Do you regret selling lenses & do you buy on absolute condition?

[pgk]

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Which begs another question... how many M mount lenses do we each have?

 

Is that the ones SHE knows about or otherwise ?

[lct]

Is that the ones SHE knows about or otherwise ?

 

Haha! I have so many of them that my wife doesn't care anymore. Regretting selling? Yes i did once in the seventies with a Summicron 50/2 v3. Since then i keep them all. Most of them are used, all will be for my heirs when i push daisies .

Edited April 26, 2018 by lct

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[jdlaing]

Did you just win 2 on ebay?   

I forgot the two I don’t use very often.

[Flu]

I don't regret selling any lenses. In order for me to even think about selling a lens, it has to sit on the shelf for over 1 year without use, not be a special or limited item, and or not give me the look/performance I'm wanting in terms of output. Having said that, there are lenses that sit on the shelf for much longer that I still won't sell. 

 

Recently sold 4 M mount lenses - so 17 left atm.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Flu

[Ko.Fe.]

Yes, I have tried much more Leitz lenses than I keep. I'm thinking of keeping just one Leica lens now. Summarit 35 2.5. Which I purchased in listed condition as new. It is registered under my name since new.

Most of the great photographers with Leica I knew and books I have of, didn't have many lenses. Just a few. And not always Leitz made. I thinking of following them.  

[Bill W]

Which begs another question... how many M mount lenses do we each have?

 

I have a dozen....I think...!

[Bill W]

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Do I regret selling a lens....sometimes....  but usually I trade for something I think I might use more....then I trade for something I might use more.....etc.

[Exodies]

Yes, I have tried much more Leitz lenses than I keep. I'm thinking of keeping just one Leica lens now. Summarit 35 2.5. Which I purchased in listed condition as new. It is registered under my name since new.

Most of the great photographers with Leica I knew and books I have of, didn't have many lenses. Just a few. And not always Leitz made. I thinking of following them.

 

Cool. I’m going to sell all but one of my lenses to improve my pictures.

[darylgo]

Leica is unique, unlike Nikon and Canon I prefer buying a used lens with some wear, not for any monetary reason such as a lower price but Leica lenses with wear are more likely good samples. Leica users dump their bad samples in pristine condition, some will go 20+ years in absolute mint condition only to be dogs. When I see a mint Leica M lens I'm suspicious, it gets tested and tested, if it is performing well I'm downright miserable thinking I've missed something :-)  Leica lenses are precious, a good sample requires some deep deep deep (3 deeps) down soul searching prior to selling and I can generally talk myself out of it.  GKS or gear keeping syndrome.  We live in good times, only 20 years ago Leica was rare, it was difficult to find desired lenses, when finding a lens I would purchase it knowing that it could be 5 or 10 years before finding another.  

Edited April 27, 2018 by darylgo

[ianman]

Is that the ones SHE knows about or otherwise ?

 

oh they know... they always know. They are just waiting, silently, for the right moment to say the words "is that a new lens dear?"... 

[JTLeica]

Absolutely, which is why I wrote "rather than just seeing them as an investment." which seems to have been missed by others than yourself 

 

There is no doubt that the collectors are only 'collecting' with the knowledge that their items are at least not going to lose value.

Very few people just throw money into expensive stuff knowing they'll be worthless.

 

But the majority (certainly that are members of a forum) have a passion for what they collect. That is 100% true. You cant really collect without a passion

[Ecar]

There is no doubt that the collectors are only 'collecting' with the knowledge that their items are at least not going to lose value.

Very few people just throw money into expensive stuff knowing they'll be worthless.

 

There are many more than you think these days, I'm afraid... Reasons include the need for immediate gratification, status, etc.

 

But the majority (certainly that are members of a forum) have a passion for what they collect. That is 100% true. You cant really collect without a passion

 

Probably true in the context of cameras and lenses, but not entirely in general terms: I know people who have built impressive art collections for reasons that include primarily tax/inheritance optimisation...

[ianman]

To clear things up a bit - again - ... by "real" collectors, I meant those people like William, Luigi and others on this forum, who have a passion about their cameras, lenses, and collection, and whose main reason for collecting is not for ROI. They collect and use, and they willingly share their passion and knowledge. They are an asset to the Leica community.

