a painful decision

[eric_ung2]

Dear all, I would like to share with you a painful decision I have made today.............

Today, I traded in all my Pentax 645 stuff (which I have been carrying for years) for 2 AFS

lenses and one teleconverter.

To be honest, when the salesman examined the 45-85 f4.5 lens, I almost shouted," stop,

transaction over".

I hope I can sleep tonight and won't feel regret too soon.

Do you have similar experience in the past?!!

[Sanford]

I sometimes look at my old, rarely used Leica M6 and think "what a nice down payment this would make on a new digital SLR", but so far I haven't been able to part with it. For one thing I wouldn't be allowed to hang out at the Leica Forum anymore.

[donald_choi]

A couple of months ago, I traded in my beloved 28-70mm 2.8 and my 17-35mm 2.8 to get the new dx lenses (12-24 and 17-55). I almost cried that day. I don't regret my decision, though.... the new lenses are great!

[eric_ung2]

As usual, I normally tested my newly bought equippment on my aquarium as my fishes

never make any complain. Interestingly, I used the 17-55mm f2.8 at the continuous

focusing mode on my D70, I followed my fishes movement, one at a time, for more than 1

minutes each (my wife helped me to count) at 55mm, then 35mm and finally 17mm, but I

didn't experience any problem as stated by some others "DX 17-55 Design Flaw?"

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009pz3

The lens focused very fast and kept the interested fish in sharp focus continuously.

My lens serial number is 213184, do you think nikon has fixed the problem (but within

that short period of time)? or it is just I am lucky or I didn't test it properly?

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

I had to put my Springer Spaniel down, but have never cried over a camera. Not to say I wouldn't love to get my old FTN back. I donated it to a local school when my day job precluded any commitment to photography. Now in the digital world I'm back in deep. Hey, maybe I can get that old camera back? I'm sure they're not using it anymore.

[thomas_sullivan]

i've never sold any camera equipment that I bought (or even that was given to me)...............not sure I could actually do it either. They may sit there for months, while I'm involved in shooting with a different one, but the all eventually get picked up and used again.

 

Well, there is that old 400mm pre-set piece of crap that I never used more than a roll or two.......I could probably sell that and not miss it.....might actually have enough to buy a roll of film from the proceeds too ;o)............eh, why bother.

[bumeister]

I sold all of my Mamiya 645 manual focus stuff last year to finance new Nikon lens purchases (and a DSLR). It was not an easy decision, and I still have some regrets; the Mamiya gear had some emotional significance to me. However, I was finding it something of a hassle to deal with, especially getting the film developed and prints made.

 

So in terms of shooting habits, image quality, etc, I have no regrets. The Mamiya is a wonderful camera, but I find I use the DSLR and new lenses way more than I ever used the 645. It's all about trade-offs...

[arnabdas]

That's sad to hear, nonetheless inspiring. I might take a painful decision myself one of these days but there's no point for me talking about it here and now ...

[larry_s1]

For me it is not emotional.

 

I am very unsure of quality of film vs digital. I have Nikon and a Mamiya 645 Pro TL (3 lenes, etc) systems. I shoot:

 

(A)every day stuff - I feel digital is (B) Portraits w/mamiya - unsure © Landscapes w/Mamiya - leaning towards film (D) Live Stage Performances @1600 AND 3200 - Leaning towards film (many digital cameras dont even go to 3200)

 

 

I don't meant to start a problem. I am well aware of the advantages with digital, but I am worried about quality, especially big enlargements. Digital always beats analog eventually, but are we there yet?

 

I am still torn (unsure) so I haven't made the leap.

[paul_chefurka6]

I recently traded in the following Leica gear: An M6, an M7 with motor, a 28/2.0 ASPH, a 35/1.4 ASPH, a 75/1.4 and a 90/2.0 Apo ASPH.

 

In return I got a D70 with the kit lens, a 12-24, a 17-55, a 70-200VR, a 50/1.8, an SB600, two 2GB cards, a 40GB Flashtrax and an Epson 4000 with an additional full set of 220ml inks.

