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.

[Dan Fromm]

Hmm. I once bought a 210 Busch Nicola Perscheid Objektiv for $39 in a junk shop. Subsequently sold it for way too little. Silly, silly me.

I regretted selling my 105/3.7 Ektar, eventually got another. I regret that too.

[Allen in Montreal]

....... Sure would like to have that one back...

The list is long......:mad:
Top of the list would be my Arca Swiss 8x10 that was stolen and my dad's Roliie 2.8.

[Oren Grad]

I traded my first Leica, an M4, for some Nikon AF gear - this was back in the era of the N8008s/N90. Big mistake. The Nikon stuff wore out its welcome very quickly, and I got rid of it. I ended up buying another M4 which I still have today, 16 years later.

Not so much on the LF front. For me it's pretty much worked out as John says - selling stuff has enabled me to move to other cameras that are better for me.

[Brian Ellis]

I'm like Drew, I regret selling most of the cameras I've sold. It would be easier to list the ones I don't regret selling, which include my Nikon 35mm system, my Pentax 67 system, my Shen Hao, and my Agfa Ansco 5x7. But in the spirit of the thread, the one I most regret was the Kodak 2D 8x10. It had the rear extension and sliding tripod block, was in absolutely pristine condition, and I had it modified by Richard Ritter to add front tilt. What I was thinking of when I sold it for about $400 I'll never know.

[Sheldon N]

Lenses I miss after selling... Not that it didn't make sense to sell them, but I still miss them.

Fuji 360A
Fuji 240A
Rodenstock 150 APO Sironar-S
Schneider 120 APO Symmar-L
Nikkor-M 300
Nikkor SW 90mm f/8 (kicked myself, then repurchased it again)

Canon 300mm f/4L
Canon 300mm f/4L IS
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L (hopefully coming back soon!)
Canon 17-40mm L (already repurchased)
Canon 70-200mm f/4 L

Now that I think about it, if I had never sold any of these lenses, I'd have a pretty decent LF and 35mm kit!

[Kirk Gittings]

A Leica IIIc that my father handed down to me. It had a "quality" to the glass that I loved and have never seen again. It was stolen. And a set of Fujinon 4x5 lenses, that were small and had lots of coverage-stolen too. At the time they were stolen they were hard to find in the US so I moved on to Schneiders and Nikons.

[Richard K.]

Leica M6 with a Noctilux f/1.0, 75 f/1.4 and 4 other M lenses...:mad:

[BarryS]

I fondly remember a lot of cameras and lenses I've sold, but like old girlfriends--I don't necessarily want them back. :) I'm looking forward to selling a lot of gear, because it feels like dead weight. I don't have the money or the inclination to be a collector, and I don't want to be an accumulator. Does anyone else feel guilty not using nice gear?

[aduncanson]

Oh "When I was young and foolish, I was young and foolish."

I was given an old nickle plated Leica with a 4 digit serial number and a collapsible Leitz lens. I recall that it had shutter problems. At a camera show one day, in essence I traded it, a Calumet 4x5 view, a free-to-me Speed Graphic with 135mm Optar, an undistinguished 6x9 Zeiss folder and I don't know what else - for a Calumet C1 with 375mm/6.3 Illex Paragon. I am sure that I got a bad, bad deal, but other than the Graphic, I don't think I would pay to have any of them back.

[wfwhitaker]

...Does anyone else feel guilty not using nice gear?

Oh, absolutely. But then, I feel guilty about most everything.

[jnantz]

i wish i still had a little bitty wollensak 3.5" f12 and 3.5" raptar purple dot.
and this brass 58mm thing that covered a 4x5 sheet with ease ...
as for accessories, i wish i still had my adams desk and my bell sound systems recordaphone ...

oh well, it's just stuff

[Bill_1856]

Loss by home burglary: Leica Stemar set; Rollei 0.7 and 1.5 Mutars.
Loss by gift to best friend: Dual-Range Summicron.
Loss to Camera One (consignment, never paid me): Leica M4 (black Enamel, mint).
Loss to washing machine (roommate): Minox IIIS, black.

