Quality fulfilled - where do I go from here?

Frankly Unsharp · Feb 19, 2016

As I stood there holding my newly arrived Nikon F3, I realized that I had reached a new milestone and crossroads on the path to either cameraheaven or camerahell! Sounds dramatic, sure, but it isn't. Last summer I cleaned out most of my camera gear, including camerabodies, lenses and all kinds of accessories that I knew I would never use. A company I've done business with before, packed all in boxes and carried them away. It really felt good to find spaces that were empty. I had to taste the word "empty", so seldom had it been used in my flat (or maybe when checking my bank account...)
Of course I had left myself "enough" cameras to play with (about 15); but You have to take into consideration that the starting-point was somewhere over 50 pieces. And Rome wasn't built in a day...
Anyway, after a series of transactions, I found myself owning 5 middle format cameras (all 6X6) and 10 35mm cameras, this group of 10 includes 3 rangefinders.
To cut the story short (don't You think it's a little late for that!?...), the Nikon F3 is a kind of number 16, and should never have been bought, but on the other hand it's in mint condition, so it stays (I already found a lens to go with it, a 90mm Apo-Lanthar, also as good as new.
What do You think I should do in this situation, I don't want to expand and risk another 50+ -catastrophe , but then again, the cameras I have kept are all of good quality, and it's hard to make decisions about who stays and who goes. Or should I be a radical and take a last step towards a total of 3-5 cameras?
Any suggestions?

Sirius Glass · Feb 19, 2016

Buy a Hasselblad and you will never look at the other cameras again. Just ask the man that owns one.

SchwinnParamount · Feb 19, 2016

Frankly Unsharp said:
...
Of course I had left myself "enough" cameras to play with (about 15); ...

I can't help you as I've only got 10 cameras at the moment. Not quite enough to play with

SchwinnParamount · Feb 19, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
Buy a Hasselblad and you will never look at the other cameras again. Just ask the man that owns one.

Damn it Sirius! Now I have to go and get one of these. My wife won't thank you, but then she doesn't know where you live

Theo Sulphate · Feb 19, 2016

There is a criterion I've been thinking about. Like you, I've got about 50 cameras, ranging from Minox to Speed Graphic and nearly all are in mint- condition or better. I have four Hasselblads, and I use them all, but I still want other cameras that interest me.

Anyway, in a hypothetical pairing of cameras, I considered keeping only the ones that would function without a battery. To be precise, the ones that would allow setting of shutter speed, aperture, and focus without a battery. If the meter doesn't work, that's ok.

Keeping cameras with "no battery at all", still leaves a nice selection.

However, everything is going with me inside my Pyramid.

Fixcinater · Feb 20, 2016

What can you actually use? Is a TLR enough for your MF needs? Is a single 35mm system and single MF system unreasonably?

You could potentially rationalize 2x bodies as a backup or one color/one b&w or high speed/low speed film options but beyond that is stretching past logic.

More than one system for 35mm and you are a collector. If you are OK with that, why worry about it?

frank · Feb 20, 2016

Theo: Ghast! Not Fluffy too!?!

Theo Sulphate · Feb 20, 2016

frank said:
Theo: Ghast! Not Fluffy too!?!

I've had a few cats that lived into their 20's, but have none now. I am old; it's likely they would outlive me.

Theo Sulphate · Feb 20, 2016

APUGuser19 said:
Photography was more fun as a kid when you only had the one, and glad to have that...

How true that is. I owned only one camera from age 19 through 34. But buying just one more camera every year or two adds up over 50 years.

If I'd ever had a wife or even a girlfriend to spend money on, I'm sure I'd still have just one camera.

Huss · Feb 20, 2016

APUGuser19 said:
Photography was more fun as a kid when you only had the one, and glad to have that. In a way I'm glad they're gone. Less hassle for my Sister when I kick the bucket. She will be able to wrap up my "estate" in a day, cash out and walk.

I'm having waaaaay more fun now, buying and using the cameras I dreamt of when I was a kid!

