So, where do the unabashed collectors hang out?
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FrankS
Registered User
gb hill
Veteran
To the collector out there who owns a "Ralph Gibson MP Limited Edition" that is sitting in your beautiful display case. I've always wanted one but couldn't afford it at the time, then they were gone.🙁 I would be ever so grateful that when you pass from this earth & I'm still living, could you kindly will the camera to me. Your relatives can fight over the rest of the money from your other collection they sell at the estate sell. I promise to use it for what it was intended...To Shoot. I'm serious. Thank you in advance. GB Hill🙂
f16sunshine
Moderator
That Gibson set would be great! I see why you would like it.
Mine is the safari m set.
I Love olive cameras. The Bessa r2 is probably as close as I'll get.
Interesting about the safari set is that it's retail price is not actually a premium over the normal m.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
My small camera museum is kinda full. About the only camera I still want is a M-246, but that at this point would be a luxury as I am a very happy Monochrom shooter. I can't see downsizing or increasing the size of my herd.
I own more than a dozen, but less than 15 cameras that I all use. I'm a shooter who has a nice collection.
Some cameras are rare: black SL2-MOT; odd Wetzlar M6 with Wetzlar engravings on a Titanium top plate that pre-dates the titanium version by 5 years.
Some cameras are historical like my F3P that was a real "press" camera for the newspaper "Newsday" that was used in Operation Desert Storm.
Some cameras I bought because they were great deals (a like new F3HP for $150.00; a Rollie 3.5F "Whiteface" for $999.00).
Some cameras because they are interesting like a Plaubel 69W "Proshift" the only 120 camera with shifts (features a 21 Super Augulon FOV in 6x9).
Then it is just plain cool to have a big Fuji kit and a brace of lenses (GL690 and GM670: 65/8; 100/3.5; 100/35 AE; 150/5.6).
The best is to have 3 M-bodies so as to avoid lens changing, and then to own a IIIG just to have a LTM. I also shoot a R8 and love that is called the "Hunchback of Solms." LOL.
Cal
I own more than a dozen, but less than 15 cameras that I all use. I'm a shooter who has a nice collection.
Some cameras are rare: black SL2-MOT; odd Wetzlar M6 with Wetzlar engravings on a Titanium top plate that pre-dates the titanium version by 5 years.
Some cameras are historical like my F3P that was a real "press" camera for the newspaper "Newsday" that was used in Operation Desert Storm.
Some cameras I bought because they were great deals (a like new F3HP for $150.00; a Rollie 3.5F "Whiteface" for $999.00).
Some cameras because they are interesting like a Plaubel 69W "Proshift" the only 120 camera with shifts (features a 21 Super Augulon FOV in 6x9).
Then it is just plain cool to have a big Fuji kit and a brace of lenses (GL690 and GM670: 65/8; 100/3.5; 100/35 AE; 150/5.6).
The best is to have 3 M-bodies so as to avoid lens changing, and then to own a IIIG just to have a LTM. I also shoot a R8 and love that is called the "Hunchback of Solms." LOL.
Cal
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Over the decades I've known a few serious collectors in the millionaire league and quite a few more who were experts and had good collections. I met a lot of them when and after I sold my own modest collection acquired in the late 1960s and early 1970s (because they bought what I was selling). Some have been photographers: some not. Few want to bruit their names abroad.
The thing is that the signal-to-noise ratio on the Internet is so high that it's not really worth wasting time talking to people who think they know a lot more than they do. There are a few experts who generously share their knowledge, but a lot of them know or knew the others personally in pre-Internet days.
This will no doubt trigger accusations of elitism and so forth, but then, this is not my problem. Or of the people I [used to] know who are/were generous with knowledge and the loan of equipment; the latter often on condition of anonymity. Several helped me with my History of the 35mm Still Camera, The Focal Press 1984, http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-History-35mm-Still-Camera/dp/0240512332
Cheers,
R.
The thing is that the signal-to-noise ratio on the Internet is so high that it's not really worth wasting time talking to people who think they know a lot more than they do. There are a few experts who generously share their knowledge, but a lot of them know or knew the others personally in pre-Internet days.
This will no doubt trigger accusations of elitism and so forth, but then, this is not my problem. Or of the people I [used to] know who are/were generous with knowledge and the loan of equipment; the latter often on condition of anonymity. Several helped me with my History of the 35mm Still Camera, The Focal Press 1984, http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-History-35mm-Still-Camera/dp/0240512332
Cheers,
R.
photomoof
Fred Krughoff
That about covers it, no matter what information is shared, someone will always ruin it, so finally one just keeps the information among friends.
I will agree with Cal, well said! Collecting is accumulation with purpose. And, something made and marketed as a "collectible" item isn't really collectible, IMO.
