Being cheap hinders one to realize the most potential in one's system.
I suffer from this a lot, and I think many others do too.
So what happens when you're being cheap?
You are interested in a camera because it might suit your style, it might have the ergonomics, whatnot. So you buy one maybe preowned so that your possible resale loss will be minimal. No harm here.
You get a couple of lenses that you like and you go on exploring what the new system brings you.
Some time passes and you form your first impressions, second impressions, start to make some early conclusions. Maybe at this point in time you find that the camera and the system wasn't exactly what you hoped for, maybe it wasn't a hit for you.
No problem, that's why we acquired the gear second-hand. You take a very small hit, financially speaking, when you sell it all.
But did you explore the system to its full capability?
That's where the cheapness starts to cause trouble. The first phase of the honey moon is over, you're not feeling it, you think it's more than probable that you sell it. When your mind is set towards this outcome, the cheap you won't explore the unexplored. You stick with the lenses you bought during the honeymoon, you won't explore the lens catalogue any further, because "you'd only sell them at a small loss later on" and the hassle relating to selling them.
So this is how I have had it, for a couple of times now.
With Fujifilm X-T3 I had 5 lenses for it, all acquired as a bundle so it was convenient to be sure. But I didn't have the feeling for the camera, it's a great camera but something just nagged me about it. The lenses were a small part of the issue. Among the five two were nice (18/2 and 27/2.8) for my optical preferences but two were a bit bland and soulless (35/2, 50/2) and one was a zoom.
I knew from my earlier foray that 35/1.4 is a nice lens, I also had some intrigue towards the 60/2.4 and maybe 90/2 and the 50-230 as well. But I never got around to them because I was already pretty convinced that they'd not solve the problems. But what if I'd totally had clicked with them, the story might have been different?
A similar thing with my Nikon Df right now. I have three lenses for it currently, having tried six lenses in total. But my frustrations are more towards the camera than the lenses in this case. I have some basic frustrations with Nikon because it's not a Leica M and I am thinking if it could get closer to a Leica if I have it serviced and fitted with a focusing screen.
But now my cheapness is screaming to me, the fees are 0% recoverable when reselling so do I want to even go this route? This makes me think about the focusing screen very carefully, too carefully in fact. Perhaps this would completely redo the way I shoot with the camera. But of course, focus is not the only beef I have with the Df and a focusing screen won't touch the other aspects I find irritating.
We may never know!
I suffer from this a lot, and I think many others do too.
So what happens when you're being cheap?
You are interested in a camera because it might suit your style, it might have the ergonomics, whatnot. So you buy one maybe preowned so that your possible resale loss will be minimal. No harm here.
You get a couple of lenses that you like and you go on exploring what the new system brings you.
Some time passes and you form your first impressions, second impressions, start to make some early conclusions. Maybe at this point in time you find that the camera and the system wasn't exactly what you hoped for, maybe it wasn't a hit for you.
No problem, that's why we acquired the gear second-hand. You take a very small hit, financially speaking, when you sell it all.
But did you explore the system to its full capability?
That's where the cheapness starts to cause trouble. The first phase of the honey moon is over, you're not feeling it, you think it's more than probable that you sell it. When your mind is set towards this outcome, the cheap you won't explore the unexplored. You stick with the lenses you bought during the honeymoon, you won't explore the lens catalogue any further, because "you'd only sell them at a small loss later on" and the hassle relating to selling them.
So this is how I have had it, for a couple of times now.
With Fujifilm X-T3 I had 5 lenses for it, all acquired as a bundle so it was convenient to be sure. But I didn't have the feeling for the camera, it's a great camera but something just nagged me about it. The lenses were a small part of the issue. Among the five two were nice (18/2 and 27/2.8) for my optical preferences but two were a bit bland and soulless (35/2, 50/2) and one was a zoom.
I knew from my earlier foray that 35/1.4 is a nice lens, I also had some intrigue towards the 60/2.4 and maybe 90/2 and the 50-230 as well. But I never got around to them because I was already pretty convinced that they'd not solve the problems. But what if I'd totally had clicked with them, the story might have been different?
A similar thing with my Nikon Df right now. I have three lenses for it currently, having tried six lenses in total. But my frustrations are more towards the camera than the lenses in this case. I have some basic frustrations with Nikon because it's not a Leica M and I am thinking if it could get closer to a Leica if I have it serviced and fitted with a focusing screen.
But now my cheapness is screaming to me, the fees are 0% recoverable when reselling so do I want to even go this route? This makes me think about the focusing screen very carefully, too carefully in fact. Perhaps this would completely redo the way I shoot with the camera. But of course, focus is not the only beef I have with the Df and a focusing screen won't touch the other aspects I find irritating.
We may never know!