Selling up or downgrading due to loss of motivation..

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stevewestern

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I have lost almost all interest in photography over the last year and am concerned that the money tied up in my camera and lenses could be put to better use - we are renovating our house and my credit card could do with a little input....!
Picking up that big heavy camera bag seems to be a chore, setting up any lights just a pain, the few paid jobs I was asked to do have amounted to nothing (a wedding for £300 anyone ?) and even pictures of my kids have just not happened (the annual calendar I have done for the last 10 years has only one potential picture this year so won't be getting printed). I also hate feeling like a suspect paedophile - the school I have taken pictures at for the last 3 years no longer wants me as the governors fear of being exposed to 'some risk'
I am wondering about some sort of smaller camera, but know nothing about such things. I imagine that the buzz of a new toy will renew my enthusiasm to some extent so am wondering if anyone can give some pointers - what are the current bridge cameras like compared to a 5D2, is there anything that gives decent results in low light and if anyone has any good ideas to revive my interest then please inspire me.

Current gear is a 5D2, 17-40, 24-70 and 70-200 plus a 580 flash and some Lencarta lights.

Thanks for anything that gets me going again !
 
Sony RX100 or one of the little fujis would be a good choice. Small and easy to carry around. Decent results even with a built in flash. Ideal if you want to capture people. Bridge cameras are better for outdoors as they have massive zooms but noisy sensors. No bridge camera would be anywhere near a 5d2 image quality wise. For flexibility they'd beat the pants off it.

Have you ever shot film? That seems to be a good way to completely shake things up. Find an old camera in a charity shop/ dig your old one out of the loft and stock up on Agfa vista from poundland :)
 
Hi Suz, and thanks for the reply.
I have just been skimming through the RX100 thread and it seems pretty interesting - image quality is of no importance if I am not taking any pictures.....! Sounds like it might be worth a trip to a shop to have a play.

As for film - I am an old-timer, so grew up with film, and went back to it a few years ago with a MF body plus a couple of old SLR's, but again, it might be worth looking in the charity shops, though I feel that something new might get better results from me right now !
 
Or you could use the camera to document the house renovation. Give it something to do ;)
 
I bought an X20 a few weeks ago and have hardly used my Nikon since. It's a wonderful camera. I haven't tried any others so have nothing to compare to but I did some research, posted a thread on TP and settled on this one linky

Cheers and happy shopping :thumbs:
 
I know the feeling! I am in the same situation as you. A few years ago I bought a number of nice lenses and once upon a time, they were used on a regular basis, however I find myself so busy with work these days, I just done have time to go out shooting. I now prefer to take my iPhone and get a few snaps using that. Bad times.
 
Sorry to hear that! If you put your clobber away for a while the urge may return, so I wouldn't do anything precipitate. In the mean time, put the camera and, say, the 24-105 into a suitable bag and just take that around rather than the whole caboodle. It may be the slog of dragging a whole load of stuff around that turns it into a task rather than a pleasure.
 
Thanks for the replies - all interesting and helpful.
The phone camera has been used to document the house works, but purely as a record of what I am doing - nothing to warrant calling myself a photographer.
Jon - I think that I shall do as you suggest in the short term and just try to take the camera out with me at times - I have seen some wonderful sunsets recently but instead of getting the camera out have left it thinking that there will be another one soon.
I have also felt that photography as a whole is undervalued (maybe it is just the pictures I take are rubbish ?) as several given to a local hospice have been used in the local papers but despite my requests (to the hospice) with no name credit, and when asked for prints by parents or whoever people seem to gulp at the price, quoting the usual 'well, Asda do them for 10p'

Maybe just taking pictures for myself will help in some way - I'll try to get out one day next week just for a walk with a basic camera.
 
Well... what got me going again was MFT and especially a Panasonic G1, a cheap adapter and some cheap manual primes.
 
I traded all my Nikon gear recently and havent looked back, I got myself a Nex 7 with a couple of lens and its really, really good, I take the camera everywhere with me now as its all so nice and light, I do miss the Nikon but the Nex 7 is an amazing bit of kit, Im saving like mad now for the new a7R
 
If I were to change my cameras now I would be looking at the Fuji mrrorless cameras. The X-E2 has just come out which means there are bargains to be had with the X-E1. The standard Fuji kit zoom is excellent and F2.8 throught out the range. I have seen them go for under £600 for a nice example.
 
stevewestern said:
Thanks for the replies - all interesting and helpful.
The phone camera has been used to document the house works, but purely as a record of what I am doing - nothing to warrant calling myself a photographer.
Jon - I think that I shall do as you suggest in the short term and just try to take the camera out with me at times - I have seen some wonderful sunsets recently but instead of getting the camera out have left it thinking that there will be another one soon.
I have also felt that photography as a whole is undervalued (maybe it is just the pictures I take are rubbish ?) as several given to a local hospice have been used in the local papers but despite my requests (to the hospice) with no name credit, and when asked for prints by parents or whoever people seem to gulp at the price, quoting the usual 'well, Asda do them for 10p'

Maybe just taking pictures for myself will help in some way - I'll try to get out one day next week just for a walk with a basic camera.
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Start to do it for yourself forget about making any money for the moment,i have just gone to full ccs DSLR & lens became just to much for me to carry around :)
 
That gear sounds like a bad back to me.