 

I haven't made such a good decision for my photography since I bought my first M4 back in 1975. I feel so liberated - from the tyranny of the lab, from the uncertainty of shooting blind, from the benevolent dictatorship of prime lenses, from the cost-consciousness of shooting another roll, from the disappointment of walking into a dark room with no high-speed film in the bag, and on and on and on...

 

I'll likely get rid of my residual film gear before the summer arrives. No buyer's remorse here. There's a lot to be said for these newfangled electric picture thingumies!

[holger]

I bought and sold a lot of equipment over the years, no remorse yet (well, except maybe the Leica IIc I gave away after it sat on the shelf most of the time, but when I had it, I only took it out on few occasions and always thought a little digicam would give me b/w AND colour in one shot...). Most cameras have flaws regarding handling or details like shutter noise, layout of switches and similar things. Only two cameras have survived until now, and they will stay with me come whatever D80 will be launched this year: the F3 (not HP, sold the HP finder for the smaller one), and the Rolleicord. The Rolleicord has been the only camera I rebought after having sold one. Even if I used it only once every few months, it's so small and inconspicious and gives such great results, I just needed it back. The F3 is just THE camera for me, even if I shoot most of my pictures with the D70, from time to time some rolls of Delta 100 or Pan F, my tripod, my F3, 24/50/105 mm primes, my dog and me, that's all I need on a nice cloudy early sunday morning. Once I got a brand new, completely unused FM2 on ebay and decided to keep it in stead of the F3 (lighter, slimmer). I never even pressed the shutter once, sold it again with the original paper in the film chamber. Did not feel as good as my F3.

[markwilkins]

<i>I haven't made such a good decision for my photography since I bought my first M4 back in 1975. I feel so liberated - from the tyranny of the lab, from the uncertainty of shooting blind, from the benevolent dictatorship of prime lenses, from the cost-consciousness of shooting another roll, from the disappointment of walking into a dark room with no high-speed film in the bag, and on and on and on...</i><P>

 

Well, you definitely got some nice Nikon equipment.<P>

 

I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a Leica rangefinder and a couple of lenses without selling my (now fairly extensive) Nikon setup, and find that they are SO DIFFERENT from each other in terms of what they're good at that though I shoot with each of them I almost never find myself wishing I had the other camera.<P>

 

However, I'd be a lot more wary of selling off my MF equipment (currently a Pentax 67 with two lenses.) The fact is that a 24 megapixel scan from MF still gives me more to work with than even a 12 MP digital camera can... and of course megapixels don't tell the whole story because that 24 MP scan is not divided among red, green, and blue in a Bayer pattern.<P>

[vivek iyer]

Where do you guys do all such wonderful trade-ins?

 

I have pile of gear sitting around that can be used towards a D2X plus a few lenses purchase.

 

It makes me very sad to see these (now) unused gear sitting around!

[armando_roldan]

I remember I once had a painful decision to make with my F100. To use Fugi 160 NPC or 400 NPH for shooting my wife portrait last month. I tossed and turned for nights on end and had to phone a suicide prevention center and then finally I made a stand and stood by it without reservation........I used my D70 with NEF files and tweaked it in Photoshop for a week.

 

toughest decision of my photographic life. I pray I don't have to go thru that again. A man can only handle so much.

[Sanford]

The store will offer you half of what they will sell it for - probably one fourth of what you paid for it - that is where the pain really comes from.

[ShunCheung]

Holding onto something you don't or cannot use any more is not a very good solution either. How much you paid for it once upon a time isn't really an issue. I still have a PC that I paid $3000 for about 10 years ago. It uses the original 1st-generation Pentium chip; its 8M of RAM was a lot and its 1G hard drive was huge back then. Even though I want to donate it, I am not sure anybody would take it now.

 

Cameras (and PC) are nothing more than tools. They are only good as long as they are useful in your photographic work.

[alex_lofquist]

I put one of my Leicas in a glass case. I doubt that I shall ever shoot it again, but cannot bear to part with it. It was one that I used in college back in the early '50s. Who said that nostalgia is not what it's cracked up to be?

[eric_ung2]

"Cameras (and PC) are nothing more than tools. They are only good as long as they are

useful in your photographic work."

 

I think this sentence is really relieving.