"Not in my lifetime"

[daveleo]

I've been selling off older stuff for the last few months, so I can buy newer stuff.

Why we collect things is probably a PhD thesis waiting to be written, but nonetheless I got to thinking about what cameras in my cabinet are "priceless" to me.

My dad used to say "Ultimately, everything is for sale."

My answer was always "Not everything. Not in my lifetime."

So . . . here's the list of cameras that my sad wife will have to sell (out there on a table at the end of the driveway), after I kick the bucket.


The Exa (my first "real" camera, 1972, $25US . . . "holy sh#t, is that what photographs are supposed to look like?")

Konica Hexar AF (The Jaguar XKE of film cameras)

Leica D2 (The best gift that Leica ever gave to the "working class")

Nikon FM3A & 45/2.8 pancake (The best %$&*ing mechanical thing I ever touched)

Polaroid leather SX-70 (thank you, Mrs Benson, for giving me this exquisite machine)

Dad's 8mm film movie camera (the movies saved my life a thousand times)

 

[FrankS]

My most not for sale camera is my Rolleiflex E2 with 75f3.5 Planar.
I'd prefer to keep an M2 as well.

 

[hipsterdufus]

My M3 would be the last camera I would ever sell. I'd have to be pretty darned poor to do it...

 

[splitimageview]

I'll never sell my black Nikon F2A I got when I was 18, nor my Ricohflex TLR that my dad gave me last year that he used for many Korean war photos. Nothing valuable about either, they just mean a lot more to me than any other gear which is always replaceable.

 

[dogberryjr]

I'd never sell my first "real" camera. The fact that it's a Canon T70 and worth absolutely nothing to anyone else makes this a pretty easy decision.

 

[x-ray]

The 4x5 Pacemaker Crown that my dad gave me in 1964. The 4x5 Ebony SV45Te my wife gave me for my 60th birthday. My 4x5 Sinar Norma that I bought new in 1969 and used through much of my career. A very special Leica MP a la carte that my loving wife gave me. It's black chrome, black ostrich and my signature engraved on the back plus a black chrome Leicavit. It also has the .85x VF/RF.

My mother threw my first camera that I got for my birthday in 1955 in the trash 🙁 I have one just like it but it' not the same. At least I still have my first rolls of film I shot with it.

 

[Trius]

Not sure anything I have is untouchable. The future is always filled with possibilities.

 

[jpa66]

I'll never get rid of my Canon AE1-P. It was my first "real" camera, and I took so many photos from such a wonderful time in my life that I simply can't part with it.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

My Contax G2 outfit, and my Rolleiflex 2.8E. And probably my Canham 5x7/5x12 woodfield. Although I could sell that if financial straits were desperate enough.

 

[Trius]

... however, last on my list would be the Chamonix kit.

 

[MISH]

X-ray.... it goes without saying .... your wife is a keeper too

 

[Chinasaur]

Doood!!!! My Dad toook GREAT moon photos via a Centurion telescope and an Exa camera.. That's a fantastic camera. It had a low rent™ rep but it produced razor sharp photo's of moon craters.

 

[gb hill]

Canon AE1P that my wife bought for me. I think I'll hang on to the Bessa R too.

 

[sparrow6224]

On a non-emotional front, it has flickered across my mind once or twice to sell my M2, but I cannot because Tom A. has only one hard-and-fast rule I've ever seen him put forward: never sell an M2. So I'm stuck. A guy like that, a real mensch, he has only one rule, how can you break it?

Some of these stories are quite lovely. We all have much to be thankful for.

 

[peterm1]

I used to collect (and use) film cameras. I was always a reluctant seller but would do so if I needed to finance some thing else that caught my eye and that I wanted badly enough. Then I would regret it of course. As I moved from film to digital I sold most of my film cameras and now with digital - well its not quite the same. With one or two exceptions (a D70s and a Panasonic L1) I am more or less reconciled to selling whatever before it becomes so out of date its worth zip.

 

[Robert Lai]

My Nikon F3. My girlfriend (now wife) and I worked and saved so that I could afford to buy it. I have many other cameras now, but that F3, the 50 f/1.8 and the 105 f/2.5 were the first to be owned.

They have documented our years of marriage together, as well as our two growing kids. I hope to pass it on to one of the boys eventually (the oldest is only 4, so I have some time).

 

[x-ray]

X-ray.... it goes without saying .... your wife is a keeper too

No kidding! In many ways a keeper.

 

[icebear]

On a non-emotional front, it has flickered across my mind once or twice to sell my M2, but I cannot because Tom A. has only one hard-and-fast rule I've ever seen him put forward: never sell an M2. So I'm stuck. A guy like that, a real mensch, he has only one rule, how can you break it?

Some of these stories are quite lovely. We all have much to be thankful for.

LOL, it's a nice rule but it is Tom's rule, you don't necessarily need to stick to his rules.

I am having a tough time to decide wether or not to sell my film M's.
After I bought a use M9 in April, I did not shoot a single roll of film and at the moment, I can not see that coming back.

Still selling via a dealer would give only a return that doesn't really reflect what these mean to me. The M6 was my very first M and it travelled a lot with me. It has the MP finder upgrade. It has been on top of Mt. Fuji, JP, crossed the Golden Gate by bike and many more memorable things. The MP is just that "mechanical perfection". It is a unique piece of equipment, although pics are not better than with the M6, of course. And then finally the M3, bought used and then Cla'd by Don with a reglued finder prism. As old as myself and well fit for the next 50 years of use. Maybe once they have been sitting around for 2 years, I will part with them but not yet.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . My answer was always "Not everything. Not in my lifetime.". . .

Dunno. But I see your point. Thing is, I don't need the money that badly. Not on the cheap stuff anyway. Cameras that are worth far more to me than their modest financial worth include my father's Box Brownie; my IIIa (first Leica); my Pentax SV; a couple of my late father-on-law's cameras (KowaSIX, Graflex). some of my five Nikon Fs...

After that? There's not a lot I'm worried about. They're just not worth enough to be worth the effort of selling them, such as my disgusting-looking black chrome M4-P or some of my 5x4 inch cameras.

Cheers,

R.