Thinning Down My Collection -- It's Difficult!

JJB · Joined: 02 Oct 2014 Posts: 424 Location: USA

Actually, it's very easy. You lend them to me and I take very good care of them. If you feel remorse, I send them back. Wink

Seriously, my process goes something like this: oh - look at those great results that so-and-so on MFL got with such-and-such a lens. I find one for a price I can live with on ebay. And rather than giving it a thorough workout, I do some test shots and say "hey, that's good enough to keep for now" or "that's a dog, sell it back now." And having limited time, I don't go back to the ones that have potential and say, "hey, let me play with this lens and only this lens for a month" and then I can make an educated decision about whether to keep it. So I have a dozen 50-55 mm lenses and really that's not necessary as most 50s will do a good job in the hands of a skilled photographer. Ditto for 135s.

If I am honest with myself, my collection of lenses is probably a reflection of my limited skills and I should spend more time educating myself in the craft than purchasing one more lens, hoping that it will magically transform my results.

However, the experimenting is not for naught. I have become a big fan of Konica Hexanons and Takumars and I think I will probably end up paring down to a few mounts, KH, M42, and Exakta.

It's more a question of space than money. Nearly everything I have I have bought for $40 or less so it's not that selling stuff off will make me rich or buying it back will make me poor. Paring down my collection, however, would contribute to marital harmony! Rolling Eyes

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

jjb.....Ditto

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Just curious, Steve -- what do you do to get your hobby to pay for itself? I wish I could get to that point. Other than the occasional stock sale, I haven't done much in that deepartment. But then I haven't been marketing my skills much, either. Guess I should learn how better to do that, too.

I've thought about this topic quite a bit more, and honestly I'm no closer to figuring out what I want to do than when I started this thread. I guess, truth be told, I'd rather keep the duplicates than sell them. In fact the only duplicates I am in the process of selling are exact duplicates. Somehow, I managed to acquire a few Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 SSCs. This is a great optic, but I don't need three of them. I've tried rationalizing having more than one by mounting them on multiple FD cameras, but all that does is clean up the clutter some. Maybe in a fast-paced real world situation it would pay to have different bodies loaded with different types of film, but having them all using the same lens -- but I rarely if ever run into such situations. So anyway, I've sold one and I have another for sale. I'll keep the third.

Here's another situation. I have two Canon FD 85s, but they're different. I have an 85mm f/1.2 SSC Aspherical, which I treasure, and I also have a New FD 85mm f/1.8, which I really like because it's small, relatively lightweight, and takes excellent photos. Good bokeh, too, with its wide open aperture of f/1.8. But it's also for all those reasons that I find myself wanting to hang onto that f/1.8 85 and not sell it.

Or how about this situation? I have three 24mm lenses, a Canon FD, a Nikon and a Tamron. I conducted a rather rigorous test, comparing the Tamron to the Nikon (but not the Canon) and I found two basic differences. Wide open, the Tamron exhibited a bit more blooming flare from white objects than the Nikon. And once the lenses were stopped down, the Tamron was actually a bit sharper than the Nikon, both in the center and on the edges. So, I could actually sell both the Nikon and Canon lenses and have a perfectly workable 24mm that would cover both systems and more. But would I want to do such a thing? Well, so far, the answer has been "no."

When I look at 100mm focal lengths, it gets even worse. I include my Tamron 90mm with the 100's, but if I include the Tamron 90, I may as well include my Canon 85mm f/1.8. And my Nikon 105mm f/2.5. So in addition to those three lenses, I have three others, all macros: a nFD Canon 100mm f/4, a M42 SMCT Pentax 100mm f/4, and a Vivitar S1 (Kiron) 105mm f/2.5. So I have six lenses that all could conceivably be replaced by one lens: the 90mm Tamron. But do I want to do this? Not really, despite the obvious redundancy. This, even though I recently posted example pix here from the Canon, SMCT, and another I haven't included here because of its longer focal length, the Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 CF.

So if I were to cut drastically, using the above duplications, I could cut seven lenses from my collection without really feeling it. Supposedly. But then you get into the character of each lens, and it's this that will be lost and perhaps missed the most.

I also tell myself that the only reason why I would want to sell off a portion of my collection would be to add another lens or lenses to it. And I'm really undecided at this time which specific lens or lenses I'd want to add. Or perhaps a better mirrorless digital than the NEX 7 I own now. But when it comes to mirrorless cameras, there's nothing really available that I'd be interested in (FF, at least 24mp, and good at action shots) at the price point I'd be at after selling off those seven lenses -- approximately $1000US. So I think I'll just wait. And continue to collect more lenses as the situation permits. Cool

newst · Joined: 21 Oct 2014 Posts: 617 Location: Troy, MI USA

Cooltouch,

I think I over spoke with that phrase. There was a significant investment involved when I started out that I won't 'recover'. At first I was buying too much based on enthusiasm fueled by lack of knowledge. That allowed me to build up a stock of lenses (many of them junk) that I can now resell to pay for lenses that now, with more experience and a better feel for what I want to do photographically, I want to add to my collection.

