LeicaVirgin1
Established
Dear Sir-
Thank you again for reading this post. I am going out of my mind trying to figure out how to use, & properly protect my gear. I have loads of camera bags. Loads of LEICA ever-ready, (never-ready), cases including one for the M6J, (I bought it for my M3-SS years ago), I have many light measuring devices from a simple Weston Master V, & VC-II, to a sophisticated Sekonic L-758C combi incident & one degree spot.
My 35mm Cameras, (I only shoot 35mm), are: Mostly Leica M's, (2-M6's, 1-M4, 1-M2, & 1-M3), & Nikon, ("F", F2-AS, F3-HP, FM3A, FM2N, FM2, FM, F100, & 2-N90s).
Leica lenses range from 35mm to 135mm f2.8 Elmarit w/magnifier.
Nikkor Lenses are both AF & MF "Reflex" & range from a simple 28mm-AF, to the 28-70mm f2.8-ED-AF, ("BEAST"), in the Nikkor MF range it goes from 35mm up to 105mm f1.8.
I have Leica "classic" finders, hoods of all kinds for both, drawers & drawers of filters, 2-Monopods, Multiple Tripod Heads, Multiple Pro tripods, Cable Releases, 2-Boxes of 9LB. D-76 developer, (it cab only make 10 gallons per box, (this is what Kodak told me after I purchased them from an auction... I thought i could break them down <im an idiot>), 1-quality enlarger for 35mm ONLY, & 3 quality german & 1 Japanese enlarging lenses. & This is just for analog shooting. I have 2 Canon DIGITAL SLR bodies, & an assortment of EF, "L" & non-"L" lenses, (both Zoom & Prime).
On the Post-Production side I have 2-powerful Intel Macs/Apple both loades with Adobe PSCS3, & Apples Aperture 2, I have a Epson V750-PRO Scanner, & an Epson 4880-Pro Ink-Jet Pro Printer.
The problem is I do not know how to use my time in properly using these items/tools to both my & the tools benefit.
I rotate the items, (cameras & lenses)... I am worried about fungus in the optics after someone said NOT to store the Cameras & Lenses in display drawers in a dark closet. so I keep my closet open most of the times & leave the drawers cracked just a bit.
I am driving my girlfriend crazy. I feel I am going insane, (dont call the police please!), I sometimes take out the gear & put them in the light. However, I DO NOT live in a tropical/humid enviroment... Sunny Southern California here.
I NEVER leave the house without a camera of some kind, (mostly one of my M's). It is a source of anxiety as to which camera & lens, (or even lenses I should take!), I should take... So, I just pack a 35mm (usually on the camera), a 50mm & either the 90mm, or 135mm these are for the M's, or Nikons. The bag, (Billingham), gets so stuffed for anything that might happen it starts to feel like I am trying to hard.
In closing, I know this is obessive & people have more important things to worry about. I just feel silly asking you after asking so many other question that are probably related to these before in different post.
Any advise again would be most appreciated.
Best & Respect,
LV2
Thank you again for reading this post. I am going out of my mind trying to figure out how to use, & properly protect my gear. I have loads of camera bags. Loads of LEICA ever-ready, (never-ready), cases including one for the M6J, (I bought it for my M3-SS years ago), I have many light measuring devices from a simple Weston Master V, & VC-II, to a sophisticated Sekonic L-758C combi incident & one degree spot.
My 35mm Cameras, (I only shoot 35mm), are: Mostly Leica M's, (2-M6's, 1-M4, 1-M2, & 1-M3), & Nikon, ("F", F2-AS, F3-HP, FM3A, FM2N, FM2, FM, F100, & 2-N90s).
Leica lenses range from 35mm to 135mm f2.8 Elmarit w/magnifier.
Nikkor Lenses are both AF & MF "Reflex" & range from a simple 28mm-AF, to the 28-70mm f2.8-ED-AF, ("BEAST"), in the Nikkor MF range it goes from 35mm up to 105mm f1.8.
I have Leica "classic" finders, hoods of all kinds for both, drawers & drawers of filters, 2-Monopods, Multiple Tripod Heads, Multiple Pro tripods, Cable Releases, 2-Boxes of 9LB. D-76 developer, (it cab only make 10 gallons per box, (this is what Kodak told me after I purchased them from an auction... I thought i could break them down <im an idiot>), 1-quality enlarger for 35mm ONLY, & 3 quality german & 1 Japanese enlarging lenses. & This is just for analog shooting. I have 2 Canon DIGITAL SLR bodies, & an assortment of EF, "L" & non-"L" lenses, (both Zoom & Prime).
On the Post-Production side I have 2-powerful Intel Macs/Apple both loades with Adobe PSCS3, & Apples Aperture 2, I have a Epson V750-PRO Scanner, & an Epson 4880-Pro Ink-Jet Pro Printer.