[Don Dudenbostel]

Too many to count---

M4 Leica with 50mm 1.2 Noctilux

11x14 B&J

12x20 Korona

12 Series III Dagor

10" triple convertible protar

Libhof Master Technika

Technika 70 with 53 f4 SA, 100 2.8 Planar and 180 Tele Arton

5x7 Deardorff w/ red leather bellows

4x5 baby Deardorff like new

Roundshot

[EuGene Smith]

Wow! A Super Ikonta and Panoram pale by comparison to many of the above . . . I can't complain.

[John Jarosz]

Even though I've gravitated to the big stuff over the years, I can't get rid of my 1966 SWC, I bought it in 1980.

All the other cameras I've sold were not a problem. In their case(s) it was time to move on.

John

[lenser]

Forgot about my complete Kalimar 660 system with all five lenses, bellows and extension tubes as well as the porrofinder that I sold when I got my first Hasse. I still miss that sweet little 120 SLR and it's been 3.5 decades.

[Miguel Curbelo]

Leica M4 and Hexar af.

[cobalt]

Oh yeah...
I... bought a Noct Nikkor 58mm 1.2, in excellent condition, for 350 bucks. I sold it... for about a grand. I've seen them on the auction site for more than double that.

And then there was the 135mm Zeiss planar , 14 inch Commercial Ektar, 4x5 Sinar Norma, 30 film holders, along with two other Ektars and a Schneider, all in excellent working order, that I bought for 400 bucks. I sold it all....ARRRRGH!!!

[John Kasaian]

I fondly remember a lot of cameras and lenses I've sold, but like old girlfriends--I don't necessarily want them back. :) I'm looking forward to selling a lot of gear, because it feels like dead weight. I don't have the money or the inclination to be a collector, and I don't want to be an accumulator. Does anyone else feel guilty not using nice gear?

Nice is as nice does :)

[cobalt]

I really want a brand new, pristine Hasselblad body, standard lens, and film magazine.
I have two, but feel that, since it is my go to system, I should have a pristine one.

[Jim Noel]

A tiny little 75mm wide angle Dagor which more than covered 4x5. It is the only one I have ever seen.

[W K Longcor]

When I was a teen ager, I had decided that photography would be my life work. My Mom bought me a crummy little 2x3 Busch Pressman, with 3 film holders and a film pack adaptor, for my 16th birthday. I learn a lot about photography with that little camera. Shortly after I turned 18, I decided it was unworthy of the skill level I had reached. I sold it and put the money into other equipment. Several weeks later, my Mom died. It is almost 43 years later, now. I still wish I had kept the camera that she bought for me.:(

[Michael Graves]

12" Velostigmat in a Betax shutter. What the #$@@# was I THINKING to get rid of that?

[cobalt]

Oh... and a Fuji GW690... and a Fuji GSW690. What the hell...

[Glenn Thoreson]

I solved the "keep or sell" dilema many years ago. The formula is simple: I just keep all of 'em. I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of my ways, however, with about a dozen assorted Speed Graphics, 3 or 4 field cameras and dozens of other medium format and 35mm cameras. Oh, few 110 and Hit cameras, too. I think I might need some professional counseling. :D

[BarryS]

Glenn-- A dozen Speeds? A dozen? They're not like underwear, you can use 'em two days in a row. :)

[Michael Graves]

Glenn-- A dozen Speeds? A dozen? They're not like underwear, you can use 'em two days in a row. :)

You can't use underwear more than two days in a row?

I gotta have a word with my son.

[archivue]

Rolleiflex with 3,5 planard without metering... i've sold it in order to buy an hasselblad... i was in need of different lenses... but that flex was light, no mirror shake, and sharp beyong sharp !

