To collect or not to collect...

[LChanyungco]

i don't see anything wrong with collecting... if i could afford it i'd be a collector too. it's human nature to hoard things they like. be it potato chips that resemble celebrities or Leica Noctilux' dipped in gold 😀

 

[Spider67]

The only eerie thing I noticed when collecting: Sometimes collections start to collect themselves eg when the collector buys a model he isn't particularly interested in onöy to complete the set.

 

[Gumby]

I just don't get this disdain for collectors. To each their own. ... Some of this criticism smacks of just plain old snobbery.

... or repressed jealousy. 😱

 

[ricpr]

I'll jump in the pool.....I collect cameras. I use what I have and enjoy quality products. Does it matter to me if I have a camera that others may deam worthy of more use? Not really. When it comes down to it, my entire collection cost less than a new Leica as a result of being in the right place at the right time. I just don't get someone that would spend money on a new Leica for casual shooting every once in a while (not a real problem if you use it a lot). On the flipside, I have no problems with spending $35 on a Canon 7 that I use frequently. Ultimately, one spends their $$ how they want to and should not have to justify that to anyone. I'm just happy that high quality equipment is available at a reasonable price to those of us with not much disposable income to spare. I am also appreciative of those casual users of the expensive equipment because once they are done with the equipment, they recycle the equipment for much less than the original cost. We are seem to benefit.

 

[mirrored]

Thanks for a collector, I just bought (bid, ebay) couple of rolls used M6 with red Leitz logo (early one?). Like a new as well as Summicron 50 from year 1970. But can it have lubricating going old with time and need service?

(In first side on this thread was this point too, written by several nick, but in other words🙂 Everyone who have equipments only for potential use (maybe sometimes I can use it, this equipment have a fine idea - I like to have it) is a certain collector. Or simply have so many cameras that have no time to use those. . . 😉

..

 

[Nikon Bob]

Without collectors and groups such as the NHS you likely would not have the wealth of information easily available on specific cameras or any other item that is collected. They perform an invaluable service to all users and should be respected, not looked down upon by users.

Bob

 

[v3cron]

it's not a "to each his or her own" kinda thing - they screw up the prices for all of us, and decrease supply. those of us who actually use cameras for what they are intended, rather than hording them to just sit there and rot on a shelf, have every right to be disdainful.

 

[Gumby]

Without collectors and groups such as the NHS you likely would not have the wealth of information easily available on specific cameras or any other item that is collected. They perform an invaluable service to all users and should be respected, not looked down upon by users.

Good point... most people on the "asking end" of questions like "what should I buy? How much is it worth? How does it work?" tend to forget this.

 

[bob338]

it's not a "to each his or her own" kinda thing - they screw up the prices for all of us, and decrease supply. those of us who actually use cameras for what they are intended, rather than hording them to just sit there and rot on a shelf, have every right to be disdainful.

is it not a big waste of your energy to be disdainful? who cares if someone has a collection of cameras? as soon as you(not you specifically, but all of the self-righteous 'users') can afford to have whatever camera you want, i can guarantee that you will not give a second thought to what others think about your camera collection.

bob

 

[mirrored]

it's not a "to each his or her own" kinda thing - they screw up the prices for all of us, and decrease supply. those of us who actually use cameras for what they are intended, rather than hording them to just sit there and rot on a shelf, have every right to be disdainful.

"I am angry to night, because it shorten days."

If imagine pure collector and pure user, thay can see as a enemy to each other. But pure things are not exist in this. What is using? Why certain camera have more value than taking pictures? One analogy: can Rolex be owned purely for time watching? Why collecting cannot be using too?

All who use time, money and interest to purchase something, sail in the same ship, form it, and how can say other more or less value or get pleasure?

How certificate pure user - is the level of using enough when you have 5 body and 10 lenses and you have other job? 3 body and 6 lenses? Taking one roll a week? Maybe would be better value photos: are they good enough so that we can allow you high valued camera? This is a natural and logical question if ready to criticize collecting!

Is it wise to need so high value equipment in photography that must criticize other who need it too?

This is pure philosophy. :angel:

 

[bmattock]

it's not a "to each his or her own" kinda thing - they screw up the prices for all of us, and decrease supply. those of us who actually use cameras for what they are intended, rather than hording them to just sit there and rot on a shelf, have every right to be disdainful.

Again I ask - who is it doing this intending?

