Buying the same camera twice

[DanOnRoute66]

I have multiple copies of some items from time to time but only because I sometimes buy large lots of gear that have an item or two that I want and then I sell off the rest to recover some (sometimes all) of what I paid for the lot. For example, I once bought a lot of Jupiter-8 and Jupiter-8M lenses to get a nice one from 1957; the rest are up for sale.

The only thing I regret selling and then bought back was an Olympus OM-4T that I sold in the summer of 2008. A few months ago I bought a replacement. The more recent is actually much nicer; it's the black paint whereas the earlier one was in the crummy champaigne finish that probably began flaking off 15 minutes after it came out of the box.

I do have one exception to the non-duplication rule: My first OM was a 1N in chrome that I bought in 1983. I "retired" it to the shelf recently when I acquired a really nice black OM-1N.

[back alley]

no insult is intended...just speaking my truth.
buying and selling is the norm here, nothing strange about it at all. as was previously stated by another, some of us do not have the money to keep and compare so we sell and compare and sometimes buy again. as for being hurtful to me...don't confuse my comments with being hurt...i believe that i am about as crusty as you are.
as to offense being taken...again i am not offended personally...but i do believe that i speak for some who do not speak for themselves.

no matter..your tricks will not change...old dogs etc.

[Pablito]

If I'm going to use something for work, I almost always have to have more than one of them because I need to have backup. But if I buy something and decide it does not work for me, I get rid of it and never buy it again.

[Jamie123]

Originally Posted by Roger Hicks

Of course one can make mistakes, and one can replace kit that was destroyed, or buy a second body. But to make a habit of buying and selling identical equipment suggests to me that one has more money than sense.[/i]

Not sure your reasoning is right here. Often when people sell something it's because they need the money to buy something else. People with more money then sense can afford to just keep stuff around they don't use often.
While I personally don't make a habit of buying and selling the same stuff I do think it makes some sense to do so with used equipment. Many used camera items hold their value pretty well on the used market so, other than the time and work you're putting into buying and selling, you aren't wasting much if anything by selling them and buying the same ones later.

[Pablito]

Originally Posted by Phantomas

Never. I don't like to play with cameras, I only like to use them. If a camera doesn't suit me for some reason (and that happened maybe on two occasions) I pass it on and move on. I don't sell my gear on a whim and do my research sufficiently before spending money so it has to be really unsuitable for me to sell it, after which I have no reasons left to go back.
I actually can't understand all this buying/selling/buying again business. Maybe coz I prefer shooting to playing around.

Yeah. And as for selling it if you're not using it, only to buy it again later if you need it again - or the concept of having money "tied up" in a camera... What about the time and effort of finding it again once you decide you want to use it again? I, for one, do not enjoy that. If it suits, I keep it even if it goes unused for a while.

[gb hill]

I can think of a few reasons for obtaining a lens or camera that I sold off years or perhaps months ago. Some grow tired of the digital SLR & wish to jump back into film so they go back to with what they had.

Perhaps a certain lens is sold off because they didn't like the rendering or feel it had with a certain camera, then later find out that the same lens works marvously with that new M8, RD-1, or 4/3rds camera that the former seller recently bought so they pick up another. It's in our nature...no big deal to me!

[lawnpotter]

I sold my Olympus Stylus Epic for $30.00. And decided to go digital. Two days later I missed my OLY and I now have 3. I dont do digital anymore except for if I want to sell something. Sometimes you dont know what you got untill its gone. I bought and sold 3 digital point and shoots and dont miss any of them.

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by Pablito

If I'm going to use something for work, I almost always have to have more than one of them because I need to have backup. But if I buy something and decide it does not work for me, I get rid of it and never buy it again.

In both cases, yes, sure. To clarify my original point:

I am not surprised at anyone buying a backup.

I am not surprised at anyone selling one camera to buy another.

I am not surprised that people sometimes sell something and then buy the same thing later when they realize they've made a mistake.

I am not surprised at anyone buying for nostalgia.

I am not surprised that stuff comes in lots: in order to get A, you buy B, C and D, and them sell them (preferably at a profit).

I am not surprised when people's circumstances or needs change. A camera that was of limited use in the past may come into its own for a different project.

