Selling My Film Cameras for an M9 -- Wise?

[jsrockit]

So I had a bit of any update on an M9: I'd really like a grey hammertone M9, but I have an opportunity to buy either a new black one for $6650, or a black demo for $6250 (no, not from one of those eBay scam sellers!). Worth saving $750 to go for the demo, and a black one at that?

Yes, it is worth it... that means you can keep one of the items you were thinking of selling right? As long as the warranty is the same and they will let you return it if it is broken in any way, I see no problem. As far as people saying not to buy demo electonics, it isn;t like you are buying from Best Buy or some other place were demo units are not supervised. I'm sure the demo units of M9s are babied in camera stores.

 

[jaapv]

Bad idea. Learn to develop it yourself; buy a scanner. I'm not saying not to "go digital". I'm saying "don't jump [the film] ship".

Trust me, once [currently Red-flag country's regime] starts getting a bit cocky, maybe in about a decade and diplomatic tensions flare, all electronics will go up in price. Well, pretty much everything, until the rest of the world re-learns to manufacture things for themselves. Yeah, I was laughed at and yelled at in 2000 when I said the bubble will burst, and a few years later that I looked in horror at the housing market ballooning...so I know I will be laughed at and yelled at when I say this about [currently Red-flag country's regime] going cuckoo.

Stock on film. Keep your well-built film cameras (go all manual!).

And keep your aluminum foil hat handy. Just kidding. 😉

Buy a scanner...Hmmm Not my idea of fun - worst job in photography I know, scanning - almost as bad a mowing the lawn....

 

[sojournerphoto]

Buy a scanner...Hmmm Not my idea of fun - worst job in photography I know, scanning - almost as bad a mowing the lawn....

Nah, it's worse. I can mow the lawn before the Coolscann gets through a high quality scan of a 6 by 7 neg.

Mike

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Yeah, those are not fun memories.

But that's the price of film, right? Slow doooownnn...

 

[Vince Lupo]

Bad idea. Learn to develop it yourself; buy a scanner. I'm not saying not to "go digital". I'm saying "don't jump [the film] ship".
Stock on film. Keep your well-built film cameras (go all manual!).

And keep your aluminum foil hat handy. Just kidding. 😉

Well I don't have an aluminum foil hat, but I do have several jaunty fedoras, and a couple of Sam Sneads with little feathers in them, so hopefully they will suffice. 😛

As far as the whole darkroom thing goes, I had my very first darkroom whe I was 15 (30 years ago), and I have all the darkroom ephemera that one could ever need. My D3/D5 enlarger is in the attic, and I'm sure it's probably going to stay there. Honestly, I think I've just lost interest in shooting film, and here again, last week's film development debacle seemed to be the proverbial 'nail in the coffin' for me. Now, having said that, I just bought some film development chemicals to process a few rolls of Tri-X that I've had sitting around, but after those are processed, I think that might be it for a while.

Here again, I do plan on keeping some film cameras - namely my Contaflex TLR kit, two of my Hasselblads, a Leica III that I've had since 1988, a couple of Exaktas, my KW Reflex Box, a Leica IIIf RD/ST w/grey vulcanite and a Leicavit, and that's probably about it. Gosh that still sounds like a lot!

As far as the 'demo' camera goes, I know the dealer very well, so I'm sure that the demo wasn't used to hammer nails, but I will get the full lowdown on it next week. I'm assuming that it would still have the full Leica USA warranty (I will double-check!). If I don't feel comfortable with it, then of course I'll hold out for a new one. But yeah, $750 can sure come in handy for other things!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Hi Roger -- using a digital camera (high end or not) implies the use of a computer. Once hardware prices begin to climb, people will begin to rethink about how "the digital age" has been taken for granted.

Some people swear only by the fork, others only the spoon, and others only the knife. I like to keep all for my table. 😀


BTW, ten years is usually the time it takes for most people to figure out what just happened.

Dear Gabriel,

Fair enough, but my suspicion is that my computers will live long enough to span the transition to computers made in free economies. Yes, a new computer will then cost more, but it'll probably be designed to last longer too. If the price doubles, I can live with that. My first computer, in the 1980s, cost £1600 (probably $2000-$2500 at the time, perhaps $5,000-$10,000 in today's money) and still paid for itself in a year or two.

I love your last sentence.

Cheers,

R.

 

[jky]

For the $750 difference I'd get the new one... but when I was in your situation a couple of weeks ago I didn't have Lightroom 3.

The M9 price tag was hard to swallow, but it was well worth it to me - a new (used) vehicle will just have to wait 🙂

 

[furcafe]

Sad to hear that the lab situation is so bad in B-more. It's hard enough in DC w/just 1 pro lab (Dodge-Chrome) left.

As you describe it, I think your plan is a sound one. The M9 is very expensive, but is more than capable & reliable enough for your intended purpose. It's not like you have any real alternatives for full-frame digital RF, anyway.

