When do you decide to Sell/Buy?

[travis1]

what are you guiding principles with regards to the above concerning

cameras/lenses?

 

Any unforgettable experience or any interesting transactions to share?

 

I buy most of the time. Never sold any gear before.;)

 

cheers

[ray .]

If I think I need it to help me do some aspect of photography that I want to do and don't have the equipment to accomplish it already, or if I think it'll make what I'm doing easier or more efficient, then I might buy something. If I'm not using the thing and don't see any future use for it, I figure I need to sell it if it has any reasonable monetary value.

 

I try to resist buyer's disease, which means I don't need the thing at all but strangely somehow think there's something to gain by having it.

[todd frederick]

Unfortunately I sell equipment when I am in serious need of money...Hey...that's life!

 

I have sold many items that I regret that I sold.

 

I am now trying to keep my photo equipment to only those items that I use for income purposes, plus a couple of fun cameras.

 

I hope that will keep me in control.

[dougmiles]

Hi Travis -- I tend not to sell either. Many years ago when I couldn't afford to keep the old camera and still buy the new, I'd trade it in at a retail store for what I "had to have." But for the past 20+ years, the only way out for one of our cameras was through destruction. Specifically, my wife's harsh use. Alright, abuse! Like spilling Coca Cola all over it (one dead Pentax ME Super as I recall), or most commonly "impact damage" (Ricoh XRS, and two Pentax LX's). Mashed lenses, bent lens mounts, deeply dented pentaprisms, jammed mirrors. Fortunately, she's wrecking her own cameras, not mine. Didn't take me long to quit loaning her my stuff! A few years ago she gave up her last battered Pentaxes and went digital with a Nikon 990. It has survived remarkably well... And I wonder if all this time she could have been happy damaging cheap point n' shoot cameras instead of nice gear!

 

As far as my cameras go, I keep telling myself I am NOT a collector, just an accumulator! I still have the 1958 M2 I got in '67, my 1970 Pentax Spotmatic, my 1972 Olympus 35RC, my 1976 Pentax 6x7, my 1982 Minolta CLE... and they're all in nice shooting condition. :-)

[cameron_sawyer]

You left out another category: Give Away. You should definitely Sell or Give Away gear from time to time. Gotta cull the herd.

 

I tend to Sell or Give Away when I haven't used a particular piece of gear for a couple of years. That's a pretty reliable indicator you don't need it. A couple of years ago I actually got acquainted with E-Bay for the first time when I sold off a closet full of stuff in a week. I was so happy I immediately spent the proceeds on other gear. Not defeating the purpose at all -- I efficiently traded stuff I didn't need for stuff I wanted.

 

My father uses the Give Away variant more than anything else. He Went Digital a few years ago and solved his excess gear problem in the simplest of ways and in a single day: the bag with the Mamiya 67 and bunch of lenses went to my brother in law; the bag with the Nikon F3 and bunch of AIS lenses went to me; the bag with the Nikon F4 and bunch of AF lenses went to my cousin.

 

I do deeply regret one sale. I had a Hasselblad 500C which I had bought in the '70's using my entire savings from a whole awful summer of work in high school, through which I had put thousands of rolls of film and which I used during my brief professional career in Nashville (including several album covers). Then I went to law school, got caught up in a demanding career, and lost access to a darkroom, and for a long time stopped shooting. One day I saw the Hassy in the closet and thought how stupid it was for the thing just to sit around like that for years, and took it right down to KEH (I was living in Atlanta at the time; and these were the days before e-bay) and sold it, together with my Gossen LunaPro.

[peter_evans4]

I've never sold anything yet, though I have swapped a very pretty but

unusable lens that I'd bought by mistake for a not-so-pretty but usable

one. (Yes, I was candid about the former.) I buy something when I

somehow manage to delude myself that its acquisition will, in some

mysterious way, help me take interesting photos. Of course it seldom if

ever does -- but since none of it is branded Leitz or Leica, I can afford

this silliness.

[hugon]

<<..when I haven't used a particular piece of gear for a couple of years. That's a pretty reliable indicator you don't need it.>>

 

pretty much agree with cameron. if you don't use it, no need to hang to it.

[jorn ake]

I am really trying to keep to the one small backpack rule - if I cannot comfortably fit it into a backpack, why do I actually need it? Two bodies, four lenses, light meter, batteries and film max, but usually it is just one body and 1-2 lenses. Now that I have a Leica, what else would I buy? My only goal is two ASPH lens upgrades (35 & 90) and an M7 .58 and this only because I (and I can only speak for myself) like the M7 and the look of ASPH lens negatives & prints. I could care less about the film-digital debate or the whole Summicron religion (Father, Son and 3rd Version.)

