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If you could have it back......


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I'm just curious how many people have sold photographic gear they later wished they hadn't. I once owned a Zeiss 34-70 f/3.4 zoom back in the eighties for a Contax camera I had. The camera company went bust so I changed back to Nikon. In any event I sold off the Zeiss, and have regretted it ever since. It probably could have been adapted to What I have now. To this day I miss the look that lens gave to scenes, and how different the lens coating colors were when I looked down into the barrel under a light.

Any similar regrets from some of you?

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There’s one regret that comes to mind when it comes to photography. Years ago, I took my father to visit an old family friend a few months before the friend died. At that point in time, his friend couldn’t speak so they were communicating by gesture. I didn’t want to impose on the beauty of the scene by taking out my camera, so I didn’t, though there would have been some nice moments to memorialize, two once-enthusiastic young stoop ball players from the streets of Brooklyn now sitting in wheelchairs with home health aides caring for them in sunny, sterile Florida. They’re both gone now and I’m thankful for that sweet memory, though it remains in my mind and heart and not in print. Going through boxes of old photos, I recently came across a really nice early photo of the two men and their wives, my mother and her dear friend who were both already gone by the time of this last visit. It doesn’t pay to have regrets, especially about trivial matters. There’s always some future moment waiting to fill in the gap left by regret. Take a new, inspired pic with a camera you have and that might ease any pain caused by the camera you don’t.
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"You talkin' to me?"

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Moving forward to today, my Leica cameras are the Leica Vario/Leica 113 .Image signature/quality; they really do not give anything away to Leica M cameras or lenses.

 

Build quality is close, auto focus is useful, and for extra sharp images they offer a giant screen for manual focus, unmatched by M cameras.

 

I've used both.

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"There’s always some future moment waiting to fill in the gap left by regret. Take a new, inspired pic with a camera you have and that might ease any pain caused by the camera you don’t" Sam.

 

Absolutely, Sam. Let not pass regrets, be emulated, into the future.

 

A gear thing, this thread, methinks..

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The Nikon D300 was a nice camera with good highlight dynamic range as I recall,

The D300 has more headroom than its predecessor because about 2/3rds of the boost from ISO 100 to ISO 200 came by increasing the default Brightness setting in the Picture Controls (D300 was the first generation of DSLRs that went from Image Settings to Picture Controls). Consequently, as a result of the better performance at the same exposure, Nikon set the meter to expose more to the left than the D200 or D2x. I used to routinely set EC to +.7 on my D300 so that extra image quality showed up in the shadows and in practice my D300 files were exposed a third of a stop faster than my D200 files at base ISO.

 

As for my regrets, I can't honestly say I have any. I went from a D300 to a Sony A850 and over the next few years sold a lot of great NIKKORs for less than I had paid for them, but that was dictated by finances and the rent had to be paid. I replaced my A850 with a Nikon D800 and am working on getting back the lens capabilities I had with my NIKKORs. The one lens I had then that am looking forward to buying again (again, finances and other priorities are the reason I have to wait) is the PC Micro-NIKKOR 85mm f/2.8D.

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Leica M6 and all the lenses for it. I'm not buying it back at current prices, out of principle. I'd rather buy a new MP or M-A quite frankly. I've never bought a new M, and Leica will appreciate the business, I'm sure!

 

In any event I sold off the Zeiss, and have regretted it ever since. It probably could have been adapted to What I have now.

It goes to show that nobody knows the future, save for a tiny minority. We should have predicted mirrorless cameras, even in the '80s and '90s. After all, we have had video cameras for decades.

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I'm just curious how many people have sold photographic gear they later wished they hadn't.

 

Had this experience earlier, so I fixed the problem by rebuying the ones I wanted back, as well as buying the ones I wanted but couldn't afford at the time.

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My Mamiya RB67 kit. Not only am I sorry I sold it, but I sold it literally weeks before the RB market went from the doldrums to exploding thru the roof. Had I waited just a couple more months, I probably would have rethought and kept it, or at least not lost 40% off what I'd paid for it two years earlier.:mad: But as said above by others, we can't predict the future, and when we think we need the money for something else mistakes can be made. I wasn't using the RB as much as my C220 TLR and Hasselblad, and needed an Acute Matte screen and extra A12 for the 'blad. Oops.

 

Sadly as trends reverse, some mistakes become almost impossible to rectify. When I bought my RB kit in 2011 and resold in 2013, they littered the ground in every country and good clean working condition was the norm. Prices were declining still from the the digital divestiture. Then in 2014 the situation suddenly went in the complete opposite direction: Hasselblad began crashing in the market while RB/RZ gear embarked on a feeding frenzy which has yet to ebb. All thats left on eBay in most countries and at dealers like KEH are the dregs: beater bodies and worse lenses. The remaining good RB/RZ gear is concentrated mostly in the hands of Japanese dealers, and even that has gotten pretty skimpy of late. Unless you stumble across the estate of a friend or relative, good clean RB67 has effectively vanished.

 

Which just kills me given I took a bloodbath on the kit I let go, which was super-clean and worked perfectly. I'm well accustomed to taking a loss on things, anybody who churns thru vintage film stuff knows it goes with the territory. But that one really stung, mostly because the kit is irreplaceable now at anywhere near what I paid for it (good examples are scarce, and prices have tripled). Live and learn.

Edited by orsetto
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I have regretted selling my entire darkroom set up and my canon f1 years ago.always had a point and shoot and then an inexpensive digital.i had no idea film was still available.it took 40 years to finally get back.i do use both as much as I can and will get my darkroom set back up one day soon.looking forward i keep my eyes open always for a deal.you never know what you'll find in a thrift or antique store.
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