I wish I'd never sold my...

[Tom A]

Dear Tom,

You had a weakness for (very upmarket) rustbuckets, then?

Cheers,

R.

Roger, the Porsche was a swiss built Beutler bodied roadster - not much rust in it. Went like a stink and if you lifted throttle foot in a turn, it would do a nice 180 degree turn in no time. No convertible top - kind of cold in the swedish winter!
The Bentley was OK, some edge rust around the "spats" on the rear fenders - some nicks and dents - much like my cameras - but it would proceed in a stately fashion and was a very smooth ride.
I do like the "end of life" type of cars - they are cheap and you can usually squeeze another 10-15000 miles out of them.
Current clunker is a E260 Mercedes with 190 000 km on it (1989). Last of the "iron horses" according to a friend with long experience in these cars. No rust at all - 2 owner before me - last one for 20 years. Everything works including the Becker Grand Prix radio. I like the fact that when you close a door - it has a resounding "clunk" to it - no rattle at all. Probably no depreciation either - I paid $1700 for it with spare set of correct alloy rims!
Any car that costs more than a good 50mm lens for a M is overpriced!
Tom

 

[Roger Hicks]

Roger, the Porsche was a swiss built Beutler bodied roadster - not much rust in it. Went like a stink and if you lifted throttle foot in a turn, it would do a nice 180 degree turn in no time. No convertible top - kind of cold in the swedish winter!
The Bentley was OK, some edge rust around the "spats" on the rear fenders - some nicks and dents - much like my cameras - but it would proceed in a stately fashion and was a very smooth ride.
I do like the "end of life" type of cars - they are cheap and you can usually squeeze another 10-15000 miles out of them.
Current clunker is a E260 Mercedes with 190 000 km on it (1989). Last of the "iron horses" according to a friend with long experience in these cars. No rust at all - 2 owner before me - last one for 20 years. Everything works including the Becker Grand Prix radio. I like the fact that when you close a door - it has a resounding "clunk" to it - no rattle at all. Probably no depreciation either - I paid $1700 for it with spare set of correct alloy rims!
Any car that costs more than a good 50mm lens for a M is overpriced!
Tom

Dear Tom,

Highlight 1: OK, pre-production. And Swiss. That's cheating. Reminds me (tragically) of the 50s Sunbeam Talbot Alpine 2-seat roadster I didn't buy in the early 70s, rebuilt substantially at Her Majesty's expense at RNEC (Royal Naval Engineering College) Manadon: 11 coats of Rolls Royce Metallic Silver, among other tart-ups such as diff stripped, rebuilt and nickel-plated (internally). He was asking GBP 300; I offered GBD 280; he sold it for GBP 180; and when I later heard this and asked him why he hadn't come back to me, he said, "I didn't think you were serious." Damn! GBP 280 was all I had... AAAARGH! This was the Talbot, not the nasty little thing that also appeared with the V8 as a Tiger. And then there was the Daimler DE36. One of 202 ever built.

Highlight 2: It wouldn't have improved with keeping...

Highlight 3: Brilliant! I shall borrow that one! May even form the basis for a Short Schrift (http://www.rogerandfrances.com/short/z short schrift archive.html).

Probably tomorrow we're picking up a 1990 Peugeot 309 diesel to join a 1990 Seat Marbella (with a noisy diff -- yes, 10,000 miles since we bought it for 1100€ -- second-hand cars are quite expensive in France), a 1972 Series III Land Rover, a 1978 BMW R100RS and a 1966 Mobylette. . .

Cheers,

R.

 

[Darthfeeble]

My first RD-1 and even more my second RD-1 that I bought because I regretted selling the first one.

 

[Harry Lime]

I used to have a Noctilux, which I shot for about one year. Ultimately I sold it because the lens was too big, too heavy, the focus throw was too long and I wasn't too crazy about the optical fingerprint.

So, I picked up a Summilux-M 1.4/50 (last pre ASPH) at a bargain price (demo unit).
I shot it and somehow I wasn't pleased with the results and ended up selling it quickly.

Then a few weeks later I printed a whole bunch of the negs I had shot with the Lux and went over the rest of them with a fresh eye and had something of an epiphany.

I ended up tracking down another Lux right away and ever since it's been my standard 50 on the M.

 

[jwhitley]

Timely to find this thread. I just finished my first sell-off of photo gear, letting all of my Nikon film and digital kit go(**). My film work has shifted elsewhere (to RF and 4x5) and I'd outgrown the starter digital kit.

Rather than upgrade the Nikon (d)SLRs and lenses, I decided to cross-grade to an OM-D E-M5. I can use my modest set of M-mount lenses, and there are many lovely high-IQ primes available for m43 these days.

I certainly do feel some nostalgic pangs, but it was really time to let this stuff go. The key realization was that it's been holding me back rather than enabling my work. Some other redundant gear will be going shortly, along the same lines. Simplify, simplify!

(**) With the sole exception of my father's pristine Nikon F Photomic, with restored metering. You'd never guess that all of my family's photos were taken with it, except for the prints and negatives. ;-)

 

[Roger Hicks]

Timely to find this thread. I just finished my first sell-off of photo gear, letting all of my Nikon film and digital kit go(**). My film work has shifted elsewhere (to RF and 4x5) and I'd outgrown the starter digital kit.

