How long do you keep your equipment

<p>Just as a general point of discussion / inquiry, I am curious to know how long people (non professionals) keep their camera bodies?<br>

I figure there are two ways to about it. Either use it for a year or two, and sell of the body before the new body comes out, so as to get as much money out of it to put back into the new body, or use it till it drops dead. For me, the latter seems to be what works best.<br>

My first dSLR was a D90 (bought late 2008), which I still have and continue to use on a regular basis. In 2012, when the D800/E came out, I purchase the "E". I tend to use the "E" for paid jobs, and the D90 for personal photography, but from time-to-time, do use the D800E for personal family portraits when I know I want to produce a certain image (portrait of my kids / family). Along with the two dSLR bodies, there is the Sony RX100-II, which was bought for the purpose of a vacation camera, as I did not want to carry any of the bulky dSLR and accompanying lenses to Mexico. The RX100-II worked beautifully for all my vacation photography needs, as it has full manual control along with RAW shooting capabilities. One of the things I love to do is take long exposure photos (at the beach, etc..). So, for this purpose, I got a nice magnetic filter holder for the RX100-II. I was able to produce beautiful long exposure pictures with the RX-100. I will keep this camera for family vacation purposes until it dies, and then replace it with some sort of equivalent unit when the time comes.<br>

So I would like to hear from others on this. How do you approach life cycle of your equipment?</p>

<p>Cheers</p>

 

<p>I still have Dad's Argus C3 and Rollei E2 TLR. I still have the first Nikon FTn I ever owned (sold the rest years ago to finance buying the FM2n+MD-12 arsenal), three FM2n cameras and my entire Bronica ETRS outfit (which I'd love to sell). I sold my Mamiya RB rig but it pained me to do so, even though I hadn't used it in half a decade.</p>

<p>Some people roll their hardware over frequently, others seem unable to let go of favored pieces with sentimental attachments. YMMV</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Sold my early Nikon film cameras to a friend, but that was primarily because I was having trouble using manual focus. If they had had auto focus, I'd still have them. Still have an Argus C3, although I haven't used it in ages.</p>

<p>When I switched to digital, my first was a Canon A95 which I still have and use on occasion. My current Nikon stable includes a D300 and 700, both of which I use on a regular basis. I see no reason to upgrade to the "latest and greatest".</p>

<p>People get rid of cameras?</p>

<p>Never heard of such a thing!</p>

<p>I confess I have got rid of a few cameras early on, but I rectified that by buying replacements for them. I have every piece of Nikon equipment I ever used, still. My Nikon F, my Nikkormat FTn, my Nikkormat EL, .... you get the idea. With film cameras so cheap now, I've also acquired the models I wanted, but never got when they were new.<br>

I have passed on some digital equipment to my daughter, if that counts as not keeping.</p>

<p>I bought my first camera in 1972, a silver F2 Photomic, and a second in 1973, a black one. Kept them until 2006 when I traded them in for two D70s bodies. Then in 2011 replaced them with two D300s bodies. I don't plan on replacing those in the foreseeable future.</p>

<p>Nikon FE, 50mm f/1.8 AIs, 1983. Still going strong, yielding 25 megapixels of super saturated Velvia scans. So, what's that .... 31 years so far!</p>

<p>I have picked up other bodies, Rolleiflex 1938, Agfa Billy Record 1952, Kodak Retina iia 1952, tons of Pentax and Nikon circa 1983. They all work great! </p>

<p>Planned obsolescence is for pixels.</p>

<p>;-)</p>

Still have my NIKON F which I

purchased new in 1967. I get rid of

Leica cameras when they get to be

problematic, I sell lenses I don't use

very often, especially aftermarket

brands, I try and buy only benchmark

Nikon digital cameras new (D700,

D200) and they are generally worth

keeping after newer versions are

introduced. I buy used Nikon film cameras (recently an F5) because they are so inexpensive and great fun to use and I don't think their $ value will be much less than what I paid for them

<p>I don't yet know the answer tto the question because I have not been able to wear out a Nikon<br>

F yet. </p>

<p>Of course I have been using newer equipment too, but at this rate I'll keep it all. </p>

<p>I still have my first 35mm camera - a Zeiss Contaflex IV. I do not use it very often, but it still works.</p>

