I don't think anyone is "supposed" to do anything, nor did I say so.
If I am using the cameras, I don't consider myself a collector. A "collector" to me is someone who buys/hordes things only because they are valuable or of historical note, and then just stows them in climate-controlled rooms as curiosities or monetary investments. So that is the context of my statement.
For instance, people doing this with old guitars have driven the prices into fantasy land for most actual players, and it makes me sick. One collector in particular, Norman Harris, is almost singlehandedly responsible for sending the value of vintage Stratocasters on their current course, during the late '70's and '80's (when the guitars in question were barely 25 years old at most). He scooped up all the Strats he could find, from all over the country. He had guys scouring pawn shops across the U.S.A. By hording and greatly contributing to the mystique of the instruments, he took a small emerging market and injected it with steroids, selling mostly to crazy overseas investors who don't even play guitar, but wanted one of each color from each year just because they could. It is sad; most of the best electric guitars ever made SURVIVED LARGELY INTACT AND PLAYABLE, yet will never be played again. It's ironic because when old guitars first became slightly collectible/valuable, it was largely because both Fender and Gibson had been bought by large corporations in the mid-to-late '60's, and had almost immediately started making really mediocre electric guitars. The older ones were truly "better" in every way...and that means "better" as musical instruments. The irony is twofold: 1) Nowadays, people even consider many of the terrible guitars from the Dark Ages to be collectible/valuable in their own right. They just don't get that old does not necessarily equal good, and that the whole reason the vintage guitar market came to be in the first place is because of those terrible guitars they are now paying thousands for as "vintage" pieces. 2) Both Fender and Gibson made turnarounds, and have been making high quality brand new instruments for over 20 years, so the original reason for the vintage guitars rising in value in the first place has been nullified.
There are only a few cameras that I have got for collector reasons, thinking that they were more investments than tools. A Linhof III version 4 original three lens kit, and an original Rolleiflex Wide Angle in near mint condition that I found in a local thrift shop.
If I am using the cameras, I don't consider myself a collector. A "collector" to me is someone who buys/hordes things only because they are valuable or of historical note, and then just stows them in climate-controlled rooms as curiosities or monetary investments. So that is the context of my statement.
For instance, people doing this with old guitars have driven the prices into fantasy land for most actual players, and it makes me sick. One collector in particular, Norman Harris, is almost singlehandedly responsible for sending the value of vintage Stratocasters on their current course, during the late '70's and '80's (when the guitars in question were barely 25 years old at most). He scooped up all the Strats he could find, from all over the country. He had guys scouring pawn shops across the U.S.A. By hording and greatly contributing to the mystique of the instruments, he took a small emerging market and injected it with steroids, selling mostly to crazy overseas investors who don't even play guitar, but wanted one of each color from each year just because they could. It is sad; most of the best electric guitars ever made SURVIVED LARGELY INTACT AND PLAYABLE, yet will never be played again. It's ironic because when old guitars first became slightly collectible/valuable, it was largely because both Fender and Gibson had been bought by large corporations in the mid-to-late '60's, and had almost immediately started making really mediocre electric guitars. The older ones were truly "better" in every way...and that means "better" as musical instruments. The irony is twofold: 1) Nowadays, people even consider many of the terrible guitars from the Dark Ages to be collectible/valuable in their own right. They just don't get that old does not necessarily equal good, and that the whole reason the vintage guitar market came to be in the first place is because of those terrible guitars they are now paying thousands for as "vintage" pieces. 2) Both Fender and Gibson made turnarounds, and have been making high quality brand new instruments for over 20 years, so the original reason for the vintage guitars rising in value in the first place has been nullified.
There are only a few cameras that I have got for collector reasons, thinking that they were more investments than tools. A Linhof III version 4 original three lens kit, and an original Rolleiflex Wide Angle in near mint condition that I found in a local thrift shop.