I started out with a Sony mirrorless camera with E mount lenses. I got bored with autofocus photography and dove into manual lenses. I would research individual lenses and based on the praise of others buy Takumar, Minolta, Zeiss, whatever. Almost all were good lenses but as the collection grew I realized there were lenses I rarely used and others I went to repeatedly.

That became my criteria. I don't try to overthink it. It doesn't matter how good the lens is, if I don't use it then it goes back on Ebay. This won't help me recoup my initial investment but as my tastes develop I can avoid pouring more cash into gear.

Steve

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

Hi Michael,I would hang on to all your lenses and wait for Sony a9 FF rumoured for September,I have held off buying a7ii but will buy a9 if it materializes Smile

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Kryss, I have two problems with the A7 I tried out at a local camera shop: 1 - it doesn't handle moving subjects worth a darn -- the display goes dark between exposures and there's quite a bit of time between exposures. Nothing at all like the 10 fps I get with my NEX. 2 - the EVF resolution was no substitute for a good optical viewfinder.

Now here's where it's puzzling. I was trying to focus manually with the camera in the store, and I had trouble because the image resolution just wasn't sufficient. But my NEX 7 has the same image resolution -- 2.4m pixels -- and for some reason I can usually focus fine with it. Now, I just don't understand why that is. Maybe it was the situation I was in, maybe it was the individual camera or the lens, I don't know. All I know is I left the store thinking that manual focus with that camera would be a problem. But now I'm not so sure.

And here's another one: I was reading through the specs on the 7 and 7r just now, and it shows that, with AF, the 7 will shoot 2.5 fps and the 7r will shoot 1.5 fps. Without AF, the 7 will do 5 fps and the 7r will do 4 fps. Now, you know what, I can live with those numbers. So now I'm wondering if the sales guy at the store had that 7 set to some strange setting so that it performed so poorly. I mean, 2.5 fps isn't great -- it doesn't compare to the NEX specs -- but it isn't bad. I guess my biggest question at this point is, why does the viewfinder and screen black out totally between exposures? That's what really put me off. If the screen would have remained active, I could handle that, but the black out I couldn't.

Still, like you mention, I think I'd rather wait for the next generation -- something that responds faster than the 7-series do in action situations. Or at least, responds without the viewfinder/screen going dark.

I've been sitting here trying to analyze systems, which probably gets me in trouble. But here's the way I see it. With a hybrid camera, like a DSLR, you have both optical and digital systems registering an image. The optical system is used solely for the benefit of the photographer, but because of its design, the mirror box is right in the middle of the action, getting in the way of things. But with all digital, the sensor now has two jobs: 1 - providing an image for the photographer, and 2 - registering an image for processing and saving to the memory card. So, in order to closely mimic a hybrid system, the sensor must take that quick pic, then go right back to showing an image to the photographer, while behind the scenes, handing the image off for processing and saving to the card. I think its this last step where the A7/A7r are falling down. They're not able to hand off the image to processing fast enough, resulting in momentarily dark screen. To me it seems like Sony needs to work better on the sensor's chips's multitasking abilities. Maybe the chip should be using linux instead of windows Shocked

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Newst, I understand where you're coming from. I've even gone through a phase like that before. Not with lenses, but with fountain pens when I first began collecting them. I acquired quite a few that had very little collectible value before I was able to appreciate the differences.

Now with lenses, I've been restricting my comments so far to lenses that I knew I was gonna keep. I have probably another twenty or so -- mostly offbrand zooms -- that I have no intention of keeping. They're all eBay-bound. One sort of surprising characteristic I've noticed with almost all of them is that they're actually quite good, optically. I've tested them briefly with my NEX and was surprised at the resolution I was seeing. So I think what I'll do to help them sell is to include a couple photos with each eBay listing, showing what the lens is capable of.

Gawd, all I need is to discover that I need to keep one or more of them!

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

Sony a cameras have very deep menus,Gary Fong has a fantastic 2hr video for a6000 which probably covers a7 as well.on a6000 I turn off display on screen after shoot as you see all you need in ovf to change everything and if on you may loose a shot in fast moving situations,i.e.Airshows and sports

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

NO..... be patient Michael the a7 is not a good buy compared to a7ii.the a9 if it happens will probably be at least 36MP and improved mirror and much faster FPS.the a7ii is what the a7 should have been after feedback from some unhappy buyers.I personally like that your pic doesn't come up on screen after shot,you can always look after short burst of frames,saves battery as well.

newst · Joined: 21 Oct 2014 Posts: 617 Location: Troy, MI USA

Michael,

I have an A7ii and, at least in manual mode, that blackout only lasts while the shutter is firing. By the time the shutter is done the EVF is back.

