[Leica] Collector and User and Retirement

[marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)]

The remarks of Mark Rabiner and Vick Ko are 
appreciated and interesting.  This exchange goes 
back to discussions which so ignited the LUG 
fifteen years ago, when we only had 2,958,435 
members, nowhere like our current membership of, 
what is it now?  Nine Billion folks?  <he 
grins>  (and will the Aliens in our midst stick 
up their right flippers?  Er, no, don't do that 
as the agents for the Reichsministerium f?r Heimhats Sicherheit

I am a user but a user in a specific meaning:  I 
get interested in a camera accessory or camera 
system and buy enough gear to get to know it and 
then sell it off or keep it, as the case may 
be.  For instance, at one point I owned a LOT of 
Zeiss Ikon Ikaex gear and, once I was satisfied 
that I knew the system, I dumped it and invested 
the money earned on the gas to go home together 
with enough to buy a set of Proxars for my Rolleiflex 2.8GX.

I am going through boxes of photographs right now 
and I can recall almost every time which camera I 
used to take the shots and in most cases the 
lenses.  I am surprised by just how many cameras 
and lenses I have owned and I am baffled by those 
which I have chosen to keep.  This is not a collection:  I only own users!

I now have a Leica M-6 Wetzlar and an M-3 DS and 
a IIIg and a IIIf RD/ST and a IIIc, my 
darling.  And a Rolleiflex 2.8GX and a 2.8F and 
....  all of it ending up with my two Kilfitt 
lenses, a 4/300 and one of those fascinating 
4/50-200 zooms.  Kilfitt is yet another system in 
which I once invested heavily.  As was Retina RF 
gear, though I kept most of that.  And Werra:  I 
surgically chose a III after I was gifted a 35mm 
lens for this, and this is a great camera.

I am now retired.  I have been so for two 
years.  I am considering selling off some of the 
collectibles but, then, I do not want to sell off 
anything I might later want to use to take 
pictures.  Of course, I do not now have a 
darkroom and shal not have one for some 
years.  What to do?  I do not know.  Me?  I am 
awaiting the Grand Revelation from Mark!  And 
even then, I might ignore it.  I now have two 
grand-kids.  Maybe they ought to sell my stuff, after my son dies.

Yes, on three different occasions, I have lucked 
into purchases for $5 which I was rapidly able to 
sell for $2,000.  But those are not common.  If I 
come across a KE-7 for $5 at the next yardsale I visit, I shal snap it up.

You guys should join the IDCC where these 
discussions are the norm, or, at the leasst, were 
prior to my leaving that esteemed List.

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!