Do you know what your cameras and lenses are worth?

I keep a simple Google Docs spreadsheet. It includes notes of how much I paid for an item, when it was acquired, serials, if and when it was serviced and a conservative sales price estimate. I don't dream of making money by selling my gear but I want to know how much I have money tied up in it.
 
Yes I do. It makes me upset when I realize how much I have invested in my 4x5" setup which I used 3 or 4 times over last year ...
 
Only really if I'm selling stuff, which I am at the moment. I do research prices when I'm buying. I should probably do something more formal for insurance purposes.
 
As an aside, on insurance I use a mac program from Circus Ponies called NoteBook to record a picture of any valuables, along with serial numbers if applicable and any other details. This thread reminds me I meant to scan in receipts and put them their too and most importantly to email a copy of the file to my gmail account.
 
Fairly well.

I know that even when I paid silly prices for Leica kit they are in no case worth less than what I paid for them. Even my new kit is worth the same now used as I bought it for. Crazy, but true.

I don't think about it though. I keep what I need and I sell what I don't, but I sell very little because I never quite know....
 
Yes, but only because I recently updated the insurance on them. After a few re-arrangements I'll be doing that again in a few weeks.
 
Yes.
My cameras and lenses are worth getting up before dawn on a rainy day just in case the lake looks especially interesting, they are worth the "you should get a digital" comments from strangers, they are worth buying the larger sized winter coat so I have room in it to carry a camera, they are worth the time and expense to send my film for processing, they are worth the wait to get the film back from the lab, they are worth the prints my friends and family have on their walls, and they are worth the time and effort I am spending in learning how and why to use them.
Rob
 
rbiemer said:
Yes.
My cameras and lenses are worth getting up before dawn on a rainy day just in case the lake looks especially interesting, they are worth the "you should get a digital" comments from strangers, they are worth buying the larger sized winter coat so I have room in it to carry a camera, they are worth the time and expense to send my film for processing, they are worth the wait to get the film back from the lab, they are worth the prints my friends and family have on their walls, and they are worth the time and effort I am spending in learning how and why to use them.
Rob
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Dear Rob,

Nicely put. I am duly chastened for my sloppy phraseology.

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Rob,

Nicely put. I am duly chastened for my sloppy phraseology.

Cheers,

R.
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Roger,
No chastisement was intended! I was just feeling a bit, err, lyrical this morning.
As far as dollar value, well I don't buy the gear I use as an investment and I don't worry about resale unless/until I'm selling something, then I figure what money I may not recover as a "rental" for what ever it is I'm selling.
If I end up ahead a bit that is great...but it hasn't happened very often.
Rob
 
rbiemer said:
Yes.
My cameras and lenses are worth getting up before dawn on a rainy day just in case the lake looks especially interesting, they are worth the "you should get a digital" comments from strangers, they are worth buying the larger sized winter coat so I have room in it to carry a camera, they are worth the time and expense to send my film for processing, they are worth the wait to get the film back from the lab, they are worth the prints my friends and family have on their walls, and they are worth the time and effort I am spending in learning how and why to use them.
Rob
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Rob, that can be a manifesto or something :)
 
Matus said:
Yes I do. It makes me upset when I realize how much I have invested in my 4x5" setup which I used 3 or 4 times over last year ...
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Don't get upset. I use my 4 by 5 set up 2 x in the last 2 years but it has been worth it each time. For me the large format experience is special. I shoot a few sheets of velvi and then have one or 2 printed as ilfochromes. If you shot every week it would lose something


Nik
Btw I also have a tachihara. Beautiful
Camera!
 
The "worth" of my cameras

The "worth" of my cameras

Finance wise, no idea. What are they really worth to me?, everything. Having recently lost a very close friend, my cameras are the reason to live, they make me want to get up in the morning, to get out and shoot, to see what the next day will bring, to WANT to see what the next day will bring. Before I made myself get my cameras out and shoot, there was just a great black void ahead, but now the light is getting brighter at the end of the tunnel.
So my cameras are worth the world to me, you could say they gave me my life back. Not many hobbies you can say that about.
 
There are a very few cameras I have bought to resell and value has obviously been a key consideration. But this has not always worked well. If I need to tinker with one, make it function well again, take it out and runs some test shots, by that stage there is usually enough of me invested in it personally that I can form an emotional attachment that makes it very difficult to part with it. This has happened a few times. When I buy a camera (or a lens, to a lesser extent) that I plan to keep, then I only care about whether or not I can afford to buy it. What it is going to be worth in six months or six years time I couldn't care less about. A piece of equipment capable of delivering the kinds of images that inspire you has value that cannot necessarily be measured in dollars and cents (substitute pounds, pence; euro; etc.).

I'm eyeing off a purchase this week hopefully. The model may well climb in value appreciably in years to come. I just know that, for a raft of reasons, this magnificent and iconic model is, during this window of time, as infeasibly as it seems, within my financial grasp. So I'll probably buy one. If I do I doubt I will ever let it go, and its future value will be irrelevant, because it's value to me will be near priceless.
Regards,
Brett
 
I've got a rough recollection of what I paid for most of my gear which was not always market value but I've rarely bought stuff thinking about resale.
In fact the only camera I sold was a Pentax MZ-50 I got for $10 and sold for $20...
I've made a start on photographing and documenting my collection with serial numbers etc which will all go in a spreadsheet so I have a record if anything gets stolen or destroyed.
I know it isn't worth much, most of my cameras have been under $100 and a lot of them under $50...gee I love it when people go digi!!!
If I sold the lot I would be able to get a DSLR only one or two steps up from entry level whereas now I have cameras that would have cost months of basic wage when new but cost me a few weeks of beer money...
My pocket digi cost me as much as the most expensive film camera I own...
I have considered selling mow of them off to get one or two really nice cameras (a Leica M, a Hassy and a 4x5 monorail would be a nice set...) but a lot of them I just couldn't part with...
 
I also have a good way of rationalising any losses...
I choose not to smoke and I don't drink much so I can spend that "saved" money that most of my friends and family don't have and I don't need to feel guilty about it...and I'm saving my health too!
:)
 
To me some are priceless as they are ones I used for a long time but got stolen and so I got replacements. For sentimental reasons they are priceless as are a few of the ones my wife bought me. If I use something on the relative short term a year or two for digital its worth whatever someone will give me for them, what I lose is rental. I can not really be bothered to sell my film cameras, except I sold a Bronica ETRS as I just did not get on with it. A large number of cameras I use cost me less than £10 so I guess they are relatively worthless, but the use I get out of them is priceless.
 
Individually, I know how much certain bodies, lenses and other items could potentially sell for...as a whole...No
 
Derwent said:
I also have a good way of rationalising any losses...
I choose not to smoke and I don't drink much so I can spend that "saved" money that most of my friends and family don't have and I don't need to feel guilty about it...and I'm saving my health too!
:)
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Instead of Levi's I buy Dickies and will wear them until the wife won't allow me out of the house in them...the money saved keeps the cameras clicking...
I also don't drink or smoke but haven't thought of using that saved money for gear...hmmm
 
I'm about to find out because the "how many cameras do you own?" thread got me thinking yesterday and I decided that 10 (9 if you don't count the digital) is simply too many and so I'm going to offload the two G2 bodies and lenses on ebay and if that turns out satisfactorily then a couple more will follow. My aim is to finish up with 3 M cameras (one each for FP4, HP5 and colour slide), the Rollei 35 (simply because it is a quirky little wonder of engineering), the R7 plus 100 mm macro and one LF camera and I suppose I'll keep the digital for the odd occasion when I might need it.
 
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