How many cameras are you planning to keep?

[oolong5]

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Hi, guys. I'm thinking to simplify gears and I would like to know your thoughts and suggestions.

I have an M4-2 with 35/1.7 asph Voigtlander, and an M3 with 50/2.8 Elmar. Now I shoot travel and everyday photo with the M4-2 for colour and street photographs on M3 for b&w. I like them both but I don't know if I should stick with only one camera.

 

I prefer keeping the M3 because its viewfinder is amazing, and I really have a different vision that I don't have with any other cameras. However, it is kind of limited to 50mm, which may be too tight for documenting everyday life, travels and sometimes landscapes (I'm not a fan of extra accessories, just to keep everything simple). The M4-2 is also great and more of an all-rounder. It is also my first film camera so I do have some special attachments to it.

 

I've thought it about a week and still felt very hard to sell either of them.

 

How many leicas do you own and how many are you planning to keep? Or which one do you think I should keep? 

 

Best regards,

Long

[wpm]

I'm just throwing this out there but it seems like unless you really need the money, I'd keep them both. You've got some good options with what you have and some flexibility.

I've got an M3 that, despite the finder, I've just never really bonded with. That's just me, but for 50 and longer lenses, it makes some sense. I've got too much stuff and need to

thin that herd a bit. In your shoes, which I'm not, I'd hang on to what you have and go enjoy.

Warren

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[mikemgb]

I just narrowed my collection to 29 users, 5 of which are Leicas. I use an M2, III, IIIa, D-Lux 109 and Sofort, I have different uses for all of them and use them all.

 

I would agree with Warren, don't sell either unless you need to, you have two bodies that you have different uses for, why try to narrow it down to one?

Edited April 6, 2017 by mikemgb

[Ko.Fe.]

Speaking strictly on Leica...

My M4-2 is total beater after I used it as everyday, travel camera and it is at its current second service. Here is no reason to sell it, once it is back to working order.

My M3 DS ELC is in user condition. I was trying to sell it, nobody wants it for low price. Now I feel better to keep it. I don't think here is any better and nicer camera ever made.

 

I also received new M-E as gift. It is keeper.

 

I have new Summarit-M 35 2.5, which I like and I see no reason to sell it. I also have user Elmarit-M 90 f4, which nobody wanted for $150 and I better keep it, because it is true Leica lens.

 

I like to use Leica, not just keeping it, this is why I don't mind to have two film Leica cameras. They need to be in service once in a while  and while one is in service, I still have second one for use.

For digital I purchased M8 as second Leica to use it for times and situations I don't need M-E. Somehow I'm using M8 much more often

 

This is it for Leica keepers for me. 

[spydrxx]

I wouldn't recommend selling either, unless you're desperate for cash, or never use one of the two, you would probably come to regret it at a later time. I had to sell the M4 I had used for over 30 years, a while back due to a family emergency, and have always regretted it. However I eventually came back with an M2, 2 Barnacks, and a Canon P (similar to an M3). I'm back to being a happy camper once again.

[Tom R]

Basic rule that I've followed for the last decade or so: I have 3 lenses, 3 bodies---2 M-4P's and one M 8.2. This means that no camera body is idle. If I had lots of money, I might acquire a 24mm for the M 8.2 ... but I'm not seeing any big payoff here; the point being that lenses are more valuable to the photographic enterprise than a body ---barring any mechanical problems.

[oolong5]

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Thank you so much, guys. I was trying to keep just one Leica because I was always minimalising my stuff. 

And thanks to your kind advice, I'll keep both Leicas, which is the happiest decision for me.

[01af]

How many Leicas do you own and how many are you planning to keep? Or which one do you think I should keep?

 

For the time being, I keep every camera I ever acquired—among them four Leica M cameras. I may sell one of the M cameras in the near future ... the M (Typ 240) ... not utterly decided yet.

 

Currently, from my (approx.) two dozen camera bodies (six of them digital), I consider four as 'active'—two digital and two analog. The digital ones are Olympus OM-D E-M1 and Leica M10. The analog ones are Olympus-Pen FT and Leica M-A. These four are the last ones I would sell. But then, unless I'm starving I don't plan to sell any camera I own ... umm, with the possible exception of my before-mentioned black-paint M (Typ 240).

[michaelwj]

Thank you so much, guys. I was trying to keep just one Leica because I was always minimalising my stuff. 

And thanks to your kind advice, I'll keep both Leicas, which is the happiest decision for me.

