Cameraholics can relate to this.

P

Paolo Bonello

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I don't even know how I ended up in this position but after accumulating pre-loved camera gear in the most haphazard way on eBay over the past few years I've come to the realization that I'm not a collector. For a little while there I lied to myself saying "I collect Olympus and Yashicas". It's strange but I guess I had to do it to realize that I'd much rather stick to one or two favourites and move the rest on. I have doubles, even triples of the same Olympus or Yashica body but always seem to pic up the same two cameras when I want to take some photos. I even bought a display case but it sits behind the door so you can't even see the cameras with the door open to my study. I bought one TLR just to try it out and before long I had three. I mean, none of them are really expensive but the sum total would go nicely toward a new digital Sony A7ii which I would use. Selling 6 or seven cameras that I don't use to buy one that I would use is starting to look really tempting and in a way I really think I've had my fun buying old camera gear but I don't really like owning them. Quite the conundrum but I don't feel great about owning cameras I don't use even though I enjoyed the search and purchasing of them.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'm not alone. This seems to be the cycle for most of us.

Time to part with some stuff.

Cameraholics Anonymous - tell us your stories if it helps.
 
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The thing is, it's so difficult to pass up on good film cameras at ridiculously cheap prices - one can have all the joys of playing with cameras one has dreamt, or been simply curious, about for very little outlay. Once the novelty wears off one can always pass them on.

I have trouble resisting unloved cameras in charity stores. Just recently I've picked up a Yashica TLR and a Pentax MZ-5 for next to nothing. Both are great cameras to use. The Pentax will allow me to keep an eye out for nice K-mount lenses, expanding my options for rendering pictures.

I do have a number of p&s (mainly Mju's) that were impulse buys and now sit in a drawer, staring accusingly at me every time I open it. Time to part with them.
 
Today, I realized (believe it or not) that I have accumulated an inordinate amount of gear. I will trim some, not because I cannot have it (that's simply not true), but rather because I don't want to have it. How did this happen? I don't know, but one click in a website led to another and then another... and so on.

Will I be cured? I doubt it, but I may have some (temporary) additional room in my closet and bags.
 
Old, very old story. First human suffers from not having something and after struggle acquiring thing he suffers from not using it enough or just from fact it's different from dreamed object. Cameras, cars, homes, jobs, wives, kids, parents, friends, society, whole world.

I'm with you, friends.
 
I find that I'm in the same boat. Most of my gear is a haphazardly accumulated assortment of mostly unused thrift shop lenses, bodies, and fixed lens equipment some from the bay, but even that is a rare thing these days. I want to off load most of it but not give it away. No very rare stuff but its still working. There's a "retro" store in my town that drills out the old bodies and makes "lamps" out of them! UGH! But there it is : I'm not using them, won't use them just too much stuff. Maybe this post will guilt me into setting up a store-thing. I guess its like its sometimes said: Having is not always as nice as wanting.
 
Usually the love of things comes to patch up gaps in someones emotional world. It is in a way similar to the need of loving and being loved.
Cameras are just objects that can fill these gaps in. It could have been anything, from stamps to cups, or even cars.
As always, this is just how usually it goes, it is not an absolute rule.
 
First step is going to be consolidation.
Put together a trimmed down Olympus Kit and a nimble Yashica kit. The bulky Yashicas will probably get the chop. The Electro 35cc will stay.
For me there really is only one Point and shoot I have time for and that's my Fuji Klasse S. I will keep the Tiara too cause it's the only 28mm P&S I own and it has one of the sharpest little lenses I've seen in such a small package. Also it's the only camera I load with colour film for some reason. The camera you take when you don't want to take a camera.

The rest should fall into place. Olympus Lens doubles, random lenses from other makes and the multitude of camera accessories are all fair game.

With my other hobbies I like to say to people, "You gotta sell your toys to buy them".
I really should start listening to myself.
 
Having been a Nikon shooter for many years, I never thought I'd ever buy into another system. I started with Minolta, since the lenses were much cheaper than Nikkors. Then I got into Canon trying to put a set together for one of my brothers, and I wound up with all the extras. All along, I was also getting Yashicas that I hadn't been able to buy before. Then I got a Nikon F2S, and that started me back on Nikkor lenses. And this year I got bit by the Olympus bug when a friend gave me a couple of bodies, and I just had to get some lenses to try them out.

And that's just the SLR stuff. In trying to put an interchangeable lens rangefinder outfit together, I wound up with three different lens mounts (one which was gifted to me). And that's without getting into Leica M cameras.

I do like what each different camera system has to offer, but that can get confusing at times, trying to remember how each camera operates. So I guess I'll start by selling off the Canon gear first, then the Minolta. Yashica and Nikon will be the definite keepers, but I need to use the Olympus gear more before I pass judgment on them.

