If it's expensive, it must be good

Mainecoonmaniac said:

Really? A $50K camera? What's also crazy is a car that's $2.5 mil.

Sometimes I think people that have money have lost their minds.

https://petapixel.com/2017/07/31/photographing-2500000-car-50000-camera/

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As unbelievable as it may seem, there are some people (corporate CEO's, Saudi princes, etc.) who make that much money every month. A $2.5 mil. sports car is just another piece in their expensive car collection.

I'm a believer in using stuff, whether that be film cameras or rare WW2 aircraft. If someone can afford a thing and uses it for its intended purpose, good on them. If they buy something as an investment or to keep in a showroom or a glass case to show invited guests, they may as well show me their shares certificates for all I care. Some optical devices like medical or astronomical imaging equipment costs a fortune, but is of next to no interest to photographic enthusiasts. Same with large format digital, if you can write off the cost against your £15k a day professional fee, go for it. For making compelling, timeless or historically important images on film a more modest financial investment is required, but a bigger commitment in time and effort may be called for.

Bob Carnie said:

I was going to say phase systems can hit you back quite a bit more.

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yeah .. i was talking to the regional rep a month or so ago to ask a few questions, for pro use it gets written off and depreciated
and sold+traded in for a better one ...
unlike the prototype largesse 8x10 back .. the name says it all ..

Theo Sulphate said:

Cars in the many millions are not that outrageous. Some things cannot or will not exist again and do have an inherent high value plus high demand and low production numbers.

Columbo engined Ferrari V-12's of the 1960's, such as the Lusso or SWB, or the four-cam GTB/4, the transverse mid-engine V-12 Lamborghini Miura SV of the 1970's, and, yes, especially the Pagani Huayra with its wonderful Jules Verne instrumentation and interior and its four aerodynamic flaps. Worth every cent.

However, I bought a perfectly good Canon FTb for $10. Win!

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Interesting that you mentioned two cars of 40+ years age, which are still driveable, and one car that's brand new, costs 2.5 million, and will be a static display when it is 40 years old. As will the camera that took the rather run-of-the-mill pictures.

E. von Hoegh said:

Interesting that you mentioned two cars of 40+ years age, which are still driveable, and one car that's brand new, costs 2.5 million, and will be a static display when it is 40 years old...

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There is so much frivolous, complex, electronic crap on even ordinary cars today, that in about 10 or 15 years, when it's unmaintainable and irreparable, the car will be disposed of and a new one bought (more likely leased) and the cycle starts anew. Meanwhile, any pre-1985 car will probably still work and run just fine. However, we may become like Japan where laws are such that it's almost impossible to keep even a new car "in spec" for more than five years.

^^^ Nah... just ship the 'junk' cars to Cuba. Those folks have an uncanny knack for reclaiming irreparable cars. The computerized bits will be stripped away and replaced by 1950's old school parts.

Wanna talk about ridiculous price? Let's talk about the Leica Luxus II

Old-N-Feeble said:

^^^ Nah... just ship the 'junk' cars to Cuba. Those folks have an uncanny knack for reclaiming irreparable cars. The computerized bits will be stripped away and replaced by 1950's old school parts.

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What worries me is that it will be accepted as normal that increasingly more expensive cars are disposable items which are replaced every seven years or so. Ordinary people will no longer completely own their car long term - they'll always be in debt. Even if they do own it outright, new cars today won't last 15 years without many electronic subsystems failing.

It's like Nikon F or F2 and their manual lenses vs F5 or F6 (or D800) and their AF lenses. What will be functional in 2030? ...assuming that film stuff is still around.

Two thoughts:

I remember reading somewhere on the web the remarks made by a commercial photog taking a picture of a BMW, and realizing that the digital back alone cost more than the car.

"If it's expensive, it must be good"... have you been talking to by ex-wife?

Theo Sulphate said:

What worries me is that it will be accepted as normal that increasingly more expensive cars are disposable items which are replaced every seven years or so. Ordinary people will no longer completely own their car long term - they'll always be in debt. Even if they do own it outright, new cars today won't last 15 years without many electronic subsystems failing.

It's like Nikon F or F2 and their manual lenses vs F5 or F6 (or D800) and their AF lenses. What will be functional in 2030? ...assuming that film stuff is still around.

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Precisely true.