 

I sell or give away (mostly give away) camera stuff I am not using, usually to photographers I know who are younger and poorer than I (and usually better photographers, but that's cool.) What goes around comes around. Right now the unused pile is down to a Olympus Stylus Epic no-zoom and a Rollei Prego Micron 30/21mm (same as the Ricoh whatever.) Someone will get those at some point, though no one seems to want the Rollei.

 

The only regret I have is that I sold a mint Yashicamat 124G - one of those still in the plastic, still in the box, never seen film, NOS cameras. Oh and the Nikon 105mm Micro-Nikkor AIS. But oh well.

 

Consider whether a charity might use your old equipment. Photovoice is a worthy charity that offers photography instruction and equipment to people living in difficult situations as a tool for political/social empowerment. What's more, it seems to work well. Their exhibit I saw was pretty intense and great. www.photovoice.org

[raymond_tai]

I never did so much buying and selling until the internet came along. Gosh darn that Al Gore for inventing the thing :) Peer to peer marketing really works apparently and if I see ten posts on how great the 38mm-52mm f/2.8-4.5 Vario-Elmarit is I'll probably buy it.

[maik]

Travis,

I usually sell my stuff when I want something new. No need having 10 bodies and 20 lenses around the house. I once sold my entire SLR outfit (4 bodies and 12 lenses) just to enter the RF world. After some time it felt funny not to have an SLR around so I bought one with 2 lenses just to have it. Also I lurk on eBay and when there seems to be a bargain from a good seller I'd try to get it. Just last week I bought a M3 (from '65) and an 3,5/50 Elmar for EUR 950,- from an Austrian used-camera-shop. They said the camera was B- (which is actually poor) and I took the chance. It turned put to be on really excellent condition having just recently been CLA'ed and the vulcanite in 100% good condition. That really was a bargain. I have had my Bessa R for some time now and am thinking to upgrading to R2 so the Bessa R will be sold again. No use in having the unused equipment lying 'round.

Maik

[kaiblanke]

Unfortunately I more often buy then sell; this ends up in just too much stuff for the room I have available. But then buying and esp. trying out is much more fun than sitting there and waiting for a buyer.

<p>

Apropos trying out: Tomorrow I have the 75 'lux to test, but luckily I currently have no money left, so that I cannot run into more storage problems, although this would be a very sweet one :-)

[fotografz]

I occasionally forego the luxury of redundant gear when funding new additions (like my

recent F/S posts).

 

In my market these days, the more diverse you are in commercial applications the busier

you can keep, and the more money you can make. So I carry a fairly extensive inventory of

gear. When on set, if an Art Director wants to see something I have to have the correct

lens at the ready. 2 or 3 lenses doesn't cut it, you need all of them, and back-ups in case

something goes down, (if you have a bunch of models and a support staff sitting there

while you search around the city for a rental, you still have to pay them). Besides,

deadlines since digital have become intolerant of any downtime.

 

Wedding work is a little different. A solid system and back-ups is all that's required. But

even then, just having a couple of lenses doesn't cut it. As my experiences grow in these

areas, I can anticipate the type of shots I want to accomplish and adjust gear accordingly.

[dan_fromm2]

Hard question to answer. Why I transact is easier to explain than when I transact.

 

I tend to buy when I have an application that needs a piece of equipment I don't own, when I think an item on offer will do something better than a similar piece of equipment I already have, and when the item strikes me as cute and inexpensive. Sometimes the application is "to be outrageous"; that's why I bought a 6"/1.9 Dallmeyer Super Six to use on a 2x3 Speed Graphic. It was cute and inexpensive.

 

I sometimes buy more than appears reasonable when I don't know which item in a category is the one for me. For example, when I was setting up to do photomacrography I bought a small mountain of macro lenses. I've since had a shootout and decided which not to keep. I've kept the keepers, have slowly been selling the, um, others.

 

I tend to sell when I have a superior replacement in hand, when I need money, and when someone else wants the item much, much more than I do. So, for example, when a 152/9 Super Six started a bidding war on eBay and sold for an outrageous amount I put the 6"/9 mentioned above (same thing, just a little older) on eBay and informed the 152/9's losing bidders that it was there. It was clear that I didn't want it as badly as other people did. In this case, I seized an opportunity to convert a small white elephant of a lens into more cash than I'd thought possible.