The problem is I do not know how to use my time in properly using these items/tools to both my & the tools benefit.
I rotate the items, (cameras & lenses)... I am worried about fungus in the optics after someone said NOT to store the Cameras & Lenses in display drawers in a dark closet. so I keep my closet open most of the times & leave the drawers cracked just a bit.
I am driving my girlfriend crazy. I feel I am going insane, (dont call the police please!), I sometimes take out the gear & put them in the light. However, I DO NOT live in a tropical/humid enviroment... Sunny Southern California here.
I NEVER leave the house without a camera of some kind, (mostly one of my M's). It is a source of anxiety as to which camera & lens, (or even lenses I should take!), I should take... So, I just pack a 35mm (usually on the camera), a 50mm & either the 90mm, or 135mm these are for the M's, or Nikons. The bag, (Billingham), gets so stuffed for anything that might happen it starts to feel like I am trying to hard.
In closing, I know this is obessive & people have more important things to worry about. I just feel silly asking you after asking so many other question that are probably related to these before in different post.
Any advise again would be most appreciated.
Best & Respect,
LV2
kshapero
South Florida Man
Man, I think you really need to mellow. These are just toys. Good luck, dude.
fixbones
.......sometimes i thinks
Aahhh, the modern day curse of having too many items and choices =D
Ever considered thinning the herd?
Good thing about mechanical cameras is that they do keep. The lenses too. I keep my tiny collection of gears in a transparent plastic container out in the open with a bag of dessicant in it. Sometimes i have the lens caps on and sometimes off...With you collection of toys, i can see how it can be a headache.
Would be interesting to see what Tom says considering he has a few more than you
Al Kaplan
Veteran
Yes, you do indeed have a BIG problem, and I'm not sure that this is the place to find the solution to it. I assume that you're in a pretty good financial situation to have bought all of that stuff and have a kind understanding girlfriend who wants to help you. First, take her with you to the bank and set things up so that your signature alone won't allow you to access any money. No credit cards either!
Next, help her make digital photos of every last piece of photo gear that you own. Help her set up an Ebay account. Help her write the captions for the photos. For now at least confine your collecting to dumpster diving for small sturdy cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and styrofoam peanuts. You'll need to pack all the stuff you sell. Be very brave. You'll get through this, you really will! If you're lucky you'll still have the girlfriend. Use your cameraphone to capture her smile.
Next, help her make digital photos of every last piece of photo gear that you own. Help her set up an Ebay account. Help her write the captions for the photos. For now at least confine your collecting to dumpster diving for small sturdy cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and styrofoam peanuts. You'll need to pack all the stuff you sell. Be very brave. You'll get through this, you really will! If you're lucky you'll still have the girlfriend. Use your cameraphone to capture her smile.
coelacanth
Ride, dive, shoot.
I can help you a tiny bit. Give me your M2, or M4, or both. Oh toss that M3 while you are at it.
naruto
GASitis.. finally cured?
I can help you a tiny bit. Give me your M2, or M4, or both. Oh toss that M3 while you are at it.
Sug, don't be greedy.
LV2: give me the M2. :angel:
Seriously, it's just a matter of having too many choices. I try to limit my camera bodies to 1 per format, and a maximum of 2 or 3 lenses. And, I alternatively carry either body with me. You need to ask yourself before buying, am I going to use it or collect it?
Tom A
RFF Sponsor
My main storage is actually a large lockable steel tool cabinet. I try to use one drawer per system (doesn't really work as things overflow). One for M2 bodies (dont ask) and one for Bessa/ M4p/M6/MP's and lenses. There are some lenses in the M2 drawer too as the other drawers are kind of full.
There is one drawer for Nikon Rf's only and their lenses. I like these as they are quite compact and you can stuff many of them there!
Of course, there is a cabinet with Nikon F's, Leica SLR's and odd ball cameras (Robot, Bessaflex, Corfields, Canon Rf's and others + lenses for all of them), This cabinet is only opened with great care as it constitutes an avalanche risk.
Vancouver has a pretty benign climate with little risk for fungus or mildew so I am not too worried about that.
No cases for any camera ( I do have cases but they are in a cardboard box somewhere!). Most of my cameras are mechanical and as long as they get regular exercise they seem to survive fine. As a rule I cycle through my camera bodies at least 2-3 times a year (with film). It is one way to check shutters/meters/finders. I usually set myself a task - right now it is to shoot at least 2-3 rolls with each M2. I just finished 20 rolls of XX with them, all with the 40f1.4 Nokton (MC/SC). This way I can see if a camera needs service as well as find out what is optimum performance for a lens. Next up is all of the M2's with 35's - might take a while (only two 40f1.4's - but many, many 35's).
