Help buying which is more collectible?

[yaominator]

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hey guys! 

 

please help me pull the trigger, came into some money and would like to buy a camera. Considering which will be more collectible in the future.

There's two available locally in my area, an M typ246, and an MP black paint. which would you choose?

I primarily shoot film with an M3 and I love it! was wondering if I'd get a second body and enjoy brassing the black paint, or, try go digital and see what the fuss is about the monochrom. 

Also as a follow up question, is the typ 246 still a good buy this 2024? since the tech is almost 10 years old.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

•  

[frame-it]

1 hour ago, yaominator said:

which will be more collectible in the future.

anything without electronics

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Pyrogallol]

Get the film camera. All digital cameras are the same, just a computer with a lens on the front.

[pop]

51 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

Get the film camera. All digital cameras are the same, just a computer with a lens on the front.

And all film cameras are just some clockwork with a lens on the front.

[yaominator]

1 hour ago, pop said:

And all film cameras are just some clockwork with a lens on the front.

😂😂😂

[luigi bertolotti]

IF the MP you quote is a good buy, take it. If you want a good collectible at a reasonable cost and usability, a M4 P black fits fine both goals : a good complement to M3 if you still like film.

Edited February 23 by luigi bertolotti

[willeica]

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5 hours ago, yaominator said:

 

 

hey guys! 

 

please help me pull the trigger, came into some money and would like to buy a camera. Considering which will be more collectible in the future.

There's two available locally in my area, an M typ246, and an MP black paint. which would you choose?

I primarily shoot film with an M3 and I love it! was wondering if I'd get a second body and enjoy brassing the black paint, or, try go digital and see what the fuss is about the monochrom. 

Also as a follow up question, is the typ 246 still a good buy this 2024? since the tech is almost 10 years old.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

•  

If you are buying a camera to sell for a profit, it depends how long you are likely to keep it. Some digital Leica cameras have become collectible, but they tend to be special editions and the like. What have become somewhat collectible are very early digital cameras (not Leicas) where 90% of the examples have been thrown away, giving rise to scarcity. You also have to build into the timescale issues about whether digital cameras will be usable in the future. If you see yourself selling the camera as a user item as opposed to a collectible then you have to consider this factor. 35mm film is likely to be around for a long time to come. 

I have a large collection of Leicas and I have never sold any of them. I have not bought any of them with a view to selling them later for a profit. I have just acquired them because I liked them or because I found them interesting or they filled a 'perceived gap' in my collection. Resale would never be a motivation for me and most genuine collectors I know are like that. Some people who are both collectors and dealers think differently and will buy an item either to collect or to sell depending on what suits them best, but they, as dealers, tend not to be sentimental about items that pass through their hands.

I think you are saying that you would like to buy an item that you might use for a few years and then resell. My advice would be to buy the item you most like to use and then sell it for what you can get for it. Anything else is trying to make a hobby into a business.

William 

[RexGig0]

8 hours ago, yaominator said:

 

 

hey guys! 

 

please help me pull the trigger, came into some money and would like to buy a camera. Considering which will be more collectible in the future.

There's two available locally in my area, an M typ246, and an MP black paint. which would you choose?

I primarily shoot film with an M3 and I love it! was wondering if I'd get a second body and enjoy brassing the black paint, or, try go digital and see what the fuss is about the monochrom. 

Also as a follow up question, is the typ 246 still a good buy this 2024? since the tech is almost 10 years old.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

•  

The Type 246 camera values have mostly been in slow decline. For a brief moment in time, in the past year, the “asking” prices did rise, somewhat, but that does not mean that the sellers were actually getting those higher prices. (I did not inquire, or otherwise follow-up.) Any digital camera will become catastrophically less desirable, when its electronics fail,  if the manufacturer has ended support. A pre-owned digital camera is only a wise “investment” in that it can be less expensive to buy the camera, use it for a while, and then sell it, for less eventual cost than what it would have cost to rent/hire/borrow that camera. The strength of the type 246, for actual users/shooters, has been that it performs quite well at higher ISO, compared to the Types 240 and 262, and competes well with the original M10, at high ISO settings. This strength does not make the Type 246 “collectible,” for the sake of collectibility or investment.

[pop]

23 minutes ago, RexGig0 said:

Any digital camera will become catastrophically less desirable, when its electronics fail,  if the manufacturer has ended support

But then, so will any non-digital camera with electronics.

[pegelli]

I have an M2 and a M246M and both are great cameras and I enjoy being able to use film as well as digital depending on circumstances and my mood.

However both cameras are "users", never bought with the intention that they keep or appreciate in value. If they do fine but both can fail beyond repair, film photography can get "out of vogue" again because the old farts using them are all dead and the hispters moved to a next thing, batteries might no longer be available for your digital camera etc. etc.

I think a better bet buying something that appreciates value are lenses, allthough there you might be bitten by haze and/or fungus so again nothing is certain.

[Pyrogallol]

8 hours ago, pop said:

And all film cameras are just some clockwork with a lens on the front.

Clockwork clocks have been around for hundreds of years, I doubt that anything electronic will last as long.

[pop]

49 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

Clockwork clocks have been around for hundreds of years, I doubt that anything electronic will last as long.

That argument is essentially valid, but it simplifies things a bit. Cameras that have lasted hundred of years don't yet exist, for obvious reasons. However, even the non-electrical and non-electronic ones might have issues that clocks don't used to have. Take leather, rubber or plastic parts: the prospect of them surviving for centuries is not that good, either.

[Anbaric]

I would buy the one you want to use now, not the one a collector might value one day. Today, neither is collectible. My guess would be that the MP will hold its value better (used film Ms in general have gone up in price in recent years) but predictions are hard, especially about the future. I can't say I'd get a kick out of seeing black paint brass, but an MP might be useful if you want to use wider lenses than 50mm, or would like a meter, or use more than one type of film. I don't know what the current service status of the M246 is. The MP, as a current model, has a serviceable meter and mechanics that will probably be fixable indefinitely. Consider also reputable mail order dealers outside your area who can offer you a wider range of models.

[yaominator]

Thanks for the tips guys! I went we the MP , it was like new complete with boxes with a 2023 manufacture for just around $350 more than the m10. I thought it was better value in the long run

[Herr Barnack]

Buy the camera that you would enjoy using the most and don't worry about future collectibility.