Daniel Kramer's SP

[dsadowski]

Photographer Daniel Kramer, whose chrome Nikon SP is on the cover of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album (in the hands of Dylan pal Bob Neuwirth) passed away on April 29. 2024. Does anyone know what became of this camera? An obit in thetimes.com shows him in old age, holding a chrome SP that I assume is the same camera. This would have to be one of the more famous Nikon SPs.

 

[laservampire]

I found this short video on the Music Photo Gallery website showing him holding the SP, looks like he was using a Nikkor-H 5cm f2 on it

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/0c8800_6aaed9d98cdc45c1becfc79a87866c6d/360p/mp4/file.mp4

 

[NIKON KIU]

Although the camera took many memorable images, the photographer gets the credit.
Maybe that’s why the cameras aren’t appreciated as much as the images…the images are more valued.

This is a phenomenon that doesn’t hold in other areas, a Jimi Hendrix guitar is valued a lot more than his music…

Kiu

 

[ddutchison2]

... a Jimi Hendrix guitar is valued a lot more than his music…

I'm sure you can say the same thing about a Bresson Leica I or an Adams Zeiss Jewel

 

[Dogman]

a Jimi Hendrix guitar is valued a lot more than his music…

Probably not the one he burned at Monterey.


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[MISH]

I am sure if you had the guitar that Hendrix burned at Monterey you could suddenly find yourself very rich

 

[Freakscene]

This is a phenomenon that doesn’t hold in other areas, a Jimi Hendrix guitar is valued a lot more than his music…

The rights to Hendrix’s music is valued at $175 million + and rising every day. His music is worth way more than his guitars.

 

[NIKON KIU]

No one collects the right to the music, people do make song lists in their mobile devices, what does that cost?

I don’t really keep records of famous peoples cameras… I wonder if any of Ansel Adams cameras sold for super big bucks?
I do know a signed print of his is worth BIG BUCKS!

Is Mr. Hemingway’s typewriter worth a million?

 

[Freakscene]

No one collects the right to the music, people do make song lists in their mobile devices, what does that cost?

Yes they do. Just not the sort of people that most people know. What adding the song to your phone does is contribute to the fact that, as an example, the rights to Hendrix’s music earn about $4.5M annually. The value just lies in a different place.

I don’t really keep records of famous peoples cameras… I wonder if any of Ansel Adams cameras sold for super big bucks?

Several of Ansels’s cameras also sold at a very high price. But there is no comparison; a copy of Are You Experienced would be worth millions if there were only a few dozen in existence instead of 9+ million.

I do know a signed print of his is worth BIG BUCKS!

Is Mr. Hemingway’s typewriter worth a million?

One of Hemingway’s typewriters sold for several hundred thousand $. As much or more than a signed first edition. Again, the value in the chain lies in a different place. But Hemingway is an interesting one; his collective works earned about $3M annually for much of the second half of the 20th century, but, as an example, A Farewell to Arms, as of 2025, is now in the public domain. So the rights to Hemingway’s works will diminish in value over the coming 25 years until signed editions and typewriters are worth more than the rights to the works, which, by then, will have expired.

Comparisons between items where the values in the chain are misplaced are just deceptive.

 

[NIKON KIU]

Like Picasso’s paint brush?

Kiu

 

[Freakscene]

Like Picasso’s paint brush?

Kiu

Yes, exactly.

Picasso used way more brushes in his career than he produced major works. But he produced tens of thousands of minor works. His brushes sell for about the same as his squiggles on napkins.