jl-lb.ms
John A. Lever
Many high end collectible M's seen on eBay and elsewhere. Wondering the group's collective opinion - are M's a good investment as a collectible?
thanks,
John
thanks,
John
Investment?
- Thread starter jl-lb.ms
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 7
- Views 1K
peter_n
Veteran
Cameras are a poor investment. However if you bought Leica wide-angles before the M8 arrived and are ready to sell them now you'd get a very nice free camera out of it.
back alley
IMAGES
i think any film camera is a poor investment these days.
not that it stops me from buying them.
not that it stops me from buying them.
MCTuomey
Veteran
back alley said:
well put, joe 😀
i don't think digi cameras are any better, fwiw.
best not to confuse avocations with livelihoods. but if you're a pro photog your cameras are depreciable business assets, not marketable investments.
and if you could have foreseen the run on leica wides, maybe you should be picking stocks more often ...
stefan_dinu
Established
I really think that good, iconic, classic film cameras are a good investment right now. I believe that film photography would be a niche not strong enough to distract the producers from digital war and make them developing new, cheap and good film cameras.
But the niche would be strong enough to keep up the prices of the good film cameras.
The beauty of this kind of investment is that you get to use your invesment for your enjoyment. It is treu that we sometimes try to support our GAS affected decisions by searching for "reasons" why we buy a certain camera. We don't need any reasons beside this two: 1. I have the money and 2. I need that camera.
I try a different aproach to fight GAS nowadays. I am searching for the ultimate camera, invest a lot of money in it and then stop. So I am hunting for a true user camera with a collectible value. Like a special edition Leica MP.
But the niche would be strong enough to keep up the prices of the good film cameras.
The beauty of this kind of investment is that you get to use your invesment for your enjoyment. It is treu that we sometimes try to support our GAS affected decisions by searching for "reasons" why we buy a certain camera. We don't need any reasons beside this two: 1. I have the money and 2. I need that camera.
I try a different aproach to fight GAS nowadays. I am searching for the ultimate camera, invest a lot of money in it and then stop. So I am hunting for a true user camera with a collectible value. Like a special edition Leica MP.
peter_n
Veteran
I'm not so sure that a used MP3 would be of interest to collectors. I would think that it would depreciate/appreciate roughly in line with a regular MP. Maybe it's worth a little more than a regular MP but that's about it.
usayit
Well-known
I think in general they are a poor investment.....
But
I can't deny that one of my lenses has appreciated far better than any stock I own.
But
I can't deny that one of my lenses has appreciated far better than any stock I own.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I think cameras can be good investments but it depends very largely on the camera. I don't think the average M is going to increase much in value in the future unless it's one of the extremely rare prototypes or in the case of an M3 a very early serial number. My M3 is within the first few thousand cameras made and I would expect it to increase in value over the years provided I keep it in it's current condition but not enough of an increase to consider it an investment.
The only camera I do own that I think could climb significantly in value is my 1a. When I sent it to Youxin recently for a CLA he made a point of letting me know that he thought it was one the best examples he had seen and that I should treat it accordingly ... in other words try not to break it again! 😛 I bought it a couple of years ago and was worried that I'd paid a little too much for it in a rush of blood ... but from what I gather by looking around I could sell it now for twice what I paid! Whether it keeps increasing only time will tell and in the meantime it's a damned nice camera to use and when it overtakes my M8 in value as the M8's value slips backwards ... my life as a consumer will be complete! 🙄
The only camera I do own that I think could climb significantly in value is my 1a. When I sent it to Youxin recently for a CLA he made a point of letting me know that he thought it was one the best examples he had seen and that I should treat it accordingly ... in other words try not to break it again! 😛 I bought it a couple of years ago and was worried that I'd paid a little too much for it in a rush of blood ... but from what I gather by looking around I could sell it now for twice what I paid! Whether it keeps increasing only time will tell and in the meantime it's a damned nice camera to use and when it overtakes my M8 in value as the M8's value slips backwards ... my life as a consumer will be complete! 🙄
Last edited:
