How do you know you need to unload some gear?

[brian_m.1]

<p>Over the past 3 years or so I have collected a bunch of CMCs. The reality is that I don't get to use them all that often. Now that the novelty has worn off, I feel like I should get rid of a few. Have you reached this decision point too?</p>

[kris-bochenek]

<p>"How do you know you need to unload some gear?"<br>

You don't unload, you keep getting more.<br>

on the more serious note when I found myself not using my Nikomat and Yashica Lynx for a year I got rid of them, now I would not get rid of my Yashica TLRs I just love them too much ;-)</p>

[frank_scheitrowsky1]

I only sell gear when I need money to buy new (old) gear.

[jani_heikkinen]

<p>I only sell gear when.... I just realised I don't. The few times I have considered I actually ended up buying more. I have been collecting since 1990's and still the novelty has not worn off, it's like very good food or coffee or chocolate, I never get tired of them either.</p>

[Member69643]

<p>Neverrrrrr!</p>

<p>I'm with Jani there, every time I think about selling something I end up getting more stuff instead. The real reality is that I'm a bottom-feeder and most of my cameras aren't worth the trouble selling. The few that ARE worth selling I love too much to sell. I mean, who in their right mind sells a near mint Minolta Maxxum 7, or a beautiful OM-4t or a spotless Minolta SRT-200?</p>

<p>If you have some low value items you never use, maybe you could donate some to a local film-using high school or college photography program? By all means, sell the ones that will bring you some bucks. Just don't tell me you're selling them... I have enough. :)</p>

[tjfuss]

<p>When they fill up the better part of a spare bedroom?</p>

<p>(don't ask me how I know this...)</p>

[gene m]

<p>When you can't sit <em>anywhere</em> in your house with seeing a camera.</p>

[John Seaman]

<p>"How do you know you need to unload some gear?"<br>

<br />Don't worry your wife will tell you. If you haven't got one, I dunno.</p>

[Member69643]

<blockquote>

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=614297">Gene M</a> <a href="../member-status-icons"><img title="Subscriber" src="../v3graphics/member-status-icons/sub10.gif" alt="" /></a>, Aug 22, 2012; 11:27 a.m.</p>

<p>When you can't sit <em>anywhere</em> in your house with seeing a camera.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This makes no sense! One camera??? What about b&w and color print and slide film, huh? Fit all THOSE into ONE camera and we'll see! And maybe a digital too, just in case. Oh, and some will be natural light and some will be flash, so you may need more cameras... Then there's C-41 chromogenic film too... hmmm...</p>

[Raymond W]

<p>For me, the worn-off novelty is not an issue. But the horrible prices they pay at estate sales keep me thinking about unloading before that day comes. The idea of a supersized casket so that I can bring my cameras along was rejected.</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

When you can't remember what it is exactly that you have collected, it's perhaps not unreasonable, quite sensible even, to consider getting rid of the stuff you didn't even know you had anymore.<br><br>This is unrelated to the amount of stuff you have. Only to how much of your attention the stuff receives.<br><br>The trouble with this is that when you forget you have something, how are you going to decide to get rid of it?

[Gus Lazzari]

<p>Turning fiat, recklessly printed and debased money into an asset you know & enjoy, isn't that bad an idea.</p>

<p>Though recently an <a href="http://re35.net/">internet joke</a>.<em><<< (Click)</em> It's not too far fetched; Nano technology can make a digital cartridge a possibility. <br /> So, get rid of the equipment when they finally make the "Flexisensor" device a reality.<br /> This should skyrocket their value and therefore a good time to unload them. (Buy low, sell high)</p>

[dan_b.4]

<p>Unemployment for four years and moving twice in the past year helped me decide. I sold a lot of gear to help make ends meet. A year ago my wife and I moved from a large two-bedroom apartment to a small one-bedroom apartment to save on rent. Then in May we finally broke a spell of unemployment by moving from Phoenix, Ariz., to Des Moines, Iowa. Which is not to say I still don't have a lot of gear -- I have four Domke bags and a couple of sizeable boxes filled with stuff. But I did get rid of more than a dozen cameras, numerous lens and flashes and other miscellaneous items. I still have most of the gear I dearly love, except for the 10.5 cm and 8.5 cm Nikkor lenses for my Nikon S2 rangefinder. I really miss those.</p>

