I'm not a collector.
I figured that to afford the stuff I will use I can't afford the stuff I won't use.
I'm not a collector.
I figured that to afford the stuff I will use I can't afford the stuff I won't use.
hi drew
i collect and i use.
i use nearly everything i have, some more than others.
I am a sort of genetically inclined collector, LOL. I really don't have a specific collection of camera gear, but it does seem to be falling into three groups:
1) Pre-Civil War lenses (for you outside of U.S., that's roughly 1840-1865.) I really love lenses from the 1840s and have two Petzvals.
2) Premium lenses (Heliar, Dagor,etc.) from 1910 to 1930. For 4x5, 5x7.
3) Premium "hand" cameras. I especially love fancy 6x9 folders and have 1914 Kodak Special, 1928 Voigtlander Bergheil, 1929 Cocarette Luxus, 1937 Bessa RF. Also have 1942 Leica IIIc with 1940s lenses, 1954 Rolleiflex, and am now looking for a pristine Voigtlander Vito III. I don't have any cameras from 1960s & 1970s, but do have a pristine Nikon F3T with three AiS lenses.
4) Box camera collection including a 1909 Kodak Panoram (120 roll), but I'm selling that collection down and will keep just a few.
I only buy stuff that is usuable and in not quite mint condition. I use everything I buy. If I haven't used it in a couple of years I sell it to buy something else. My original goal was to have something from every decade starting with 1840, but I'm not as interested in that now. I want a nice, smaller collection of premium stuff that was the ultimate in its day. I'll probably sell off some folders and buy a 1960s Hassleblad 500C and three chrome lenses as well as a Leica M6 eventually. I don't want to end up being one of those guys with a room full of hundreds of cameras/lenses, but do want a nice selection of premium stuff from 1840s on. I am fascinated by these old cameras/lenses and often wonder what the original owner did with them.
I also collect old photographs, mostly "real photo" postcards from around 1910, mostly only from the Northern Plains. I have quite a few now--railroad scenes, threshing/farming, homesteading, ...... fascinating stuff!
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
Originally Posted by Bob Salomon
I suspect the new Chinese upper middle class is buying a fair amount of this stuff. I've sold a couple of things to them, and have bought from them too. For some reason, right now the Japanese seem to be selling a lot of really, really nice Post War stuff. Maybe the owners are getting older now and thinning the herd, and there isn't much domestic market? I bought my nearly pristine Nikon F3T for a great price from a Japanese collector/dealer.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
The Japanese are selling in a bad economy. They buy when money is easy. Just like anybody.
Not that long ago they bought a lot of big classic 60 and 70s cars. Paid big money, then their economy sank and they sold them at a loss.
Chinese have an expanding upper class and they want valuables.
So it goes.
I collect enlargers. Anybody else?
Tin Can
"I am fascinated by these old cameras/lenses and often wonder what the original owner did with them."
Yes, indeed. If those cameras and lenses could talk of where they have been and what they have seen...............and I prefer to think that it is only pleasant stuff, like children, families, spouses, weddings, births, new homes, graduations, beautiful landscapes, things of emotional significance to the photographer, happy days in the lives of the subjects, etc. Perhaps a remnant of the life forces of things still remain in the molecular structure of the equipment, and the collector's spirit can sense it. Or then, maybe not, and maybe we just like the good old "stuff." Whatever it is, we are giving the "stuff" new life and appreciation. Perhaps that is all we can do, and hope those who come after us are inclined to do the same.
The Zeiss 0.7? How did he acquire it? Who bought it? How much?
--Darin
I refuse to call myself a collector. Just because I have a room full of cameras and brass lenses upstairs doesn't make me a collector. Hoarder, maybe.
Darin, Charlie had friends in Oberkochen. Westlicht bought his collection. The Barry Lyndon lens brought 60,000 Euros plus the buyer's premium. I have no idea who bought it in the auction.
I resent being called a collector. I've seen collectors. Rooms full of Brownies, 35mm P&S cameras, and general "junk" that they certainly don't use. Sometimes they take a "test roll" to make sure a camera works in their backyard, and then tell everyone how "sharp" this or that lens is and proudly display horrible scans done on their office all-in-one printer/scanner/faxer or whatever. Yuck. Of course that's not "all" collectors, just a lot of them.
But yeah I've got a lot of cameras, most of which came from estate sales, job lots, and craigslist. If I paid eBay prices I wouldn't be able to afford to eat, but generally speaking I haven't paid a cent for most of it - such as when I bought out the estate of an old pro photographer with dozens of cameras/lenses for a couple hundred and then sold one accessory for $900 on eBay. It's fun and exciting to find stuff like that.
If anything I've gotten into WWII-era cameras, both pre- and post-war German stuff and the post-war boom of Japanese "copies" of the German cameras/lenses. That whole era is cool and even people who couldn't care less about photography/cameras are fascinated by the stories of German-made cameras and how they influenced the Russian and Japanese camera designs (or were taken as war reparations). My interest in this area stems from an identical story in the area of microphones - just like Zeiss, the company known as Neumann was split in two for E/W Germany and their microphone designs taken by the Russians. I have a bunch of Russian clones of the German mics, as well as the modern German models. Fascinating history. My audio class always loves that historical story when I discuss microphones.
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