[Benno Jones]

I miss the Nikon FM I got as my HS graduation present. It's metering system finally broke and since I had F, F3 and F100 bodies I pretty much had the spectrum of Nikon SLR mounts covered so I sold it instead of trying to get it repaired. It was a faithful companion for 25 or so years, but it would have been more of a paperweight than anything else and I have enough clutter to deal with as it is.

[Glenn Thoreson]

Glenn-- A dozen Speeds? A dozen? They're not like underwear, you can use 'em two days in a row. :)

Really ? :D :D
Oh, yeah---- I have a 3X4 Crown, too.

[butterflydream]

Horseman 6x12 and/or Veriwde 100

[Chuck Peacock]

Widelux F7
Leica CL -- not reliable but a great pocket camera when it worked.
Ikeda 4x5 Field Camera
210mm Symmar-S -- Missed this one so much I replaced it
90mm Angulon -- replaced with f/8 Super-Angulon that I have never liked as well.

[jesskramer]

Fuji GX617 w 105, 180,300 lenses

Leica Noctilux 50 1.0

Nikon 200mm F2

Linhof Master Technika 2000

Nikkor 150mm SW

Jesse

[Dan Fromm]

You can buy anything you've lost on eBay.

Maybe, Frank, maybe, and if possible for a lot more money than the one I sold brought.

[butterflydream]

I bought Hasselblad Xpan 3 times and sold 3 times. And I miss it now again.

[EuGene Smith]

Frank:

C'mon, be nice, now . . . some of us are masochists and need some space to fulfill our inner cravings. Among the truckload of LF cameras around my place I keep at least 3 Calumets to help me savor my need for self flagulation. Please pass me the chains.

[goamules]

You guys need to toughen up, you're being way too sentimental about inanimate objects...

Too funny! And I haven't even had my coffee yet!

But Frank's right, why do (mostly men) become collectors? It doesn't matter the subject of our near neurotic obsession, we Have to Have One. Then when we do, we Have to Have ANOTHER. Coins, guns, lenses, motorcycles, etc. Was it the millennia we spend collecting seeds and small, furry animals?

[Terence McDonagh]

You can sell cameras . . . ?

[Dan Fromm]

Too funny! And I haven't even had my coffee yet!

But Frank's right, why do (mostly men) become collectors? It doesn't matter the subject of our near neurotic obsession, we Have to Have One. Then when we do, we Have to Have ANOTHER. Coins, guns, lenses, motorcycles, etc. Was it the millennia we spend collecting seeds and small, furry animals?My excuse, at least with respect to macro lenses, is ignorance. When I decided that I needed some I didn't know which were good, didn't trust others' reports on most macro lenses, and didn't think I could afford ones known to be really good. So I bought and borrowed a lot of 'em, eventually found out for myself which wouldn't do. Who'd have thought that before the trick got out few people could recognize a Luminar that didn't have the word engraved all over it?

With respect to other lenses, well, its sometimes hard to pass up a bargain, as in "if it is going to be stolen, I will steal it." I'm getting better at resisting steals, tell myself over and over that I don't need 'em. At the moment there's a 150/6.3 Perfac on eBay.co.uk that tugs at me. Some folks insist that resistance is futile, but since I have two 150/6.3 CZJ Tessars I think I'll be able to pass on the Perfac. Now, if the BIN price had been UKP 5 ...

[Martin Courtenay-Blake]

An Alpa 9D with 50mm Macro Switar that I bought from a local Swiss hairdresser when I was 17. Nothing touched it on Kodachrome (I still have a few kicking around). Not really knowing what I had I sold it and put the money towards a new black Pentax Spotmatic F. That was 35 years ago and it still hurts. I still have the Spot and as much as I like it it always feels as though I'm using second best.

Martin

[Allen in Montreal]

Leica M6.......75 f/1.4 .......

I dumped two of those lenses over the years, when they were on they were amazing, but I think only God could focus that thing in low light and be sharp more than 50 percent of the time! :(