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Comment by jiggawatts | Hacker News Reader

I started off in the "enjoying collecting gear" quadrant of photography, then I heard an insightful comment by a pro: "If you have $5K, you can either buy one good lens and use it to take photos of the pigeons outside your apartment, or spend that money on a destination holiday and take pictures of amazingly beautiful places with your old lens which still works perfectly fine."

I stopped buying new kit and started going on lots of holidays. No regrets so far. I just wish I had the budget for a Nikon Z9 and a holiday, but I don't work in Silicon Valley, so...

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Somewhat similar, but within a few years of starting photography I had a DSLR and 4-5 lenses. I was also taking lots of pictures but overtime the allure of the big gear wore off as I realized I didn't want to carry it around anymore. Eventually I downsized to a Fujifilm X100F and its been a wonderful experience!

I also downsized camera gear and much, much prefer it. A version of the old saying, the best camera is the one you'll actually take out.

Yup, bought an old, used point-and-shoot last year, and the low stakes of it have me using it more than my DSLR. Much easier to slip small P&S is my pocket for a vacation or hike. It's got the CHDK firmware on it as well, so it still outputs RAW, and I can keep my development process.

That Z9 will be yesterdays tech in a year or two, and you'll be able to pick it up for a fraction of its current price. It'll still perform exactly as well as it does today, but the gear heads will be onto the next new thing.

I do two very expensive hobbies: Triathlon and Astrophotography

I've never bought flagship gear, and I often buy second hand. This is the way.

That is the reason I love gear heads, otherwise I wouldn't have been abke to get the Nikkor lenses I have for the price I paid, and they are all used by the way. That none of those is compatible with the new Z system helps as well.

Because why would a camera and a lense, that was the top of the line back the day, be less suitable today? Not that a Z9 wouldn't be nice, but I have other hobbies as well and want to see places!

> in a year or two

It probably won't see significant price drops for 5+ years, because the pace of development in the DSLR market is slowing down. There are longer and longer gaps between new significant features, which means the price of used cameras isn't going down as fast as they used to.

Some digital cameras (looking at you, Fujifilm X100v) are now selling above release MSRP even three years after release!

As frustrating as it is, I must say it is kinda nice to finally have one sphere of consumer electronics where you don't have to update all the time!

That advice surprises me. It's quite possible to go to the most amazingly beautiful place on earth and still take pigeon-dull photos, with or without a fancy camera. I've done it myself. Surely what matters is learning how to see, and to depict?

Oh, and working in Silicon Valley may not be necessary. A non-techy friend of mine bought a medium format camera and took it to Antarctica. But then he is a cardiologist.

Some of the best photos I've taken in my ~12 years as a hobbyist photographer have been less than 30 minutes from home. Despite all the holidays I've been on.

As an ex pro photographer (not great as I am an ex!) but the best camera is the one easy to access and use. While my photos don't have the three dimensional quality they used to have, they are in the moment and captured by doing rather than doing photography. iPhone Camera. Incredible.

What really rebooted my photography is buying a high quality (well not even all that high, a used Pixma Pro 200) photo printer. There is something special about holding pictures printed on quality paper. They make great gifts (well if they are good!) They look different than on a screen.

I print (good) iphone photos without any retouching or correcting on photo 4x6 and they look great! Doing this without fiddling in lightroom is the closest I've gotten to the experience of film photography but with digital.

Ha, the printer killed my love in the end. It just had an end of life. Finished. Meh!! £1500 gone!

But yes, loved printing and seeing the analog reality. Different papers, inks etc. The slow sounds of production.

I traveled to places with my Nikon D40. What is amazing is the camera still works with all the drops and salt water it has taken.

Unless it breaks, and suits your needs, no need to change. My old D70 was replaced due to a nasty, and large, scratch on the sensor.

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