The $15,000 Question: what would you get?

[Benjamin Marks]

I have always been a bit of a gear head. And if there is any saving grace to middle age it is that I am now pretty comfortable with that fact. My thin rationalization is that different kinds of cameras and lenses have encouraged me to see differently. So I just frame things differently with, say, a 4x5 camera on a tripod then I do with a Barnack.

This morning's musing: suppose you were suddenly gifted with $15,000 US that you had to spend on photographic "stuff"? Yeah, it is the first-iest of first first-world problems. How would you spend it RFF if the wealthy, eccentric uncle who left it to you stipulated that it had to be spent on something photographic?

I know some of you wouldn't buy a single piece of gear, but would buy an airplane ticket to somewhere you've always wanted to photograph.
Others would buy a collector's Leica that has always been just out of reach.
Still others might hire a professional model and rent a studio for a day.
Others might purchase an entire new camera system.
Others might purchase 15 $1,000 cameras and distribute them to promising kids.
Or take a class, or purchase a Sebastiao Salgado print, or augment their library of photo books.

Personally, and being comfortably the gear-head I maintain I am, I would plump for one of the digi-Hasselblads.

Feel free to critique the question too. Maybe I am fantasizing on two small a scale. Make it $50,000 and take a year off. Or make it $100,000 and build the portrait studio you always wanted. I think a modest 25x25 skylit structure with nice large northern exposure would suit me just fine.

So whaddaya think RFF?

 

[JohnWolf]

I have an account specifically for photography indulgences, built up from misc. sales over years. The balance isn’t $15K, but it’s significant. It just sits there because I can’t come up with a compelling purchase.

Every time I consider something, I ask myself, will my photography improve with the purchase? Invariably, the answer is no.

I’ve no problem at all with gear-headedness. Cameras and lenses shouldn’t be confused for photography, but they are among the coolest things going.

John

 

[p.giannakis]

I would never spend anything more than £500 for photography. Photography is just not that high in my priority list. There are cameras that would love to own (i.e. Pentax LX..) but I wouldn't pay the asking money for it - let alone $15.000 😮

 

[JohnWolf]

…. Photography is just not that high in my priority list….

Not to get off track, but that statement surprises me, given your consistent quality and expressiveness.

John

 

[Miles.]

Within the given parameters, here’s how I’d want to spend it today:

1. Fujinon 5cm f1.2 in Contax mount ($8,000)
2. Used Leica M10M ($5000)
3. Round trip ticket to Hong Kong ($2000)

 

[tcmx3]

same M kit I have now tbh

M11, 50 Lux ASPH, 28 Cron v2

have to go used for some but oh well.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I would spend some of it, not sure how much, buying used cameras that interest me in hopes that the purchase would allow others (sellers) to move on with their desires for different cameras.

 

[JeffS7444]

My record with such things isn't great: For years, I maintained a decent-sized fund earmarked for whatever-I-wanted, but it seemed that what I mostly wanted was noodles! I can say this because my earlier years saw a glut of fancy toys, so for me, there's a sense of "been there, done that". It was actually easier for me to spend money when I was buying everything on credit.

But since you asked:

Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar 35/2 E-mount. Yes yes yes. Recently got the 50/2 and it's been all that I had hoped it would be.
Chrome Hasselblad Distagon 60/4 "at the right price"
(no particular reason) Nikon Zfc black/black w/kit zoom. It's small, it's light, it's pretty, if kinda plastic.

Misc: Ducati Sogno, Kowa SW, KMZ Narciss, Leica II black paint w/strap lugs, but not at typical eBay prices.

Travel: I do like the big, plush seats and great service onboard a resort-class JAL or Asiana flight, but I've spent plenty of time in the air recently dealing with family matters, and I'm feeling traveled-out right now.

 

[JohnGellings]

I’ll play without a lecture to the OP. Also, I’m not including things I already own… why would you do that? Finally this is fantasy, so it has nothing to do with how you have $ laying around that you aren’t spending. Think of it like this… you won a $15000 gift certificate and you have a month before it expires. 🙂 You cannot cash it out.

Used Fujifilm GFX100S- $3500
Used Fujifilm GF 63mm 2.8 - $900
Fujifilm 80mm 1.7 -$1900
Nikon Zf with 40, 50 and 85mm lenses - $4000
Latest iMac with the best specs I can get for $3000
Fujifilm X100VI - $1600

 

[santino]

Definitely that recent digital Hasselblad with the back that one can use on the V series. Than the 35 1.4 c/y Distagon. Am I still within the limit?

