New Hobby: Tossing out stuff. Trying to figure out how to give away gear in a milieu when no one really wants studio lights, softboxes and light stands....

I find myself embarrassingly over-equipped given my desire to simplify and reduce clutter. How to manage bags full of generic speed lights (on camera flashes...) and their attendant batteries and chargers? I tried to donate them to four of the many colleges we seem to have here in Austin. I thought they could stick 'em in a box in the photo classes and students could take whatever they needed. But no takers. No longer any big programs just dedicated to photography. And not much interest from dept. heads for on camera flashes.

Then there is the overstock of LED light fixtures. I really only need to keep a couple for my own projects and I never intend to do another paid video project (such a thankless undertaking...) but here I am with four excess, mono-light style fixtures that plug in the wall. But in the current stages of image creation no one seems interested in anything that has to be plugged in. 

And I'm just getting started when it comes to modifiers for lights and other accessories. My tastes tend toward big units. Six foot umbrellas. Seven foot diameter octa-boxes. Six foot by six foot scrims. C-stands (no! I'm not shipping them to you. They weigh ton and you don't need them!). Again, no takers. Not even considering that they would be free.

When it comes to cameras I don't have any issues. Cameras and lenses are small enough to store anywhere and given the cyclical nature of my attention I know I'll pretty much always circle back to re-discover them again and again. 

I used to depend on the local camera store to somehow get unwanted stuff to young photogs just starting out, and to students, but they laid off my favorite sales associate (of the last 15 years) and have also become quite mercenary. The original owners (whom I loved) sold the store to a right wing business zealot who will gladly accept free gear donations but none of them will ever see the hands of a needy first year photographer. Nope, he'd doubtless move whatever I "donated" straight on to the sales floor. And I'd rather just leave the stuff in the street for someone to find than to support the new, fascist, retail regime. In fact, I've gone from trying to buy everything locally to giving up on the far right bricks and mortar owner and sourcing everything but seamless backdrop paper from B&H or some other straightforward, high service organization.

If you are in Austin and wanna be a photographer, and are in school or just out of school, drop a line and we'll see if there is anything you can use. Otherwise, we'll leave it in a pile somewhere near where local, young photographers congregate. 

To recap. Excess gear = bad. Donating = futile. Cameras and lenses = still coveted. Almost all the stuff I want to get rid of is too heavy to cost effectively ship to anyone. And if you read this blog you don't need it because, demographically, you can likely to be able to afford better stuff-- and probably want better stuff. Don't ask me for a list; it's not forthcoming. But if you have ideas for disposing of unwanted gear in local markets, drop a comment.

Today's gear news: The Leica M to L adapter arrived today from CameraWest and was immediately pressed into use putting a Carl Zeiss 35mm f2.0 Bigon ZM lens onto the front of a Leica SL2. It's a wonderful package as the lens makes the whole of the system that much smaller and lighter. Now heading out to shoot it and confirm accurate infinity focusing. If Leica can't get it right with a $450 adapter ring then I'm giving up. 

That's all the news I've got fit to print. Have fun out there.