Rick Waldroup
Well-known
Please delete. I posted the wrong image here. Thanks.
If someone says you have too many cameras...
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MarkWalberg
Well-known
When I was a kid, my father went to an island in the Caribbean. He bought a Pentax Spotmatic while there. He wanted to avoid paying an import fee on the way home. He figured that no one would at Customs inspection would believe that anyone needed two cameras. So, he threw his Kodak Brownie in the ocean! Then, he made it though customs with only one camera, and no import fee.
caila77
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I fear that I couldn't blame him.
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- Local time
- 2:59 PM
- Joined
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- 6,411
Hi, I'm Bill, I'm a camera-holic.
It's been over two years since I purchased camera. I did buy a low-cost Chinese lens a couple of months back. Realized what I had done, and returned it without opening it. Got a full refund including return shipping. Through an act of HaShem, it came back to me in the mail two days ago. Still have the refund cash, now I have a lens, unopened.
Have I fallen off the wagon?
B2 (;->
It's been over two years since I purchased camera. I did buy a low-cost Chinese lens a couple of months back. Realized what I had done, and returned it without opening it. Got a full refund including return shipping. Through an act of HaShem, it came back to me in the mail two days ago. Still have the refund cash, now I have a lens, unopened.
Have I fallen off the wagon?
B2 (;->
Archiver
Veteran
This would work well for me if people didn't see/know me as 'the guy with all those cameras'. 😬
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
Not at all. It is divine intervention. HaShem wants you to have both the lens and the money. A mitzvah!
Disappointed_Horse
Well-known
Back to the original question, "If someone says you have too many cameras," you can always turn it around on them:
- How many golf clubs do you own?'
- How many tools do you have in your garage?
- How many purses do you own? How many pairs of shoes do you own?
joe bosak
Well-known
"... Only because there are three in my first phone, two in a second, and half a dozen in my Neurozuki Vitara, none of which I asked for and most of which are borderline useless to me... "
girdwoodINC
born under a bad sign
I’m in the midst of heavily reducing my footprint and clearing some space (returning it to where it can be used) but keeping the “essentials” at the same time
rfaspen
[insert pithy phrase here]
I had too many cameras. Somewhere between 300 and 500. Yes, you read that right. The majority of these were acquired in fully functional condition and I did make attempts to use my cameras. But....that was too many and I really used just a few systems primarily (Leica and Nikon mostly). When I realized that my collection was beginning to become non- functional due to non- use (stiffening helix lube, gumming shutter lubes) it was an easy decision to do a major purge. I put about 50 cameras up on Craigslist at a time. Invariably, I was swarmed with young enthusiastic people who were excited at the prospect of getting one or more of my cameras (98% were film). I priced low for them and they bought an average of 5-7 cameras each. It felt good to know my cameras were going to be used and loved -- I just couldn't do that for all of them. It was a satisfying release of guilt and angst. Those cameras deserved attention.
Now I have less than 50 cameras, probably about 20-25, and quite a bit of free space in my closet, spare bedroom, garage, living room shelves, etc. All I have left are my Leicas, Leica clones, ( and various Leica mount lenses), a couple Rollei's, two 4x5's, a minimal Nikon assemblage, and a few oddies such as Vito II or Agfa folders with Solinar lenses. Hmmmm.... perhaps still "too many cameras"???
Now I have less than 50 cameras, probably about 20-25, and quite a bit of free space in my closet, spare bedroom, garage, living room shelves, etc. All I have left are my Leicas, Leica clones, ( and various Leica mount lenses), a couple Rollei's, two 4x5's, a minimal Nikon assemblage, and a few oddies such as Vito II or Agfa folders with Solinar lenses. Hmmmm.... perhaps still "too many cameras"???
Pioneer
Veteran
I did learn that cameras do not like to be ignored. At the very least shutters start to seize up and get slow. They do need regular exercise.
That was part of the reason I started to clear out my collection.
That was part of the reason I started to clear out my collection.
Alpsman
Well-known
300 to 500 - Respect !
Yep, they do need attention.
It was a good decision to pass some of them to the next generation. We need successor.
20 to 25 is a number one can handle. If you are diligent, you can use each camera two or three (or five or . . .) times a year so they wont get stuck.
Sometimes I'm glad, that I have not more space to cramp it full.
boojum
Ignoble Miscreant
The best response I know to those criticisms is, "You may be right." You have admitted nothing, quieted the complainer and defused the argument.
peterm1
Veteran
Well, first I would threaten to divorce her, .............................then I would, err................................... OK we are talking out our wives, right? 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
farlymac
PF McFarland
Okay, someone who has/had more cameras than me. I usually say a couple hundred, but that easily could be an undercount. I used to hit up all the charity and junk and antique stores once a month, coming home with quite a few P&S cams for testing to see which ones had good lenses. Heck, I probably had 150 just of those. I did box up 30 at a time to take for trade to the only camera shop around as the owner was looking for good quality P&S's to sell to all the university students. What I got in return was a two lens Mamiya M645 outfit, and a Fujifilm 6x9 Pro (v1), both of which the shop was asking $500 for ($1K). Now I usually never paid more than three bucks for any of those P&S's because that was Goodwill's going rate, with the junk and antique stores usually between $5 and $10, and the store owner said he could sell each one of them for $50 each, so we both made out on the deal.
I still have a lot of fixed lens rangefinders; some higher-grade P&S's; Minolta, Olympus, and Canon slr systems; some medium and large format gear; and a ton of accessories and books to go through. I think I'll be dealing with KEH for most of it, build up some store credit for the gear I could use with my current systems (Nikon and Leica). I just need to get a start to get things rolling. Thankfully, there is a stack of items in close proximity I can access to spark some motion on my part. And staying out of the hospital helps, too.
PF
jiun88
Newbie
It is a yearning — to feel with my fingertips, to drink in with my eyes, to be filled by sound — all the things I have come to love.
Disappointed_Horse
Well-known
You know, the last post made me think of something. One of my previous hobbies was collecting and shooting firearms. (I'm American and I'm from the South; don't judge.) For a bunch of reasons, partially political that I don't want to get into here and also for family reasons and just simply the fact that I did that for 25 years and just got kind of bored with it, I sold all my guns and haven't been shooting anything except cameras in about 10 years. But I still appreciate a finely crafted mechanical device that is built to last forever (with reasonable maintenance) and feels great in the hands. In that way, I find that my old mechanical cameras give me much the same satisfaction as my old revolvers and pistols used too.
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Same for me with mechanical typewriters.
JeffS7444
Well-known
My college roommate had a fascination with firearms, and he got me interested too: We'd pore over his catalogs and fantasize about the things we'd like to buy. Second amendment rights, self-defense, or being tough guys had nothing to do with it: They simply seemed like cool gadgets. But ultimately, I lost interest, figuring they'd just be One More Thing that rarely saw any use. Recently saw a statistic which said that there are a staggering number of registered firearms in the USA, and my first thought was: "Hoarders!". Why else do manufacturers offer a range of decorative finishes, limited editions, and endless ways to customize, but to keep consumers consuming?
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