Getting started on thinning the herd

all my gear fits into one camera bag…kinda ironic eh?
i am actually purging in all areas…clothes i don't wear, shoes…stuff of all kinds…i have gone through the basement twice in the past year or so…an still more stuff to go.
i hope to move into a smaller place in the future..i now live in a 3 bedroom condo and there is only myself and the dog! i want less space to fill and clean...
 
gb hill said:
My C-41 color film has me depressed in trying to figure what to do with it. Almost all my local options for getting it developed have diminished. The few places that are left want an arm & a leg just for developing the film. I have 3 rolls waiting for developing & am contemplating on throwing it all in the trash because the photo's I doubt are any good. Just start out fresh, I say to myself. Buy a color C-41 kit & do it myself.
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C-41 is easy enough to do yourself, but there is always millerslab.com. $4.10 for development of 36 exposures ($2.05 for 24) and free return shipping by fedex (min $15 order, so 4 rolls and you're there.)
 
lynnb said:
It's fun to play with different systems and lenses, but too much choice can divert one's attention from anything - including making pictures - IMHO. 'Decision block' is real :(

Congratulations on making a start. I'm guessing the real test will be, can you resist building up another collection!
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Well, Lynn, I did sell off another collection a little over ten years ago, but under different circumstances. Then I needed survival money. Most of those were collectibles instead of users, so this time it will be harder to let some go because of the work I put into acquiring, and sometimes repairing them for use.

PF
 
sreed2006 said:
If you didn't go broke on this venture, I do not see a downside.

Curiosity is the spark that leads to learning. Learning new things is a great pastime and is personally rewarding. Sharing your knowledge benefits others.

I too have more cameras and lenses than I will ever wear out this lifetime, in several brands and formats, plus I have more film than I can use in a year. But it is nice to have an answer for someone struggling with, or curious about, a bit of equipment or media. Having the item at hand makes it so much easier to give the correct answer - I can look at it while composing the answer.

Perhaps before you let each item go, write up what you know and have learned about the item. Take pictures. Collect those writings and images and put it all on a web site?

Don't let everything you know be lost, with the mistaken assumption that nobody cares. There's lots of curious people out here.
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You could always peruse my Flickr album pages. Lots of camera tests, and repair info there. https://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/albums

PF
 
back alley said:
all my gear fits into one camera bag…kinda ironic eh?
i am actually purging in all areas…clothes i don't wear, shoes…stuff of all kinds…i have gone through the basement twice in the past year or so…an still more stuff to go.
i hope to move into a smaller place in the future..i now live in a 3 bedroom condo and there is only myself and the dog! i want less space to fill and clean...
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Yeah, I've come to the realization, Joe, that I don't need to hang onto all the work gear, and information that I needed on a daily basis when I was still employed. And I've accumulated a lot of stuff of a personal nature that no one would care about anymore.

And papers. I always had to make a duplicate of each and every document I signed at work, so I would be covered whenever the company tried to pull a fast one. That can all be recycled now.

PF
 
I have already gone through the purging, down to one camera that sees proper use (Leica M3 with a 50 collapsible) and have a pocket Ricoh GR1s for weekdays plus a Rolleiflex when i want MF.

So liberating not needing to think about what to take!
Ben
 
Hi,

I'll offer a little advice as I've been there and have the scars...

Make a database or spreadsheet listing of what you find as you go and, with things like cheap to buy P&S's, the last three numbers of the S/N. If you're like me you'll be amazed at what you've got and forgotten. And at what you've duplicated. That's where the S/N's come in handy, as you discover the 12th Olympus XA2...

As for filters, the best way to get rid of them all (especially the 49mm ones) is to slip a couple into the parcel as you sell off the cameras and so that you can pack them safely for the post, start looking at prices and delivery times for Chinese lens caps.

Regards, David
 
And so it begins

And so it begins

I decided that the first camera I should get rid of would be the one that I would like to part with the least. Getting that out of the way will make the rest easier. It also frees up my Original Domke bag for the Nikons.

These went to the Camera Heritage Museum in Staunton, VA
14372829771_f3ecfab436_n.jpg

Lordomat Grouping by P F McFarland, on Flickr

Dave was very pleased to receive them.

