Are you obsessed with the technology only?

I've found that there are different attitudes about photography. Some people just want pretty pictures, and don't much care for what the subjects happen to be. Some other people want specific shots, and I'm in that category. In 47 years of photography, I've never gone out looking for something to shoot. I've always gone out to shoot something specific (air show, astronomical event, family event, concert, whatever). Look at the lunar eclipse picture I posted above. Lunar eclipses are VERY dim. It's just not possible to get that shot without something at least similar to the 2000mm f/7 I took that shot with, using a 15 second exposure using a tracking mount. Now, if you go out, see the eclipse and say, well, I don't have the right gear so I'll just shoot a picture of this lake, then fine for you. But I want the shots I want and I don't want the gear to prevent me from getting them.

I went back for the right lens to get this shot, and it wouldn't be easy to get it without a full-frame fisheye.

I'm definitely not saying you're going to get every shot, with minimalist gear. Or the wrong gear. But, in the example posted above, there's no subject movement, I can't see multi coloured lighting changes, I'd have just shot a series of frames & stitched them later. But that's just me.

I went to a Tractor pull. Took a couple of fast primes, & a 100-400 equivalent telephoto. Just for the daylight part of the event. During the dinner break, this turned up, quite unexpectedly. I only had my little G100 with me, which is about the last body I'd choose for the subject, & shot these. If I had my 1.4 teleconverter or a longer lens with me, would I have gotten tighter framing? Absolutely. Would I have gotten less noise with a larger sensored camera? Most likely. But I still thoroughly enjoyed myself, & was quite surprised at the % of keepers & how they turned out given the savageness of some of the crops, & unsuitability of the gear.

Well, there often is a daily driver, and there is dedicated stuff. I have a lot in my EDC pack.
I.E. photo, audio, light, fire, first aid, knife, and more. These absolutely cannot cover all my needs, while these can do something, and certainly these are better than nothing.

More dedicated gear is wanted for most fun when going out with a purpose.

Audio changes to full PA setup, photo gear gets heavy lens and tools upgrade, well, I am not going out saving people, but great idea, and I do have some climbing gear and rope, and so on.

There is always some reasoning behind an action or just "being", like passive tactics.

I do envy those who are happy no matter what comes at them and what is the result though. 😉

And a tripod with pano head to avoid paralax?

It was at a conference of over 3000 people. I stood there for 15 minutes waiting for the one second when no people were in view.

You were quite happy to de-fish. I'm not telling you how to get your shot. Just saying what I would do, should I be caught short.

Who would shoot wildlife at 9mm? Me :) And not sure if you would get a "better" shot with different gear

I rarely defish and certainly that shot was not defished.

Early days processing was quite a chore, sometimes half way programming on top of programmers thinking and procedural approach. Nowadays it is not as extreme, and so I can see myself do some more processing, Photoshopping, defishing, stacking, retouching and such. The fruits of current technology are worth it.

In camera jpeg processing is also getting better and better all the time. I can see differences even between my GX8, G9 and G100's. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. I still shoot raw and jpeg in case I'm not happy with what the camera did. The majority of the time now I just let the camera do most of the heavy lifting, and do the final tweaks when adjusting for display output. Maybe a slight shadow lift, pull down the highlights or exposure, resize, a tiny bit of sharpening and done. Of course, this requires a bit of an understanding of your camera, and quite a bit of experimenting, and also a bit of work setting it all up. I think it's worth the effort myself

Thank you for all the replies. Very helpful and inspirational.

I am realizing like with everything, that the path of my journey is always kind of cheap, slow and safe from bottom to top, and I do it to myself, putting this path of slow advancement in front of the goal.
I am also realizing some pattern of price-obsession correlation. The cheaper it is, the less obsession is justifiable, but the more obsession is given

Being sincere with myself, It might happen that I did not invest into the gear enough for it to be hassle free and less obsession likely tools. Not that I don't have my own shortcomings and problems with photography techniques, but better gear would solve much of it too.
So without much hurry, I will try to get something in the "upper range" again. I remember the joy of the Nikon D610 sensor capabilities, how it "draws" nicely, how low noise it generated, How I liked pictures from the camera. This happiness that pushed me to shoot more, was ruined by unusable manual focusing and for me unusable liveview performance. I also got Sony A7R, and for the love of god I do not remember why I got rid of that one too. There must have been something.
But some time passed, and newer gear is more capable and has more features nailed "at once" in one body. And so without much hurry, I will buy something less limiting again.

nt....

Having less income is a good way of limiting GAS. We may also use our income on things like going workshops or travel, putting available gear to use.

