I ventured into photography 2 years ago, starting from the D90. Took lots of photos with it and its kit lens. Then I had to change the shutter 4 months ago. Immediately, I sold it, got myself its upgrade, a used D7000.

Trouble is, something does not seem right, the pictures always out of focus and the colour is dull( After selling the D90, I was left with 50mm 1.8d and 24mm Ai prime). I tried to fine tune the autofocus and calibrated the camera white balance. Then it was hit and miss, sometimes I got a very good result, most of the times, I ended up deleted them.

Then, I got some kind of freelancing at events (unpaid, though, was trying to learn and get experience), ended up unsatisfying, though. Seems like shooting like a madmen, hoping to score a keeper is very difficult, especially the post processing part.

I found out that the passion I had when I held the D90 was gone. I no longer picked up the camera often, and the last time I went to a trip, I did not take more than 100 pictures, which is depressing. Now, I am trying to sell the D7000, and perhaps change (or downgrading from DSLR) to a compact camera, trying to relearn. I think I will not go for changeable lens just yet, so sticking to fix lens.

Right, so that's my story. I wanna ask forumers here, putting equipment aside, have you ever feel the fire and interest of photography become so small that you nearly gave up on it? Did you somehow regain them or makes the passion comes alive? And do you think changing from dslr to compact camera will help to make me learn from basics, or just that I spending needless money to get some new things, just so to satisfy myself? Well, DSLRs are heavy...

erm from what i understand from you POV, you seems like lost interest in picking up the D7000 to shot

shot like a lot of pictures and found that picture are not very attractive or somehow 'common'
shooting how many pictures in a trip does not mean anything, as in the end the picture is just gonna lay 'hibernate' in the computer hard drive or end up waiting for 'likes' in Social networking sites

actually this happen to me also, blaming camera this and that and having the 'Gear Acquiring Syndrome', which think that the next camera or the camera you dun have is the best camera, so we all have a lot of reason to back us up

so what i do is, i look back my picture and think back why i shot that picture, izit special or just wanted to crank up the FPS so that i dun miss the moment, but in the end i dun get any of the interesting shots
then i changed, take food photography as example instead, i went to restaurant and look at their menu, find those photos which dig my hunger or looks tasty, then order the food and take the exact same pic as shown in the menu

what i learn from that is to pay attention to details and try not to shot the same view as we usually see, or else the picture will be very boring. example, (i am still learning too)

Yum by Junrong L., on Flickr

Yum by Junrong L., on Flickr

what if you went a trip you only shot 30 photos only but all of them are made out of your precious time and you essence into it? print it out into photo album instead of storing it on hard drive or FB and much better than getting 100 pointless picture

Cheers and have a nice day!

I suppose we all have our down-times

It will help if you can decide what type of stuffs that keeps you shooting, and also joining a group of enthusiastic and encouraging people who share the same interest

Yes, the passion can sometimes go very low, sometimes it will come back like a flood. It is not static.

Maybe one possibility that killed your passion is that the 2nd hand camera that you bought might be problematic, thus causing you headache and you don't feel excited about your photos anymore? Maybe you can try borrow a friend's camera (a Point and shoot maybe, since you are thinking of downgrading) and fiddle around with it for a bit.

Another thing you can try is to give yourself a topic to shoot. Let's say for week 1, you can shoot flowers. Week 2 (or even the next month or whatever schedule you wanna try) you can try shoot plates. Or Lego figures doing weird stuff

Rekindling the fire takes a bit of effort. I myself am struggling to haul the camera out of the closet to shoot anything these days so my advice may not be useable LOL

This post has been edited by chucky: Nov 13 2013, 12:44 PM

I got few friends also lost passion to shoot :swt:

as for myself, I do enjoy shooting foods but lazy bring camera around eventhough I am owning mirrorless camera which is small and portable. Hence now mostly using phone to shoot unless it is food review for my blogs.

Like everyone said, try change perspective, shoot difference thing, difference way to regain your passion. Sometime you wouldn't know when you hit the gem

I agree that what matters is getting the keeper picture rather than shooting like a mad men. Perhaps we are in the process of transition? Where if we can overcome this period, we either turns out to be a better photographer and give up on this passion entirely.

Yeah, since day 1 I had the DSLR, the GAS just overwhelmed me, new lens, new tripod, new flash and even new filters. Though I agree with you, seems like the magic of advance camera has disappeared, especially since I tried the D7000 from Nikon centre. I tried to shoot using others camera and different system, ability to compose is still there, just that I was not satisfy with it.

Perhaps I need to walk into a jungle for a day, and shoot plants and even animals. And I suppose it was too easy to lost oneself in all those equipments. Darn the advertisement and paid reviewers, pity my wallets...

