Agulliver
Member
On the one hand, if your friend is no longer enjoying shooting and developing film & prints then it's worth considering selling his gear. As long as he's certain he won't later change his mind. "The great film sell off" when everyone and his canine companion was "going digital" in the early 2000s resulted in film cameras, lenses, flash guns, all sorts of ephemera being sold off for bargain prices. It's how I greatly expanded my collection of lenses and acquired bulk loaders and bricks of film for peanuts. During those years the sales of film and darkroom equipment also plummeted. Now when I look at auctions for more equipment to go with my Nikon or Praktica SLRs the prices have skyrocketed. When i look for decent compact 35mm cameras the prices have skyrocketed...I was looking at 120 rangefinder cameras last week and decide "nope...no effing way I can afford one".
In more recent years the market has stabilised and begun to grow. I see many more young people into film. Just last weekend I was easily the oldest person in a proper camera shop in Cardiff (including the staff)...very refreshing to see young people using film, knowledgeable about film and cameras. A few weeks ago I took myself on a photo walk on the "parkland walk" in London and came across teenagers shooting with a Nikon film SLR. People's attitude when I am out and about with film gear is no longer to look at me like I am some space alien but to ask about the gear, where I get film, wistfully talk about their camera in the cupboard....heck a few months ago a guy walked into my favourite pub with a Canon film SLR equipped with flash on the hotshoe around his neck...which really is something you don't expect to see in 2019.... I don't see any further major changes in the photo industry. Most people even gave up using cameras for phones a few years ago and the market has already adjusted to reflect that.
Personally I don't buy gear as an investment...I buy it because I enjoy using it. Whether it's a century old box camera, 50s aluminium stunner, 80s electronic camera....they're all fun in their own ways. Most are probably "worth" more than I paid but I have no interest in selling them. If someone has genuinely fallen out of love with film photography and the darkroom then by all means....selling now is better than selling 15 years ago. But OP's friend has a specific set of circumstances that might make selling gear right for him. I'm only in my mid 40s and intend to still be shooting film 30-40 years hence.
In more recent years the market has stabilised and begun to grow. I see many more young people into film. Just last weekend I was easily the oldest person in a proper camera shop in Cardiff (including the staff)...very refreshing to see young people using film, knowledgeable about film and cameras. A few weeks ago I took myself on a photo walk on the "parkland walk" in London and came across teenagers shooting with a Nikon film SLR. People's attitude when I am out and about with film gear is no longer to look at me like I am some space alien but to ask about the gear, where I get film, wistfully talk about their camera in the cupboard....heck a few months ago a guy walked into my favourite pub with a Canon film SLR equipped with flash on the hotshoe around his neck...which really is something you don't expect to see in 2019.... I don't see any further major changes in the photo industry. Most people even gave up using cameras for phones a few years ago and the market has already adjusted to reflect that.
Personally I don't buy gear as an investment...I buy it because I enjoy using it. Whether it's a century old box camera, 50s aluminium stunner, 80s electronic camera....they're all fun in their own ways. Most are probably "worth" more than I paid but I have no interest in selling them. If someone has genuinely fallen out of love with film photography and the darkroom then by all means....selling now is better than selling 15 years ago. But OP's friend has a specific set of circumstances that might make selling gear right for him. I'm only in my mid 40s and intend to still be shooting film 30-40 years hence.