Ashfaque · Feb 21, 2016

Super culling tactics
(1) Pick two bodies for 35mm and medium formats and one for each system larger than that - and suitable & your preferred lenses for each system.

(2) Don't buy something that you think you're not going to use now or in the long run.

(3) If can't do no (2) then share your unused stuffs with family members and freinds, especially younger ones. That way you can promote the beauties of analogue world with others.

There was a wonderful programme on PBS few years ago on credit card. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/
IIRC, one of interviewees says that we should use credit card to buy goods/services that we need, not what we want. Every time I have the urge to buy some expensive hobby stuffs I ask myself if I'm going to use it or not. Hobby and the cost associated with it need to have a limit. I'm talking about time here as well.

Bests,
Ashfaque

Frankly Unsharp · Feb 21, 2016

Ashfaque said:
Super culling tactics
(1) Pick two bodies for 35mm and medium formats and one for each system larger than that - and suitable & your preferred lenses for each system.

(2) Don't buy something that you think you're not going to use now or in the long run.

(3) If can't do no (2) then share your unused stuffs with family members and freinds, especially younger ones. That way you can promote the beauties of analogue world with others.

There was a wonderful programme on PBS few years ago on credit card. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/
IIRC, one of interviewees says that we should use credit card to buy goods/services that we need, not what we want. Every time I have the urge to buy some expensive hobby stuffs I ask myself if I'm going to use it or not. Hobby and the cost associated with it need to have a limit. I'm talking about time here as well.

Bests,
Ashfaque

Hello,
You speak words of wisdom, but I might take the (1), (2) and (3) -steps in slightly different order. And I have given away several cameras during recent years, mostly to my sister and mostly TLR:s, some have been in working order (You may have bumped into camera-names like Firstflex or Beautyflex...), and last week I posted two 35mm cameras to the company that earlier on had bought the greater part of my "camera collection", now I sent them these two as a gift. Seems like a fast method to just give the stuff away!
But if I'd like to "concentrate", meaning I get rid of some cameras permanently, I need to sell, and sell good, to gather enough funds to reach the next level. Let's take my middle format cameras as an example: I own 3 Ikoflex cameras, one Kowa/SIX and one Kowa Super 66, all in working order and nice looking. But the Ikoflex-prices are low, Kowa has great lenses and could give me a little "boost", but if I want a Hasselblad, nice and not too old (Had a 500 c/m last year, it felt old and tired , no thanks!), selling my existing gear won't be enough to get me there.
The situation on the 35mm side of the fence is a little better, here I have 3 rangefinders: Zeiss Ikon ZM (or ZI), Leica M5 and Mamiya 35 S, and the one who has to leave is....Leica M5 (surprised?)
I'm not a collector so this shouldn't be a difficult task, but still it is.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

ColColt · Feb 21, 2016

The Zeiss Ikon, IMHO, was a superb camera. Hated to see it go and nearly bought one a few months back but who would I have to work on it so, I declined. M5...eh, it it was an M4 it would be a keeper.

Frankly Unsharp · Feb 21, 2016

Fixcinater said:
What can you actually use? Is a TLR enough for your MF needs? Is a single 35mm system and single MF system unreasonably?

You could potentially rationalize 2x bodies as a backup or one color/one b&w or high speed/low speed film options but beyond that is stretching past logic.

More than one system for 35mm and you are a collector. If you are OK with that, why worry about it?

Hi!
And no, I'm not a collector, I'm a camera cleaner. I enjoy it, when from under layers of dust and dirt, emerges a camera that looks much better and feels fresh to handle.
But gradually I lose interest in the cleaned camera, and it's time for it to move on.

MattKing · Feb 22, 2016

Frankly Unsharp said:
Hi!
And no, I'm not a collector, I'm a camera cleaner. I enjoy it, when from under layers of dust and dirt, emerges a camera that looks much better and feels fresh to handle.
But gradually I lose interest in the cleaned camera, and it's time for it to move on.

APUGuser19 said:
And I'm a compulsive repairer.

