Need it. Want it. Gotta have it.

[Wayne Crider]

"How do you decide what to keep and what to sell?"

I look at my bills.

[John Kasaian]

I know I've got a couple of Ilex 4x5 lenses in the pile, IIRC they are 6-1/2" with nice glass, but they need cla's.
If I wanted to sell them, is it worth it to have them cla'd first or sell them off cheap enough for the buyer to cla? Would a buyer even want to mess with buying a lens in a shutter than needs a cla?

[Two23]

My philosophy is to sell off the stuff I haven't used in a year or doesn't fit my style, and buy cooler stuff I will use. I'd rather have a few superb items than a closest full of so-so items.


Kent in SD

[Michael Graves]

How do you decide what to keep and what to sell?

I use the scientific method. I don't sell anything until A) something else comes up that I just HAVE to have or B) a bill comes due that I just HAVE to pay. Inevitably, I choose the wrong item to sell. It will be the very next thing I go poking around looking for to take on my next shoot and my wife will hear the inevitable "Damn it! I should never have sold that!"

Then there is the opposite situation. I just have to have something, so I buy it. Or I lose something and I replace it. Two days later, the same item shows up in my surplus pile and I say, "When did I get that?" Happened with a 135mm Fujinon just last week. I really wanted one, so I bought one from a forum member here. A very nice one, I might add. Two days before his arrived, I answered a Craigslist add and brought home a bunch of stuff. Naturally there was a 135mm Fujinon in it. It couldn't be a 180 Tessar, which I would really like. NO! It had to be the very lens I just spent money one. So yes, John, I can feel your pain.

[Emil Schildt]

I am sure there is a diagnosis for this!

there is: GAS (Gear Aquisition syndrome) and I am hard hit!

I have so much I don't use.. too many cameras - far too many lenses - too little time to use it all..

But they are my babies

(or I just don't know how to sell.... I do know how to buy...)

[David Karp]

I used to have GAS. Now I just have gas. And GRS - Gear Retention Syndrome!

Most of what I have was acquired over a long time period. For example, one of the 180s was purchased as a short focal length for my WP camera. Years later, I purchased a camera and some lenses to get one particular lens. I ended up selling almost everything, including the lens I thought I wanted (should have kept it), and keeping a Fujinon 180A that was part of the kit.

So many stories, most of them just rationalizations for keeping stuff. I guess is something comes along that I really want, I can sell a 210, a 180, a 90 and some other stuff and buy it.

But that 90 is a Sinar badged f/4.5 Grandagon-N. How can I sell that? It is such a nice . . . .

[John Berry]

At 63 and 25+ lenses ( for LF ). I seem to have found a way to avoid the decision as many others here have.