But by all means, let us film diehards know when you put your stuff up for sale! 😉

After having had a very frustrating week trying to get some film processed in my neck of the woods (Baltimore area), I'm crying 'uncle' and have decided to sell many of my film cameras to finance the purchase of an M9. My M2, M5, Robot Royal 36, Contax II, Hasselblad, screw mount Leicas, etc (I will probably hang onto my Contaflex TLR and maybe a screw mount Leica that I've had since 1988). I'm going to keep all my Leica lenses, but I've pretty well decided to do this. I just hope I'm making the right decision, but it seems that the 'photo' labs in this area are forcing me to do this, not to mention the proverbial 'writing on the wall' as far as the way the technology has been going.

So I'd like to know from those of you with an M9: Is it worth the $6995 admission price? My plan would be to incorporate it with the rest of my professional equipment, but also to use for all of my 'personal' work. It would be a secondary main camera to my D700 for the pro work, but my main camera for my personal work. I've thought of an M8, but I know the crop factor would drive me crazy, so I've settled on the M9. It's just the whole concept of spending that much money on one piece that scares me. But, it would definitely get more use than my present crop of film cameras.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts....

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I just bought a new Laptop for Nikki for $430. 17.3" monitor, 3GByte memory, 300GByte disk, faster than all of the Cray-1's put together.

About the same cost of a single 5.25" floppy drive for my Xerox 820-II CP/m computer in 1981. Held 320KBytes on that drive. It still works.

 

[peter_n]

... I have an opportunity to buy either a new black one for $6650, or a black demo for $6250 (no, not from one of those eBay scam sellers!). Worth saving $750 to go for the demo, and a black one at that?

$6650 minus $6250 equals $400. 😕 😉

 

[nemo2]

Dear Gabriel,

Fair enough, but my suspicion is that my computers will live long enough to span the transition to computers made in free economies. Yes, a new computer will then cost more, but it'll probably be designed to last longer too. If the price doubles, I can live with that. My first computer, in the 1980s, cost £1600 (probably $2000-$2500 at the time, perhaps $5,000-$10,000 in today's money) and still paid for itself in a year or two.

I love your last sentence.

Cheers,

R.

I agree with this oppinion - many computers are scrapped for "being obsolete" while being fully functional. As it is possible to edit recent photographs on computers several years old without any problems, it will be possible to edit recent photographs on recently new computers several years in the future. Higher cost of computers will slow the pace of increasing performance hence the software will not become so performance-hungry as well (or nobody will buy it).

The other problem is increasing price of electronics means more expensive cameras as well. As cameras include moving parts (shutter etc.) and hence are more prone to failures it is somewhat more serious problem.

 

[Jeff S]

Save another $3000 and get a mint M8.2.

Jeff

 

[steveyork]

Do you like the digital capture or the film look?

 

[Vince Lupo]

$6650 minus $6250 equals $400. 😕 😉

Yes yes yes -- it's just that he doesn't have a grey hammertone in stock, and I don't know whether the $6650 price applies only to that one black one he has in stock. I'll find out more next week!

 

[Vince Lupo]

Do you like the digital capture or the film look?

Honestly doesn't really matter to me -- I've been shooting digital so much that I've really lost track of the difference. However -- having said that -- I was working on some corporate portraits yesterday on my computer that I shot with my D700, and I was suitably blown away by the quality (of what the camera can do, not me as a photographer). That camera at the 'Low 1' ISO setting is pretty darned impressive. Then again, I love the look of shots that my screw mount Leicas give, so I suppose I'm pretty flexible in terms of what I like.

 

[sepiareverb]

Rich at Photo Village just got in a bunch of grey ones- I talked to him the other day.

Then again, I love the look of shots that my screw mount Leicas give, so I suppose I'm pretty flexible in terms of what I like.

And those screw mount lenses will most likely look great on the M9 as well. I'm surprised at what the V2 28/2.8 does on mine.

 

[Vickko]

Perhaps a lot wiser than selling my cameras for a 0.95 Noctilux

;-)

 

[jaapv]

I have a digital camera that's 10 years old and, while it isn't broken, I have no way to retrieve photos any longer from it unless I can find a computer with the correct software that's approximately the same vintage. I have a Nikon S2 made in 1956 that still is useful.

I doubt that you need that. Photoshop accepts just about all file formats that ever existed. Try running them through Adobe's DNG converter.

 

[Vince Lupo]

And those screw mount lenses will most likely look great on the M9 as well. I'm surprised at what the V2 28/2.8 does on mine.

Yes, and fortunately I have a few pretty cool screw mount lenses to use -- 105/6.3 Mountain Elmar, 73/1.9 Hektor, 90/4 Fat Elmar (fantastic lens), 50/1.5 Xenon. The only one I could maybe see parting with is my 73mm Hektor, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

 

[furcafe]

I would caution you not to expect that all of your vintage lenses that work on your film bodies will focus correctly on the M9. It's a classic YMMV situation. In my experience, only about 1/4 of my vintage lenses (mostly 50mm's) focus correctly wide-open @ closest focus distance, the rest exhibit significant back or front focus. In contrast, all of my "modern" (i.e., 1980s & newer) glass works fine.

Yes, and fortunately I have a few pretty cool screw mount lenses to use -- 105/6.3 Mountain Elmar, 73/1.9 Hektor, 90/4 Fat Elmar (fantastic lens), 50/1.5 Xenon. The only one I could maybe see parting with is my 73mm Hektor, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!