Cameras you regret selling or not buying?

[Kent]

I once was offered a beautiful DS M3 with a collapsible Summicron for a very, very decent price. And I did not buy it. Waaaahhhhhhh!

That's the only real thing I regret. I have sold some items that I liked and as well could have kept, but that's not really an issue for me.

 

[Pál_K]

...
I guess the one camera I regret selling was a black 64 plain prism Nikon F. Worn, smooth; must've belonged to a photojournalist, and the old, non-ai Nikkors are great on B&W film. ...

Yes. Definitely one of my favorites that I've used a lot.

 

[jsrockit]

You'd probably like an iPhone 11 Pro. Its cameras are excellent, and you have choice from ultra wide to just short telephoto with no add-on lenses required.

G

I actually prefer the Xs still... design wise and because 28mm is already too wide for my tastes, so an even wider lens is not for me. It is a shame the iPhone 11 (not pro) has two wide angles only. It is good for me...it`ll be cheaper.

 

[css9450]

I've never sold a camera, but I did indirectly contribute to one escaping from our family tree....

My mom once came back from a visit to her mother's house with an old camera case that had been her stepdad's. It was a postwar Contax of some kind (IIa?) with a couple extra lenses, probably a 35 and 85. Being incompatible with my Nikon SLRs, I didn't have any use for it, so she decided to take it down to the local camera shop to see what it was worth. I sort of figured she left it there on consignment.... Months went by, and I got curious: Had she heard any interest about the Contax? Turns out, they told her it was worth very little so she just gave it to them. Free. :bang:

I'd sure like to have that camera now.

 

[Photog9000]

I wish I had kept one of my Olympus OM-4T bodies and one of my Nikon D2H bodies. Really enjoyed using both of those cameras. When I first started freelancing for a little weekly newspaper in 1998, my Olys did a great job. I made the switch to Nikon for autofocus a few years later and traded up to the D2H model in 2003. Love the capabilities of the D2H.

 

[Creagerj]

I sometimes regret selling my Nikon F3 to fund a Nikon D200 about a decade ago. Mostly for sentimental reasons. That said, it was just sitting in a drawer and I'm happy to know someone else enjoyed using it.

Recently, I regret purchasing a Nikon F2 for technical reasons. I wanted it for macro photography and discovered it really wasn't the right choice for the type of photos I wanted to take because the light meter is not useful for timed exposures and using a handheld meter is not accurate enough for images that are 1:1 or 2:1, even 1:2 is kind of a stretch. I wound up getting an F4 later which works much better for the application. Still a fun camera and a good backup body.

The one that I've always had mixed feelings about is my Bronica RF645. Really a neat camera. But I had a problem where the curtain that automatically snaps down when you change a lens got jammed. I was able to have it repaired but that kind of made me wary of relying on it for anything important. Maybe because of that I just don't use it as often as I thought I would.

 

[Graybeard]

Don't regret selling my Widelux F6 and F7. Lovely Art Deco things to look at. Absolutely miserable selection of shutter speeds and perhaps the worst viewfinder experience ever made.
Bought them because of The Dude. Sold them because they blow.

Interestingly I bought a Horizon 202 recently which is better than the Widelux in every way possible apart from as neck jewelry. For about 1/10 of the cost. Also much more fun to shoot!
And it's better than the more expensive Horizon U500/Lomo Perfekt that I used to have.

I have both a Widelux f7 and two Horizon 202"s.

The Horizons are lovely until you take a shot and hear the screws and washers rattle loose inside the Russian jewel, then hang up on the next shot.

Not a fan of Russian hardware for reasons of experience.

 

[aizan]

I regret not buying a Bessa R2a back when they were inexpensive. Now they're too expensive! This "leaked" photo is stuck in my mind forever:

https://cameraquest.com/voigtr2ar3a.htm

 

[Beemermark]

I regret selling a Super Ikonta C (new in the box) with an 80mm Planar lens. Have never seen another one.


