Lens Lust is one of many dreadful ailments amateur and semi-professional photographers are afflicted with. You live under the constant assumption that without the new lens that was just announced you will not be able to take any more pictures. Your photographic efforts will be useless, your photos worthless, and your life a living hell without that new lens with the lower f-stop and the better coating. You read reviews ad nauseum and convince yourself that life is not worth living anymore without that new lens that everybody else seems to have. You then begin justifying how the purchase of that new lens is not only a good idea, but also a wise financial decision. You sell off old gear for ridiculous prices, fight with your spouse and send the kids off to work at McDonalds, just so you can finally welcome the new baby with outstretched arms, and a warm smile.

The smile widens, as you take picture of dogs and trees and cars and walls and random things in and around your house. You compare it with your old lens, with which the new lens mops the floor. You pixel peep and measure, and are delighted with the outcome, so you post to forums about your glorious new purchase and gloat. And you smile so much, your face hurts. You are looking forward to your first outing with your new lens. You still may be smiling for a while, but sooner or later you notice that the new lens deceived you. No, it didn't make you a better photographer. The Lens has a whole new set of problems you weren't considering when you pondered its purchase. Maybe it's too wide. Too narrow. Too slow. It's too heavy and too large. This new lens was supposed to turn you into a pro... people were supposed to line up to buy prints this puppy produced. It was supposed to change our lives! But when the credit card bill arrives with the same mail as the divorce papers your wife wants you to sign, and your children announce that they will be moving out, you realize that your life has indeed changed. And while you sit down in the empty kitchen, eating your last can of cold beans (gas has been turned off when you didn't pay your bill), you cry bitter tears of regret, you curse Lens Lust and you wish, you would never ever want or need another lens - if only you had that full frame fixed lens camera you have heard so many good things about... now where did you see that review about it again?

#photography