Personally I still spend on gear. Over the last couple of years I have replaced almost all my lenses, going from zooms to pretty decent quality primes.

Sometimes, gear is getting better enough to motivate spending. I bought a Sony A7rIV a couple of years ago, and it is a great improvement in battery life, user interface and even the viewfinder over my A7rII. But, the A7rII works with some adapter I have where the A7rIV is to large operate. So, the A7rII still hangs on.

I've gone through a number of camera systems thinking it would always be the next purchase that would make my images "great". It wasn't.

I've learned my lesson and though I suffer from the occasional GAS, I don't purchase any new gear because I've found the focal length that I enjoy and the camera that is fun to shoot with. No upgrade could ever make my images better. I've recently started collecting old digital cameras that has been given to me from neighbors and friends who see no use in them anymore. That's been fun and I've got a little collection already. :)

I do general photography for documenting stuff around me when I go for walks, or pictures of my family. I share the ones i enjoy and do not mind if people do not like them. I also enjoy watching photographs by others and reading about new tech because it's about a hobby that I love.

Having the camera with me, be it my excellent Google Pixel 7 Pro or the X-pro 3 with the 35 mm f/1.4 is enough, but that's because I've been through a lot of lenses and cameras to end up where I am happy with my gear. I plan to shoot even more this year.

I hope you find your motivation wherever it might be. Life is a journey, just like photography, even the gear.

Dan

I think photographing mushrooms would be an excellent endeavor. I'd have to go to the farmer's market - the best I could do in the local forests would be toadstools.

I am contemplating on just that. Sony A7RIII looks like best compromise. Only thing I would love to have, is 35mm f/2-ish pancake lens, to make this setup my daily driver. I did not find such lens. Sammy F/2.8 too dark, other 35mm lenses are much longer/bigger.
I am aware of 45mm, but it is both too long focal length and physical length. Other than that, it would be sure choice.

Looking at Canon, it seems I am finally done with the brand. Their higher resolution bodies are very expensive, and their affordable prime lenses, I am not even commenting on that.
And so I am looking into other brands and even MF to be sure, but it really seems that A7R III is best compromise.

@ErikKaffehr: Indeed it might be a good limit. But it might be a bad limit too. I believe I suffer that quite a bit.

Yes, prime lenses all the way. Only exception I have is over 100mm. Over that FL, zoom is allowed.

@CarryLight: Many thanks. Indeed not always buying the best works. But I had quite success with that lately. Especially electronics. Happy with better mobile phone, happy with better laptop (with some reservations, after life long hate, the new 8Core/16Threads modern SSD does everything* standalone PC would, and doesn't break my back). High end 21" woofers do not come close to burning anymore. The technology finally works and delivers what is needed. And so I believe that for example A7RIII can do that too, in comparison with EOS M6 II. Better sensor, IBIS, zebras, pixelshift. I might enjoy/miss eye focus, but I don't shoot people much. And so, I guess I should try and find out.

@leitz: I hope so. Will go large on that. Supportive gear, light, postprocessing. Hopefully, it will result in some magic worth printing. Can turn into forest landscapes, bugs and such anytime.

Speaking of obsessed - To quote

You think you have lived to be 80 plus and know who you are, then along comes someone and blows it all to hell!
An old Marine Pilot sat down at the Starbucks, still wearing his old USMC flight jacket and ordered a cup of coffee.
As he sat sipping his coffee, a young woman sat down next to him. She turned to the pilot and asked,
Are you a real pilot?

He replied, 'Well, I've spent my whole life flying planes, first Steadman's, then the early Grumman's flew a Wildcat and Corsair in WWII, and later in the Korean conflict, Banshees and Cougars. I've taught more than 260 people to fly and given rides to hundreds, so I guess I am a pilot, and you, what are you?

She said, 'I'm a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about naked women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about naked women. When I shower, I think about naked women. When I watch TV, I think about naked women. It seems everything makes me think of naked women.'

The two sat sipping in silence.
A little while later, a young man sat down on the other side of the old pilot and asked:
"Are you a real pilot?"
He replied, 'I always thought I was, but I just found out I'm a lesbian.'

That joke is showing its age. These days, the punch line would include something about identifying as a lesbian 🤣🤣🤣

Indeed. With age, I take everything as "I thought I was doing this, but I now guess I didn't". 😂
That's okay. Part of life.

Although I am very used to Canon, now I saw size comparison with RF 35mm IS Macro, and it doesn't look compact at all (on top of other disadvantages). So I guess I am done with Canon if I decide to leave EOS M system for FF.