For a lot of years, it was just one camera and a couple of lenses. Early on there was a lot of gear in several formats but most of it was sold when I moved to the west coast. When I retired, there was a buying spree. It was the peak of the great analog sell off and cameras I had always wanted to try were cheap. I tried digital but it didn't take, sold a nice collection of Leica gear to fund a home improvement project, went back to Leica when I missed the rangefinder experience.
Over the last few years, I've been trying stuff and only keeping what was being used. Worked my way through a bunch of different M mount lenses and settled on three. Tried a Holga, decided I like 120. Bought a Fujica Super 6, had it repaired but it has reliability issues that show up often enough to make it a shelf queen.
I've pared it down to five, six if I count the Polaroid SX-70 Huss sent me that I won't sell because it was made on my 22nd birthday. Here's what's left
Holgawood JAWZ edition
Kodak Retina IIa (I had three others that were given away. This is the one I took to Paris, where it broke and Paul Barden serviced it after we returned.)
Leica M4-2 with the super special red Leitz badge (Service by DAG and had the flash block replaced with one in 3D printed nylon)
Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim (The OG!)
Yashica D (Recently serviced and now has an Oleson Bright Screen)
I've lost count of how many cameras I've owned over the years. This small group hits a lot of spots for what I need. Plus I know they'll get used.
My problem is that I decide to sell something, take it out for one last shoot and then decide to keep it.
That happened with my Minolta gear earlier this autumn; I don't shoot much 35mm anymore and even less with SLRs, and I have two (a Nikon and a Minolta). I have a nice set of Minolta lenses, with hoods and filters, and figured I'd sell the whole setup for cheap to a young person starting out in film. But then I took my Minolta SRT and a few lenses on a trip and when I developed the photos I changed my mind.
So then I figured I'd sell the Nikon instead, but I used it recently and remembered why I enjoy it so much, plus the photos were great.
To break this pattern, I have to decide to sell a camera and then once I've made that decision I have to be sure to never use it again.
Yeah I should sell a bunch of stuff. I was doing ok for a while, sold some stuff off but now more seems to have taken its place.
My problem is the cheap stuff is not worth selling given the hassle w the time wasters. Do I really want to go through the torture of craigslist no-shows for a $20 piece of gear?
I have a Minolta XK which is super cool to look at but frankly not very enjoyable to use. I’ve kept it just because I have the Minolta 58 1.2, but I could use that w an adapter on a digicam. The Nikon F3 is much nicer to use, as are the F2s.
I have two F2s, one serviced by Sover Wong. i should keep the wonged one, but the other is a black F2AS which is cooler cuz it’s black. But the F3 is better than either and handier to use.
Why do I still have the FG? Oh yeah, because it’s easy to get someone to learn w it as it has a P mode…
My Leica M3. Very sweet but frankly the more modern Ms are much better shooters and I enjoy using them much more… And on it goes.
Preach it brother! I have in the past sold off gear to finance replacements/upgrades (my Nikon FE was sold to a friend allowing me to purchase an FE2), but the in-person selling options have more-or-less disappeared. Also, I really don't have that much "excess" gear (probably my MF Nikkor 180/2.8 and 85/1.4 could go as I now prefer the AF-D versions I also have). I wouldn't sell the sentimentaly-endowed FE2 even though for film it's been replaced by an F3/T (though if I had a camera-curious friend I would totally gift it). And I still love and use my Plaubel Makina 670. That being said, most of my photography is now digital taken with the Df and a small collection of AF-D lenses, but as long as all my equipment fits in a small cabinet, I will keep my old equipment (though looking at YOU Nikonos III and 15/2.8 lens which has never seen water!)
I've been relatively good this year with only one used Leica lens acquisition. On the other hand, in 2023 I identified 5 lenses I should sell...and they're still here. Like someone else in this thread, I make the mistake of taking them out and then decided I don't really want to sell them.
I’ve had my black TTArtisans 28mm 5.6 (the lens that physically copies the Leica Summaron 28) back in its original box and ready to be sold for over a year now…
I basically bought it because I thought it looked super cool but max aperture of 5.6 is not handy enough for a film shooter so replaced it w a CV 28 2.8 that matched the CV 40 2.8 I already owned.
Desmolicious wrote:
My problem is the cheap stuff is not worth selling given the hassle w the time wasters. Do I really want to go through the torture of craigslist no-shows for a $20 piece of gear?
