Cameras/lens you wish you'd kept...

[cobalt]

I was just perusing some of my images recently, and I am usually able to recall what tool I used to make a particular image. There are some cameras and some lenses I want to kick myself for selling or trading away. This is why, come hell or high water, I'll never, ever give up my Blads. (Been there, done that more than once.)
The worst case: a 5x7 Graflex slr with an extraordinary Kodak lens. The guy I sold it to sold it again within minutes. Sure would like to have that one back...

[Ken Lee]

I had a Voigtlander Bessa II with Color Heliar lens. Even though the lens is not as good as what you get with a Mamiya 7, the additional size of 6x9 over 6x7, plus the ability to fold, made it a superb camera for travel.

What was I thinking ?

On the other hand, I almost sold my 4x5 Wisner Technical field, but my wife encouraged me to keep it. Now I'm glad I did. Unlike the Sinar, one can a wooden field camera away from the car, and I hope to do a bit of that soon. Same with the old 5x 7 Kodak 2A.

[Ash]

I sold a mint condition Canon 50/1,8 lens in LTM shortly after I bought it. It was pristine.


A year later and I just found a 50/1,8 lens in 'almost' as good condition but not quite.


I'm not sure I wish I'd kept anything else. The Leica Standard I sold recently I feel sad about, I aborted selling it a few times before I closed my eyes and allowed it to sell. The guy who bought it from me was a collector, but I think it's better in his hands than mine. I never used it and it wasn't in a nice display case.

[lenser]

8x10 Grover monorail with a Kodak 250mm Wide Field Ektar. In and out of my hands before I gave it enough thought about what a great combination it would have been.

[keeds]

Bessa R with 75mm... :-(

[Drew Bedo]

I wish I still had every camera that I have ever sold. I was given a Leica III-g by a relative. He had disassembled the shutter for some reason in 1956 and could'nt put it back together. It was still in a cigar box with all the parts sorted in little pill boxes. I took it to a camera show asking about repair shops. I finally sold the whole box (with a 50mm Dual-Range Summicron) to a buyer from Japan for $400! Well it was the late 80s and I was un-emploied....I saw one (fully assembled, but body only) on e-bay going for 4 grand last week; jeeze!

[Ash]

drew 4 grand for a IIIg is over the odds, even $2000 is steep, so don't feel too bad!

[EuGene Smith]

Back in the mid 1990's I got into a money bind and sold my mint Super Ikonta A with Syncro-Compur and a special order Zeiss lens (not the usual Tessar). I was in the DC area at the time and folks were always trying to buy it from me. When I finally made a quick sale for $350, a good friend and collector, Bill Arps, nearly had a coronary over it. He had a nice Zeiss collection, said he had never seen another Super Ikonta like it, and said he would have given me $1,000 for it.

I felt like the guy who unwittingly sold a rare painting for $10 in a yard sale! By the way, it took beautiful pictures, too.

I also regret selling my Model 1 Kodak Panoram back then, but that's another story.

EuGene

[John Kasaian]

My first "real" 35mm---a Canon Tlb, lenses and Durst elarger. LF-wise I haven't had any regrets---usually when I sell something thats LF I replace it with something thats better for my purposes.

[paul08]

Plaubel Makina 670. Great image quality. The M7 that replaced it is also great, but a different "personality" to the images.