The camera manufacturer may well have intended that a camera be used for taking photos. So what? Their right to dictate anything about how it is used ended when they sold it. And the manufacturers are not the ones complaining - they frankly don't care how you use or don't use their product once you buy it. So who is it that 'intended' for cameras to be used rather than sit on shelves, huh? Explain that to me, please.

 

[Gumby]

they frankly don't care how you use or don't use their product once you buy it.

Pray tell, how do you know that? Explain that to me, please.

 

[v3cron]

jeez folks, lighten up! this is not that deep or complicated. a camera takes pictures. it's a tool for making something. buying it just to have it is materialism for its own sake, which seems quite strange. i think there is a better use for the money, no?

and it appears the poll is on my side so far, so pffft!

😉

 

[v3cron]

is it not a big waste of your energy to be disdainful? who cares if someone has a collection of cameras? as soon as you(not you specifically, but all of the self-righteous 'users') can afford to have whatever camera you want, i can guarantee that you will not give a second thought to what others think about your camera collection.

bob

being disdainful requires remarkably little energy. and being self-righteous feels pretty nice. 😉

if i had a huge camera budget, i wouldn't have any pretty cameras that just sit there - they would all be used. i'm thinking a couple of custom a la carte MPs with different magnification finders for different focal lengths. and some funky, self-righteous lizard skins.

 

[Al Kaplan]

I just love going to a yard/boot/garage/estate sale where somebody is selling grandpa's "junky old film cameras" on the same table as the toaster oven and the electric coffee pot. You look at the $10 price sticker on the Summilux equipped M4 body complete with boxes and instruction books, and say "Will you take five?" Well, that's a bit extreme perhaps, but a nice fantasy, and I have made some great buys.

 

[bmattock]

Pray tell, how do you know that? Explain that to me, please.

Walk into any camera store. Tell them you have cash and wish to buy the latest M8 (or whatever the most expensive camera they happen sell might be). Tell them that you intend to place it on a shelf and look at it, maybe dust it from time to time.

Let me know if they tell you they refuse to sell it to you on the basis that you won't use it as they intended.

Manufacturers make items to sell. They make them with a particular purpose in mind, but if you want to wear them on your head like a hat or back over them with your SUV, they don't care, as long as you've paid in full.

I have never in my life been asked how I intended to use something before someone else would sell it to me.

 

[bmattock]

buying it just to have it is materialism for its own sake, which seems quite strange.

To you, perhaps.

i think there is a better use for the money, no?

I don't think you get to decide what is a good or bad use of other people's money.

 

[climbing_vine]

I don't think you get to decide what is a good or bad use of other people's money.

Generally, no. But only an unfortunate sort of person would claim that there's no moral line. Would you fly to the Sudan in a private jet carrying your very own Range Rover, drive up to a refugee camp, walk out chewing on a thousand-dollar truffle, and wave ten thousand dollars in front of a refugee who will die tomorrow of starvation before setting it on fire?

Of course you wouldn't. Of course not. So there is a line somewhere. I can't tell you not to do it, but the rest of us humans can decide you're scum and ostracize you.

That said... I don't think you, Bill, would do that (obviously), and I think this collecting thing is probably on the okay side of that line. I mean, we all spend money on things we don't need. But it's important to make the point, I feel.

 

[Silva Lining]

I am a collector and a hoarder - in that I collect and hoard cameras, or more correctly, lenses. I'm not too fussy about them being in museum condition, In fact, after I have used them for a bit, they wont be! 🙂 so its pointless paying extra for that, for me.

I do need to sell some though as I can't use all of them, and I actually worry about that, You see I hate to waste things, and a camera not being used, to me, is a waste. Problem is the hoarder in me can;t decide which ones to let go....so they remain for now. I know when I finally puts some in the classsified or on the bay I will be happy that someone else is getting some use out of them or enjoying them as part of their collection...

 

[v3cron]

What is it with you people who think you know what is best for other people's money or what they should or should not do with the things they buy? Given that you're such steadfast and pure users of your cameras, I'm surprised you would take the precious time away from picture taking to post such a ridiculous poll. Get over yourselves already or form a club of your own, called "Jealous Curmudgeons for the Ethical Treatment of Leicas". I'm pissed at myself for even getting worked up by this, but my usual easy going, positive spirit is spoiled by this kind of thing. Ugh. I should know better.

sorry, but reading this next to the picture of the sad doggy made me crack up a little.

and i don't think there is any jealousy or curmudgeoniness in saying that a camera on a shelf is a waste of a camera.