Emotionally Attached to Gear

I think you should keep the lot, as you can always sell it later, but once it’s gone it’s gone. I have about 10 cameras I never use and often I think well I could get so much for that, but never get round to doing it. Even though you don’t use them, it’s nice to pick them up once in a while, wind them on and press the shutter and generally appreciate their beautiful engineering, design and precision. I have sometimes thought that if I won the lottery, I would start a camera museum with the building based on the architectural design of the Jeu de Paume in Paris. Inside, apart from cameras behind glass, it could have a section where people could handle a few cameras and a huge camera obscurer at the back of the building (like the one in Bristol) and rooms for various alternative workshops. Dream on……

Thomas,

I used Pentax M42 from 1978-1984 and the lenses you have are similar to the set I used everyday.

Now if you find someone to give the cameras/lenses - do not hesitate. I gave away a 35mm f/2 SMCT on a Spotmatic body and I don't regret giving it away - it went to a good person, and though I have long-lost touch, the warm feeling of giving over-rides the fact that "I could have used it". But don't bet that you won't use them again, because, believe it or not, when you drew me back to 35mm, you also drew me back to M42... I'm shooting my old lenses, I picked up an old Mamiya body, and my buddy loaned me his dad's 135mm.

Same thing might happen to you one day. You might just realize you never needed anything more than a Spotmatic and a 105 2.8...

I'd keep it given the family history. If you're not hurting for cash or space, trim it down to the bits you could use, get one body (first/best/one that you really dig) CLA'ed/fixed up as best you can (maybe add a modern focusing screen to aid your portrait work (even if solely as a back-up to the EOS rig) and relish the history you have with it, vs. feeling like you need to make more history with it.

Also, if you have Takumars, they mostly can be used on the EOS 3. The K-mount lenses need modifications (disassemble and pull or cut off the aperture tab) to work on 35mm Canons, but I have greatly enjoyed using my M42 lenses on EOS bodies. For portrait work, I have not found anything that can beat the Takumars in similar focal length/aperture. Modern 85s might be faster but they are no better in image quality.

My girlfriend has a Spotmatic that a previous owner engraved with his last name, right on the side of the prism. It was one of her first photographic purchases, and came with a bunch of lenses and random accessories. We met the guy, assured him that we were going to use it and not for target practice, and he was relieved that film was still around. She'll never part with the body, and won't ever swap out the top plate for one that is unmarked.

Fixcinater said:

I'd keep it given the family history. If you're not hurting for cash or space, trim it down to the bits you could use, get one body (first/best/one that you really dig) CLA'ed/fixed up as best you can (maybe add a modern focusing screen to aid your portrait work (even if solely as a back-up to the EOS rig) and relish the history you have with it, vs. feeling like you need to make more history with it.

Also, if you have Takumars, they mostly can be used on the EOS 3. The K-mount lenses need modifications (disassemble and pull or cut off the aperture tab) to work on 35mm Canons, but I have greatly enjoyed using my M42 lenses on EOS bodies. For portrait work, I have not found anything that can beat the Takumars in similar focal length/aperture. Modern 85s might be faster but they are no better in image quality.

My girlfriend has a Spotmatic that a previous owner engraved with his last name, right on the side of the prism. It was one of her first photographic purchases, and came with a bunch of lenses and random accessories. We met the guy, assured him that we were going to use it and not for target practice, and he was relieved that film was still around. She'll never part with the body, and won't ever swap out the top plate for one that is unmarked.

Click to expand...

I do have a 50mm Tak. Will try to find adapter. Thanks!

Bill Burk said:

Thomas,

I used Pentax M42 from 1978-1984 and the lenses you have are similar to the set I used everyday.

Now if you find someone to give the cameras/lenses - do not hesitate. I gave away a 35mm f/2 SMCT on a Spotmatic body and I don't regret giving it away - it went to a good person, and though I have long-lost touch, the warm feeling of giving over-rides the fact that "I could have used it". But don't bet that you won't use them again, because, believe it or not, when you drew me back to 35mm, you also drew me back to M42... I'm shooting my old lenses, I picked up an old Mamiya body, and my buddy loaned me his dad's 135mm.

Same thing might happen to you one day. You might just realize you never needed anything more than a Spotmatic and a 105 2.8...

Click to expand...

Hi Bill,

Yeah, I have given equipment away before, and it's very rewarding indeed.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying 35mm. I am too. A lot!

Thomas Bertilsson said:

I have a bit of a philosophical dilemma, and photography is here used as an example to describe it.

Since I started photographing in the 1980s, there has always been a Pentax 35mm SLR in my camera bag. I have never been without one.

