Why Do Many Of Us Not Act Rationally?

Time to trade this old car in?  When is it the proper time to sell your old gear move to new gear?
And why?  (click to enlarge)
Nikon D700; 70-200mm f/2.8 lens @ 86mm; 1/1000th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400

Follow along with me, if you will?

It's the year 2018 and your old car is pretty well used up.  You've had it for a number of years and it has over 250,000 miles (400,000 km) on the odometer.  You vehicle still runs, but it has become unreliable and you've had to take it to the shop to have it worked on several times costing you thousands of dollars.  You feel that you can't trust it when you need it any longer.  You decide it's time for a new vehicle.  But your current vehicle has served you very well for a very long time but it is just worn out.

You think about what kind of vehicle you would want, what kind of accessories you will be useful, what kind of vehicle you really need (versus want), safety features, your budget and a few other considerations you deem important.  You decide a sport utility vehicle will best suit your needs as you like to take road trips for your photography.  An SUV will serve your purposes nicely.  

The kind of vehicle now decided, you now make the decision that you can't afford nor need a top of the line, large, state of the art model and really don't need all the bells and whistles as well as latest and greatest technology.  What you really want is a solid, reliable, relatively small SUV from a reputable manufacturer that will fully satisfy your needs for at least the next 10 years.  

You consider Ford, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Chevrolet, Volkswagen and a couple of other manufacturers that make all sorts of good vehicles.  With just about any manufacturer from which to choose, after a lot of research you decide a Honda CRV may best fit your needs—if you like how it drives, how comfortable the seats are, how the controls are laid out and how easy the controls are to use to make changes while you are actually driving.

You go to the Honda dealer, test drive a CRV and love it.  It is quiet, rides smoothly, has plenty of cargo room to store your clothes and gear for road trips, has a great audio system, handles well, has all of the latest safety features, has reasonably good acceleration, good fuel mileage, good brakes and a great safety rating.  Also, the seat is comfortable and the controls are logically laid out and you can make changes while driving and not take your eyes off the road.  What's not to like?  You feel this is the perfect vehicle to satisfy all of your needs.  You buy it, drive it home and have been driving it fully satisfied since.  You can't stop telling your friends how wonderful this vehicle is.

Then in 2019 the new model CRV comes out with some minor improvements.  You take notice, read about it but you're not interested as yours still does everything it did when you bought it and you're still fully satisfied.  In 2020, again, a newer model CRV is introduced and, again, with some additional improvements.  No, not interested.  Now the 2021 CRV is for sale with a better audio system, a few more horsepower and a couple of new colors.  The funny thing is that you are not tempted by any of these three new model year CRVs.  Your CRV still rides wonderfully, the audio system still sounds great, the brakes work well, it handles very well, the engine purrs right along, the fuel mileage is wonderful and you love the color you picked out.  Although it no longer is a current model and no longer looking new, everything still is like it was the day your bought it and you still love it.  Why would you want to spend money on a new vehicle when your current vehicle meets every one of your needs and wants?  In fact, from the time you have owned it, you have raved about your 2018 Honda CRV as being the best vehicle you've every purchased—and still is!  It certainly isn't obsolete, unusable, unwanted, all of a sudden has bad technology or no longer serves your needs.  You loved it in 2018 and you love it today.  No need to trade it in, sell it or buy a newer model.  Although it is now an older model, it still meets all of your needs.

Does that story sound reasonable?  Does it sound rational?  Is that something you may do and how you might act?  The story pretty much reflects my thoughts and actions when it comes to buying a vehicle.

I'm going to switch gears now.  Why doesn't this type of thinking and purchase practice translate to photographic gear?  Why is it that the camera you have loved for the past few years, the one you have proclaimed over and over again produces images that fully satisfy you and the one that has all the features that fully meet your needs, all of a sudden has obsolete technology, a less than adequate "last generation" sensor that, I guess isn't any good anymore and is ready to be dumped for the newest, latest and greatest model?  Why do we think that way?

Of course, this assumes human beings act rationally and we know that is only sometimes the case.  LOL

I would like to think I only make purchase decisions after careful rational thought but that is not always the case.  Sometimes, like many of you, I buy out of emotion.  Sometimes I just "want" something and, if I can afford it and justify it to myself even in the most minute way, I probably will buy it.  I know I shouldn't but I do.  That said, if I'm not taking food out of my family's mouth or neglecting something more important and I can afford it, I don't think there is anything wrong with buying something because you really want it.  I’m very fortunate in that regard and I’m thankful I can.  The problem comes when we too often act that way or buy when that money should be directed to something more pressing.

So, why do many of us tend to think this way when it comes to our camera gear?  The first reason that comes to mind is that usually buying cameras and lenses is not as large a purchase as buying a new vehicle.  That may not apply to some pros, however.  Making smaller purchases seem to lend themselves more easily to emotional buying than rational buying.  The higher the cost, the more we inject rational thought?  I'm not sure.  Maybe.