Yeah, finding a good deal on an orphaned camera in a junk store can set one off on a quest to fill out a kit, and that's where the trouble lies. But damn, it's so much fun doing it.

PF
 
Yep - it's always good to view them as little piles of cash and if you aren't ever going to use/enjoy them, convert it into something else.
 
My problem is that I can't seem to abandon cameras I no longer use -- or use very much. I started off in the 1950s with a Rollei that I still own, a iiiF Leica, then for many years I used only a Rollei 35. The I went SLR -- Canon EF that I used mostly with an 85mm lens. I play with one or more occasionally but have not put a roll of film through any of them in a long time. I now use a Nikon D300 and a Canon s90 as my pocket camera. I suppose I should sell the film cameras to people who appreciate them. All still work. My kids will probably trash them when I depart. On the other hand, they don't take up a lot of space and they remind me of various chapters of my life.
 
one of reasons that am occasionally accumulating this stuff is to buy relatively cheap, and reluctance to sell out dirt cheap. then after the pile is big enough, dirt cheap is good enough :)

am mostly cured by now, and "window shopping" is enough.
 
I also have this problem. I don't see it as being that bad of a thing, because generally I only buy cameras that I find in second hand stores for very low prices. In total if I were to sell all my gear today I would triple my initial investment and with some of it the longer I have it the more valuable it becomes.

The main issue is that I get pretty obsessive about camera research, it's become sort of my default activity when I run out of things to do and it really wastes a lot of my time that would be better spent on other things. Then there's perusing ebay, watching listed items, checking out classifieds - it never ends really, and the irony of it all is that I almost never buy gear online anyway.
 
nongfuspring said:
I also have this problem. I don't see it as being that bad of a thing, because generally I only buy cameras that I find in second hand stores for very low prices. In total if I were to sell all my gear today I would triple my initial investment and with some of it the longer I have it the more valuable it becomes.

The main issue is that I get pretty obsessive about camera research, it's become sort of my default activity when I run out of things to do and it really wastes a lot of my time that would be better spent on other things. Then there's perusing ebay, watching listed items, checking out classifieds - it never ends really, and the irony of it all is that I almost never buy gear online anyway.
Click to expand...


You made me laugh right at the end there.
I'm glad you've managed to buy wisely but yes - gear research can be a little obsessive at times. I really need to set up a dark room so I can zone off the internet while doing something productive. Did I mention the darkroom gear I've collected? Fortunately it was mostly acquired through someone literally tossing the contents of a darkroom out on the street for council collection. I will sell a few things or maybe donate to an existing photography workshop whatever I don't need to keep.....eventually.

Buying most of my Zuiko lenses before the digital mirror-less + legacy lens onslaught I also managed to buy a few appreciating assets but the irony is that I want to keep most of those so will never realize a profit.

P.s: Good news, I listed my first item on the bay. An excess Yashicamat I have no intention of using. I will keep the 124 I also own because I like the looks and sell the other 124G which I bought on impulse before I discovered that I find TLR's tedious. (I like the appearance of the early 124 model better than the "124Gold" model which is the all-black one). This will probably reside on the mantle piece and get used once or twice a year. I think that is fine. Having three is such a waste and selling two should release a nice little chunk of change.
 
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lynnb said:
The thing is, it's so difficult to pass up on good film cameras at ridiculously cheap prices - one can have all the joys of playing with cameras one has dreamt, or been simply curious, about for very little outlay. Once the novelty wears off one can always pass them on.

......
Click to expand...

This fairly sums up my feelings on the topic. In addition, I love refurbishing old mechanical marvels.
 
People give me old film cameras. Over the past few years, I’ve been given two Canon F-1’s, an Olympus OM-1, a Pentax Spotmatic with a 50/1.4 and 100 macro lens, a Canon AE-1 and several K-mount Chinon’s. The Chinon’s I’ve given away, I’ve kept the rest. I use them as the mood strikes.

Jim B.
 
I'm the type that can't have (nice) stuff around that I don't use... I own 3 cameras that are worth cash and I use them all. At times, I wish i could relax and just own a M just to fondle.
 
Hi,

Realising there's a problem is the first step.

Next step is sort it all out and sell what can be sold and give away the rest. You'll end up with a few you can't bear to part with and the problem will be solved.

The next step, worst of all, is to start buying again because you miss something...

Regards, David
 
My film camera "collection" consists of an Exakta, 2 Pentax Spotmatics, 2 Leica screwmounts, 2 M4's, 2 Rolleiflexes, 2 Nikon FTn's, a Rollei 35s, a Speed Graphic and a Calumet monorail. But these were all cameras I bought back in the film days and used extensively. They have sentimental value but probably I should sell at least one of each of those I have in pairs while they still have some monetary worth. I am not tempted in the least to buy any film cameras today at any price.
 
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