<p>I had and used my Nikon FTn from the time I bought it in 1970 until it was stolen in 2002.</p>

<p>My main camera is my Nikon F100, which I bought in 2001. It takes great black and white negatives which I print and color negatives which I scan.</p>

<p>I still use my Bronica S2A with 75mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens which I bought in 1972.</p>

<p>For digital, I have a Canon PowerShot Pro 1 which I was given in 2004 and my Nokia N8 phone which I bought four years ago.</p>

<p>For Holiday Season 2015 (never be the first kid on the block with a new toy), I <strong>may</strong> purchase the D750, unless the collective wisdom in the forum decides it, too, is yet another faulty piece of equipment or that none of my lenses will give a satisfactory result with it. <grin></p>

<p>I still have almost every camera I ever owned, including the Tower 127 and Montgomery Ward 126 cameras I took my first snapshots with and the Nikon F2 I save my pennies for in high school. For many years, I didn't have any excess equipment to speak of. At this point, the stuff that I might get rid of (the film cameras and some of the manual focus lenses) would only bring pennies on the dollar. Yet if I decided I wanted them again later they would be difficult to find and I'd probably pay 10 times what I got for them. <br /><br />At one time I did trade a Bolex B8 movie camera (B8, not the classic H8 which I would have kept if I had one) and an Elmo Dual Filmatic (8mm and Super 8, a relatively rare camera) for a mint Yashicamat 124G. I was never going to use the two movie cameras but got good use out of the Yaschicamat. I have sold a few lights and miscellaneous things as I got better things to replace them. But not many.</p>

<p>Nikon F3HP-1984<br>

Nikon FA-1985<br>

Contax G2-1998<br>

Pentax 67II-1998<br>

Nikon FM3a-2005<br>

These are the remaining of the current group, excluding, Hasselblads, and a Fuji GX-680.<br>

I use all of these camera's regularly, not daily, but semi weekly.<br>

I use great care in keeping these camera's alive, and their lenses. I continue to be impressed with the great films that we aspire to today. In spite of the films we've lost, we continue to have the best. Another words if one can't get it done with todays films, it simply a case of denial. <br>

No doubt, the equipment of yesteryear is built to amazing standards. My camera's are the obvious testament to that. Take care of them, and they'll be there for you, even the 30 year olds!</p>

 

<p>I still have my Eos 300D, because by the time I didn't need it as a back-up (because I'd got a D800e to complement my D700) it was worth more to me for sentimental value than for sales. I kept my D700 expecting to want it for speed and low-light, alongside my D800, but I've barely used it since. If it's still worth enough to merit it, I may trade both it and my D800e in on a D810. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that I may have scuffed the paint on my D800 slightly, which is likely to have had an unfortunate effect on its resale value. So my D810 may not be coming any time soon. Not that I've got the hang of having disposable income these days...</p>

<p>I've only once gotten rid of a camera that was still working. I still have the Exacta RTL 1000 I got as my first "real" camera, and all the OM stuff I got later on. In the digital era, I did sell my D70 when and lenses I switched to the "other brand", but I still regularly use the 20D I got to replace it (in fact, it's sitting in my car right now).</p>

F401 (1988; sold to brother)

 

F801 (1989; gave away to friend)

 

F3T (1994)

 

F4 (1998)

 

D200 (2006)

 

D300 (2011)

 

D800 (2012)

 

..With collection of old and new lenses.. and some Nikkormats.

So in fact I keep most of my gear. And only the first two and last one were bought new.

<p>I bought a Nikon f3 when the camera first came out and I have never regretted the decision. As soon as the f4 came out I ordered it and I had nothing but trouble with it and went back to the f3. I have NAS and it has not always worked out for me.</p>

<p>In the days of film significant upgrades to an F series camera came along every eight or so years and were more or less worth the upgrades. In the digital age I wait until there is a VERY compelling reason to upgrade. I recently got d810 as a gift and I look forward to a long life with it. The simple economics of automatic upgrades in the digital age can kill you. Ask my wife.</p>

<p>-O</p>

<p>My strategy has been to buy every other generation of Nikon digital. I also buy historical/collectible cameras and will sell one if a better copy comes along. My general rule of thumb is if I haven't used something in a year, I should sell it.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>Kent:</p>

<p>I agree with your strategy and your rule of thumb, except for my old F3HP. I tkinl I will be buried with it.</p>