Rather than upgrade the Nikon (d)SLRs and lenses, I decided to cross-grade to an OM-D E-M5. I can use my modest set of M-mount lenses, and there are many lovely high-IQ primes available for m43 these days.

I certainly do feel some nostalgic pangs, but it was really time to let this stuff go. The key realization was that it's been holding me back rather than enabling my work. Some other redundant gear will be going shortly, along the same lines. Simplify, simplify!

(**) With the sole exception of my father's pristine Nikon F Photomic, with restored metering. You'd never guess that all of my family's photos were taken with it, except for the prints and negatives. ;-)

YES!

Cheers,

R.

 

[Paul Jenkin]

I wish I hadn't sold / traded my first camera (an Edixamat with an f2.8 lens and a waist level finder.)

I hated that sodding camera in many ways. It was particularly useless when I needed it to shoot action shots at motor cycle speedway matches. Trying to focus manually whilst following a reversed image in a WLF is a surreally frustrating experience. At the time, I could barely afford film and chemicals - a prism finder was way out of my league in 1974. However, it was MY camera and given to me by my parents on my 13th birthday.

Why not replace it? Well, it isn't cost - you can pick these up for less than £50 if you're lucky. It isn't scarcity, either as I've seen a few of them down the years. The reason I don't / haven't replaced it is because it wouldn't be MY camera, it would be someone else's. You opnly have ONE "first camera".

 

[Vics]

I wish I'd never sold my Kenner Kittywake. 23' long overall, only drew 2'10", sailed herself on a beam reach, and had berths for all four of us. Design ala Carl Alberg. Oh, that was a beautiful boat, and we had some wonderful times in her.

 

[goamules]

An 1868 Voigtlander Petzval, because I was feeling sorry for the guy's sob story about being a poor teacher that just wanted a lens to shoot wetplate with his students. The next few months, he started buying more and more brass LF lenses all around the globe, and I stopped counting when he'd spent over $5,000 in a few weeks. I have ton's of petzvals so haven't actively tried to replace it, I seek other makes.

Also, an M1 Garand bayonet my dad brought back from the Marines, A Ruger No. 1 in .22-250, and a 64 Ford Falcon Sprint. But I'm usually happy just to have had them once.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

No cameras. I gave away my Nikkormats with lenses to my son because I replaced it with an F3 & F4. The one thing that I should not have sold was my 1970 Chevy Chevelle convertible, red with black interior.

 

[Simon Bruxelles]

My M2 back in the early 90s: I'd lost my job and had two young children to feed. I advertised the body for £200 in Loot and met an eager buyer in a fast food restaurant just off Piccadilly Circus. My big mistake was leaving the 35mm F2 Summicron on the camera because as soon as he saw it he increased his offer to £240. We settled on £260. I can remember thinking "if I don't have the camera the lens isn't going to be much use to me, is it?". It was another ten years before I realised what i'd done. The reason I haven't replaced it? Have you seen how much those lenses are worth now?

 

[V-12]

My Contax G2 outfit.

I remember the good times and the images I got from it, but when it comes to buying another I remember the slow manual focus and the auto focus that you could time with a stopwatch. But the OOF images were my own fault, I used it alongside my Leica M's and could never wait that extra half second for the camera to stop hunting and find a focus point, I had Leicashutterfingeritis. But the G2 is still a masterpiece.

 

[jsrockit]

Leica M9
50mm Sonnar 1.5 ZM

 

[Roger Hicks]

Leica M9
50mm Sonnar 1.5 ZM

Ooooh... Oooh... Oh dear. Nowadays it's about evens whether the Sonnar or the 35 Summilux goes on the front of my M9!

Cheers,

R.

 

[jsrockit]

Haha Roger, I know that's one of your favorites.

 

[MiniMoke]

One big regret, nothing to do with photography......

My Mini Moke.

Sold it because we had fallen on hard times and cash was more important than desire.

If I could, I'd..... NO, FORGET IT!!!!

(P.S.: it's not this one - just for illustration, mine was waaaaay nicer)

 

[jdvf]

My soul, my Spitfire and my R-D1s.

Greg

 

[Roger Hicks]

One big regret, nothing to do with photography......

My Mini Moke.

Sold it because we had fallen on hard times and cash was more important than desire.

If I could, I'd..... NO, FORGET IT!!!!

(P.S.: it's not this one - just for illustration, mine was waaaaay nicer)

Ouch! They're gorgeous, aren't they? Useless, but gorgeous.

As far as I recall, 405 GBP new.

Cheers,

R.

 

[MiniMoke]

USELESS? You're kidding, I used it in winter each day to commute to work. In Luxembourg, not the Bahamas!

Was the best car I ever had.... but I'm getting sentimental again.

 

[Roger Hicks]

USELESS? You're kidding, I used it in winter each day to commute to work. In Luxembourg, not the Bahamas!

Was the best car I ever had.... but I'm getting sentimental again.

Um... My (ex) fiancée bought one just after we separated in the early 70s. Next to a Land Rover (or a P4 Rover) it was pretty bloody useless.

Cheers,

R.