You can shot lovely shots with small cameras too you know.My sub £200 Oly does a decent job and weighs nothing compared to that lot. The CSC cameras from Fuji Sony Olympus and Panasonic are all good and much smaller.
 
stevewestern said:
Maybe just taking pictures for myself will help in some way - I'll try to get out one day next week just for a walk with a basic camera.
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Taking photos for yourself is a hobby, doing it for others is a chore*.

Give yourself January for only taking photos for yourself. Don't share them, but get them printed and make up a small album for your own pleasure.



* if they don't want what you want to do.
 
I bought a good camera (or rather, several) as I wanted to capture the amazing holidays that I was going on (Kilimanjaro, Machu Pichu, NZ etc) and just major events of life itself, not because I wanted to "do" photography. Of course, these events happen infrequently.

I have a similar level of kit as you (plus a few other DX, film, CSC etc for fun) and it stays in the bag for most of the time but I just LOVE the photos it produces when I do use it

Do I maximise my use of it? no. Do I get value out of it? yes, for my intents and purposes.

I guess my point is that camera gear used infrequently is not a waste, just a reflection of your life and you.
 
I felt I was slowly loosing a bit of interest middle of this year (mainly down to weight and overall baggage) then got an X100.
From this I then got an X-Pro. It's a great system in my opinion and gives stunning colours out of the box. I had it on my shoulder this morning with another lens and some filters etc and I hardly noticed it on my shoulder.
 
Alastair said:
Taking photos for yourself is a hobby, doing it for others is a chore*.

Give yourself January for only taking photos for yourself. Don't share them, but get them printed and make up a small album for your own pleasure.



* if they don't want what you want to do.
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That sounds like a very good idea, echoed by several others. I am no pro, but have spent a lot of time trying to take the pictures others want.
I am no longer sure I know what sort of pictures I might want to take for me, but will give it a go.

As before, many thanks to all who have posted replies to this thread - all are much appreciated.
 
I understand this only too well. I've lost enthusiasm too and carrying kit around that is heavy means I end up not taking it out. I love the kit I have and so wouldn't downgrade but maybe either spend some family time with your kids as subjects and this might rekindle your joy of photography? Another option is to meet up with somebody in your area for a day out shooting and get some enthusiasm from another member?
 
stevewestern said:
That sounds like a very good idea, echoed by several others. I am no pro, but have spent a lot of time trying to take the pictures others want.
I am no longer sure I know what sort of pictures I might want to take for me, but will give it a go.

As before, many thanks to all who have posted replies to this thread - all are much appreciated.
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I think you were perhaps looking for a justification for your photography in the wrong place. Good photography isn't justified by people paying for it. Plenty of good photography is produced purely for fun.

The sad flip side is that most 'professional' photography is far from great or inspiring. It's formulaic, and at its worst isn't even 'good'. Being a photographer and running a photography business are two completely different skill sets, too many people think that one should automatically be linked to the other.
 
I'm another who sympathises with the loss of photographic "mojo" ... Been a bit the same myself lately. To me having (or having access to, through OH's collection!) a lot of top end kit has sort of taken the fun out of it for me and made it all just a bit too serious. I have gone back to basics a bit. I do take the 7D for walks from time to time, but generally now just carry around a pocket sized compact (a Canon S100, but there are many similar ones on the market). The compact comes out for a few shots when out and about, it takes good images and is, effectively point and shoot so you just concentrate on taking a shot of something which has caught your eye, rather than having to stop and think about the technical niceties. It's helped me to recapture the joy of just grabbing a memory or recording a scene without it being a big deal. Maybe you just need reminding what it was that got you into photography in the first place. Take the pressure off and just have a bit of fun ......
 
Take a break for a bit. I'm currently on a 4 week break from sports photography as it was doing my head in and I was starting to get annoyed with it. I'm now itching to get back into it again.

If you aren't enjoying the paid for stuff, just bin it. I do a lot of non sports commercial work and it is hard work but pays well, so I keep at it to keep the money coming in though it's not like sitting pitchside at a prem match.

