new is nice

[ray_g]

Ruben, I think quite a bit has been lost in translation. I think it moot to argue about this point any longer. I have repeated myself many times. Most people here can read the posts for themselves, and interpret them accordingly, and hopefully understand my original meaning, as Joe did. Including the "newcomers." Peace.

 

[planetjoe]

Whoa...

Whoa...

Jeez, Ruben, take it easy. Different strokes for different folks, right?

Sometimes ownership of a camera is an enjoyable act separate from even the use of said camera. That's what I believe, from time to time...so, now really lay into me, now. Sock it to me.


--joe.

 

[ruben]

"Whoa..."

Is this that "Whoa..." of Al Pacino at that movie entitled something like Woman's Aroma (I don't know it in English)

 

[RayPA]

Ruben, I hope this is a translation issue, like Ray suggested, because your posts in this thread are kind of odd. 😕 I've participated in a few of your threads and they're not like this one.

BTW, the movie: "Scent of a Woman" 🙂


.

 

[ruben]

Well, this is not a translation issue but a basics issue, in which we all have a right to differ, as it would be very boring for us to be a symphonic chorus, enabling instead each one to measure the other's opinions, as odd as they may sound. After all we are not a political party in danger of split, we all come from different environments and life experiences, and it is only natural to differ, and perhaps useful to hear, at least for me. I think I have made my points clear enough, and I stand by them until new data leads me to improve, so no further repetitions are needed.

I think it would be only fair to express to Back Alley that although my rather acustic differences here, we may tomorrow find ourselves on the same side in another thread, and very important, as one of the moderators of the forum I openly express my gratitude for him and his colleagues' work. Furthermore, perhaps I have abused my comfortable seat as participant, ignoring his restraining duties as moderator.

I thank Ray as well for his contribution here and promiss that as with Back Alley no bad feelings are left with me, but rather my appreciation for him as a contender and peace maker at this thread.

This thread was opened by Back Alley, therefore is not my right to ask for its end. On the contrary I hope to have stimulated others to continue writing about the issues at this thread, without counting with my further intervention.

Cheers to our good RFF !
Ruben

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

This thread was opened by Back Alley, therefore is not my right to ask for its end. On the contrary I hope to have stimulated others to continue writing about the issues at this thread, without counting with my further intervention.
Cheers to our good RFF !
Ruben

Certainly Ruben you have inspired futher comments because i don't understand your point? I for one have been through many camera systems in the last 20 years , many bought second hand and then traded against new kit which has been sold and then purchased old kit. Its part of a creative journey. The "kit" becomes like a sort of equity value which I then use to trade up or down according to where my work is leading and what i can afford at the time. Joes was simply sharing an observation about how sometimes its nice to own something new and fresh.

Buying second hand for a newcomer is a potential minefield and it's sites like this, Leica Forum and PNet (if one has the patience to scroll through the petty squabbles) which offer some very sound advice on old equipment and it's real cost.

As to secracy about their craft what is wrong with that? Some people are happy to share hence the reason for the threads on forums like this, others are not. It is quite natural for some people to be guarded about they way they work. What do you mean by "moral duty" the new generations are you talking photography or about something else? 😕

 

[Gid]

I've garnered a couple of bits of advice from this thread.

New is nice - I second that

Buy the best that you can afford - I second that

If you add up all your buys and sells it would probably buy you the best of the best - depends on the individual, but certainly true for me. This last one however true is moot as I didn't have all of the money at one time and if I'd waited till I did have I'd probably have got bored and found something else to do.

It sounds to me like you've be in violent agreement. 🙂

 

[Bertram2]

boy, it's nice to play with new.

What I've always said and what I always will say. Because a new one is YOURS in a way a used one never can be.

My opinion: A used car is a used car and a used camera is a used camera, no difference. I do not buy used, neither Mercedes nor KIA. It has always the smell of buying something others want get rid off to buy themselves something new, and you are the "second hand".

A camera is a precision instrument , so easy to treat it wrong, moisture , dust, temperature, shake and vibrations, you can't see where it had been if the camera looks well. Drop a lens 3ft high on a thick carpet, you won't see any damnage .
But some months later you detect a slight decentering or an focussing ring running not as smooth as it ran before, what do you do ? You dump it on Ebay. Not to speak of all the hassle you can get with all the the really old stuff.

MY buying decisions are usually well thought and so there is no need to buy and sell anything permanently. I've bought only a handful of cameras in my life, but I never sold any of them. I read recently that somebody bought a complete Pentax K set with a bunch of lenses three times and sold it again, for me a proof of serious disorientation, what else could it be ?

Never say never, but If at all, I'd buy a used camera from a friend whom I know as somebody, who keeps his stuff as careful as I do .

bertram

 

[back alley]

'Because a new one is YOURS in a way a used one never can be.'

this is very true and not really much to argue with but...being an old romantic, i sometimes wonder about the history of the peice in question.
who owned it before? where had it been? what kind of shots did it take?
and, where will it go if/when i decide to sell?

new is nice, i said it and i meant it - but old can sometimes stir up a whole different set of feelings too.

joe

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

"Whoa..."

Is this that "Whoa..." of Al Pacino at that movie entitled something like Woman's Aroma (I don't know it in English)

"Scent of a Woman"

Which I thought was far too ambiguous for a title.

It might be the "whoa" from "The Matrix."

 

[Bertram2]

'
new is nice, i said it and i meant it - but old can sometimes stir up a whole different set of feelings too.
joe

True, and if you really know the items story it makes it even more worthful. I appreciate this kinda history behind used items too, but only for collectible things. Not for anything for everyday use tho, like toothbrushes, cars, bicycles, shavers and, yes , cameras too which are for me a similar personal sort of property.

bertram

 

[amateriat]

So: the system I currently use as my Main Axe (a pair of Konica Hexar RFs, and a trio of M-Hex optics) was bought brand-spankin' new. Yes, outside factory personnel, only my mitts have been on them. For me, the principal advantage of Buying New was warranty coverage (three years for everything; not as long a stretch as Leica's Passport, but good enough). The thrill of opening boxes? Yes, a little. But, really, I'm mostly over the gotta-have-it-new thing. And, since I'm a dedicated film shooter, I can't be too choosy these days.

And, there's the point: if you're not at all interested in shooting digital, and not terribly interested in buying used, the pickings are slim; for SLRs, there's...Canon, mostly, as well as Nikon's F6 (which I don't particularly like – still too damn big n' heavy). With rangefinders, the picture is a bit better, but other than CV, stuff ain't cheap. Leica, love 'em or hate 'em, is the benchmark. What's the problem with a used Leica body or lens, provided it's properly scoped out? I've had used Nikons (you think I could afford a new F2 Titan?), Rolleis (SL2000F), Olympus (Olympi?), etc. The only cameras I ever had crazy-bad trouble with were the pair of early-production Pentax LXs I bought, brand-spankin' new, that gave me months of shutter-seizing heartache which I could ill afford (warranty coverage can go but so far – I don't even want to think about my Long Island Rail Road ticket costs for repeatedly running my cameras out to their old Great Neck service center in 1982 for emergency service).

When people (friends, pictrue editors, corporate liaisons, potential collectors, gallery reps, current/ex-lovers, et cetera) look at your prints, they aren't wondering whether the gear you used to create the pics was new or used, or what brand (or, in many cases, film- or digital-based); they're only interested in what you brought to the table, as it were. The equipment only matters insomuch as it helps you get the image in your mind's eye into the final print. Nothing more, nothing less. And, judging from the work I've seen since signing up here, I imagine most here have more or less sorted that much out.


- Barrett