Buying the same cameras/lenses that you have sold before

No one considers anything you wrote as arrogant. My reply was only to offer a reason some people sell their things. Sometimes we truly don't have a choice.

My newest example: My old pickup truck was stolen three days ago. I'm on a very meager disability income and don't have the funds to buy another vehicle. Since I only have liability insurance, I must sell many things to raise the funds to buy another automobile. Sometimes stuff happens out of our control.

 

Sorry to read this. Hopefully your truck will be recovered and won't end up as a collection of used parts in Mexico. Hm. However, given your location, I'd say the prognosis is not good. I hate thieves.

 

Yeah, the truck will end up in a chop-shop and the items worth anything will go to a pawn shop that has no problem buying stolen items.

FWIW and to come back to the topic; I intend to sell only things I'm sure I don't want to keep... for the moment at least. I'm moving a bit slow at the moment though so selling will be slow. I won't be re-buying anything I sell now nor in the future.

 

"A never ending story ...

I bought my first Konica Hexar AF in 1993 - traded it a few years later against a Contax 137ma - bought another one in 1998 - lost it in a gondola lift in the Swiss Alps near Grindelwald - bought my third one in 2002 - lost it during the break up of a relationship ...
About a year ago I found some slides on the attic, I took with the Hexar AF during the Tour de France 1994 - now I'm looking for my fourth one ... "

It wouldn't let me quote a quote..
Ditto on the Konica Hexar AF. I bought mine in 1993, sometime during the digital age I sold it. When I was organizing all my photos and slides I found the images from that camera... Small renaissance moment. had to get another one.

 

Was more out of financial necessity for me during bad period, but when I sold my much-loved Olympus OM-1ɴ in 2003 I always vowed I'd get another as soon as I could spare the cash. That happened 9 years later in 2012, when I treated myself to a near-mint black one being sold by its original purchaser. I won't be selling it again.

 

There was a time when I briefly owned both the Nikon 180mm f/2,8 ED AIs and the Tamron SP 180mm f/2.,5 LD. They are equivalent performers, with respect to both resolution and contrast. And while I'd really like to re-purchase another Tamron 180/2,5 LD, I can buy a clean Nikkor 180/2.8 ED for about half what the Tamron sells for these days. And while I don't really need the Nikkor, I want one. I have very fond memories of the one I owned. The same can't be said for the Tamron because I bought it to resell (I was a camera dealer back then), and didn't own it long enough to form any strong attachments to it

 

Ooooh, mama!

 

That's the only Nikkor left on my wishlist, I have 20mm to 135mm inclusive, thank you very much digital revolution!
Realistically, I'd probably not use it more than a few times a year - but what a lens!

 

The lens is magic. It's bokeh is wonderful - it may even match that of my 135/2 DC lens.

 

I know, I know, I used one in the 80s.

 

I'm trying to do the same as the OP and not sell anything I enjoy using, but sometimes I have to rapidly rectify my dwindling funds by selling impulse purchases on again.

I've bought and sold about 4 XA2s. Currently in the 'sold' end of this apparent cycle.

I sold a Ricoh Auto Half that I'd used for about a year and absolutely loved. Sold it as I needed money fast. Last week I received an Auto Half SL from Japan (Japan to UK post in 2 days!) and I'm hopelessly in love. This one is never being sold.

 

I played the "buy it again after selling it" game with Leicas and Leica lenses, sometimes even failing to learn after one cycle. Eventually I trimmed that side of things down to an M2 and three Leica lenses (plus one CV). The issue turns out to be that I really do prefer an SLR to a rangefinder. The M2 stays around simply because those Leica lenses are the best, technically, that I have. I don't want to think about how much money I sank into all that; it makes me feel as I imagine someone does at Gamblers Anonymous. The M2 and lenses will go in the next year or two when the alternative is to start dipping into my retirement savings, or as soon as the leukemia relapses, whichever comes first
Since then my re-purchases have been more rational: replacing an old broken camera, or buying a spare in anticipation of the breakdown of one I don't want to be without. That's an indicator of something, isn't it? The cameras you buy as spares as you don't want to live without them. Oddly, the spares have not been my most used cameras, except for the F6, and I bought a second F6 simply because I use it a lot and wanted the ability to have B&W and colour. I have bought a spare Pentax ME Super, two spare ($25 each, why not?) Pentax SF1n's, a spare Olympus OM-2n, and a Pentax 645nII. I suppose I would have a spare Rolleiflex, but to have a decent inbuilt meter I'd be looking for a GX and can't justify the cost.
This makes me think a little on which cameras I do use the most. I think it would look something like this:
35mm
Nikon F6
Pentax SF1/SFX
Olympus OM-2n
Leica M2
Various manual Pentaces
Olympus Pen F/FT
(sold two FM3a bodies and all manual Nikon lenses)

MF
Rolleiflex 2.8GX
Pentax 645n
Hasselblad 500
(sold a Bessa III, Fuji GA645, Fuji 690III)

LF
Chamonix 10x8
Chamonix 4x5
Crown Graphics

If I had to, and perhaps one day I shall, I could be happy with an F6, the Rolleiflex and the Chamonix 10x8. My situation is perhaps a bit different to most, in that I have a very large frozen stock of film, a bunch of cameras, and insufficient time to consume it all. Other things being equal, it's a nice problem to have!