Do you have any experience of overcoming this period and/or the Gear Acquisition Syndrome?

easiest way to overcome Gear Aquisition Syndrome: give away all your money

Or ask yourself: do i really need it, or is it just another thing to play with. Or limit yourself to just 1 purchase a year.

Also think about: "How much time am I gonna spend using this device" versus "How much am I gonna pay to get it".

If Eager for an gear than chasing passion , must be balance somehow i'm tend to GAS but due to I need it for works experience then it should be fine (For me Oni Lar) depends cause start to realize how easy of a nicely picture can be taken if we able to own an high end enough camera by for example Mirrorless Full Frame in a hand of anyones turn out to be more spectacular in a compact camera taken by an photographer I mean in same situation lets say taking the same flower shot use by different personality same angle everthings!!! Setting , color , same camera brand etc.... I'm sure the viewer would pay attention into the pictures too regardless of who are the person taking that shot, thats how I will say about this matter but judgement up to ur taste.

Same here, I like to look at magazines and think. "How did he make that exposure?". Then I wil try to copy it with my DIY lights, DIY backdrop and homemade accessories. At the end of day, I give myself a pat at the shoulder and say, "Wow, almost 70% similar photo with 5% of the cost" Haha.

My favorite things to copy are usually perfume and alcohol poster as they usually have dramatic lighting effect with a bottle, so I will try to do a parody with a milk bottle. Syok sendiri to the max XD Lagi best if sendiri jadi model with the help of tripod

Well, giving away all my money seems not good enough, too much commitment I had. Though I have been losing money like hell, seems like I am what they said "buy expensive, sell cheap". Could have wished I spent less on such ways.

I suppose lack of subjects to shoot might be a big factor. I hope rebooting my equipment, starting cheap is a way to rekindle my fire in photography, I hope.

You have to always remember, photography is not all about gears. You can take good pictures with cheap cameras, but good cameras will not guarantee superb images (just sharper, cleaner high ISO and better IQ).

Hopefully you will find back your passion in photography soon.

Why not sell off the current D7000 as it could be a lemon and get another D7000 or D7100 or get a cheap 2nd hand FX body that is trouble free since you already own 2 prime lens. In this way you can concentrate on photography rather than worry on teething issues.

sell of his D7000 and get a new D7100 or a FX? i guess getting a new camera or full frame FX does not mean that getting better picture..plus selling his D7000 then he have to fork out another few grand to get a new camera, not worth it IMO

TS, everyone has the GAS thingy once enter photography, especially DSLR, thinking of getting a new lens or new body to 'improve' skills, and started blaming own gear is lousy and low end when see other people big camera and 'bazooka' telephoto lens or even started complaining 'Nik' is not good and etc, want to switch side..

why not try to squeeze out the bit of you to try and shoot, instead of leaving the D7000 sitting there collecting dust?
maybe you could post some of your previous attempt and upcoming attempt so we can give you some advice or comment?

I guess that's true. I always have been a nikon fans, though, never quite connect with other brands. My buddy has always been trying to pull me into mirrorless full frame like A7 or the fujifilm. But this hobby is far too expensive to sustain such way. Can't afford to change brand. Many times, looking into others photography, can't help but think that I do not have the ability to convey my feelings through this medium, yet.

TS has problem with his D7000 as mentioned in the top posting. He has no problem with his D90. So why waste time with a problematic body that will kill his passion in photography.

just remember that expensive or big camera does not bring your the best result, everyone is like saying Leica is the best, is the ultimate in photography gear, what happen when throw you a leica and you dun know how to use and in the end blaming Leica flops...

DSLR is big and bulky but it still stand a point where it excels and i like the button for fast action access which are not found in mirrorless camera commonly and the C & N company have long history in making good lenses (remember, they are lens making company, not major in camera making company)

Dun bother about it, spend few minutes composing a shot, make it like you using film, every shutter press counts
challenge yourself and happy shooting!

i guess TS has no issue with his current D7000, the OOF issue i guess was personal mistake, no point ask him to get another camera just to get better picture

I have also lost my interest in photography. I will share my own story here...

I used to like portrait photography. I like it because it requires a lot of creativity, in the sense of theme, location, lighting, poses etc. But in the last one year, I realized that I no longer have break through.

Portraiture, unlike other branches of photography, is a group effort. In order to take good pictures, I need like-minded partners. Unfortunately, most of the other photographers are only interested in the models. They have little desire to improve their skills.

At the mean time, the models' asking price has been creeping up. I am reluctant to spend my hard-earn money just to take a hundred or so mediocre photos...

that's why i photograph figurines http://www.goldfries.com/photography/why-i...raph-figurines/

maybe it's time to try out something else, food is the easiest to come by but it's not without cost.

I use figurines to exercise my creativity.

