Your biggest regret.

[Fred R.]

My biggest regret is constantly saying I'm too old to do something and now 75 years later I'm remembering all those things I could have done.
And I regret having to remember this crap.

Man, that's heartbreaking.
To regret that is to deny the life you've actually lived. Anything else is speculation and imagination, neither of which is worth s**t.

 

[someonenameddavid]

My biggest regret is not buying an Ermanox Reflex which had a 105 f1.8 lens on it, but I had just spent my discretionary cash for the month on a 105/2.5 AI Nikkor which I still own and it still produces stunning results.

So not much of a regret

David

 

[perrycas]

It might be the Mamiya m6 and its lenses that i sold when i didn't want to, but as i scanned everything there seems no point not to go to a ff digital. Or it might be the kit i lost in Sumatra in 1992: Nikkormat, 70-200 ? zoom, 50/1.2 and 35mm pc, OR the film that was in the bag. I often wonder what life that kit had later, where did it go? who owned it? where it is now, or at lest the lenses.

 

[astro8]

Losing the rolls of undeveloped film of my wife soon after I met her, when she was 27, then waiting 20 years to take another photo of her.

...but then again, I think she is more beautiful now than she was back then.

My model and my favourite subject...such a gorgeous creature.
I'm still smitten, can you tell? 🙂

 

[hepcat]

I regret selling every one of the three or four M4s I've had over the years. I seem to always end up just buying another. I could have saved myself a TON of cash...

I don't regret buying and selling any other gear I've bought (and I've bought and sold a lot over the years.) It was all bought for a purpose, and I used it or learned from or with it. Some of it was more memorable than others for both good and bad reasons tho!

... and my M mount Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Nokton ASPH v.1 (at least now I can replace it with the version 2).

And a few months ago I found a really nice used 35mm f/1.2 v.1 at a good price and jumped on it. I think it's a modern classic. I'm hooked on the M mount CV lenses. The price to performance ratio is incredible.

 

[helen.HH]

Well I suppose if i have any Regrets in the realm of Photography
Sadly, its that I am not motivated in getting myself out in the World
to be able to make a Living with it...

 

[Godfrey]

Well I suppose if i have any Regrets in the realm of Photography
Sadly, its that I am not motivated in getting myself out in the World
to be able to make a Living with it...

Sometimes, it is just best to love doing Photography for its own sake and your sake, and leave it at that. Making a living with Photography is a strange game, and getting stranger as the years move on.

G

 

[35mmdelux]

The only thing I regret is not trying harder to hold onto my black paint 50 summilux and my Noctilux.

I was leading a major project at the time.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Only one that turned out to be a life lesson: never sell a Leica lens unless you really don't want it or use it. I got a nice combo (M4-2 and Tele-Elmarit 90mm f2.8) for about $800 in 2008. Since I already had a 'cron 90mm I sold (for a pittance) the Tele-Elmarit... even though I did like it a lot.

It's the only Leica lens I really would like to have. I was quite sorry about selling it when I typed the e-Bay text for the auction, and even sorrier when I took it to the Post office. It felt like selling my child.

And, of course, I've been on the look-out for one ever since.

 

[angelog]

I regret never having a darkroom or taking a class in print making. I have resolved to remedy this by starting a darkroom rental business. My space will be ready in February and I already have a ton of professional darkroom equipment acquired from shopping at second hand stores.

Am I crazy?

Angelo

 

[besk]

I regret selling my first 35mm SLR (a Nikkormat) and purchasing all the many cameras I have had since.

I also regret not taking more advantage of the Kodachrome 120 when it was available than I did.

 

[burancap]

I regret selling my first 35mm SLR (a Nikkormat) and purchasing all the many cameras I have had since.

From a fellow Kakalakian... Would you believe that was my first as well and I too have purchased too many cameras since. But, I kept mine and was just playing with it an hour ago. It was my father's ... bought new ~40 years ago. I took control of it in the 80's. Dinged, dented, and scratched -it still works perfectly. My regret is not using it more. In fact, I have not used it in five years. I will go put a roll in right now.