 

Yes of course, these things have a value attached - that is called the puchase price, only an idiot would - or pretend to - not understand that.

 

There are "other" collectors, people who will buy almost anything at any price. They buy up all the limited edition stuff, keep them safely in their unopened boxes, hoping to resell later because they are rare. This has nothing to do with passion, this all to do with money.

 

I hope that is now clear.

Edited April 27, 2018 by ianman

[earleygallery]

I don't regret selling any lenses really, I chose to sell them for sound reasons.

 

I do regret not buying a lens I saw at a camera fair some years ago. A mint in box 5cm Summar. I've not seen any like that since.

[wattsy]

There are "other" collectors, people who will buy almost anything at any price. They buy up all the limited edition stuff, keep them safely in their unopened boxes, hoping to resell later because they are rare. This has nothing to do with passion, this all to do with money.

 

 

Assuming these people really exist, I suspect that the motivation for such obsessive "completist" buying isn't to do with money but just some kind of compulsive behaviour. Wealthy men (and it does seem to be mainly men) have often lost fortunes satisfying a collecting mania for anything from motor cars to rare books. Walter Rothschild was a classic example with his vast collections of insects and stuffed animals.

 

Buying up the Leica limited editions with an eye to a future profit seems to be the preserve of some of the well known independent dealers. 

[SiggiGun]

YES, I regret! I sold  2.8/21, 2/35, 2/50, 1.4/50 ASPH. and a 2.8/90. I sold the this lenses to have the money to replace them,... 3.4/21 ASPH, 1.4/35 ASPH., 2/50 APO, 2/90 APO.

By the time, I sold the lenses, my argument was "New should be better then old", which is certainly true. BUT, as you all know, older lenses have more optical limitation: less contrast etc.

For me, this is interesting to study and to understand the differences. That means I have no regrets concerning image quality but I like to compare and to understand 

[Belle123]

Before I sell a lens, I take a long time to decide to sell, if one of my M lenses. Have bought 11 over the past 25 years and sold off 6. No regrets to date. My choice is to just keep a handful of lenses I truly use, vs collecting what turns out to be “too many choices”. I found myself spending too much time making those decisions, or lugging around too many....just in case. You can always buy more lenses if you have the means, but you can’t buy more time.

[luigi bertolotti]

I sold :

 

- Elmarit M 24 asph (considered it a "M8 dedicated focal") : partial regret because was NICE (and chrome...  ) , but I suspect would be seldom used today, should I still had it.

- Summicron C 40 + Elmar C 90 with their CL body : partial regret : few money for a fine kit (but completely unused for years)

- Summicron 35 V3 : no regret : have the asph and the  very old V1 Wetzlar, and discarded the goal to collect all the variants/version of the Summicron 35 (hard and very costly, differently from Summaron 3,5...  )

- Elmar 135 f4 BM : no regret, have an Elmar 135 f4 in LTM which is finer in cosmetic... and the Tele Elmar 135 which is better for use.

 

I still have several lenses that I could sell without regret (example : Elmar 65 1st.. isn't a collectible, and.have the 2nd which is definitely better,), but anytime I think of, it results that all the sellable are anyway of little value... so is it WORTH ? Until I have some space in the drawers...

[james.liam]

Only lens I regret selling was a Voigtländer 2,5/125. But the sale, which included a raft of Nikkors, funded the switch to Leica. 

 

Leica?

 

Sold a 35 Summicron ASPH, 50 Summicron v.5 and 50 Summilux ASPH. Looked at it as a journey of experience.

Broke even on some, made a little on others, lost some £ on a few.

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[Runkel]

I’ve sold or traded a number of M and R lenses in the last four or five years and, maybe coincidentally, only regretted the 35s. One was the cleanest and newest 35/2.8 Summaron I’ve seen before or since, one was a German chrome v4 Summicron, and one was a titanium Summilux ASPH. With the first two, missing them is bound up with not being able to cost-effectively replace them. With the Summilux, which was my first M lens, I miscalculated how much I would miss the ergonomics and image signature. I eventually reacquired the Summilux ASPH, a later black version.

 

I prefer used gear that looks like it’s had an easy life.