Don't Use = Sell?

[derevaun]

A friend of mine has recently been putting several cameras back into Ebay storage. I guess I always thought of it returning items to the Ebay library. Either way, they're probably gonna be there if you need them. If it meets a need, and you can afford it, you ought to do it.

 

[Zack]

I say dont sell. Its nice to have a collection and sometimes you get a wild hair and want to use one of them.

 

[pvdhaar]

I think it depends on the looks of the camera, but some do make for extraordinarily good looking props. Sometimes a model really needs to have something in his/her hands, and a camera would be just about as good as it gets..

 

[Will]

Why buy something you gonna sell in the first place?

Maybe trading-up is an exception...

 

[MCTuomey]

i prefer to sell what i don't use on a regular basis.

i get all antsy having too much gear.

Interesting thread. I share Joe's feeling about unused equipment. I don't like gear lying around that sees little or no use. For example, I was quite pleased to find out after trying several fifties that the Elmar and I get along very well - it just stays on the camera. So my other ones need to go. I guess I'm kinda the anti-collector. Even when I like the gear, if it's not used I'm compelled to trim the load.

 

[Sean Moran]

Cultured man.

Cultured man.

If you don't rotate cameras, then there is no real reason to keep them, other than sentimentality, as you mentioned. I recently sold off a number of my cameras other than my retinae because I had come to some conclusions about my photographic goals and needs and my existing stock of medium format folders didn't meet them. It was purely a logical and unemotional issue.

Having said that, if anyone wants a retina IIa or I, let me know.

allan

"Retinae" - now there's a cultured man.

Seán

Or even "Retinæ

 

[Ash]

Why buy something you gonna sell in the first place?

Maybe trading-up is an exception...

Seems like a silly question to ask, since I own so much second-hand gear, and frequently buy and sell. If you buy something then you can give it a try, maybe for a few weeks, maybe for a few years. You never know when or if you'll sell it, but if it has secondhand retail value you won't be at too much of a loss.

In this way (kind of like the library thing I guess) I see it as renting. You may be at a minor loss, or if you keep something that becomes vintage you may end up at a significant gain. Either way you have a new experience and you satisfy curiosity.

That's why with my other hobby, longboarding, I have a lot of gear I've either bought from other people who got bored of it, or have sold things of my own I was either bored of, or shedded from the huge collection to pay for something new. I've had the chance to get a full use of the gear, then sold it on to try something else.

No boy, these sardines are for buying and selling, not for eating