Also, I definitely recommend smaller, lighter gear. You could ditch your Canon gear and pick something smaller that will be with you much more often, and enthuse you again. A Fuji X100S would be ideal. Or try an Olympus OMD-EM5 if you want swappable lenses. Both can be had second hand for relatively little money giving you a decent bit left over from selling the big stuff. If you want to keep full frame, the Sony RX1 is stunning, then there's the A7/R which is a whole new ballgame.

Set yourself a project or two as well to get your creative brain working - I find that always helps.
 
Again, thanks to all who have offered advice and help - it is much appreciated.
Something smaller and lighter seems to be very appealing right now, but I need to spend some time thinking things through.

Tobers - you suggest something like the Olympus OMD-EM5 which I know nothing about, and it is the same with ALL cameras. A lens reach of up to 200mm (equivalent) at least would be wanted (my last purchase was a 70-200 f2.8 mk2) and fast focus is way up on my list, as is reasonable low light performance.

As for this thing about passion - it has always been the thing that has kept me into photography. I am not the most technical photographer, but I do like pictures with some sort of emotion/passion. Technical excellence is way down on my list compared to a picture that captures a moment. That is what matters to me, and what is missing from my photography.
 
stevewestern said:
Tobers - you suggest something like the Olympus OMD-EM5 which I know nothing about, and it is the same with ALL cameras. A lens reach of up to 200mm (equivalent) at least would be wanted (my last purchase was a 70-200 f2.8 mk2) and fast focus is way up on my list, as is reasonable low light performance.
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Excellent - you can motivate yourself with some research in that case!

The EM5 is a superb camera, low light is very good (I use mine to do all sorts of drama events in dingy halls), and they have some really super fast lenses for it such as the 12mm f.2, 17mm 1.8, 45mm 1.8 (a particular bargain at only about £200 new) and 75mm 1.8 (multiply all by 2 to get the 35mm equivalent). The EM5 is also very quiet compared to a DSLR.

You might be stuck for a very fast 200mm equivalent, but 150mm equiv from the 75mm should be fine (you can crop a fair bit if you like).

Also, the in body stabilisation is magic, and lets you use much lower shutter speeds than you might imagine.

Looking at the LCE website, you can pick up a used EM5 with "kit" lens for £600 or less, and a 45 and 75 for a total of about £750.

If you want to see some EM5 pics - this lot from the Faroe Islands are all with that camera.
 
stevewestern said:
Again, thanks to all who have offered advice and help - it is much appreciated.
Something smaller and lighter seems to be very appealing right now, but I need to spend some time thinking things through.

Tobers - you suggest something like the Olympus OMD-EM5 which I know nothing about, and it is the same with ALL cameras. A lens reach of up to 200mm (equivalent) at least would be wanted (my last purchase was a 70-200 f2.8 mk2) and fast focus is way up on my list, as is reasonable low light performance.

As for this thing about passion - it has always been the thing that has kept me into photography. I am not the most technical photographer, but I do like pictures with some sort of emotion/passion. Technical excellence is way down on my list compared to a picture that captures a moment. That is what matters to me, and what is missing from my photography.
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It will come back,another thing i find is dont stuff your cameras away out of sight,i alway keep at least one handy so it become natural just to pick it everytime you go out :)
 
Tobers said:
Excellent - you can motivate yourself with some research in that case!

You might be stuck for a very fast 200mm equivalent, but 150mm equiv from the 75mm should be fine (you can crop a fair bit if you like).

Also, the in body stabilisation is magic, and lets you use much lower shutter speeds than you might imagine.

Looking at the LCE website, you can pick up a used EM5 with "kit" lens for £600 or less, and a 45 and 75 for a total of about £750.
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Panasonic do a 35-100 f2.8: http://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/Panasonic_Lumix_G_X__35-100mm_f2.8_OIS_Black_H-HS35100E_Lens
Olympus 40-150 f2.8 comes out next year: http://www.bestmirrorlesscamerarevi...zuiko-40-150mm-f2-8-pro-lens-for-mft-cameras/

Olympus are throwing in the 45mm 'free' with the EM-5 at the moment so buying new could be a better deal for anyone who was going to buy both anyway: http://www.ukdigital.co.uk/olympus-omd-e-m5-body-black.html
 
I an busy researching - I never realised there was so much I didn't know..!

Just getting my head around the different terminology takes time, but as an owner of an Olympus OM1 and 2 (the 2 fell off the back of a motorbike doing 85mph but still was fit to use !) I am so tempted, and already seem to be getting some interest back !
Got to say that the 45-150 f2.8 would be a major factor if it is anything like the Canon 70-200 f2.8 mk2......
 