[Matthew Currie]

<p>Major tripping hazard comes to mind. Inability safely to open a closet, perhaps, though organization is a better option there.</p>

<p>Otherwise, the few times I've thinned out gear other than by giving it away or taking it apart I've always been sorry. That's what big cardboard boxes are for. Label the box so you can rummage next year when you really really find you need that thing you thought you'd never need.</p>

[carbon_dragon]

Well, I often wish I hadn't sold a given camera. On the other hand lots of cameras means lots of cameras you have to

"exercise" or else they deteriorate and that can be problematic. So I feel like I have to sell some of them and keep only

the stuff I really like. Some because I intend to use them (Leica M2) and some because they're just cool.

 

 

And then sometimes the universe changes and suddenly all those old lenses go on my NEX-7. Darn wish I still had that

Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5.

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>When you find a young person worthy enough to pass the camera on to and help get them started.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I often wonder what the CMC collectors buy<br>

One half so precious as the goods they sell?<br>

<em>Rubaiyat of Omar K von Weinberg</em></p>

[randyjay]

<p>I'm with Gene, I have them upstairs and down. Nothing wrong with that.</p>

[brian_m.1]

<p>I tend to agree that just the sight of a well-made camera is reason enough to keep it. Others are cameras I never thought I would or could ever own. I have put at most two rolls of film in my Pentax 645 in the past three years, but just holding it in my hands once in a while is worth keeping it. My Canonet and Minolta hi-matic are virtual dups so may be there is a possibility there. Yashica Electro 35 seems to be sitting alone the most. Yashica FX is such a sweet little SLR that I can't part with. The FTb is my most recent find so it has to stay a while. </p>

[colin carron]

<p>With anything that is old or rare such as classic cameras I think of them as being temporarily in my keeping. I like to find out about the cameras I own and try to use them if possible. I can then see how well they perform and what problems photographers of past times had to face. Once I have finished with them I am quite happy to sell them or pass them on to someone else so they can enjoy them. My field of interest changes and I don't feel the need to keep all the many cameras I buy or am given.</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>When I walk down the hallway and the vibration knocks one of the cameras off the crowded shelf and it hits my big toe with a thud. Lets hope it's the 2.4 oz. Vivitar Wide and Slim and not the Yashica D.</p>

[mva]

<p>I am not a collector: I sell if I don't use.<br>

I love cameras and I love having many, this pushes me to use all the ones I have. At the same time, when I consider buying another one, I stop and think if this would make another camera I own useless or unused.<br>

I currently photograph with Nikon FM2m, Canon EOS 1n, Olympus XA, Bronica SQ-A, and (digital) Sony NEX-5. Recently I have been neglecting too much the Olympus :-(</p>

[gary_turner1]

<p>You probably try to sell when (1) you can't afford to make the next mortgage or rent payments (2) you lost interest in the hobby (3) you run out of places to squirrel them away (3) old age and the future is not looking to be a long term option<br>

Side note: I know that many of the sincere users on this forum dislike the idea of collecting but let's face it collectors and users will never run out of vintage film cameras to buy. There are far more film cameras out there now than buyers. Heck, there are probably more working Zenits or even Pentax Spotmatics still on hand that could meet the user's demands. Collectors are just custodians and many just buy fixer uppers anyway that the users would avoid or have to dump more money into them than they are worth. Users and collectors need to co-exist in peace. Your typical user just might be buying a good functional camera from a collector. The typical digital user may buy an old film camera lens from a collector. If the economy sinks further watch for an even greater glut of many camera & lens brands and models to hit the market, most at very affordable prices.</p>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>I've considered it... I don't own anything valuable enough to make a decent buck from it so I still have them all.</p>

[mark_medin]

<p>I don't generally sell, and never do I sell something that was given to me. On occasion I give cameras away to those younger who want to shoot film. Of course they don't get a real CMC, but something more on the order of an AE-1 or other electronic, and a standard lens, mostly because I don't trust them to learn any real photographic minutiae like how to correctly expose a negative. It's getting rarer that I even do giveaways now. I saw one of mine on Craigslist after a year or so. Of course, I told them they could sell it if they wanted. Maybe the next person appreciated it more, having to pay for it.</p>