What does surprise me is that some people apparently buy into a system; decide it doesn't work for them; sell it; buy another; sell it; buy another; and then, for exactly the same purpose as they bought their first outfit, with no real change in their circumstances, buy the outfit that didn't work for them the first time. Still more surprising to me is that they don't see anything odd in this, even when they do it repeatedly.

I am also surprised at people who assume that if they want something back, after they've sold it, they can buy the same thing again. Most of us here use more old cameras and lenses than new ones, Finding a good replacement for a good, old lens can often prove problematical, and besides, there's a simple question: why did they sell it in the first place?

There are only two answers. One is that they needed the money (and again, most of us have been there) and the other is that it wasn't actually a lens they really wanted/needed anyway.

Cheers,

R.

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by Jamie123

Not sure your reasoning is right here. Often when people sell something it's because they need the money to buy something else. People with more money then sense can afford to just keep stuff around they don't use often.
While I personally don't make a habit of buying and selling the same stuff I do think it makes some sense to do so with used equipment. Many used camera items hold their value pretty well on the used market so, other than the time and work you're putting into buying and selling, you aren't wasting much if anything by selling them and buying the same ones later.

Yes, but why are you buying and selling?

I used to buy and sell cameras a lot, but I could only ever see two reasons for doing it.

One was to make a profit (usually, to put towards something I really wanted). The other was to try something I'd not tried before. It was never to try something again that I'd already tried once and rejected.

But I never treated the used camera market like a rental bank. The sheer hassle of buying and selling, and the uncertainty of getting something as good as you sold, strikes me as too much trouble.

Cheers,

R.

[wlewisiii]

I've done it occasionally. Worst was the OM-1 - I've bought one three times thinking I really should like it but I just can't stand the shutter speed ring. I dislike certain Nikkormats for the same reason.

I get tempted to replace a couple of previously owned cameras - Canon T90, Kiev 5, Bessa R - but for the most part I have moved on and the cameras I have better suit my needs these days.

OTOH, I did once have a Zeiss Ikonta that I sold a couple of years ago and after it had passed through a number of other owners, I bought it back last fall. That's a much more entertaining way of doing it.

[ottluuk]

In a small town, boy meets a country girl and they fall in love. Somewhat later the boy meets an older woman from the city who seduces said boy with riches and glamour. Boy leaves girl and dives into the the corrupt nightlife of the city.

Soon the boy realizes his terrible mistake. He returns to his home town to win his girl back. They get back together. A marriage takes place and within a year, a child is born. But soon, the young father grows restless. The girl, now preoccupied with changing diapers and preparing meals appears boring to him, no match for the dashing manners of city people...



some analogy to gear swinging, if you will...

[back alley]

But I never treated the used camera market like a rental bank. The sheer hassle of buying and selling, and the uncertainty of getting something as good as you sold, strikes me as too much trouble...

this is where we differ the most...for me the used camera market is like a giant rental bank...for a few bucks and a trip to the post office (2 blocks away and where i get to flirt with the ladies) i can try a lens and see if i like it.
i just sold a 90 and bought a 75...it took a trip or 2 to realize that i prefer a 75 on the rd1 to a 90 on the rd1...i didn't really lose any money and i got to sell the 90 to one of my favourite rff people...it all worked out beautifully.

[doolittle]

Originally Posted by ottluuk

In a small town, boy meets a country girl and they fall in love. Somewhat later the boy meets an older woman from the city who seduces said boy with riches and glamour. Boy leaves girl and dives into the the corrupt nightlife of the city.

Soon the boy realizes his terrible mistake. He returns to his home town to win his girl back. They get back together. A marriage takes place and within a year, a child is born. But soon, the young father grows restless. The girl, now preoccupied with changing diapers and preparing meals appears boring to him, no match for the dashing manners of city people...



some analogy to gear swinging, if you will...

Co-incidentally, reading this thread a similar, though not identical, thought entered my mind: never date your exes. There must have been a reason (even if you have forgotten it by now) you didn't get along in the first place. Or if not, going back would be admitting you were wrong, which is not the done thing!

[Steve Bellayr]

Make it a rule: Do not sell something on a whim.

