I understand the hoarder mentality. It's a brain issue. Most people that do it don't even notice themselves having too many cameras I'm sure. Just like an OCD person washing their hands 40 times a day. I've got it bad.. I hoard lots of things. Fortunately I know it, and try to keep it at bay and use common sense.
Every camera I have, I have put at least one roll of film through. I also only own cheap cameras that most people wouldn't want to mess with anyway. I fiddle with them regularly, just to try to appreciate the design that went into them, and try to think back to what it was like when people were using them in the 50's and 60's.
I've got three Vespa scooters in my garage, a motorcycle, a classic car, a pickup, a station wagon, and the daily driver. I drive them all except for the two non-running scooters. In my case, I realize that the thrill of the hunt up to ownership is what drives me. Once I get the items, I quickly get bored and move on to my next aquisition goal.
Cameras have been cheaper than cars 😉
My mom use to drag me around to garage sales and auctions when I was a kid, and she filled our house with junk. So I'm pretty sure it's genetic! Fortunately my dad is a minimalist, and I have a bit of his genes in me.
My biggest issue is that I hate getting rid of things, so I just keep filling empty space with more junk.
My annoyance with camera collecting comes in where the 'collector' doesn't know anything about the camera, or has cameras that don't work. I went to a swap meet recently and saw a guy with a lot of various rangefinders. I was asking him to demonstrate how they worked, and asked him which ones worked, if they were usable, etc.... He just kind of mumbled at me, and fidgeted a lot. He kept rearranging them on the table as if he had OCD. He had a Leica M4. Being new to cameras and the hobby, I asked him to explain why a Leica is worth more than his Canonet on the table. He didn't have an answer for me. He said he'd never even used it because he never got a lens for it. I asked if I could handle it and open it up to examine it, but he was really adimant that I have to be serious about buying it if I'm going to 'possibly break it.'
It was kind of sad. I have a lot of fun with the hobby currently, and I've shot over 300' of b&w film in the past 3 months in about 20 different cameras. This guy was clearly trapped by his cameras. He looked miserable, and every time someone came by and handled one of his BROKEN old cameras with a value of maybe $5.00, he'd spend a good 30 seconds putting it back in its place on the table and muttering to himself. Poor guy.. I felt bad for him. I have no idea why he was even entered as a seller at the show. Probably his wife telling him he had to pick 100 cameras to get out of their house 😉
Either way, I don't want to become that guy. Right now I'm contemplating selling off some of my Yashicas and other antique cameras with the goal of having one nice rangefinder kit.
Oh, I forgot my point:
I wanted to complain about people collecting things due to the fact that the things WILL age. It's a viscious circle. Person A owns and enjoys an item, and is clueless as to its value. Person B is a shark that swindles Person A out of his item, and feeds the sickness of Person C, who is a 'collector' and will pay top dollar for something they won't use, but can't control their compulsion to own.
I like antique AM radios. The old catalin ones are selling for top dollar. The people buying them may or may not realize that as they age, the catalin shrinks and eventually breaks. Someone might pay 5000 dollars for a Fada bullet radio that will eventually self destruct. First the glass bezel will shatter one day at random. Then the casing will distort and fracture. See, I'm sane enough to realize that it's a bad investment! But these poor saps can't restrain.
It's the Person B's of the world that annoy me the most.. The sneaky middlemen that up the price, create the hysteria, and take advantage of the Person C's.
As this relates to cameras, I see a lot of interesting cameras that I'd like to use, but when I ask the seller (usually a Person B,) they tell me "oh, that doesn't work, but it'd make a good addition to your collection." or "I don't know anything about it. It might work, it might not."
My one rule of camera collecting is that I will not buy anything that doesn't work. The problem comes in where I keep finding WORKING cameras 😉