Or perhaps shoot abstract? http://instagram.com/goldfries <=- here's mine, I shoot them to also exercise creativity, composing in 1:1 ratio, using lines, shapes, textures and colors.

passion and competency are 2 different things.

perhaps is not the camera issue but it's the lack of understanding on the fundamentals that make your output not satisfactory.

It's not uncommon to lose focus or passion when the outcome is bad, and keeps on being bad.

Go to event, and shoot those models,free of charge..

U don't need a lot of money to improve skill, just need time and passion.

Well, it is most definitely true that I blamed on my equipment when I got bad results. But this was only for a short period when I saw others photos. I think one of the contributing factor to me starting to lose interest is when people start relying on the "DSLR-guy". Then it started to feel like an obligation to shoot instead of plain interest.

But I do believe that equipments does influence the outcome, in a placebo effect. Often it is the imperfection in optics that make the photos interesting (Zeiss optics have distortion to create the cinematic feels, some camera sensors can't record colours accurately but result in interesting black/white photography). It is in my opinion only, of course.

I had put off photography since the 35mm film days for past 20+ years and picked it up again in 2009 and I got myself an E-p1. The huge gap between 35mm film camera and a digital camera was so huge to me that I had to struggle hard to get a keeper. This go on for the next 2 years and I almost give up and wanted to go back to film while in between those 2 years or so I had E-p2 then E-pl2. All these times I was only using primes; the 14mm and the famed 20mm, just restricting myself to make things easier. I don't like zooms anyway, too slow for me.

I sold them all off and in 2011 got myself the E-p3 and I kept the 14mm and the 20mm, sold the kit zoom that came along. Then just few weeks after I got it it was Chinese New Year and I shot some of the most satisfying and professional looking photos I ever did, compared to all those years combined, 35mm years included.

From then on, I knew I could do it. I started paying attention to details, to settings, to the surroundings etc etc and I got more keepers now then I did before.

I suppose everybody will go through a phase sometimes, like a metamorphosing phase, to become better at the thing they do, its so true with photography. I think sometimes we need to stop shooting and rethink what we do. Just my experiences.

Photography is my main past time now, whether just reading articles, reviews or just browsing for anything related to photography.

FYI, I sold off my E-p3 and the 20mm and 6 months ago got back to E-p1. I just wanted to see how will I fare with E-p1 NOW as compared to when I first got my E-p1 in 2009. And I must say, I really did much much better now, comparing the results.

I just wanted to challenge myself to get more keepers with a really basic camera than a real high tech camera that do all the things for us, which to me, is a killjoy sometimes. Of course there are times I just couldn't have time to do setup and I would prefer just switch the dial to AUTO and let it do everything for me.

Oops! Too long-winded already, sorry

This post has been edited by bobds78: Nov 14 2013, 07:43 AM

Nice sharing there! :thumb:

Nice insight. All I can hope now is that I will survive the transition. I have managed to get a hold on a gf3, not sure how will I fare in it, though.

Food photography also needs assistant ah... e.g. pick up noodle from the bowl using chopsticks. Sometimes I use my right hand to hold the camera, and left hand to hold a spoon, but that's a bit awkward


If shooting in event, I have little or no control over lighting, poses, fashion, location etc. It's not the same.

A good photographer should be able to take good pictures even if no control of the environment.

I have also re-started my passion in 35mm film photography and with the technology now, results I gotten now when compared to first when I took up photography some 20odd years ago are SOooooo..much ahead! And I love it.

Here's what I found out for myself personally....
Shooting regular events is pretty boring.
It's basically the same thing over and over again with little variation.
So if that's all you shoot, you might be bored quickly.

The photos are only as interesting as the photographer themselves. If you start doing more amazing and creative things, you might find more inspiration in your photos too.

So what do I do(or plan to do) to expose myself to more creative things ?
1. Travel.
2. Capture things that you will never see/do in your regular life.
3. Watch/join other interesting activity/hobbies. Doesn't have to be photography. Eg: take up scuba diving or perhaps extreme sports, then try to introduce photography to that.
4. Dabble into various types of photography genre/skill/media. From Videos to medium format film to IR.
5. Organise a large photo project once you're inspired!
6. Join a photography class !

This post has been edited by LegendLee: Nov 15 2013, 01:21 AM

To all what legendlee said +1

your could also challenge yourself.

I challenged myself to stock photography, qualifications and competitions.

By setting those objectives, my mindset changed. I'm no longer casually shooting, I'm actually taking the steps to make sure I have something that is good.

Nice insight, guys. Thumbs up for Goldfries and Legendlee. I think I will just go on a backpacking trip and take pictures of what I like first, appealing to the public second.

yes, shoot what you like. that's the way to go with, better satisfaction.

Go to KLIMS shoot some nice girls or nice cars!

"stop taking photos, start creating images" ?