[doolittle]

As the saying goes: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result

However I don't think it quite applies. The piece of equipment hasn't changed, but the user might have. Maybe something clicks were it didn't before, or you find a use for the camera or lens that you didn't have before.

Personally I don't like admitting I was wrong, so would stand over my original decision!

[zx9]

Not cameras, I tend to have long term relationships with cameras but I do regret selling a very well used Pentax Digital Spot meter, which I intend to replace. And then there is the 20 valve Quattro, that I never should have sold

[Gary Sandhu]

I bought a used M8, sold it for the same price a year later, then rebought it a year later for 1/2 the cost. Have it still -- that was the plan.
I bought a demo M9, tested my lenses on it, and sold it locally and I plan on buying the M9 in a year or so when it becomes cheaper. And now I know which lenses work on it.

[blazeicehockey]

Should have held onto my mint OM4Ti. Made a mint out of it though

Cameras I miss...my first SLR: Pentax P30n, the camera that taught me about dynamic range:Fuji S3, about 24mm: Nikon 8400 and camera ergonomics :Oly E-1.

Cameras I dont miss: Nikon F100, F4, F3, Oly e-500, Oly 7070, Oly XA

Cameras I would want to play with: R-D1, Sigma SD1.

[olleorama]

I have only made sales I regret, never bought a camera or lens back (or again so to speak). But this is probably just nostalgia, rather than the cameras being better than what I have.

Funny, cameras I have given away I rarely miss.

[FrankS]

Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone,
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot.
Euuu, dat, dat.
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot!
Joni Mitchell

It's happened to me with a Hexar AF, Hasselblad CM, Leica M2, Canon 28mmf3.5 ltm lens.
If I had had money to burn, I would have just kept the originals and bought the new stuff I wanted, but that wasn't possible. Once more fun-money was available, I re-bought the gear that I missed. Not so hard to understand.

[Brian Sweeney]

So I just spent the last four hours building a J-3 out of parts. A black J-3, horrible machining with the first-triplet misaligned, aperture is not circular, the optics module GLUED into place, and the distance scale way-off from the RF. Took all the glass out and let the fixture soak in nail polish remover for WEEKS! The glue finally gave it up.

So now I have a Black 1955 KMZ J-3, German Glass for all but the front element. Came out pretty good.

It is the only Black J-3 with a mix of Russian and German glass that I own. All of the other J-3's either have all German glass or all Russian glass, and they are all chrome. At least it is different from the other four.

[bgb]

Never the same camera ... a few years ago when $ were few and far between I sold all my OM stuff, sad but you can't eat on Olympus there are laws
Have just bought another OM-2 with a 35mm f2.8 and I'm pleased that i did. The shutter speed ring that used to annoy the hell out of me is actually rather clever and I like it. The small size which i didn't like after my FD Canons now seems sensible and the camera is a pleasure to carry all day. Guess people change or mature or just have different needs at different times of their lives.
Due to the loss of one eye i now have to focus with my left eye, so i hold the camera differently and a winder just gets in the way, maybe that's allowed me to see an old camera in a new light, of course it might just be old age

[monochromejrnl]

I've only done it once with a camera and lens - a Contax IIA with the Zeiss Opton 50/1.5 Sonnar. The first one I got had a shutter issue so when I had an opportunity to return it to the seller I did so. Came across another copy here on RFF by a local seller that had been serviced by Henry Scherer while still under warranty and jumped on it. It too had a shutter issue but since it was under warranty the seller agreed to send it back to Scherer for service. Since it returned to me it's been running 100% perfectly.

The only P&S camera I've ever bought and sold and bought again (but finally sold for the last time) was the Yashica T4 Super. I'm officially done with P&S film cameras - no matter how good the lens may be - the lack of control or poor ergonomics aren't worth it.

[rover]

All this makes me want to go out and buy another M3. I will probably get another 50 Summicron for it too.

[sparrow6224]

Sometimes you sell something because you need the money. Later, you miss it, you have the money, and you get it again, especially if you see it at a very good price. Like a Nikon FE2 for instance. It can happen.

You can miss things you've sold for the money, and suspect you'll get them again one day, when you're rich and king: Canon Serenar 80mm f2, pristine, with finder, might be one. There are others.