PF
 
mdarnton said:
As I said in another thread yesterday or so, I have reached the age that I think if I start giving stuff away at the same rate I acquired it, if I die on the schedule my family traditionally follows, I'll leave a clean estate, so I've started to de-accession. But I haven't gotten to camera gear yet. I'm starting with things in the attic, or buried under piles, that I never use but have been holding on to anyway.

Along the way I have discovered something interesting. Remember how they said book megastores would kill publishing because they'd only stock what people wanted to buy, nothing obscure? What I found at the time was that any store that was 6X the size of the supposedly-endangered local book store was more likely, not less, to have books I wanted. Now Amazon has everything I want, used if not new. However, all those obscure but important books that I gradually found over the years: the supposed saviors of the book culture, the small used book stores. . . they don't want my obscure books any more than their new book small store predecessors did--they won't even take them if I give them to them. All they want is best sellers in each category--the rest go in the trash. Think of that the next time you curse Amazon's business model. /rant
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As somebody whose entire career has been sustained by the enthusiasm of independent booksellers, I can say with confidence that this argument is rather myopic. I admire Amazon's innovations in book tech and retail efficiency, but their ruthless undercutting of the publishers' pricing model is extremely destructive. They sell books below cost as loss leaders, making competition in book retailing nearly impossible. They are running a new kind of monopoly, fueled by stock prices completely divorced from profits. And midlist writers like me can't make a living from our work anymore.

I'm not complaining exactly; money isn't why I got into the business. But I do wish that my government would lend a hand to my centuries-old artisanal trade in its meager efforts to prevent a consumer electronics retailer from burning it down to the ground.
 
I find limiting yourself extremely liberating and it forces you to be creative. My perfect setup is one camera, two lenses (wide angle and modest tele) and a compact flash. Think Cartier-Bresson.

Google "decision fatigue" and you will find that some of the most creative persons deliberately limit themselves. Einstein had one suit, Steve Jobs only wore turtlenecks, Mark Zuckerberg only wears gray hoodies and a jeans, Elan Musk only has one style of suit and one style of shirt (meaning he probably has a dozen of the same). President Obama recently said that making decisions starts the minute you get up, decide what to wear, what watch, what cologne, what pair of shoes. By the time many people leave the house, decision fatigue has already set in, which limits the number of creative decisions you can make for the rest of the day.

Less is more.
 
As somebody whose entire career has been sustained by the enthusiasm of independent booksellers, I can say with confidence that this argument is rather myopic. I admire Amazon's innovations in book tech and retail efficiency, but their ruthless undercutting of the publishers' pricing model is extremely destructive. They sell books below cost as loss leaders, making competition in book retailing nearly impossible. They are running a new kind of monopoly, fueled by stock prices completely divorced from profits. And midlist writers like me can't make a living from our work anymore.

I'm not complaining exactly; money isn't why I got into the business. But I do wish that my government would lend a hand to my centuries-old artisanal trade in its meager efforts to prevent a consumer electronics retailer from burning it down to the ground.
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Book business is in the dumpster..has been for a long time..
Started out w/Amazon killing most if not all the lil mom and pop bookstores..as well as the big uns..Borders etc..and publishers..
Then came 9/11..and the Wall St banking disaster..further eroding the retail book market..
Then people..pretty much..just stopped reading books..and went to the internet and their cell phones..
As a self published book author..as well as a retail book and gift store owner for the past 22 years..I saw it all go down the tubes..for good..
But at least we have the internet and e-books now..and cheap self publishing..still can sort of make a little dough here and there..thru book sales online..and in the shop..
But its real, real tough..
 
Emile de Leon said:
Book business is in the dumpster..has been for a long time..
Started out w/Amazon killing most if not all the lil mom and pop bookstores..as well as the big uns..Borders etc..and publishers..
Then came 9/11..and the Wall St banking disaster..further eroding the retail book market..
Then people..pretty much..just stopped reading books..and went to the internet and their cell phones..
As a self published book author..as well as a retail book and gift store owner for the past 22 years..I saw it all go down the tubes..for good..
But at least we have the internet and e-books now..and cheap self publishing..still can sort of make a little dough here and there..thru book sales online..and in the shop..
But its real, real tough..
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I'm not quite as pessimistic as you are—I do think these changes have created more space for independent publishers, who are willing to publish more challenging and unusual books—but yeah, my days of being able to count on writing income are over. I'm lucky to have a good day job in academia, though.
 
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