It's not just the cheap stuff that's a hassle; if you want to sell good lenses you have to deal with all the questions from prospective buyers: is the lens centered (I've never cared about that and haven't tested any of my lenses), when was the last CLA, etc., and the same questions go for cameras. Whenever I think about selling something on eBay these things rise up as barriers in my mind, plus the hassle of packaging and shipping, and I don't bother.
Accumulation is easy; decumulation is harder. But it can be lucrative: I recently sold a musical instrument that I bought 20 years ago for $6K; I sold it for $13K. That made me think about selling my Leica (which I got for dirt cheap a few years ago) and a few other cameras and lenses that are now worth more than I paid for them.
My wife always complains how many camera gears I have and I barely sell my camera gears.
There were only 2 I sold in last 10 years, one was the Olympus Micro 4/3 and the other was Canon rebel.
I always tell my wife and myself for film camera, there are 2 or 3 I'm missing to complete my collection.
Once I got them then my film camera collection is done and I will use them all alternately.
For digital, each of the camera I have now has their own character and use which are all worth to keep IMO.
The good thing is I'm not a lens guy since I don't have a good eyes. I don't see that much different between " A " and " B ". This saves me lots of money.
Desmolicious wrote:
Yeah I should sell a bunch of stuff. I was doing ok for a while, sold some stuff off but now more seems to have taken its place.
My problem is the cheap stuff is not worth selling given the hassle w the time wasters. Do I really want to go through the torture of craigslist no-shows for a $20 piece of gear?
I have a Minolta XK which is super cool to look at but frankly not very enjoyable to use. I’ve kept it just because I have the Minolta 58 1.2, but I could use that w an adapter on a digicam. The Nikon F3 is much nicer to use, as are the F2s.
I have two F2s, one serviced by Sover Wong. i should keep the wonged one, but the other is a black F2AS which is cooler cuz it’s black. But the F3 is better than either and handier to use.
Why do I still have the FG? Oh yeah, because it’s easy to get someone to learn w it as it has a P mode…
My Leica M3. Very sweet but frankly the more modern Ms are much better shooters and I enjoy using them much more… And on it goes....Show more →
LoL , just sell me one of the F2AS if the meter is working properly.
bjhurley wrote:
It's not just the cheap stuff that's a hassle; if you want to sell good lenses you have to deal with all the questions from prospective buyers: is the lens centered (I've never cared about that and haven't tested any of my lenses), when was the last CLA, etc., and the same questions go for cameras. Whenever I think about selling something on eBay these things rise up as barriers in my mind, plus the hassle of packaging and shipping, and I don't bother.
Accumulation is easy; decumulation is harder. But it can be lucrative: I recently sold a musical instrument that I bought 20 years ago for $6K; I sold it for $13K. That made me think about selling my Leica (which I got for dirt cheap a few years ago) and a few other cameras and lenses that are now worth more than I paid for them....Show more →
I’m not well centered so why should I expect my lenses to be?
zi464 wrote:
My wife always complains how many camera gears I have and I barely sell my camera gears.
There were only 2 I sold in last 10 years, one was the Olympus Micro 4/3 and the other was Canon rebel.
I always tell my wife and myself for film camera, there are 2 or 3 I'm missing to complete my collection.
Once I got them then my film camera collection is done and I will use them all alternately.
For digital, each of the camera I have now has their own character and use which are all worth to keep IMO.
The good thing is I'm not a lens guy since I don't have a good eye. I don't see that much different between " A " and " B ". This saves me lots of money. ...Show more →
Yeah a lens has to have something seriously wrong with it for me to notice!
zi464 wrote:
LoL , just sell me one of the F2AS if the meter is working properly.
My F2as - like pretty much all that I have seen - had a wonky meter. Those resistor rings all the metered F2s use wear out. But Sover Wong to the rescue and he replaced it with his new ceramic ones that will last forevers.
I did that before he became insanely overbooked (and before his prices skyrocketed!)
I also have the older metered head - I think it is the Dp2? - but that one reads all wonky depending on
Iight levels so I use it w/o the battery. All those I have seen are the same - age did them in.
Having cleared out a lot of gear several times, I'm trying to avoid equipment creep. It starts easily enough, buying a lens someone has been trying to unload to help them out or maybe a P&S that looks interesting. Then there's the stuff I always wanted to try. Either way something ends up sitting unused. Maybe it comes from having owned a lot of different gear and knowing what I need or just tired of looking in the closet and thinking, "I really need to use that."
Am I done buying gear? Probably not but I'll use the stuff I kept and at some point decide if I really do need a 50 Summilux.
Desmolicious wrote:
My F2as - like pretty much all that I have seen - had a wonky meter. Those resistor rings all the metered F2s use wear out. But Sover Wong to the rescue and he replaced it with his new ceramic ones that will last forevers.
