Are you - or have you ever been - a completionist?

[Rich Silfver]

Posted this on another site but would be interested in the thoughts from the members here....

Being a 'Completionist'

Have you ever collected a range or a type of cameras and gone to extreme efforts to get 'ALL'?

I did a few years ago with Olympus 35 compact cameras...
I collected every possible variation (including the versions of Trip 35's that had different coloured shutters...) and colours. Obviously not completely 'sane' but still better than spending my money on crack and WMD.

My final 'conguest' in my Olympus collecting spree (that lasted for about two years) was when I laid my hands on the Olympus 35UC camera (also known as 'The Elusive one').

And you? Any stories to share?

Here's the 35UC by the way...:

 

[clarence]

I never was a collector and never will be. Aside from being uninterested in the idea of 'completion', it's the opportunity cost that nags at me. Why spend on more cameras that you might never use when you can save it for the one you'll use most of the time.

IMHO.

Clarence

 

[ChrisPlatt]

I have heard the term "completist" used by record collectors,
meaning someone who must own everything ever recorded
by a particular artist.

At one time or another I have owned every type of Pentax K or
M series body, but never all of them at once. Does that count?

"Excelsior, you fathead!"
-Chris-

 

[kshapero]

It is a sickness most of us have about most everything. There I go again speaking for others without permission.

 

[JohnM]

I don't know if I would call it completionism, but I definitely enjoyed collecting cameras for a period of time. I still enjoy seeing some of the collections some around here have collected - I've noticed a tendency of some to dismiss camera collectors as posers of sorts, but it just looks like a great hobby to me.

I stopped collecting when the act of collecting cameras took more time than actually using them did - it was actually stressful to sort of which camera to use when I had so many options. (I'd forget which camera had film in it, what kind of film, etc.) Finding mercury batteries was like a second job!

In the end, I sold all almost all of it - the only stragglers left over from the collection are a Contessa 35 (not really fond of it), a Konica Auto S1.6 (it's going one of these days) and a Taxona with a Tessar 3.5/37.5 that I will hang on long enough to run another roll of film through.

I would also agree with the gentleman above who mentions opportunity costs - I sold off enough 'poor man's Leicas' that I was able to buy an actual Leica kit.

 

[Kyle]

I have heard the term "completist" used by record collectors,
meaning someone who must own everything ever recorded
by a particular artist.

At one time or another I have owned every type of Pentax K or
M series body, but never all of them at once. Does that count?

"Excelsior, you fathead!"
-Chris-

**OT warning!**

That describes me. I'm currently looking to collect every pressing of every LP and 7" that the band Hot Water Music have put out, including side projects and previous bands. There are over 150 seperate pressings for this band. At last count I had 78 LPs and 7" records, but that included a few doubles. I've already got a lot of the really rare stuff, so now I just need to track down the more common stuff.

Sorry for the OT post. I'm not a completionist when it comes to cameras at all. I'd much rather just use them. I couldn't afford to be a completionist when it comes to cameras as I'd want to do things like collect every lens and camera Leica has ever made 😀

One note on being a completionist, I don't know what its like for other people, but for me I really enjoy scouring ebay, record stores, and other places looking to complete my collection. Its more of a game to me to search them down and to see if its something I need or not. I think I'll be pretty bummed if I ever actually get every record that I'm after.

 

[wlewisiii]

I find it amusing to ponder compleating a collection of something (Canon IV Rangefinders or Serenar lenses) but for me it's akin to the daydreams of "what would I spend a big lotto win on?" I muse over it a bit, look at the prices at kevincamera.com & come gently back down to earth.

The only things I care to compleat are what my visions of the kits my primary cameras (CL, FTbN & Speed Graphic) need. A lens for one (LTM 28/3.5), 2 lenses for another (FD 85/1.8 & 500/8 mirror), and parts to modify the last. But that's a very different thing than Rich has in mind, I'd think.

William

 

[anselwannab]

I have a hard time finishing my Rff posts.

Hasn't e-bay made this easier, as in you can do it with out leaving your house?

I'm not a completionist, or maybe I am in a sense. I like to have a "complete" set of various examples of a technology. Comparing and contrasting a 1911 to a Browning Hi-power pistol. My dream is a 1903 Springfield, an M1 Garand, an M14/M1A, and a M16/AR15 for the US infantry weapons of the 20th century.