 

[Landshark]

Only one. Summitar* LTM it went away as a partial trade for a Triumph twin that had a saddle so hard it was like riding on a 2X4. Don't regret getting rid of the bike at all.

 

[Prest_400]

I regret paying too much for three filters, good ones, right; but too much:
100€ for a CPL and a couple of UV's. That was 5 years ago when I was a beginner and yes, reading around the web everyone said "UVs are a must!!". Ah, the young and unexperienced. :bang:

Double that quantity and it almost gets you a Fuji GW690... Or quite a lot of film. Heck, I paid 200€ for the EPL2.

Last year I won the same quantity on a lotto (100€) yet every time I think of filters I remind myself of that.

Photographically I regret not bringing a film P&S in my last trip in the Philippines. An XA or mju I/II for street shots. Because it's not advisabe to show a camera around on the streets where it can be dodgy.

As a youngster I might regret in the future a couple of things:

I have some shots in mind I'd like to do in Medium Format (family portraits). My grandma is in her 90s so sometimes I feel that the clock is ticking.

This is a scenario I have mentioned a few times. Had I the knowledge, I would have got an XA or XA2, loaded it with Fuji 400 and/or Tri-X, and shot at least one roll per month throughout my teenage years and university. Concerts, orchestra rehearsals, music trips, school camps, friends and family, my final years at school, my first date, my first girlfriend, music gigs and competitions, overseas travel, everything.

But I so, so regret not having stepped up my photography when I was young and documented everything I could.

Indeed, I need to focus on that...
Of friends and the context I am on, as a student... And college student life. The cellphone camera sort of does, and I've brought a proper camera with me in classes a couple of times and took shots.
I was too late for early high school but did a bit of my last year. However, I don't feel that much nostalgia nowadays for the late days of HS, on the former I sometimes wish I had brought a disposable camera.

 

[mgilbuena]

Digital rot era from ~2000 through 2005 - my college years. Small, 2-megapixel noisy photographs. Not pleasant to look at; I should have kept a film point and shoot.

 

[ssmc]

Leaving aside the philosophical regrets (which are legion), strictly in terms of buying & selling:

Biggest film regret: selling my M6 TTL - especially because my reasoning at the time was totally specious and too embarrassing/ridiculous to repeat here

Biggest digital regret: selling my D700; switched from N to C for APS-C and for some reason I felt the need to follow suit with FF. I don't dislike it's replacement (far from it) but for the limited use I had/have for FF the D700 was more than good enough

 

[Pioneer]

I actually don't regret much, life is really to short for that, and I really have been fortunate. I can think of only one that is really related to photography. I regret not always having the inner drive to step forward and take the picture when it presented itself. I do know that I have never regretted the times I have done it.

 

[JChrome]

Sometimes, it is just best to love doing Photography for its own sake and your sake, and leave it at that. Making a living with Photography is a strange game, and getting stranger as the years move on. G

+1

Nothing against those that do it, but I think getting paid for photography would change the game too much for me to enjoy it. I walked around for two hours today shooting and loved every second of it (associating it with the stress of a job would undoubtedly take away it's stress reduction for me).

As far as regrets, I really regret not getting interested in photography earlier... I wasted a lot of time not shooting 🙂

 

[Takkun]

As pertaining to the original question: passing on a Minolta Maxxum 9. I didn't need to buy into another system at the time I had the opportunity. Or, maybe, not realizing how much I loved shooting RF earlier on, and thus passing on a lot of lenses that I came across.

WRT photo opportunities, maybe, just maybe, turning down an internship with the Red Sox for one with one of their sponsors. But I had a blast regardless.

 

[rolfe]

My biggest regret is selling anything.

As a result, I no longer sell anything 🙂. Of course, I now have way too many cameras, but that is another story...