Prelude
(Warning: contains bits and pieces from Days 1 + 2.) I was a happy shooter... I am a happy shooter. With a Leica Q and a PEN-F in their bag who wouldn't be. As it so happens a GAS attack can happen to anyone. It's not a daily occurence, and I don't even get GAS from new announcements that often. The things I want from a camera and what new features new cameras have aren't usually coinciding.
I don't browse through camera stores physically. Perhaps because there aren't any in my vicinity. The one time there was one, and having a very good week, shooting-wise, with my Fuji X100T, I happened by a store which had Leica Q on display. I held it in my hand and looked through the EVF. That was it. Had to have it. That battle wasn't particularly long or short, in about 3 weeks I walked with a Leica Q around my neck.
I'm bitten by the Leica bug (thanks to the fateful stroll around the store that time) so the biggest GAS attacks will involve good deals on Leica gear and perhaps related used gear.
This April this one seller posted his recently serviced Leica M9 for sale. Very nice condition, sensor replaced, trustworthy guy, wouldn't be a problem for me to drive to his place to conduct some F2F business. It was a tough battle, broke my spirits somewhat. I just had got the PEN-F to accompany my Q (before the Olympus, my only real camera) but I had considerable buyer's remorse because the PEN-F didn't quite deliver on all the promises, or things I made up it'd do for me. Oly was barely 2 months in and I was already going to replace it?! As said, the battle was tough. There'd be days when it was easier for me to ignore the deal and then there'd be days when I was calculating my bank balances to see how it'd play out. Then one Saturday I finally broke down, deciding I'd get the camera. But the next day, Sunday afternoon when I got home, it had just gone. What a tease.
Since then I've been pretty good. Some occasional GAS about moving back to Fuji lifestyle, but nothing serious. I have made myself plans to move the next spring, and consequently I have made myself a promise to postpone any gear acquisitions after I've moved. But now there's this...