Lived close to a small town in NW Ohio and the camera shop was owned by an elderly German couple. The husband was "the" camera guy, I think the wife did the books, smiled at customers, and was just all around nice. This was the early '80's but the couple were out of the '30's. Pleasant place and being somewhat poor with a wife and 3 small children I mostly looked. The husband died (in '83 or '84) and the wife took to liquidating the stock (in preparation to selling the store). First everything that was in shelves and windows displays was marked down. So much nice stuff, so cheap, no money. Then she started bringing out stuff from the store rooms. Incredible. New (old) Leica's of every model, Contax's, more, more and more. By this time I was driving 20 miles into town just to look and droll at cameras I had only read about. Then one day there it was. A brand nice Super Ikonta C with an 80mm Planar lens for about $100. Knowing the camera was worth a lot more and I had never heard of one with a Planar lens I talked a co-worker into lending me $100 to buy it. I shot a couple rolls of film and then sold it to a Japanese collector for enough money to buy an M4 and make 3 or 4 mortgage payments. But the few shots got from it were just beautiful. Today if I could find that camera at any price I'd buy it back.

 

[phrons]

My wife regrets all my cameras

 

[Vince Lupo]

I probably regret having sold a bunch of cameras, but then again I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to try all of them.

If I had to choose one that I regret having sold, it would be this:


cont1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[MISH]

My wife regrets all my cameras

I am just lucky that a lot of them look similar

 

[Larry Cloetta]

I probably regret having sold a bunch of cameras, but then again I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to try all of them.

If I had to choose one that I regret having sold, it would be this:


cont1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Holy Moly. I’d likely regret that too.
On the other hand, did yours actually work? I’ve heard stories to the effect they mostly didn’t.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Holy Moly. I’d likely regret that too.
On the other hand, did yours actually work? I’ve heard stories to the effect they mostly didn’t.

I had it completely overhauled by Frank Marshman, even the light meter worked. Plus, if you look closely at that photo you’ll see a tiny lens in the lower right - that was a 28mm f/8. They never made one for this camera, so it was likely adapted to fit this camera. Probably the only one around. The whole kit went to a collector in South Korea.

 

[besk]

I regret selling my first Leica M6, then my second M6 and maybe will regret selling my present M6. Of course regret selling my Leica CL outfit and two M2's.

 

[Out to Lunch]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Kvu6Kgp88

 

[Godfrey]

I actually prefer the Xs still... design wise and because 28mm is already too wide for my tastes, so an even wider lens is not for me. It is a shame the iPhone 11 (not pro) has two wide angles only. It is good for me...it`ll be cheaper.

Yes, I saw they went that way with the standard 11, which is why I went with the Pro. I had the 8 Plus before, which had the 1x and 2x cameras, and I extended that with the Moment 18mm and 58mm accessory lenses for 0.5x and 4x capability. I still use those lenses on the 1x and 2x cameras ... you can't get raw files out of the 0.5x camera and the quality is better. The 11 cameras are a significant step up from the Xs cameras, technically, and the 11 has much better capabilities in low light circumstances.

For me, it was worth the premium price. It's such a good camera I can often just carry it and not worry about carrying anything else for casual shooting, and carry a Polaroid or whatever for more special stuff. 😀

G

 

[KoNickon]

My mother had been given a Leica IIIa for her high school graduation (1938) with a Summar and a slew of filters and accessories, including a rapid winder. (I know; really nice present!) She used it regularly for some time, but traded all of it at the local camera shop for a Pentax P30 SLR sometime in the early/mid '80s. It all needed servicing of course, but she'd taken excellent care of it. I wish I'd had the $ at the time to buy it from her. She did get a lot of good use out of that Pentax though -- my parents were able to travel a fair amount after retiring.

As for me, I regret selling an M4-2 and FM3N -- both were really pretty and I decided I would get along fine with my other, user grade Ms and FM2/FE2s.

 

[Tom R]

Although this doesn't quite fit into the category of "selling ...." Years ago, I lent an old and worn, but trusty M2 and a 50mm Summicron lens to one of my nieces who was dating a photographer and had desires to learn photography. (Hell, that M2 body had just been CLA'd by Sherry K., if I recall correctly.)

Long story short: she ended that relationship and I never saw that camera (or lens) again; and that was fifteen years ago.

I know that there's a lesson in all of this ... but I find it difficult to "regret" acts of kindness towards others. I just wish that it didn't cost so much.

 

[ACullen]

I regret the Nikon F70 I bought in order to have an AF SLR. I had a fully functional Contax 139 at the time . Now 23 years later I’ve long since abandoned the F70 but use the Contax a great deal. The F70 has possibly the worse user interface I’ve ever experienced. What was I thinking.....