August 1982 Peterson's Photographic

I ran across this recently, up on a shelf where all good thing lie in wait. First off, I noticed that the advertisements have lots of text. You don't get that now. The Nikon FM2 got a write-up that I would call a little better than lukewarm. The writer would be amazed by the lasting popularity of that elegant machine. The fanciest ad promoted the Nikon FG: also with abundant words.

There were articles about darkroom work! And, heartbreakingly, a long piece about the glories of Kodachrome. I almost beat my head against the wall.

And, heartbreakingly, a long piece about the glories of Kodachrome

Did it glorify the 10 days to a fortnight wait to get the slides back?

And how much are the Leicas?

About $1000 I think.

About $1000 I think.

Actually in April 82 B&H sold the Leica M4-P for $900 body only. The 50mm f/2.0 lens is $550.

Add a couple of links.

Ha! I thought it was me who couldn't see them....:confused:

Well, a year earlier

The rear cover of the August 1981 Petersen's Photographic

"Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end."

Before you become enamored with those old prices, dig up some old Want Ads (you remember those from pre-Internet times ;) ) and look up what your job would have paid you. Now compute how many hours you would have needed to work than at the 1982 rate of pay to how many hours you need to work now at your current rate of pay and current price.

Of course, to get the true cost in hours worked of any discretionary item, you would first have to allow for taxes and the cost of nondiscretionary items like food and shelter in both time periods.

Before you become enamored with those old prices, dig up some old Want Ads (you remember those from pre-Internet times ;) ) and look up what your job would have paid you. Now compute how many hours you would have needed to work than at the 1982 rate of pay to how many hours you need to work now at your current rate of pay and current price.

 

Of course, to get the true cost in hours worked of any discretionary item, you would first have to allow for taxes and the cost of nondiscretionary items like food and shelter in both time periods.

Now that pay pal will issue a 1099 if you sell something for more than $600 and you will have to pay tax on it. Say if you bought a Leica M4-P back in 1982 and you paid $900 for it and you do keep the receipt. Now I saw some of the M4-P goes for $2000 so you could sell your camera for $2000. In this case do you have to pay tax on the $1100 as capital gain? You really don't make the money as the $900 was worth more than the $2000 today.

In the UK we have an annual personal Capital Gains Tax allowance - currently £12,300. It's something that HMRC likes to keep quiet about. So every year you can buy a nice little collectible objet d'art and flog it the following year for £12,300 profit, tax free.

Of course, you can only do this if you're rich enough to have > about £100,000 p.a. disposable capital in the first place.

What an egalitarian society we live in!