 

[RdEoSg]

I collect bad photos... I have lots 🙁

 

[wlewisiii]

My dream is a 1903 Springfield, an M1 Garand, an M14/M1A, and a M16/AR15 for the US infantry weapons of the 20th century.

I can see that; it would certainly be a fun day of shooting both the firearms and a photgraphic record of it 🙂 I'd be more inclined, if I had silly piles of money, to try to get one of each of the various variations of the FAL rifle instead. Especially if somehow I could get my hands on the T-48 that should have been the M-14... 😱

Given the state of my wallet, though, I'll just try to scrounge a Schmidt-Ruben K-31 before deer hunting season 😀

William

 

[Dougg]

Yeah, I've had that disease... Like collecting a fixed-lens VF/RF camera manufactured in, and a native design of, every country in the world that ever produced them, with side issue collections of those with a certain type of VF or shutter design. Except it wasn't cameras that I was collecting, but WMD as Rich delicately put it. It starts with the easy acquisitions; the closer you get to completion, the rarer the item and the more expensive it gets. In one instance, there were only four examples of a certain design being implemented, one impossibly obscure and another subject to total factory recall for safety reasons. A completionist would never never let the manufacturer ruin his collection like that... plus the recall means it becomes even rarer and more valuable. 😀

Been there, and knowing about that black hole to be caught in, I am not a camera collector, just an accumulator! I've had camera collector impulses, usually disguised as nostalgic purchases of gear I had 45 years ago, and a couple times I've managed to pull the wool over my own eyes. Gotta watch out!

 

[PeterL]

Hi,

I once had an attack of completist tendencies when I fell in love with the Olympus Ace interchangable lens RF. The good news is that that system was very, very limited. Even better news is that I never got to buy anything to start with. I just get bored when I watch eBay for too long. I just want to take photos, not play with the same toys over and over 🙂


Peter.

 

[jaapv]

I'm hiding

and not answering this question.

 

[bsdunek]

I guess I'm guilty too. I do have a camera/equipment collection of items I don't intend to use. They reside in a lighted, glass front cabinet for all to see.
For my useing cameras (of which there are also too many), I tend to want all the accessories that go with them. The correct filters, lens hoods, flash, etc. I just won an original owners manual for my Yashica GSN on eBay this week. It's not that I don't know how to use the camera, it just goes with it, as with the Auto-Up, flash (both of which I do use), and the other items I have collected.

Maybe I should stick to my Brownie Hawkeye 620 box camera. There were no accessories for that (that I know of - maybe I need to do a search). 😎

 

[jaapv]

Why should I ask, you're hiding your age, like me....

 

[jaapv]

It is irrelevant-unless you are a piece of cheese. (or a bottle of wine-I prefer that)

 

[BJ Bignell]

When I want some new music, I might download to preview, but I always buy in the end. Why? Because I want the case and the little cover book, otherwise it's not a "set". It'd be like buying an R3M and selling the Heliar, although less costly.

I'm not a completionist, but I do like everything to be done "right", to have all the parts. Make sense?

 

[jan normandale]

Rich, I have a question. If you are a completist does it require you to also ensure you get the packaging that the camera/lens/accessory came in? Or is that not necessary. I’m wondering about the idea of “collecting” and realize BJ has a point. Getting a CD from a flea market where there is only an aftermarket case and a photocopy of the original artwork would seem to be okay but not what a collector is really shooting for.

Is that how it works or is a lens with aftermarket caps and bag or box okay?

 

[Dougg]

Jan I can only answer from my own point of view, but I think for the collector everything needs to be as original as possible, and as complete as possible. In some instances, the serial number is on the box too, so having a box that's correct for the item & vintage but with some other serial number is good but unfortunately mars the quality of the collection. At swap meets I've seen vendors selling just boxes and manuals... Many buyers of new gear discard the packaging... Maybe we can identify those of us with collector potential by whether we are a package discarder or not. 🙂

 

[Phoenix Phil]

I am not a completist as defined in the orginal post; but I think there is a different definition that could be applied (definitely to me) and that is...having a collection of cameras that cover a specific use. For example, a street shooter, a pocketable camera, a sports or action camera, a small medium format for travel, a larger medium format, a view camera, etc. I am definitely guilty.