The $15,000 Question: what would you get?

If I had to spend the money on photo gear, I'd buy a Mamiya 7 kit with 43, 80, 150mm lenses plus finders. A black paint Leica MP with the 0.85 finder. A Nikon Zf to replace my digital Fuji gear. 3k left for a couple rolls of color film.
 
A 90mm LTM- a Leica in great shape or the CV 90mm. The Pentax full frame digital. A Beseler CB-7 for my darkroom. Two week vacation in Las Vegas alone taking street pictures.
 
I think 15K would allow me to take two months off work and do some traveling in norway and iceland. I've traveled and photographed both on my numerous trips over the years, but this would give me a bit longer, more focused time to do so. There's always more gear to get, but if it came to decide what photography related expense I'm humoring, it's time off work to travel (and tickets, gas money, etc).

I'm off to norway again in august, hint hint, if you want to donate ;)

If I had to buy gear, it would be some nice 50mm for leica (voigtländer apo is plenty), few backdrops more, maybe some scenic lights (small continuous light ones) and a large frosted glass panel for a set. Also printing costs and framing.
 
I'm not going to do the math, but on the basis of what I have seen on this forum I would certainly get:

A Zeiss Distagon 35mm 1.4 M for my Leica M2
A late Leica 90mm Elmarit-M 2.8
A Leica Summaron 2.8 M with goggles
A Hasselblad SWC to really explore wide angle photography
Like others above, a Rolleiflex E or F 2.8
And for digital a used Leica M10

But also with other previous posters, more time to think about photography, to shoot and to be able to buy more supplies and/or processing would be the revolutionary change - I already have equipment perfectly adequate for making excellent photographs
 
I would employ someone to take good photographs of the key moments in our family life. They may have to go back in time!

Or

I would invest the money in a young apprentice to spend time learning the trade of repairing old Leicas. I was going to say Contaxes as well but $15k won't get that far.
 
Would spend some of it on going to a work shop for alternate photography to get a basic knowledge of process like Salt printing, Dry plate photography especially Tintypes and would spend some of it on a 8x10 view camera and stuffed need for contact printing with the sun or UV box.
 
$15k?

Buy a Nikon Z5 & good adapters for all of my lens types & a high end photo backpack. Used & ebay because I'm cheap.

Because I'd use the rest for a trip to England & Europe to shoot all the landscapes I wanted to but couldn't because wearing Uncle Sam's Woodland Camo PJ's kept me from doing so in the past :D

$12k ~ 13k should get me the ability to stay at cheap hotels, local pub food and 3rd class train fares for a couple of months and hopefully meet up with a couple of internet friends I have.

The Yorkshire Dales, The Lake Country, Bavarian foothills of the Alps, Fulda Gap, perhaps back to Barcelona maybe finally making it to Berlin and Sarajevo...
 
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Nikon Z5. Maybe. Sounds like a reasonable choice.

On second thought, Nah. Don't need it.

Travel? Nope. It's too hard for me to get around these days. What would I do in an exotic photographer's paradise? Stay in the hotel and shoot pictures of sunrises and sunsets out the window while taking Tramadol every few hours? Boring! I can do that at home and be more comfortable and take less pain meds.

I'll stick to my old Nikons and Fujis. I like them just fine. They do great pictures. Stay around home, go out every few days, shoot a few pictures. Post them here. Rinse and repeat.
 
I have a first-batch 5cm F1.5 Sonnar, and a Nikkor 5cm F1.5. I have a lot of lenses. And a lot of cameras.

So if it's like that Old Game Show where you get to go into a huge camera store and have 60 seconds to spend $15K- An M11 Monochrome and a new lens. I don't have room for much else.
 
... I would spent part of the money to go on a trip to the Northern hemisphere to see the aurora borealis and some part to finally ride in a helicopter. I would most possibly bring a screw mount Leica to either of the trips and take some snaps. About photographic equipment .... I cycled through so many gear but my photography never changed by that but always by places where I lived, so I think that I am pretty much done buying gear. Except if Leica would come up with an adjustable VF diopter in the next digital M Leica.
 
i don't have any full size digital Yet, i'd like to buy,

Panasonic S5ii, S9
Panasonic 20-60, 24-105,

Canon 6Dii,
Canon EF 24, EF 28, EF 35 F2, Ef 28-135, EF 28-80

Sony A7 iV,
Sony 28-70, Sony 70-200

these should keep me busy for a very long while...

oh yeah, for every day outing, i'll upgrade from
Canon T4i to T8i; 24MP APSC, 18-55 USM and a
Voigtlander EF 20mm F3.5
 
It seems too soon for me to be thinking of upgrading my Sony A7R4, but I suppose I could replace it with an A7CR for the latter's smaller form factor, flippy screen, and added computational wizardry. And while I'm at it, I may as well accessorize it with Sony's compact SEL40F25G lens: One can never add too much lightness to one's camera outfit!
 
$15k doesn't go as far as it used to in terms of living expenses, even if you use the 15k for travel - airline fees, car rental, food, everything costs more these days. The countries with super low cost of living don't really interest me as places to visit, so stretching the dollar there is moot.

Also, 15k in USD is a lot more than AUD, at least a third more. So 15k USD is about 20k AUD. My main purchases would be things that give me a financial return, or to a lesser extent, emotional return. With that in mind, I'd buy:

Work purchases:

  • Panasonic S5 II X - full frame stills and pro level video, A cam/upgrade to my current S5
  • Panasonic G9 II - m43 stills and mid-pro level video, A cam/upgrade to my current G9
  • Panasonic 50-200mm f2.8-4 - this will be for sports shooting over long ovals and track meets (secondhand if possible)
  • Sigma 100-400mm for L mount, secondhand
This adds up to about $8k AUD.
  • Rode wireless lav mics - for more flexibility with interviews
  • Rode VideoMic X - to capture high quality ambient audio during video shooting
  • Atomos Ninja V+ - external monitor/recorder capable of Prores Raw video, OR Blackmagic Video Assist, external monitor/recorder of Blackmagic Raw video
This would be around 2.5-3k AUD.

Emotional/personal purchases:

  • Leica M9-P in silver chrome - backup/complementary cam to my original M9 - I'd re skin the silver chrome M9 either with deep red or pale grey leather, and get a matching strap

  • Fix my Zeiss 25mm f2.8 ZM and 28mm f2.8 ZM, and Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 LTM. All have focus ring issues.
  • M9-P upgrade in black for my M9, which I believe Leica can still do. This would give me two M9-Ps, one black for more stealthy shooting, one that looks gorgeous for fun times.
Not sure what a clean M9-P goes for these days.

This would probably eat up the 20k AUD. Anything left over would go to petrol for fun road trips.
 
Hmmmm. In Australia $15k would barely get you a Leica M11. Pointless IMO.

Definitely a digital Hasselblad, likely a 907X and CFV100C, and if I could squeeze it, a V - series for versatility and a bit of nostalgic fun.
 
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