 

And then there's the equipment I buy as speculations. That is, not to use or even try out myself but with resale firmly in mind. Once upon a time I found a heap of 38/4.5 Biogons in ex-RAF aerial cameras. Bought as many as I could afford, ...

 

Timing of purchases? In general, if I have the cash and can justify the purchase, either for use or for speculation, I buy. The market for the kinds of used gear I buy is for the most part pretty thin so opportunities to buy have to be acted on when they appear.

 

Timing of sales is a different matter. As mentioned above, sometimes I seize rare opportunities. Other times, there aren't any and then there's no rush to sell. At the moment I have some redundant Tominon macro lenses. eBay is flooded with 'em; I won't try to sell mine until the flood abates or I decide it won't.

 

Cheers,

 

Dan

[peter_n1664876959]

I have mostly bought and hardly ever sold. A newish Leica owner (9 months), I now have 5 lenses, a 21, 35, two 50's & a 90 and I won't be needing or getting any more. I'm sure all of these lenses could be bettered, but I have tested each one extensively, I'm happy with them, and I don't see the point of trading them for something "better".

 

I don't understand the people who seem to compulsively trade-up as soon as something apparently more attractive comes along. I like to get to know my lenses really, really well and you can't do that if you are constantly trading them. I'm sure it's different for a professional photog who spends all day with their equipment, but as a decided amateur I need time to understand lens behavior properly.

 

I was thinking of maybe selling my wonderful Nikon SLR system, but with the prices on eBay why should I do that? I'll only regret it in a couple of years. And I might get this new D70 to use my manual Nikkor lenses on a digital camera. No metering with the manual lenses but that's not a problem.

[godfrey]

I hate holding onto good, expensive equipment that sits unused, so I sell off anything

costly that I am not actively using or intending to use. There's plenty of good equipment

like this available on the market, I've never sold anything and regretted it ... I can always

buy it again if I find I need or want it.

 

Good, relatively inexpensive equipment doesn't prey upon my consciousness so much, so

it tends to just get stashed when I'm not using it. Sometimes I sell it off to other people

who would like to have or use it, mostly from the philosophic point of view that good

equipment should not just sit idle.

 

Godfrey

[jay_.]

<<if I cannot comfortably fit it into a backpack, why do I actually need it?>>

 

I thought that adopting that philosophy would curtail my gear buying. Now I can't stop buying backpacks either.

[wgpinc]

I have a lot of stuff that I keep trying to talk myself into letting go. Leica R7 (maybe the whole R system 28, 35, 50, 90, 135, 180), M2&M3 SS. Canon EOS 17-35 2.8, 70-210 3.5-4.5, 100-300. Would still leave me with more than I can carry at any given time. Cheers!

[m_.]

I buy when I have money. I sell when I need money.

[grg]

"When do you decide to Sell/Buy?"<p>

Always at the wrong time.<p>

Buy high, sell low.

[________1]

I don't actually like owning things I don't use. As I've woven in and out of photography over the years I've tended to buy/sell/swap/trade the gear depending on if I'm using it or not. I've never owned more than two bodies and a couple of lenses at any given time anyhow.

[diego_k.]

When I get bored with the gear

[kevin m.]

"I thought that adopting that philosophy would curtail my gear buying. Now I can't stop buying backpacks either"

 

Jay, that actually made me laugh.

[albert knapp md]

I sell only when I have upgraded a particular lens. I don't believe

in redundancy. BTW, consider donating your lenses to a charity

and you will benefit from a nice write-off.

[keith_merrill]

I am getting ready to sell a slew of camera equipment on epay, partially because I need the money, and partially because I am changing equipment around. I have a few principles when I sell, one is to never sell a stellar lens. I have a few that I am going to never get rid of. Two is to buy up as much of the good darkroom equipment that is going for cheap nowadays because everybody is "going digital." A few years ago I couldn't afford some of the stuff that I just purchased.

 

I had a good ebay experience when I was buying a 4x5 enlarger. I decided that I was going to pick it up instead of getting it shipped, I think it was about 3 hours away. When I got there they just gave me everything that had anything to do with a wet darkroom. I must of received 3000+ sheets of paper in various sizes, safelights, enlarging lenses, paper safes, easles, Nova slot processor, ect. I packed my volkswagen full of stuff. I am still going through some of it.

[skeeter]

"Jay . , feb 06, 2004; 10:47 a.m.

<<if I cannot comfortably fit it into a backpack, why do I actually need it?>>

I thought that adopting that philosophy would curtail my gear buying. Now I can't stop buying backpacks either."

 

jay, you need to go to ryder to store all your gear!