unbelievably gargantuan and never yielded that promised “wrap” lighting that everyone always talks about.
4×5 Camera – Wasn’t compatible with his available film, so it’s still waiting to be properly used.

But, Allen has learned from his lessons… “There will be no drones, 4K video, or gimbals in my future,” although he confesses that his GAS has now shifted to audio equipment.

As we’ve said many times on this blog (about as many times as we’ve written the word “drone” in the last six months), more gear doth not a good photographer make. It’s not about what you have but how you use it. For me, I’ve never had the financial luxury of being able to suffer from GAS, but I have definitely fallen prey to camera shame as a result (but we’re recovering nicely…).