Do you feel bad about your unused cameras?

EcoLeica

EcoLeica

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Over the last couple of years since I have gotten back into photography i have bought new cameras, sold off old ones and generally had a nice little collection that sits on my desk. But I have always made sure that the cameras I had were being used in some sense because the idea of a camera just sitting there not fulfilling its purpose of taking photos seemed sad. So the other day I managed to grab myself a near mint rolleicord Vb (which I love!) meaning I now have two TLR (the other being a rolleiflex automat). Liking both cameras i set up the flimsy excuse that I will have one for color and one for B&W but in reality I keep grabbin the less complicated Vb whenever I want to do medium format. So the automat is goin to find a new home where someone can use it like it was intended.

Now most of you out there are probably shooters and only keep what you shoot with, but do any of you feel that twang of guilt when you have a fine camera sitting up on the shelf not being used?

Steve
 
No, no guilt. None at all, well, maybe. I mean sometimes I think the unused gear is crying when I'm not around. But of course that's silly, I mean a camera can't cry, it has no tear ducts. I guess that means cameras are like Rabbits. Poor Rabbits.
 
Look at it this way. With the advent of digital, I would guess that the number of film cameras out there in the world outnumbers the number of film camera users by a huge margin. So, no I don't feel guilty that I have fine cameras on a shelf that aren't being used; if they weren't on my shelf many of them would probably have found their way into the trash, or buried in someones attic or storage unit. At least I go through and exercise the shutters now and then, and keep them from growing mold and mildew. Of course who knows what will happen to them when I'm gone, but at least for a while they have a reprieve from an ignominious end.
 
Sometimes it gets so bad that I have to load a film and use them to take pictures with. Terrible thing, guilt.
 
For me it really depends on the camera. I have some that are less pleasant in use (and/or results) than others, and I feel more guilty about the more pleasant ones sitting there unused. Right now I'm looking at this beautiful pentax 6x7 I have used way too little since I've been moving between places a bit too much to set up my darkroom gear, and I've already got more undeveloped film lying around than I can be bothered with. But it's biding it's time, and soon, soon it will see full use again. We're both very excited.
 
I feel bad for unused cameras that are broken, or just have something wrong with them. I end up buying them and (many times) repairing them.
 
I don't feel bad at all about giving unwanted film cameras a good home in their declining years. Sort of like a camera old folks home.

Bob
 
I punish my cameras, when they've been bad, by not using them. If I really want to drive the point home, I'll set a roll of film near them but not load it.

(jj= just joking)
 
I generally feel bad about things I've bought that see little use because I believe it to be wasteful (not that that stops me from buying new things!).

With cameras, I only feel bad when I have two of the same and know that one, as a result, will not see any use.

I just bought a Zeiss Ikon, so I've decided to sell my entire Contax G2 kit even though I really like it.

I just pulled my old Rolleicord Vb up to sell because, for the past three years, I've had a Rolleiflex 2.8F and the Vb hasn't been used.

You always think you're going to regret selling these things but, in my experience, you rarely do.
 
I tend to slowly drift towards accumulation, but when I recognize the trend, I sell things off.
I'll always have more cameras than I "need," because I can fill the same photographic function with several cameras. I don't mind that so much because this isn't just a utilitarian pursuit. I enjoy shooting the same sorts of things with different gear.
At this point, I have only 2 shelf queens, and old Retina IIa that belonged to my Father-in-law (my wife doesn't want it used) and a Canon AE-1 that belongs to my wife (who doesn't use it) and does not appeal to me.
 
Twang of guilt? Never. Life is too short for guilt. I enjoy my cameras as photographic tools and as fine examples of industrial design. I am just as happy holding them and looking at them as I am using them. Sell my vintage Nikon SP or rare chrome non-anniversary Leica M4-P to someone else to use or admire? Not yet. Unload my uber rare Nikon rangefunder lenses so they can be admired elsewhere. No way.

Next question.
 
Not so much guilty, as unhappy. I've simply got too much stuff. I really ought to get rid of a lot of it. Not for the money: for the space, both physical and mental.

Tashi delek,

Roger
 
I don't feel guilty, but bad in a certain way that I don't use the TLR very much. I want to get more into it, but time and opportunities and such just aren't there.

When I've had an unused camera before, I've always sold it or given it away. I want to keep the TLR to get some experience with that format.
 
I rotate my 4 cameras so I use them all sooner or later. I also make the effort to use each of my lenses. I've reduced my kit to those lenses that I will actually use and dont keep any as trophies.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Not so much guilty, as unhappy. I've simply got too much stuff. I really ought to get rid of a lot of it. Not for the money: for the space, both physical and mental.

Tashi delek,

Roger
Click to expand...
Roger, if you send your MPP outfit to a deserving home in Yorkshire, that would really give some space ( physical and mental! )
Yours in anticipation, Dave.
 
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