<p>-O</p>

<p>I once sold a Minolta SRT-101 to buy a Bronica S2A. That was forty years ago. So I continued buying cameras but I just haven't sold any more. I have never counted how many I have. Between fifty and a hundred I would guess.</p>

<p>Good question: I have been in photography for over 25 years and I have not sold one single piece of my equipment until a week ago, when I attended the local camera fair. Mostly got rid of some lenses I don't use or don't like. Simply had to downsize for more new things. I have terminal GAS. <br>

Still have all the cameras I acquired over the years. Film cameras I will keep as they are very sturdy and difficult to wear out and they don't sell for much. Digital cameras I would upgrade only when there is great improvements, usually means 2 or 3 generations apart. It is better to upgrade lenses these days, as they last a little bit longer than bodies.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I sold my Leica M4 after owning and using it for 43 years, but then turned around and bought an M2. Sold a bunch of cameras and lenses a couple of years ago when I ran into some financial difficulties, but still have a lot from the 1950s & 60s. I did go thru several generations of digital cameras, but I've had my Nikon D300 for about 3-4 years now, and see no reason to sell it. IMHO the only reasons to sell are to fund a new purchase, not using a camera for more than 5 years, or it is broken and too expensive to repair. But to each is own.</p>

<p>I still haw my first 35mm rangefinder, Zorkij C, working, ( a Leica copy) Practika Super TL, and the serious staff, Nikon F, several, F2, F3, FM2, FE2, Nikkormat, Nikon EL, Nikkormat EL, FA, F5, some of those multiple bodies and all in a perfect working order. New on the list is a Nikon S2 with 3 lenses, 5cm.. 3.5cm & 2.8cm, I used them yesterday, film in the lab. Digital? Not keeping them, only the last models, like D3s, D4 & Df. The favorite is the Df. For film, the NIKON S2, the new guy, for me.<br>

Inherited, Olympus OM-2 (x3) with a set of lenses, kipping them as a masterpiece of mechanical engineering marvels and artistry, like Swiss watches in cameras. To bad, camera companies producing monsters for 35mm format to day, compare to the Olympus OM system.</p>

I still use our Nikon D40 weekly. It's our only DSLR. I have been thinking of

upgrading to a D90!

<blockquote>

<p>Either use it for a year or two, and sell of the body before the new body comes out, so as to get as much money out of it to put back into the new body, or use it till it drops dead.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I am somewhere in the middle as far as cameras are concerned - certainly not upgrading every model cycle but also not holding on to cameras until they die.<br>

<br /> Saw no reason to hold on to my film cameras - with the exception of a 32-year old F3, they are all sold now. My first DSLR, D70, is sold, as are the subsequently acquired D200 bodies. Currently shooting with D300 and D700 - though a refurbished D7100 is on the way - to be used for avian and aviation photography. Generally sell equipment I don't intend to use anymore (or haven't used for a while) to upgrade to something newer or better. Probably would have sold off most of my DX gear if it wasn't for my wife transitioning into digital right now and wanting to use it. </p>

<p>The status for me is:<br>

Minolta SR7 1961 - donated it to "Street Childrens Photoclub Saigon" in 1994<br>

Minolta ST 101 1966 - donated it together with 4 lenses to "Street Childrens Photoclub Saigon" in 1994<br>

Voightlaender Vitamatic 1963 - still on my shelf<br>

Nikon D90x 1999 - still on my shelf<br>

Canon G2 - damaged/thrown away<br>

Nikon D200 2007 - sold when D300 was release<br>

Nikon D300 2007 - still in use<br>

Nikon D700 2008 - still in use<br>

Unfortunately, there is no b/w film available here in Vietnam, as I would like to "play" with the analog cameras again, and buying them online is extremely expensive, and nobody can develop them here!<br>

No I awaiting a D750 or D810 with GPS build-in then I will probably buy but without selling the D300, if the budget allows!</p>

<p>I still have the Canon VI that was bought new when I was 1 year old, and took most of my baby pictures until I was about 10. I used it as my main camera until I bought an FM when I was 21.<br>

My last year of college, I used the FM for slides, and the Canon for black and white prints. The last roll stayed in the camera for 30 years, until I developed it a few years ago. <br>

I have put a few rolls through both the FM and Canon VI in the last few years.</p>