If you sold everything...

[2F/2F]

Just something I found myself thinking about this evening, and I am interested to hear other people's answers as well: If you were to liquidate your entire collection of photography equipment, how much cash would you have in the end?

I'll have to think about my answer later, as it will require some serious counting, and I have to go to sleep now...but I am guessing that everything I have is probably worth about 6 to 8 grand on the used market. Hey! If I sell it all, I can get a top-of-the line small format digital camera without a lens, and it will be considered unusable by art directors and stock agencies in three to five years!!! Sounds like a deal to me!!! (I guess I can get the cheapo 50mm lens and use a library computer...and prints? Well, who actually does prints anyhow?)

[Curt]

I'd do it if and only if, that's abbreviated as iff isn't it, John L. Kelley's 1955 book General Topology, anyway or is that anyways, I would do it iff I could make enough money to buy an 11X14 Ebony Folding View Camera with a Cooke Triple convertible lens and at least a dozen film holders with cases and all the Ebony camera accessories. That's it, pretty simple right. Anyone want to buy an 8X10 Calumet C1 Magnesium View camera for three thousand dollars, that would be a start. I think I would need about twenty or thirty grand to seal the deal.

In the end we leave it all behind when we die. What's death like? It's like before I was born.

[flatulent1]

Not much. Nearly all my gear is 35mm film gear from the '70s and '80s, wouldn't be worth my while auctioning, packing and shipping; far easier to donate. Several Minolta MC/MD bodies and lenses, some FTBn and AT-1, an EF, some folders, almost worthless.

About the only items I have of any monetary value would be a 5D, 1V, 1N-RS, a pair of L zooms, and a nearly mint New F-1. Also some L primes in FD mount. Maybe $5k. EOS 3, M645 w/5 lenses, F4 w/ a pair of Nikkor zooms might fetch another grand. I might get something for three mint T90s, but not enough to pay for the heartbreak.

It might buy me an M7 and a pair of lenses, but I could never do it.

[Andrew K]

I don't want to think about it...or I might be tempted to do it...

then again I could get a new Pentax 645 digital plus lenses.........or a M9??

No - I've sold 2 collections in the past (one because I just had too much, and one because I needed the money...) - what I have now is not excessive (well - it's not to me - my partner will have other ideas..), but I wish I had the ability to put some of the collection on display.....

I think I'll keep what I've got :-)

[Brian Legge]

Lets see...

Probably around $2,500 if everything sold at full ebay value. That includes a medium format SLR, 3 TLRs, 2 folding cameras, a pair of Nikon bodies, a few strobes, a Leica and a handful of fixed lens rangefinders.

I've got some redundancy for sure but selling everything wouldn't buy me a M series Leica and a good fast lens. That is a bit eye opening; I've got redundancy right now but I cover a decent range of shooting options. Going to higher end equipment would require significant specialization.

Given the number of items though, selling it individually would be immensely painful.

[darkosaric]

Leica M6 + summicron 50, 2x nikon F3 with 4x 50mm, 1x 105mm/f2.5, 1x 200mm/f4, some toy cameras, polaroids, 2 enlargers from meopta, some cheap rangefinders. So beside leica - nothing too expensive. All is worth less than digital nikon D700 + 24-70 f2.8 + decent flesh

[Steve Smith]

About £7.39


Seriously though I could probably sell my RB67 kit for around £500 (I don't think I would sell it though). Everything else is on the cheap side of bargain.



Steve.

[thisismyname09]

Probably just enough to buy a junky used car.

[alexmacphee]

I'm kinda planning to make sure my wife doesn't see this thread. I keep a spreadsheet with all my inventory in it for insurance purposes, and it has purchase price and replacement cost columns. The replacement cost (by tracking eBay and dealer prices) currently sums at just over £16k. I was relying on you guys to exceed this. My justifications for new kit are now looking exceedingly weak.

[benjiboy]

Certainly not enough to buy a top of the range full frame DSLR, but the reason I don't have one isn't because of the money, It's because I don't want one.