New shiny isn't going to solve the problem.

Pick up an old film system and shoot that for a bit. Rekindled my interest and made me realise :

I don't need ISO over 800 to take good pictures.
I don't need AF and hundreds of electronic options to take good pictures.
The process of manually taking a photograph is much more satisfying and enjoyable than letting a bunch of electronics do it for me.

Added bonus is that film gear is cheap. You don't need to sell up your current system to give it a go and risk shelling out on a compact system you don't like because of the compromises over your FF gear.

Alright I spunked a fair wedge on Leica gear but it is never going to lose value, unlike the latest digital kit.
 
Alastair said:
Taking photos for yourself is a hobby, doing it for others is a chore*.

Give yourself January for only taking photos for yourself. Don't share them, but get them printed and make up a small album for your own pleasure.
Click to expand...

The better lesson might I spose be "don't assume that enjoying one kind of photography means you'll enjoy all kinds".
 
Phil V said:
Good photography isn't justified by people paying for it. Plenty of good photography is produced purely for fun.

The sad flip side is that most 'professional' photography is far from great or inspiring. It's formulaic, and at its worst isn't even 'good'. Being a photographer and running a photography business are two completely different skill sets, too many people think that one should automatically be linked to the other.
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THIS!!!

This is about the most sensible advice I've seen written on here in ages.

Commercial photography is about finding a formula that works and using it - not creativity - creativity is risky and expensive. Its something you have to consider as a long term adjustment, not a on the fly "you came in for a family portrait but I decided purple lighting and a light coating of custard is what you needed".

Anyway, Phil has offered some excellent advice there - take it folks!
 
I do photography mainly for myself, sometimes for others for free (but rewarded) sometimes my mojo disappears which I rediscover when I pick up me Z-1 and a roll of FP4/HP5.

A good classic film camera will be the tonic you need.
 
Phil V said:
I think you were perhaps looking for a justification for your photography in the wrong place. Good photography isn't justified by people paying for it. Plenty of good photography is produced purely for fun.

The sad flip side is that most 'professional' photography is far from great or inspiring. It's formulaic, and at its worst isn't even 'good'. Being a photographer and running a photography business are two completely different skill sets, too many people think that one should automatically be linked to the other.
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Truth!

If you fall into this trap you end up chasing it and that can only lead to trouble and self doubt. If you're not a professional then I would suggest using photography as a way to find pleasure. Take photographs the way you want and the way that makes you happy. Don't think about the commercial viability of your photography because then it becomes a job and a chore.
 
A long overdue reply though I am still unsure how to respond...
I don't think I have lost interest purely down to not getting any paid work - most of the pictures I used to take were for me, for the calendar I have done for many years for friends - ie for pleasure.
I did try to make some money from it but as I said in my first post, a wedding for £300 just isn't worth it (the guy I went to see to quote for his wedding started by telling me he had already turned down a quote for £300 as 'no way was he going to spend that sort of money on a few pictures).
When I used to shoot film, both 35 years ago and 5 years ago I had minimal gear - an Olympus OM2 with 2 lenses, some FP4, Tri-x and another film I cannot remember the name of, but it was used my the police for its high ASA rating. It was easy to carry around and unobtrusive, and suited my style of photography then.
Recently I have gone for better and better equipment which seems to be heavier and bigger. I had a 70-200 f4 for many years as it was s much smaller, lighter and less 'in-your-face' than the 2.8 I have now.
This is a very large part of what I think is the problem - it is just too big, heavy and people become very aware of you. Now I know that if I am taking pictures of someone they will be aware of me and my gear whatever I have.
Jane Bown is someone who's work I love - she had one camera, mainly used one lens and available light.

I have the idea that a smaller camera that allows me to shoot quickly and easily may just get me going again. I also need to free up some cash...

I may look at getting another film camera, but do feel that something digital is the way I may go - as yet I have no idea what compromises there are - I need good low light performance, fast focus but aside from that, given that I am more than happy to push the ISO right up I don't think I need the very best of image quality - after all, if I am not taking any pictures then there is no quality at all !

Again, many thanks to all who have given their time offering advice - it is all helping by getting me thinking !
 
I just did the swap,for health reason an DSLR kit was just getting to heavy to carry around,mainly using Fuji now and it fun trying a few of the mirrorless cameras out with the funds i raised from selling my kit.
It was hard at first to let it all go,but in the end their seemed little point in keeping it all if it wasn't getting used,now i just carry one Fuji body out with me and have a pick of which lens i will take :)
 
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