I've had several of them, K1000, ME, KX, MX, and Spotmatic. Probably a dozen in all. Today I have one Spotmatic that needs fixing (Thanks TSA!), one KX that suffered the same fate as the Spotmatic (Thanks TSA!), rendering both inoperable and with no time to fix them myself, or knowledge how to, are awaiting service. I have one functioning KX, and a new to me MX. There are a number of lenses I own, the 28mm f/3.5, the 35mm f/2, the 50mm f/1.4, the 55mm f/2, and a 100mm f/2.8. All are awesome lenses.

Much of the equipment among the Pentax SLR stuff is basically given to me by my father. He gave me my first camera, and once in a while he either sends me a lens, a filter, or something, adding to the pile of Pentax stuff.

These cameras have been used very well over the years, but it has come to the point where they no longer serve me and my somewhat failing eye sight very well; I don't use them much anymore, and a Leica M2 is what I use for 90% of the things I photograph with 35mm, and I also have a Canon EOS 3 that I have started getting lenses for (a nice 85mm f/1.8 is in the mail). When I have the EOS kit complete the Pentax will be 100% redundant.

Enough beating around the bush... I don't want to keep what I don't use, basically. But all these things are tools I have been brought up on in photography. They're my little camera friends.

Would you keep it or sell it? Granted, they don't take up much space, but that's not the issue. I don't want to look at them and long for 'the good old days' and want to use them anyway, and screw up a shot because I can't see well through the viewfinder.

Click to expand...

Based on my own experiences I'd hang on to everything!

For about £100 I sold my Kodak Model B a few years ago along with a dozen film holders and a 7 inch Wray and a Gandolfi tripod all to suit a house move and downsize process. How I missed that set up! How I missed whole plate format!

Now I've just about been able to repair that loss.

Gandolfi tripod £80
Kodak Model B £300
Lens panels £100
Lenses £600

etc. etc.

Hang on to your stuff. You will miss it if you don't!

RR

Fixcinater said:

I'd keep it given the family history. If you're not hurting for cash or space, trim it down to the bits you could use, get one body (first/best/one that you really dig) CLA'ed/fixed up as best you can (maybe add a modern focusing screen to aid your portrait work (even if solely as a back-up to the EOS rig) and relish the history you have with it, vs. feeling like you need to make more history with it.

Also, if you have Takumars, they mostly can be used on the EOS 3. The K-mount lenses need modifications (disassemble and pull or cut off the aperture tab) to work on 35mm Canons, but I have greatly enjoyed using my M42 lenses on EOS bodies. For portrait work, I have not found anything that can beat the Takumars in similar focal length/aperture. Modern 85s might be faster but they are no better in image quality.

My girlfriend has a Spotmatic that a previous owner engraved with his last name, right on the side of the prism. It was one of her first photographic purchases, and came with a bunch of lenses and random accessories. We met the guy, assured him that we were going to use it and not for target practice, and he was relieved that film was still around. She'll never part with the body, and won't ever swap out the top plate for one that is unmarked.

Click to expand...

I found an M42 adapter and ordered it. B&H sells them for 15 bucks, and the reviews are really good. I have a 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar that I will try with it, and also ordered a 135mm Takumar that they had used for 40 dollars.

A friend of mine has paid for his entire mortgage with the 85mm f/1.8 Canon EOS, along with a 50mm f/1.4, as a portrait photographer. Something tells me those lenses, including the Takumars, will be good enough for me. The shortcomings in the work I do will not be the equipment, that's for sure. Time to start working with it.

The Pentax stuff? I've decided to keep it all and have it all CLA treated, and do as you suggest and keep it as a backup.

Thomas Bertilsson said:

I found an M42 adapter and ordered it. B&H sells them for 15 bucks, and the reviews are really good. I have a 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar that I will try with it, and also ordered a 135mm Takumar that they had used for 40 dollars.

A friend of mine has paid for his entire mortgage with the 85mm f/1.8 Canon EOS, along with a 50mm f/1.4, as a portrait photographer. Something tells me those lenses, including the Takumars, will be good enough for me. The shortcomings in the work I do will not be the equipment, that's for sure. Time to start working with it.

The Pentax stuff? I've decided to keep it all and have it all CLA treated, and do as you suggest and keep it as a backup.

Click to expand...

Finally got the 85mm today. What a lens! The auto focus of the EOS 3 is like it can read my mind... That will help with the emotional bond with the other gear. What a machine! Fun, fun, fun.

Have you had any luck with the eye control working to select focus points? I've been unable to get mine to calibrate to my baby blues.

Yes, the EF lenses (even the modest aperture versions) have been, in my experience, better than I had hoped. I have the 100/2.0 which is similarly built and it's just great stuff.

The Eye Control in my Élan 7e works well, but there are a couple of disclaimers along with this.

1. Glasses reduce the effectiveness of the system. So I take mine off when using it. Luckily my medium and distance eye sight is still close to 20/20.

