[jsherman999]

1) When you get a new lens and are disappointed with it (barring any obvious lemon characteristics), give it time. It takes a good long testing period, and then some, to really get to know any lens. How many of us have ended up buying the same lens twice after deciding it was really better than we thought it was first time around?

Yes! Several lenses have been like this for me. When I first got a Viv 105, I was like "what's the big deal" for a couple months. Then I started to use it more, and... wow.

2)Develop an interest in older less expensive used lenses. I obviously don't have to elaborate on this.

I can say 1st-hand that seeking and collecting M's can be even more fun than going after the newest whiz-bang lens. A day with my M 85 f/2 or M 135 3.5
is a stone blast to me.

3)Make your photographic priority capturing images rather than collecting optics. Try to transfer your materialistic desire to possess equipment to acquiring and collecting images. Put your hunters instinct to work and go for that shot. That way you'll still have some money left to feed your wife and kids.

Excellent and inspiring.


.

[gokenin]

I have always felt that LBA ends when you make the decision not to use the plastic. I have amassed a collection of lens but I have not put one on a credit card since I bought the Tamron 28-75(which i have since traded). I think if you can only buy a new lens when you have the money it costs it makes you look for used lens instead of the latest new exspensive glass. To me I think of it as lens management if I want a new lens I am forced to sell something that I dont use or save money until I can afford it. Thats my "cure" for LBA

[Canada_Rockies]

I drool over DA* 300, and then the old M 400 does a nice trick for me. It's going to be very hard to surpass that old girl. I did try a Sigma 170-500, and it was not up to the M 400. Much less contrast, softer images overall. No gain, so I sold it at a loss.

[monochrome]

2)Develop an interest in older less expensive used lenses. I obviously don't have to elaborate on this.
3)Make your photographic priority capturing images rather than collecting optics. Try to transfer your materialistic desire to possess equipment to acquiring and collecting images. Put your hunters instinct to work and go for that shot. That way you'll still have some money left to feed your wife and kids.

Just got an old Tamron SP 35-80 zoom today - $53 shipped, with a P/KA adapter and a B+W 62mm filter. I almost feel bad for the seller.

What an awesome lens!

Of course, if I'm out to hunt pictures, I need a better computer (Win2K just doesn't cut it any more), some decent software and a TerraByte of storage.

It never really ends.

[nulla]

Just got an old Tamron SP 35-80 zoom today - $53 shipped, with a P/KA adapter and a B+W 62mm filter. I almost feel bad for the seller.

What an awesome lens!

Of course, if I'm out to hunt pictures, I need a better computer (Win2K just doesn't cut it any more), some decent software and a TerraByte of storage.

It never really ends.

And loving it

[rayallen]

If I had a dollar for every time I have said "I now don't need any more lenses" I would probably have enough to buy another lens!

There is no cure for LBA.

[Votesh]

I think my LBA is under control at the moment. Of course, it's only due to having spent way too much money on lenses in the past few months. I've got pretty much all of the lenses I've coveted since beginning on the LBA train and I really don't have a hankering for anymore. I have been looking at the and thinking of getting the Color Munki though, but it doesn't count because it's not a lens.

So, I guess it ends when you have nothing else you want to buy, because you've already bought all the lenses you've wanted

[timo]

One symptom of LBA is when you have multiple lenses that are reasonably fast and cover the same focal length. One way to counter it would be never, ever to look at any image at 100% on your computer screen.

Presented with the output of various lenses viewed at a more realistic size, or printed at any size smaller than a poster, most people could not tell the difference between the output of one lens and another. That might be true for you too.

LBA feeds on itself, and pixel peeping is the main way it does it. Pixel peeping is a lonely, solitary activity, in a world of its own disconnected from any other reality.

To prove that I only need to look at all the lenses I have and never use!

Perhaps just looking at photographs of lenses would be just as effective, and cheaper?

Tim

[pdo]

hahahaha. I'm laughing at you Pentaxians as I have mine cured since and do not wish purchase any lens anymore. All I have in my arsenal is DA 12-24mm and 50-135mm. And I love pixel peeping when I shoot with my 50-135mm in the studio. I can count every single strands of hair and every pores on the face. I love my 2 Pentax lens to death.

[Votesh]

Not pixel peeping would work if you are just concerned with sharpness. Bokeh, color rendering, and resistance to chromatic aberration are just as important as sharpness to me when I consider a lens.

The desire to have a large max aperture has also fueled my LBA. Build quality and characterics are also important.

There are plenty of reasons to want more or different lenses, and I say as long as you don't cause yourself any significant financial harm in buying them, LBA isn't all that bad. In the end though, the most important thing is that you actually use the lenses you buy, and don't just buy them and then never, or hardly ever, mount them on the camera. That is, unless you're a collector more than a user of lenses. In that case, I guess LBA is a completely different beast.

One symptom of LBA is when you have multiple lenses that are reasonably fast and cover the same focal length. One way to counter it would be never, ever to look at any image at 100% on your computer screen.

Presented with the output of various lenses viewed at a more realistic size, or printed at any size smaller than a poster, most people could not tell the difference between the output of one lens and another. That might be true for you too.

LBA feeds on itself, and pixel peeping is the main way it does it. Pixel peeping is a lonely, solitary activity, in a world of its own disconnected from any other reality.

To prove that I only need to look at all the lenses I have and never use!

Perhaps just looking at photographs of lenses would be just as effective, and cheaper?

Tim

[MrStupid]

With regards to "lets buy another one"

Yea but isn't that what LBA stands for "Let's Buy Anotherone" I'm so funny it isn't even funny.

[enoxatnep]

I was starting to get caught up in a growing sense of LBA until Pentax Canada did their huge price increases on a couple of lenses that I was looking at. So I'm now hoping to be content with the three lenses I have, which means Pentax won't be getting the $1,500 I was planning on spending before the increase, which would now be about $2,200 after the increase. If I do feel the "need" for another lens, I'll be looking at third-party ones before I think of giving Pentax gets my $.

[Blue]

Where I got myself into trouble was buying similar lenses to test out and planned to keep the one I liked best and sell the other.

For example, I have a Tamron 52B and 52BB 90mm macro and a 55B and 55BB 500mm mirror.

[Votesh]

I did the same thing, only with more expensive lenses. I have both the FA* and A* 85mm. Fortunately it's pretty clear which one suits me better(the FA*), but it sure is going to be hard to get rid of a mint copy of the A* because it's still a great lens.

Where I got myself into trouble was buying similar lenses to test out and planned to keep the one I liked best and sell the other.

For example, I have a Tamron 52B and 52BB 90mm macro and a 55B and 55BB 500mm mirror.