I did that before he became insanely overbooked (and before his prices skyrocketed!)
I also have the older metered head - I think it is the Dp2? - but that one reads all wonky depending on
Iight levels so I use it w/o the battery. All those I have seen are the same - age did them in....Show more →
I'm missing F2 for my Nikon film camera collection, I have been looking for one for a while either F2A ( DP11 ) or F2AS ( DP12 ) , but as you may know most of the light meters are not service well. Buying a separate working meter costs a lot.
Same as M5 ( 3 lug ), to get one with working meter it takes time.
🤔what else I'm missing.
Maybe a 6x7 but most of them are pricey
500CM, never tried on hand so I don't how it feels but according to "lifeandmylens" the focus is quite unusual so I gotta try once before I pull my trigger.
Desmolicious wrote:
Yeah a lens has to have something seriously wrong with it for me to notice!
As of now I don't have duplicate copies for each focal length, but I'm gonna to extend the M mount lens.
Modified M mount Contax G 28 & 35mm.
Getting a Elmarit-M 28mm ASPH , Summicron-M 35mm IV and Summicron 50mm III or IV then pretty much I'm done with the M mount lens collection.
Desmolicious wrote:
My problem is the cheap stuff is not worth selling given the hassle w the time wasters. Do I really want to go through the torture of craigslist no-shows for a $20 piece of gear?
This is my problem too. I have a lot of film gear that has issues so I just end up holding on to it. I've got a razor sharp copy of the Nikon 28/2.8 AIS. Is the glass clear? Nope! I've never used my N90S but do I really want to make a whopping $40 off a really capable camera? So I just end up selling the stuff that is actually quite nice to finance other things.
In 40 years since I started doing photography - I was teenager then and internet like we know it obviously didn't exist then - I have only sold few items - in digital, two DSLR lenses and one digital camera: my first digital DSLR, the Canon Rebel XT and two Sigma lenses for the cropped sensor format. After I upgraded in 2009 to the Canon 5D MkII, I never looked back using cropped sensor gear.
Still keeping all my film based cameras I accumulated over the years. One kind of camera system I never owned is a twin lens medium format camera. Not due to dislike - just never had a good opportunity to get one, and then started working with my Hasselblad 500 C/M in 6x6. I sold two 35 mm based lenses - a cheaper Tamron zoom SLR lens and the Jupiter-12 LTM rangefinder lens. The latter one I regretted buying quickly - I never liked this lens. It sold after just two months of owning it for a decent deal years ago on ebay.
Unwillingly my film gear has become some kind of investment for me - some of my film cameras easily quadrupled in value since I purchased them > 10-15 years ago. My Leica M6 and M7 cameras are good examples here, but also some of my medium format gear marks this box.
I own many lenses which are just sitting well secured and stored in a bag or box - for example multiple good Canon EF L lenses. Rarely use DSLR lenses anymore - but if I have a need for AF or longer tele focal length, or I want to do some tilt/shift work, I am glad to have them. Older manual Canon SLR lenses have received a second life with the entry of mirrorless cameras. So I am keeping them and some M42 lenses also.
Likely someone will inherit all my gear at some point. No plan or intent to sell it - just to make best possible use of it as long as I can.
zi464 wrote:
I'm missing F2 for my Nikon film camera collection, I have been looking for one for a while either F2A ( DP11 ) or F2AS ( DP12 ) , but as you may know most of the light meters are not service well. Buying a separate working meter costs a lot.
Same as M5 ( 3 lug ), to get one with working meter it takes time.
🤔what else I'm missing.
Maybe a 6x7 but most of them are pricey
500CM, never tried on hand so I don't how it feels but according to "lifeandmylens" the focus is quite unusual so I gotta try once before I pull my trigger. ...Show more →
My M5 has a beautiful, working meter calibrated to take modern batteries thanks to DAG.
Interestingly I actually first paid Sherry Krauter aka Golden Touch to do that. She took my money, said she did it but DAG discovered she had not.
What was nice was that Sherry at the same time stole the rf condenser out of my M5. Another thing DAG fixed.
Desmolicious wrote:
My M5 has a beautiful, working meter calibrated to take modern batteries thanks to DAG.
Interestingly I actually first paid Sherry Krautner aka Golden Touch to do that. She took my money, said she did it but DAG discovered she had not.
What was nice was that Sherry at the same time stole the rf condenser out of my M5. Another thing DAG fixed.
In the parlance of Don Goldberg, "Someone has tampered with your camera."