Dralowid
Michael
Agree 100%! I have a cupboard full of over 100 8mm movie cameras that will never be described as collectible but someone has to save the poor forgotten things from oblivion...
gdi
Veteran
Good points. My definition of a collector includes not only acquiring some number of the particular items (cameras, motorcycles, cars, metal lunch boxes. etc.), but the knowledge to know which are the more desirable items to pursue (rare, historically significant/particular provenance, etc.). The people I consider the true collectors generally, pursue a fairly small subset of the class, know a lot about the area of interest, and are never afraid to "overpay" for the right items.
I have a bunch of old cameras, even a couple of Leicas, but I am not a collector - I just acquire a fair amount of junk...
Also, I think you mean "signal-to-noise ratio on the Internet is so LOW..."
Once upon a time as a working photographer I managed to snag a near Mint Nikon SP with 50/1.1 lens - for just the repair cost.
I was determined never to be a damned collector,
and traded it off for a Nice Leica M3 and 3 lenses.
But I missed that beautiful SP and even more beautiful 50/1.1. dammit
so now I have more cameras and lenses than I could ever need
but I'm not a collector, no, not a collector .. not ME
I was determined never to be a damned collector,
and traded it off for a Nice Leica M3 and 3 lenses.
But I missed that beautiful SP and even more beautiful 50/1.1. dammit
so now I have more cameras and lenses than I could ever need
but I'm not a collector, no, not a collector .. not ME
goamules
Well-known
I'll admit I'm a collector of some photographic tools, because I find them important to history. And I like history. They are forgotten or unknown by 99.9% of people alive today. So I want to study, learn, and one day report on these items. But they're not Leicas, which are pretty well known, and mass produced.
That's what is meaningful to me, and drives me to collect. The thrill of the hunt, the chance to discover long lost information. The excitement of enjoying what was once the output one of the top scientific fields. The idea that entire generations of American workers designed, manufactured, and used these tools. They raised families and built towns on their wages. And it's all now forgotten.
That's what is meaningful to me, and drives me to collect. The thrill of the hunt, the chance to discover long lost information. The excitement of enjoying what was once the output one of the top scientific fields. The idea that entire generations of American workers designed, manufactured, and used these tools. They raised families and built towns on their wages. And it's all now forgotten.
uhoh7
Veteran
Absolutely right. 🙂
Same is true a few other places I like. A thread on long fast lenses and suddenly out come the 250mm F/2 lenses etc.
It would be hard to think of a lens or camera someone here does not own. 🙂
Failing some sort of stereoscopic nuclear bomb taking camera..... 😉
FrankS
Registered User
Roger Hicks
Veteran
You are of course absolutely right: I had meant to reverse it and write "noise to signal" but then went on autopilot. Very embarrassing.
I started collecting when my girlfriend and I bought a unique coupled fat-barrel Elmar together in about 1970: the serial number had both an a (attrape) and a star (re-used serial number) after it. She had a II conversion and we shared lenses.
In those days it was much easier to find rare stuff like the Elmar (Exeter, £11:10s) and a Stereoly and VOTRA viewer (Shrewsbury, £25 the pair). By the mid-70s I had a couple of thousand quid's worth of collectible Leica gear, and no money: so I sold the rare stuff, which was how I get to know some VERY rich collectors.
Cheers,
R.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Cal,
Hardly. Alpa 12 S/WA; Corfield WA67; "Baby" Linhof Super Technikas; Horseman ditto; and that's before you start on 6x9 monorails from Arca-Swiss, Linhof Technikardan, Cambo...
These are just the ones I can think of without any great effort.
Cheers,
R.
Red Robin
It Is What It Is
Frank. Not to stray, but, like declairing yourself to be "humble", a declaration of oneself as an "Artist" has little meaning. It's when, I beleave, others call or label someone as an artist does that term become true. .. ... but only to the labelor. Red Robin
ray*j*gun
Veteran
That is exactly how it happened to me. I never buy an item that I think I won't use but then.... oh well .... do they have vaccines for this?
Larry Cloetta
Veteran
Collecting cameras is like collecting women, except it's legal, and cheaper. Yes, you can have too many, no, it doesn't make any sense to have 20 of them, but they're all different, and it's fun to take a different one out every day.
oftheherd
Veteran
Now that has to be some of the signal to noise Mr. Hicks was talking about. Why, all one has to do is peruse the used camera section of ebay to realize how many collectables there are for sale out there; including the rare ones. 😛 😀
I must admit I went through a collection phase. I would still be willing to accumulate some old classic cameras I suppose, but I have realized there are so many that I can't or don't want to use, so it isn't worth it to me any more. Well, except for Fujica gear. 😀
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