At any given time there are at least 3-4 cameras loaded on my desk. When I leave home - two, sometimes three come along. Just an old habit - but it keeps film use up and, just in case I get abducted by a space ship - I would have the cameras/film to document it!!
I have reduced my tripod holdings to a couple, an old Tilt-All and a couple of Leica table top ones. Rarely use them. Lots of cable releases though - all tangled up on a shelf, but easy to find.
Filters is a disaster area, several small boxes and multiple futile attempts to sort them according to diameter, color etc - they are now scattered in several cabinet - and, admittedly, I cant find them when I need them - thus I buy more and fill even more boxes!
I am always in awe when you see these well organized studios with everything in the right place and neatly stored. I cant get myself to do that!
My darkroom is actually fairly well sorted out - mainly because I hate knocking things over in the dark. There is a dark corner though that holds some boxes with extra enlarging lenses, negative carriers etc - you never know when you will need that stuff.
My recommendation is that you take everything out, put it on a table, look at it carefully, shuffle it around. If anything strikes you as strange (lenses that do not fit any body or bodies that do not fit any lenses) - the choice is to either get rid of the mis-matched pieces (or do what I do buy either a body or a lens that fits!). To my knowledge there is no cure for this at all! Once you have stared at the stuff long enough - stuff it all back in various drawers/cabinets/boxes - load a couple of cameras and go out and shoot! It doesn't solve the problem - but it makes you feel better about the accumulations.
Tell your wife that it could be worse - you could be a golfer!!! All those shoes, clubs,bags,carts etc. She probably wont believe you though.
There is one drawer for Nikon Rf's only and their lenses. I like these as they are quite compact and you can stuff many of them there!
Of course, there is a cabinet with Nikon F's, Leica SLR's and odd ball cameras (Robot, Bessaflex, Corfields, Canon Rf's and others + lenses for all of them), This cabinet is only opened with great care as it constitutes an avalanche risk.
Vancouver has a pretty benign climate with little risk for fungus or mildew so I am not too worried about that.
No cases for any camera ( I do have cases but they are in a cardboard box somewhere!). Most of my cameras are mechanical and as long as they get regular exercise they seem to survive fine. As a rule I cycle through my camera bodies at least 2-3 times a year (with film). It is one way to check shutters/meters/finders. I usually set myself a task - right now it is to shoot at least 2-3 rolls with each M2. I just finished 20 rolls of XX with them, all with the 40f1.4 Nokton (MC/SC). This way I can see if a camera needs service as well as find out what is optimum performance for a lens. Next up is all of the M2's with 35's - might take a while (only two 40f1.4's - but many, many 35's).
At any given time there are at least 3-4 cameras loaded on my desk. When I leave home - two, sometimes three come along. Just an old habit - but it keeps film use up and, just in case I get abducted by a space ship - I would have the cameras/film to document it!!
I have reduced my tripod holdings to a couple, an old Tilt-All and a couple of Leica table top ones. Rarely use them. Lots of cable releases though - all tangled up on a shelf, but easy to find.
Filters is a disaster area, several small boxes and multiple futile attempts to sort them according to diameter, color etc - they are now scattered in several cabinet - and, admittedly, I cant find them when I need them - thus I buy more and fill even more boxes!
I am always in awe when you see these well organized studios with everything in the right place and neatly stored. I cant get myself to do that!
My darkroom is actually fairly well sorted out - mainly because I hate knocking things over in the dark. There is a dark corner though that holds some boxes with extra enlarging lenses, negative carriers etc - you never know when you will need that stuff.
My recommendation is that you take everything out, put it on a table, look at it carefully, shuffle it around. If anything strikes you as strange (lenses that do not fit any body or bodies that do not fit any lenses) - the choice is to either get rid of the mis-matched pieces (or do what I do buy either a body or a lens that fits!). To my knowledge there is no cure for this at all! Once you have stared at the stuff long enough - stuff it all back in various drawers/cabinets/boxes - load a couple of cameras and go out and shoot! It doesn't solve the problem - but it makes you feel better about the accumulations.
Tell your wife that it could be worse - you could be a golfer!!! All those shoes, clubs,bags,carts etc. She probably wont believe you though.
fixbones
.......sometimes i thinks
I like this !!!!
Tom, what a WONDERFUL MESS!!! Would love to come sort things out and arrange them for you if i am just round the corner. I'm sure there are a few here that would gladly join me in doing that =D
Would be great to see some pictures of the mess !
Al Kaplan
Veteran
It felt SO good to just sell the 4x5 view camera, film holders, and lenses. It felt better to sell the Hasselblad, backs, lenses, extension tubes, etc. The Leicaflex SL and Leica R4 bodies with lenses from a 12mm Spiratone fish-eye to a 180 Elmarit, gone! The studio strobes GONE! I kept two little BoLites with stands and umbrellas. I sold my humongous F&B Ceco bow-legged motion picture tripod, sturdy and shake-free at 7 feet. I'm down to one Gitzo Studex and the Leitz Table Top with the small ball head.