You two should start a business together

Theo Sulphate · Feb 23, 2016

APUGuser19 said:
Naah... I'm going into real estate. My craftsman days are over. Who wants to be the best dirt-poor handicraftsman? ...

Is camera repair not viable at all as a trade these days? Perhaps those like Sover Wong and Harry Fleenor are exceptions that managed to find a niche market that can pay the bills even in the digital era. If so, that's sad. As an engineer, I respect those who can find and fix camera problems.

Long ago I gave up being a translator because there was so little money in it - translators starve.

onre · Feb 23, 2016

Theo Sulphate said:
Is camera repair not viable at all as a trade these days? Perhaps those like Sover Wong and Harry Fleenor are exceptions that managed to find a niche market that can pay the bills even in the digital era. If so, that's sad. As an engineer, I respect those who can find and fix camera problems.

I'd imagine it requires either specialization on certain coveted models or alternatively an approach where you buy non-tested and/or non-working cameras "by ton" and sell what you can make out of those.

nolanr66 · Feb 26, 2016

I guess it would depend on what you take photos of and what do you do with them after you took the shot. Myself being a guy that takes pictures of family, friends and pictures of the places we go I just need one camera. However in the back of my head there is a little guy that is telling me that the world is running out of camera's and I should have 3 or 4 camera's just to have some back up. So I think I will buy one or two camera's this year.

RobC · Feb 26, 2016

Sounds like you've been letting off some GAS. In my experience people who have GAS always have GAS so whether you reduce to 5 cameras of not, you'll soon be back to 10 or 20 or 30 again and can let off some more GAS again.

blockend · Feb 26, 2016

I've long since concluded that I prefer slightly flawed cameras to their supposedly perfect brethren. M5 over M3, Nikkormat over F or F2, Yashica FR over Contax RTS. This is partly subjective and partly objective. Subjectively a camera thought of as state of the art leaves the user with nowhere to go, and attracts collectors who distort the market and a proper appreciation of the camera as a working tool. Objectively the "wallflower" camera has advantages in terms of practicality, availability, size and price, and the perceived benefits of the pro model have been lost in the post-film era, interchangeable heads and system accessories for example, which are either irrelevant or unobtainable.

darkosaric · Feb 26, 2016

My question to you is: how many films you shoot per week? If you shoot a lot - never mind how many cameras you have. If you are just collecting cameras and not shooting - then it is a "problem".

Frankly Unsharp · Feb 26, 2016

darkosaric said:
My question to you is: how many films you shoot per week? If you shoot a lot - never mind how many cameras you have. If you are just collecting cameras and not shooting - then it is a "problem".

Per week? No, I'm kind of slow, so we have to talk months here, 2 is a normal number. If the weather is good; 3-4 (per month).
It's also a question of money. I'm an amateur and photography = an empty wallet. I would need a sponsor to reach the "shoot per week"-level.
And my cameras: still too many. One should be enough, to keep in my pocket...

darkosaric · Feb 26, 2016

Frankly Unsharp said:
I'm an amateur and photography = an empty wallet.

Well - then no more cameras, buy films instead. When you have enough films - buy papers and print.

Ricardo Miranda · Feb 26, 2016

Frankly Unsharp said:
Per week? No, I'm kind of slow, so we have to talk months here, 2 is a normal number. If the weather is good; 3-4 (per month).
It's also a question of money. I'm an amateur and photography = an empty wallet. I would need a sponsor to reach the "shoot per week"-level.
And my cameras: still too many. One should be enough, to keep in my pocket...

I'm probably a lot poorer than you and I don't complain.
I still shot 3-5 rolls a week.

nolanr66 · Feb 26, 2016

I have a FG and a F100 and a couple primes. I shoot about 1 roll a week and it's usually Tri-X however I did shoot a roll of Kentmere yesterday. I think the photos from it looked just great but that 16.5min developing time with ID-11 1:1 dilution is to long and boring. I just had one roll. Tomorrow I am going to a quilt show and will take photos of those beautiful colors in B/W. I am sure I will be the only wing nut shooting Tri-X.

Quality fulfilled - where do I go from here?

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