 

[Retro-Grouch]

A new Chamonix 4x5, maybe three top-end lenses, a mint Linhof 6x12 back. That would leave enough for a nice extended vacation in Provincetown MA to put it all to work.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

I'd replace my 35mm with a new steel-rim Summilux 35mm. Maybe replace my 4x5 or add a Plaubel 67 wide... A couple of boxes of 16x20 FB paper. Spend the rest of the $$$ on trips to places i want to photograph and hang out....Mt St Michel, Shiprock, Chaco Canyon, Abiquiu, more Italy....Honestly the prolonged travel would be more important than the gear....My M4 Leica & a compact MF like the plaubel is all i would carry. I don't want or need to add much more

 

[DownUnder]

It's fun to play these games, and it's good to have wishes like this. Even if they stay as wishes.

I've always bought my cameras and lenses and everything else photographic, as good quality secondhand items, so in my case $15K would be a whopping fortune. It sure would buy me a lot.

Buying new for me would be a late model Leica M with at most two lenses, ideally Sumicrons. Or a Nikon Zf with as few lenses as I could get away with while still keeping my GAS-acquisition impulses under firm control. Maybe an FTZ adapter to use my D lenses. That would suffice me for the rest of my life.

But then my next thought is - nothing. Not that I didn't/couldn't think of anything, but rather that at my age, I already have all the equipment I need and want, so buying a new camera or lenses would just add to the pile I have at home. In fact, I'm now going the other way, and trying to psych myself into selling some of my gear stash. The Rolleiflexes are no longer used, and they really should go to new homes - but I can't seem to part with them, I've had them so long and they have made so many of my finest film images. Ditto my Nikkormats, now gathering dust on shelves. And as a very last parting of the ways, my Contax G1 kit, which I adore but nowadays hardly ever use.

On to travel. More wishes than actions, but then why not?

A few places appeal. Angkor Wat in Cambodia (I was there once before, in the '80s), to China (never been) to see the cultural landmarks in Beijing and environs. Then a long, leisurely trek around Indonesia to visit and in many cases revisit many of the fine old temples tucked away in almost every corner of that amazing country.

Then to the USA again (my third long visit) to tour all the Civil War battlefields, a project close to my heart since 1979, continued in 1982 but I did go back to complete. Also the American southwest, namely New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, for the Indian culture. Ditto Texas, for all that is good about Texas, especially those great Tex-Mex lunches.

Europe, a few places, mostly in France. Then maybe south, to Spain and Portugal. Also Italy if the $$$ and my stamina held out. North Africa as a last place on my way back to Australia. By then I would be full up on travel anyway, and rarin' to be back at home to spend a few years happily post processing my new images.

Elsewhere in the world, probably not so much. By the time I hit France I would probably be totally burnt out anyway, physically if not culturally. Time in small cafes in Paris and other places down south, sipping good wine and delectable coffee and photographing the passing scene with my 85

So yeh, with that $15K I could happily travel the world, with my Nikon D800 and two or three or at most four lenses (20, 28, 85, 180, less the 85 if I had to leave out one). That I reckon would make me more happy than any new gear. I could also fly first or business class, which I'm long wanted to, but couldn't justify spending all that extra money.

That would suit me to a near-perfect (9.5 on my score list of 10) T. Far more so than buying new gear, but different strokes for different folks.

 

[boojum]

X2D + XCD 55V. Anything left can be spent on filters and other associated gear. Get the best imaging and color you can.

 

[Pioneer]

That's easy. Film, Photo Paper and a freezer. I don't need any more cameras but I am always running short of the first two.

 

[Rayt]

I have a crate of negatives from 25 years of street photography from around the world. They are mostly from Rolleiflex in square format and the others shot with Leicas. I would like the money to go to editing and printing the best 100 shots. If the money is enough for a traditional wet print then great but an inkjet will be fine.

As for gear I already own what I think are the best money can buy. At some point I’ll have to sell them because I don’t shoot anymore. I just sold all my digital M Leicas and with the money bought a lot of vinyl records which by the way a bigger black hole than film photography.

 

[Pioneer]

I have a crate of negatives from 25 years of street photography from around the world. They are mostly from Rolleiflex in square format and the others shot with Leicas. I would like the money to go to editing and printing the best 100 shots. If the money is enough for a traditional wet print then great but an inkjet will be fine.

As for gear I already own what I think are the best money can buy. At some point I’ll have to sell them because I don’t shoot anymore. I just sold all my digital M Leicas and with the money bought a lot of vinyl records which by the way a bigger black hole than film photography.

If all I had was my Rolleiflex, and maybe my K1000, I think I could be happy. But I think I would have trouble selling either one of those even if I didn't use them very much any longer. Interestingly, it turned out that selling my Leicas was not as tough as I thought it would be. I know I probably shouldn't say that on this forum but I still have a couple of rangefinders that I still use quite often but the old Brick is just not as racy as a Leica.

 

[agentlossing]

Tough question, because it would get me into the realm of cameras and lenses that I've only lusted after, at this point. Take Leica, for instance. I'd probably feel some temptation to get an M11, but would likely resist it. Same with a Q2 Monochrom. It just eats up so much of the budget in one purchase... but maybe that's the point. If I get into Leica, I would probably go for an M10 and Voigtlander or Zeiss M-mount glass.

What I think I'd actually do is get deeper into the higher-end Pentax K-mount gear:

• K-3 III Monochrome, $2200
• HD FA 21mm f2.4 Limited, $1300
• HD FA 77mm f1.8 Limited, $600
• HD FA 43mm f1.9 Limited, $450
• HD DA 15mm f4 Limited, $550
• HD DA 21mm f3.2 Limited, $450

Total: $5,550. With the K-1 II, couple of 50mm lenses, and HD FA 31mm f1.8 Limited lens that I already have (plus an MX and Z-1p) this would be a very comprehensive FF and APS-C kit, for way less than getting into M mount. I'd spend the rest on travel, say:

• Greece and islands, or Italy/Rome
• Japan (Tokyo and surrounds, and into the north)
• If budget allows, British Isles (mostly Scotland and west Ireland).

I love street photography, but with the choice of cameras and optics, the trips would lean towards travel and landscapes. I would, of course, take my GRIIIx along as well for inconspicuous street.

At the end of the trips, if I didn't feel like this DSLR kit suited me, I could sell everything and get an M10 and Voigtlanders, probably: 4/15 w/viewfinder, 2.8/28 Skopar, 2.5/35 Skopar, 2.8/40, and 3.5/50 Heliar.

I know that I enjoy Pentax gear and optics, though, especially the Limited lenses (I'd have to see if I took to the greater size and weight of the HD FA 21mm f2.4, it would not be my first choice unless I had all of this hypothetical cash to spend).

 

[Rayt]

If all I had was my Rolleiflex, and maybe my K1000, I think I could be happy. But I think I would have trouble selling either one of those even if I didn't use them very much any longer. Interestingly, it turned out that selling my Leicas was not as tough as I thought it would be. I know I probably shouldn't say that on this forum but I still have a couple of rangefinders that I still use quite often but the old Brick is just not as racy as a Leica.

The Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar is the best camera I have ever used. The best money can buy especially for street photography. Use it for color and b/w for stunning results. For around $800 plus a new screen and CLA it satisfied my need for gear. I still have them but the shutter gets sticky sitting around but I don’t want to shoot the occasional roll of film knowing it costs $20 for processing and prints plus shipping. And I don’t shoot enough to do it myself.

I used to live in Hong Kong where you can buy anything, use it for a year and resell easily so I have owned and shot with every camera imaginable and in the end it’s just a tiny lens from 1956 that beat all of them.

 

[Pioneer]

The Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar is the best camera I have ever used. The best money can buy especially for street photography. Use it for color and b/w for stunning results. For around $800 plus a new screen and CLA it satisfied my need for gear. I still have them but the shutter gets sticky sitting around but I don’t want to shoot the occasional roll of film knowing it costs $20 for processing and prints plus shipping. And I don’t shoot enough to do it myself.

I used to live in Hong Kong where you can buy anything, use it for a year and resell easily so I have owned and shot with every camera imaginable and in the end it’s just a tiny lens from 1956 that beat all of them.

😀 If I could get a 3.5F Planar for $800 I'd be all over it. 😀