I was in no real hurry to unload it and got good money for everything. If my kids got the stuff when I died they'd give somebody a big bargain at a yard sale, pennies on the dollar, just so they could clean out the house and get back home to Atlanta and Boston.
I was in no real hurry to unload it and got good money for everything. If my kids got the stuff when I died they'd give somebody a big bargain at a yard sale, pennies on the dollar, just so they could clean out the house and get back home to Atlanta and Boston.
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
Too many material possessions are usually a drain: for you they are a strain too. I'd recommend that you write down what you do or want to do, and from that go on to what you need.
robklurfield
eclipse
collecting can be fun, but, as Al observes an occasional purge can be quite cathartic and provide some relief. on the other hand, TA has done awfully well with only 194 IXMOOS's and 14 M2's. Leicavirgin1, if you happen to have 6 more IXMOOS's in your stash, I know Tom will gladly take them off your hands.
My advice: stop worrying and start enjoying. Life is short. Take more pictures. After all it's only stuff; you can always get more. Time, you can't buy more of that.
My advice: stop worrying and start enjoying. Life is short. Take more pictures. After all it's only stuff; you can always get more. Time, you can't buy more of that.
ruby.monkey
Veteran
Pick one SLR, one rangefinder, three lenses each, and sell everything else. You'll be all the happier for it.
(Do as I say, not as I do)
(Do as I say, not as I do
)
Trius
Waiting on Maitani
Al Kaplan
Veteran
Trius, not sick, SENSIBLE! Gradually I was getting less and less call for photography that NEEDED a view camera. I was finding excuses to shoot with it just to justify having it. For awhile it was worth having. The last generation of photographers (the one just before mine) who "grew up" using view cameras was retiring and dying off. A new generation of art directors and editors was doing the buying, and except for top clients they didn't seem to much care. They didn't want to pay for two hours location time and a dozen sheets of 4x5 Ektachrome to "get a quick shot of the new Shell station on Sycamore St." for a Chamber of Commerce brochure. If it looked like it was falling over backwards, so what.
Until about 15 years ago I had three pro labs within less than two miles that could process first E-4 and then E-6 Ektachrome in two hours, and made a couple of runs of E-3 a day. Gone! They had fast turn around with first C-22, and then C-41 also. Now I have to drive 15 miles to get 120 processed. 4x5 is iffy.
I was thrilled to get decent prices for the stuff at the time because some of the photography schools wanted their students to learn view camera operation. When you're in business cameras are simply tools and the tools have changed. The business has changed. That's reality.
Until about 15 years ago I had three pro labs within less than two miles that could process first E-4 and then E-6 Ektachrome in two hours, and made a couple of runs of E-3 a day. Gone! They had fast turn around with first C-22, and then C-41 also. Now I have to drive 15 miles to get 120 processed. 4x5 is iffy.
I was thrilled to get decent prices for the stuff at the time because some of the photography schools wanted their students to learn view camera operation. When you're in business cameras are simply tools and the tools have changed. The business has changed. That's reality.
ferider
Veteran
Relax. There are worse and more expensive things to obsess about. Some people have thousands of bottles of wine. I have a friend who has more than 20 Porsches.
Don't worry about fungus. Stuff can be fixed.
Sell a couple of things and buy you and your girl-friend a vacation to Paris or so.
Take photos.
Don't worry about fungus. Stuff can be fixed.
Sell a couple of things and buy you and your girl-friend a vacation to Paris or so.
Take photos.
ruby.monkey
Veteran
Tom A
RFF Sponsor
I like this !!!!
Tom, what a WONDERFUL MESS!!! Would love to come sort things out and arrange them for you if i am just round the corner. I'm sure there are a few here that would gladly join me in doing that =D
Would be great to see some pictures of the mess !
We have a good friend, a surgeon from Hong Kong who occasionally make the trip to Vancouver. He is very organized and stays with us. His main pre-occupation (apart from drinking coffee, reading old car-magazines, looking in camera stores etc) is re-organizing my stuff. Once he has left - there are several month when things look really good (though I cant find anything!) - but time reaps its toll and soon it is back to the usual mess!
Tom A
RFF Sponsor
Pick one SLR, one rangefinder, three lenses each, and sell everything else. You'll be all the happier for it.
(Do as I say, not as I do
This will also allow you to start all over - accumulating stuff!
ferider
Veteran
You sound like my wife, Tom, and you both are right.
Selling is not necessarily the best idea.
pevelg
Well-known
You can also find an extra hobby. I have recently gotten into the vinyl world and that has helped control my preoccupation with photo stuff. Of course I've spent quite a bit on building preamps and upgrading my record player, but buying records is much cheaper and easier to enjoy than acquiring and or cleaning gear.