Also, I think that psychologically, we are (for lack of a better word) shamed by ourselves into thinking our gear is no longer good, if we don't buy the newest gear we will be missing out, our current camera can't possibly make images that are good and our work will forever be inferior to everyone else's.  No one wants to make inferior photos that can't compete with their fellow photographers’ images or what they see on Flikr and other sites. There seems to be lots of pressure some of us put on ourselves to buy, buy, buy just to keep up.

I suspect another of the reasons we buy from emotion is the pressure to buy by so-called "reviewers" found on various YouTube, Blog, Internet and physical publication sites.  I put that word "reviewers" in quotations because many of these bloviators, at the time they voice their seemingly definitive opinions, either have never actually held the camera about which they are writing (they decide how good a camera is by looking at the manufacturer's specs and marketing gobbledygook) or have had it for less than two weeks.  Two weeks?  Should you fully trust a person who a) serially reviews cameras and lenses which come and go through their hands almost continuously, and b) uses it for maybe two weeks but mostly less time?  And...how many of these so-called "reviewers" actually get out and photograph and practice the same kind of photography as do you?  As you can tell, I don't have a lot of patience for individuals who may enrich themselves at your expense.

How can you really get to know and understand a camera when you review one after another after another and for only a short while?  How well do they know any particular camera or lens?  Have they even read the user's manual?  For that matter was the user's manual even available?  Do you think maybe a manufacturer will print anything negative or lacking in their marketing packages?  I think it it a bad practice to opine about something just from reading the manufacturer's marketing material.  Very bad.

In my personal experience, I've heard a few of these people recently tout the specs of a camera or tell how it works or doesn't work that was just plain wrong.  Some haven't delved into the menus enough to even know what features a camera has and how those features actually work. 

Recently, I heard a very prominent and well respected "reviewer" say he or she wished that a certain camera could do A, B and C.  The person also said that the camera company should make it easier to invoke certain named features.  Well, if the reviewer would have actually read the manual they would have discovered the camera could do those things and there was a much easier way to invoke the features than the reviewer thought.  It was obvious to me the reviewer had no idea of the details of this particular camera yet came across as though the review was authoritative.  I think this is typical of the less than good information we generally receive.

Another example is all the buzz around the new Sony A1 camera.  Everyone is talking about 30 FPS.  Wow!  That is amazing!  Seriously.  However, what they aren't telling you and I suspect they don't know because they really haven't gotten to know the camera is that the 30 FPS is only available at 12-bit (instead of 14-bit files we normally use) and with lossy compressed file format.  Additionally, that 30 fps is only good with some of the Sony lenses, not all and no third party lenses.  You're going to pay $6500 US only to have to lose a good portion of your file quality because you are forced to use a file format that throws away some of your file's information?  That might be okay with you but you need to know that before you get out your credit card.

I believe many if not most of these individuals have a subconscious or implicit bias toward providing glowing reviews which is a subtle way of convincing you your current gear is obsolete and you really need to buy this newest model.  After all they are usually beholding to the manufacturers in some way, even though adamantly denying it, such as wanting to receive future cameras and lenses for review, which gets them more clicks to their sites which, in turn, generates income for them.  If they didn't give positive reviews, they most likely would stop receiving gear in the future as the manufacturers are trying to create a "buzz" around their newest, latest and greatest so you can forget rationality and go out and buy it.  No reviews, no clicks, no income.

What other reasons are there?  Others, I'm sure.

On the other side of the coin, buying new gear really helps an industry that is struggling badly.  Buying new gear and selling your old also provides gear to those who can't afford to buy new or who have a philosophy of only buying pre-owned gear.  You create opportunities for them to buy things that allow them to create their art.  I'll call it helping our fellow photographers.  LOL

When is the proper time to get rid of your old gear and buy new or newer gear?  Do you have a particular time frame?  Is it because your old sensor just doesn't give you the low noise and higher dynamic range that you desire?  Is it a specific age?  Is it due to lusting after something new?  Is it because your old gear doesn't have the features or capabilities you need to learn some new or different type of photography?  Is it when your current gear just won't function or is fully worn out?  I'm sure it's different for everyone.

Here's a couple of questions for you.  I've noticed a trend in the past year.  Why do some people who have never owned or used a m4/3 or APS-C camera come out so dead set against the formats even hoping for their demise?  Why should they care what others like and use and why would they wish they would go away?  That baffles me.

Another couple of questions.  Shouldn't we all be over the Ford v. Chevy/Apple v. Windows/color v. black and white/film v. digital/full frame v. APS-C v. m4/3 debates?  Isn't there enough room in this world for everyone to choose what he or she likes, prefers and wants to use without being put down?  Shouldn't we all be happy that we've been able to find and use the gear that suits us the best?  Shouldn't we be helping each other rather than arguing with each other?  I think so.

Use what you like.  Buy what you need and want and be happy we live in a world that gives us so many great choices.  Encourage others.  Help others.  Don't denigrate someone for choosing different from you.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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