Photokina is over, and nothing world-shattering happened. This year for the first time I had tickets for it – what would I have given for that opportunity as a gear headed boy – and I didn’t go. It simply seemed not interesting enough to sacrifice a working day plus the price for the train ticket for it. My indifference for new tools right now is almost distressing. Of course there are lenses available that would look interesting, but to what avail? At the moment I don’t have the feeling that my photography would improve or my joy in pursuing it would grow “if I only had this lens/camera/flash etc.”. The gear I use is simply good enough, and I see many fields of improvement – improving the photographer, not his equipment. Even talking or reading about cameras currently interests me in only a very detached, whereas images do fascinate me more. So: photokina R.I.P.
Markus, I can identify with your feelings. I think we’ve been saturated recently with an abundance of new gear/models to the point of lessening interest. Going from this years model to next years model gives very little photographic return on investment. That being said, I will probably end up buying something new…there is no subduing a gear-head for long. đ
Earl, I do admit that I’ve lusted for a compact camera like the LX5 for some time. What made me decide against it is – besides the substantial price – that I would use my DSLR less often, that way loosing training and efficiency. And as my images wouldn’t become better, only the picture making less inconvenient, I concluded that it’s not worth the price. Instead I carry and use the camera I have as much as possible. It just seems completely reasonable.