Is the Leica an "Investment?"

Wallendo said:

I think the impetus of this thread is multiple posts on Photrio that purchasing a Leica is an investment in that you can get your money back when you resell it if you don't like it. Honestly, that applies to just about any used camera these days that is bought at a reasonable price.

Click to expand...

That at its best is a theoretical consideration.

If one got a lot of cameras and has to get rid of them in short time (as in moving into smaller space), these cameras actually would cost money for waste haulage.
Easy to sell are typically only a few 3-digit collectors models. I have seen huge collections where the commercial buyer only paid for these few and took the rest only to dump it in some way or the other..

mshchem said:

I think cameras are no good if you are afraid to use them.

Click to expand...

Completely agree. I sold off any valuable cameras some years ago, and my photography hasn't suffered a jot since doing so. The original retail price is a reasonable, if not definitive guide to camera quality. Since then other things come into play that fit the modern world's idea of what a film camera should be. That doesn't always concur with what was required of a camera back then.

My old Chinon CX was a functional if unspectacular camera, but the photos it took are valuable because they were of a lost world that will never return. That was the best camera investment I ever made.

+1

When I drop dead, my darkroom, will most likely go to the dump/recycling. There are young fellows that would take some things, but most young folks these days don't have space. All the cameras, would need to go to a reseller for next to nothing.

mshchem said:

When I drop dead, my darkroom, will most likely go to the dump/recycling. There are young fellows that would take some things, but most young folks these days don't have space. All the cameras, would need to go to a reseller for next to nothing.

Click to expand...

When I drop dead, my cameras and whatever of interest to specific groups of people (such as the Jobo, but also the beer-making equipment, the distilling equipment, such things) will go to some user group somewhere as part of my last wishes.
It's to much of a sin to dump things that are expensive and that would be very useful for certain people.

If I have no time to organize things, a junk shop would probably be quite effective in any case.