Cameras you regret selling or not buying?

Regrets? Selling my very first 35mm camera, a Canon FTb, that I bought back in 1971. I was still in college and it was my first quality camera. Sold it to a buddy of mine who's long since passed. Who knows where it is now.

Jim B.
 
Pál_K said:
But how could anyone have known the future of Apple back then? They were almost bankrupt.
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Granted, but even a conservative investment in an S&P index late in the 1990s would've allowed me to buy back my M3 and at least a couple more, despite the stock market crashes of 2000, 2008 and 2020 and also despite higher prices on some items in 2021:

https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/stocks/s-p-500/1990
 
^^^^ Agreed! Buying risky Apple stock in the '90's would have set one up for riches today. I like Apple, having had a 128k Mac in 1984 and for a while I was a Certified Developer.
I bought some Apple stock in 1990 at $35 then bought some more in 1997 at $18.50 but as I recall it dipped down around $13 in that timeframe. All up, I had about $5,500 invested, and it grew, and split, and grew... In 2009 I arranged with a professional to manage my investments and he sold my Apple stock for $97,000. Apple was not paying any dividends then, and income had become a priority.
I wanted Apple back, so in 2012 I asked him to get me some, amounting to $9800... and it grew, and it split 7:1, and grew some more, and last year it split again 4:1, and today at $132 it's worth over $70,000. If I hadn't sold the original batch it would now be worth $4,435,000... can that be right? I'm starting to cry. Now they're paying dividends too.
 
Doug said:
^^^^ Agreed! Buying risky Apple stock in the '90's would have set one up for riches today. I like Apple, having had a 128k Mac in 1984 and for a while I was a Certified Developer.
I bought some Apple stock in 1990 at $35 then bought some more in 1997 at $18.50 but as I recall it dipped down around $13 in that timeframe. All up, I had about $5,500 invested, and it grew, and split, and grew... In 2009 I arranged with a professional to manage my investments and he sold my Apple stock for $97,000. Apple was not paying any dividends then, and income had become a priority.
I wanted Apple back, so in 2012 I asked him to get me some, amounting to $9800... and it grew, and it split 7:1, and grew some more, and last year it split again 4:1, and today at $132 it's worth over $70,000. If I hadn't sold the original batch it would now be worth $4,435,000... can that be right? I'm starting to cry. Now they're paying dividends too.
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It dipped down to $12-13 in the early 2000s too. Before the iPod was compatible with Windows. It split many times after the iPod and iPhone made the stock go crazy.
 
Doug said:
If I hadn't sold the original batch it would now be worth $4,435,000... can that be right? I'm starting to cry. Now they're paying dividends too.
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:eek:
But imagine how you'd feel if you put that $5500 into a savings account at 0.05% interest! After 30 years of compounded interest, your original $5500 investment would now be worth, uh, not quite $5600 today. But I gotta admit that investing in Apple in 1990 was pretty gutsy: First-gen Powerbooks were huge,but IMO much else about the company's products sort of sucked until they finally got a Unix-like OS.
 
Saw a original olive drab Leica M3 for grabs in 2011 at a local auction house. Didn't jump on it because it didn't have the original leatherette on the film door and was defective. It sold for US$3500.

9387431_bukobject.jpg


Another one I regret not buying was the Swedish military three crown Elmar 50mm 2.8 because it was screw mount. US$450
 
Doug said:
^^^^ Agreed! Buying risky Apple stock in the '90's would have set one up for riches today. I like Apple, having had a 128k Mac in 1984 and for a while I was a Certified Developer.
I bought some Apple stock in 1990 at $35 then bought some more in 1997 at $18.50 but as I recall it dipped down around $13 in that timeframe. All up, I had about $5,500 invested, and it grew, and split, and grew... In 2009 I arranged with a professional to manage my investments and he sold my Apple stock for $97,000. Apple was not paying any dividends then, and income had become a priority.
I wanted Apple back, so in 2012 I asked him to get me some, amounting to $9800... and it grew, and it split 7:1, and grew some more, and last year it split again 4:1, and today at $132 it's worth over $70,000. If I hadn't sold the original batch it would now be worth $4,435,000... can that be right? I'm starting to cry. Now they're paying dividends too.
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There have been so many 'hot stocks' over the years. It's easy to look back on the winners that were dumped and feel regret. Any regrets for buying and selling pets.com, or others of that ilk?
 
Further thoughts…

In the late 1990’s I bought a SWC on a whim. I’d read about how good the 38mm Biogon was for architecture, so that’s why I thought I’d buy one. Normally, I don’t like a perspective wider than 28mm (in 135 format) and the 38mm equates to about 23mm - outrageous! Well, there is just something magical about that lens - I loved the photos I got from the SWC. I’ve used my SWC more than any of my other Hasselblads or any other medium format camera - I am using it even now!

Digital cameras - many years ago a coworker found a 1MP HP C30 camera in a dumpster at work. Complete with box, papers. He tried it, tossed it back. I picked it out and used it for a while (this was when 8MP was common and 1MP was considered obsolete). I enjoyed the low resolution photos I got from it. After about a year I put it back in its box, put it on a shelf where company supplies are kept, and attached a note “works”. I don’t know what happened to it. I wish I’d kept it.
 
RObert Budding said:
There have been so many 'hot stocks' over the years. It's easy to look back on the winners that were dumped and feel regret. Any regrets for buying and selling pets.com, or others of that ilk?
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I never was much of a gambler: I bought one tech stock during the bubble years (NVDA) and did well with it, but for the most part I prefer nice and boring investments which nevertheless have much better returns than a typical savings account: 6% average from a decent mutual fund versus a guaranteed 0.05% with a "high yield" savings account? Even I can figure out that math.
 
I have mentioned, no regrets on cameras selling, because they were no it use.
About buying...
GRD III buying was dangerous thing. I want more GR(D)s. It is a trap!
And rest of cameras are in much less use now. :)
 
On a positve note, Tamarkin has a M4 in the same serial number range as mine for $2,150 usd. I bought mine from Igor two years ago. It's has had a full CLA plus DAG added a M3 style lens release collar, along with a Voigtlander 35 2.0 Ultron ASPH, the spendy hood and a bunch of film for the same amount!
 
Apple stock has done me very well over the years. I retired with a hefty chunk of it and it's only gotten more valuable over the years since.

It is a bit of a roller coaster ride, but as usual the way to consider it for wealth is to buy and hold, take/reinvest the dividends, and sell in small amounts when you need some extra cash and you're at a local peak.

I can't complain. :D

Back to cameras ... I have the itch to buy another SWC now, and I blame this thread. LOL!

G
 
raid said:
I once wanted either an OM-4T or OM-3. I never bought any OM lenses. I missed the boat.
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The 4T or 4Ti seem to be quite cheap at present. I was wondering about unloading some cameras and looked at the completed sales' prices on eBay and - as usual - got a lot of cameras come up that I wasn't interested in.

The surprise was the price of the 4Ti; one I've not owned and have often wondered about...

Regards, David

PS One of the advantages of my Olympus cameras - in my experience - is that they are seldom faulty and then cheap and easy to get repaired but things may have changed recently as the world seems in turmoil.
 
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