2. If I haven't used the camera for a couple of months, I re-calibrate. Not that the camera or my eye sight changes all that much, but it seems to work better if I do.


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About 1900 years ago, some guy was walking down a road here in Britain and dropped a denarius in the mud (yeah, it was probably raining then too!). Recently I bought that coin. Now, almost two thousand years later, I'm able to hold that guy's actual lunch money in my hand. This gives me quite a buzz.

Okay, a Nikon F2 isn't quite that old. But it is an iconic, classic camera, a landmark in modern photographic history. So I bought one, along with a 105mm f/2.5 non-AI Nikkor - just to be able to have it, hold it, and occasionally use it. My main system will always be my OMs (two bodies, five lenses), but the Nikon's special thrill of being connected into (recent) history is there too. Plus, of course, it still works brilliantly, whereas the denarius doesn't.

The Pentax Spotmatic I did buy (with lenses) mainly for personal, sentimental reasons - but it too has a place in history as well as in my heart, and it too will get used.

My point is: some gear you buy as tools. This can be sold on to clear the shelves, or generate cash (for more tools?). Gear you buy, or get given, for other reasons is totally different. That may get used, or it may just sit in a cabinet and get stroked occasionally, but either way it has attachments to the past which are worth a lot more than cash. (Okay, my degree was in History, so maybe that's special pleading; but it's what I reckon anyway.)

Thomas,

You really don't want to become like me. Selling stuff, then buying another just like what you just sold. Granted, in your case, it won't break the bank as much, but, still. I wouldn't do it. You have an attachment to the gear. Keep it. Get it fixed, then use it when you want to travel light, but still want to have an SLR body with you. The EOS 3 can be used for heavier lenses, or when you want to do flash work. My manual focus Nikon gear is going to be used without flash, like I've been doing for the past couple years or so. My AF gear, however, I have an SB-600 that Ralph Javins will be replacing the capacitor on. I'll use that with the F4, F5, and my DPUG-centric body, the D200.

Another thing, you mention that you have failing eyesight. Get a Nikon DK-22 eyepiece adapter. Then, once you have that, find a diopter that will work for your eyesight. In my case, I'm fairly nearsighted. I usually use a -4 diopter for my left eye, and a -5 for my right eye. The Nikon adapter fits on a Pentax eyepiece nicely. The only caveat is that you do have to slide it upward a little when you want to open the back. It's meant for the lower end Nikon d_____l bodies that use a rectangular eyepiece, so it tends to hang downward a bit much. But, it does work.

In my case, I wish I still owned the first four or five Nikons I owned. Maybe not the beater Nikon FM body that took a dump on me about a week after I got it in '97, but, the Nikomat FTn that my father gave me, my first Nikkormat FT2, FM2n, and F3P, yeah, those would be nice to have. Even though I have a nice black Nikomat FT2 and a cleaner F3P than my first example. All of them were somewhat abused looking when they left my hands (the F3P came that way), but they all worked. Same with some of the lenses I owned. Still wish I had my original 50/2. It was somewhat worn looking, but shot nicely. Also looked nice on my FM2n, with a little bit of a retro look going on with the metal focus ring and chrome barrel. However, my first 55/2.8, after it got dropped on the flagstone floor in the foyer of our old house, I didn't want that lens back and was glad to be rid of it last year, with its loose-feeling focus ring and major paint wear. Now have a slightly newer version that's undamaged.

-J

My old man told me never sell guns,tools or motorcycles. Guns will feed you,tools will help you pay the rent and the bikes? Well son they are cheaper than a psychiatrist and have better office hours.

Where do cameras and related gear fall? Why tools of course. They do have a cross over into the mental health area.

my motto is:keep only what you need and love,but I need and love it all!

keep the body and the lens you use most. sell the rest. on a related note, the only takumar M42 I want and don't have is the 17mm fisheye. They sold for like $200 about three years ago, now about $500.

I am a man of meager means. I don't have a lot but what I do have is good stuff. One cannot afford to squander when every little bit counts.

Why don't you give it away (not sell) to someone starting out in photography - that way the gear will continue to be used in a similar way that you used it. I was given a MF enlarger by my uncle before I ever considered working in MF. He said if I didn't take it, he'd throw it out. So I took it, and now have moved over to MF. It was a great incentive for me and rejuvenated my photography. Maybe your gear can do the same for someone else.

I can't say that I've bought or sold much of my equipment in the last 25 years I've bought two cameras and sold a camera bag, a 19mm wide angle lens, and a Canon power winder, and 2 light meters. I have given a Canon A1 with a 50mm f1.8 lens to my niece recently. I learned to differentiate the difference between "want" and "need" more than 20 years ago and since then have only bought things I couldn't do without.