 

 

I hear the urge to minimalise. 

 

My advice if you really want to get reduce is choose the lens first. Either 35 or 50? If 35 keep the M4-2; if 50, keep the M3. 

 

I have 2 Leicas, an M4, and an M6, and a single 35mm lens. No other cameras.

[LorenzoLandini]

I agree with the above comments that you should not be selling anything unless you need the cash, which is a very legitimate reason. 

 

However, I am feeling confident of speaking on behalf of many fellow non-professional photographers - especially in the Leica community - in saying that for us photography is not only about crafting an image, it's also about collecting, about having pleasure from using an old camera, etc. Despite the endless discussion about film vs digital, the reality is that many of us are shooting film because it is simply what's needed to continue enjoying our cameras (and yes we also like film, etc.). To this end, if you're enjoying both the M3 and the M4-2, then go for it and overtime perhaps invest even more in lenses as the character of a lens contribute more in the making of an image than the camera, which is a light-tight box at the end of the day.

 

As far as your question is concerned, I am fortunate to have a number of both Leica and other film cameras and a number of lenses, but at the end of the day, for most of my actual photography I use only three cameras: the Linhof 4x5, the Leica S and the M6, but that's not a good reason to sell the rest. 

[a.noctilux]

As many as I like, that's my answer .

 

The "rationalize thing" is not for me.

But for my pleasure, and not need to sell is the best thing to make me happy.

I don't have car or ship .

[Paul Verrips]

I have 5 Leica's, an M2, M4 and 3x M7. The M2 needs desperate a CLA, i bought it because for me it's the ultimate M from the past. I bought the M4 because it's produced in my year of birth an il like that, it's repainted and had a CLA and functions as a backup travel camera. 3x M7 is simply overdone, no excuse for that. Reason for 3x M7? I started with a silver one, after a while wanted a black one so i could choose if i wanted. And finally bought a M7 special edition (Dutch Flag, test camera the Netherlands) because only 10 produced. Sometimes i feel some guilt about spending so much money while i don't need so many camera's.

 

I'll have 21, 35, 50 and 90 lenses, one of each, and actually use the 35 at least 95% of the time.

[oolong5]

I hear the urge to minimalise. 

 

My advice if you really want to get reduce is choose the lens first. Either 35 or 50? If 35 keep the M4-2; if 50, keep the M3. 

 

I have 2 Leicas, an M4, and an M6, and a single 35mm lens. No other cameras.

 

Thank you for the advice, I think I'll go with both 35 and 50 for a while and decide further.

[otto.f]

M4, MM1 and M9 as a backup for M10, so 4

[Herr Barnack]

 

How many leicas do you own

Two cameras, six lenses.

 

and how many are you planning to keep?

All of them. 

 

I don't buy M cameras and lenses with the thought of selling them some day.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Carlos Danger

[a.noctilux]

As side note, Leica lenses and bodies are meant to be used as YOU want, nothing is hard-wrote that YOU must keep or not.

 

In my long Leica user life, I buy and sell many many Leica (or not) without fear.

Some are for "exchange purpose for another gear", so not to release much money.

It's like a river stream, must begin somewhere .

 

That's my best way to "learn/try" other stuff to see if they suit my practice.

 

For example, BP MP was "exchanged" to Monochrom:

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by a.noctilux

[Mute-on]

I (now) own 3 Leica bodies and 6 lenses. I just bought a BP M4.

I don't intend to sell any if the bodies, and in any event I would never leave myself with less than two.

One body per lens (or one lens per body) is a nice balance and ultimately very practical. For me that means 28, 35 and 50 always attached with 90 as an option.

Pick up the camera you feel like using and then take the photographs you feel suit the lens that is on that particular camera.

I do this and it's both liberating and great fun!

 

Enjoy!

 

Cheers

 

J

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited April 23, 2017 by Mute-on

[SilentShutter]

How much shall I keep is a basic philosopical question

had nothing to do with what we "really" need

which we can answer in a fraction of a second right ?

[a.noctilux]

NEED and WANT the difficulty is how to be sure which one is here and now.

 

But for pleasure "want" meets "need" or other way around .

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[skucera]

Odd, but when I first saw the title of this thread I thought, of course I'll be taking all my cameras with me when I go. Heaven needs more cameras.

 

When the time comes, I've got a daughter who enjoys photography and even asked for her own 35mm rangefinder. She can have my cameras, and perhaps pass them to a fourth generation in the way my father's camera was passed to me.

 

Scott