The manual focus issue was likely the lens or the camera. Were you using a Sony AF lens? I have always had trouble with the focus by wire setup on Sony lenses. Or perhaps the diopter wasn't set properly for you. Using manual lenses I never had trouble focusing on the A7 or A7ii.

Sbteve

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

Newst..I was under the impression Michael was referring to shot not coming up on LCD,but I have been wrong before I think?

newst · Joined: 21 Oct 2014 Posts: 617 Location: Troy, MI USA

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Yeah, I was referring to the LCD. The sales guy, when he pointed out the lag and darkness between shots was just holding the camera in front of both of us and panned it across the room. Earlier today, when I duplicated this problem, I was doing much the same thing -- just holding the camera in front of me and firing away. I didn't try using the EVF. Maybe that might be diffferent. I can't try now because it's night time and dark in here, so I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Kryss, you're probably right. I make it a point never to buy v1.0 of anything anyway, and buying an A7 would be a violation of a point I live by, so . . . My only concern about an A9 or whatever it may be called is it's gonna be priced way up there.e I don't buy on credit, so the sale would be cash and carry for me. Which means I'd likely have to sell one of my motorcycles just to afford one. Not likely to happen. The bikes I own stopped depreciating in value some years ago. They're now investments. I doubt seriously any computerized camera can be considered an investment intrinsically.

Steve, I was playing around with my NEX in manual mode also and it wasn't as bad, allthough there was still some lag. This was watching the display, though -- I wasn't looking through the EVF. Something to try tomorrow, though -- see if there's a difference.

I'm not following this focusing issue you mentioned. I looked through the earlier messages and didn't see any reference to this. But I agree with you about the focus by wire on the Sony. I've never liked this. And I still haven't figured out how to get that kit lens to focus manually. I guess I should take a look at the manual again.

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7554 Location: Hong Kong

Michael. This may be useful if you you to switch to MF mode with your kit lens.

https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=tsPOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA312&lpg=PA312&dq=MENU+---%3E+[Camera]+---%3E+[AF/MF+Select]&source=bl&ots=heOmB3cqIc&sig=wJ8fRCzUS2Dnj7aq5qGV2yMVdVc&hl=zh-TW&sa=X&ei=f7wsVbTfCYTDmAX3wIH4Aw&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=MENU%20---%3E%20[Camera]%20---%3E%20[AF%2FMF%20Select]&f=false

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

I agree Michael,the a9 or whatever will be around $3000 and like you I only buy with cash but I have a lot of cameras and lenses I can divest if I decide to get a9 instead of latest version of a7ii.I have found though that the remnants of my FD lenses work really well on the a6000.

Big Dawg · Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 2530 Location: Thach Alabama

What I did (and I do not recommend it) is get rid of all but the ones I use daily. Then I went back and re-collected the ones I regretted getting rid of. In the end..instead of over 200 lens and more than 100 cameras I'm down to 30 lens and 12 cameras. I use these and do not now feel the need to collect any more. I'm looking forward to getting a full format Pentax DSLR and some good Pentax lens which will just about do me for the rest of my life.

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

Hi Big Dawg,How is retirement suiting you?

quidam · Joined: 28 Sep 2012 Posts: 216 Location: Belgium

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 345 Location: Kent, England

Its bloody difficult, cant be bothered trying to sell a cheapo and dont want to sell a good one! My solution is to donate any cheapo lenses that I don't like to charity. I feel that i have made a donation, but only after I have had the pleasure of spending it and having a chance of getting a nice lens as a keeper for little money.
I just cant stop myself buying, it truely is an addiction, I got pissed one night and bid on loads of lenses at 99p, won nigh on the whole bloody lot, all crap and not worth the 99p. Smile

I think the postage amounted to about 30 quid!

Whats to be done is what I want to know?

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

kryss · Expire: 2017-09-18

AW come on Michael,21st Century everyone understands Chinese don't they? Rolling Eyes

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7554 Location: Hong Kong

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Yes, I have Chinese character sets installed on my machine so my wife can read online newspapers if she feels like it. Sorry, I didn't spot any obvious Roman alphabet characters to click on.

Well, this is interesting. I tried clicking on the link again and this time, the center of the screen is the book, where the perimeter is still in Chinese. Now, I wonder why I was seeing Chinese text only the first time I viewed it?

I'll go to Amazon.com and do a search on that title. What I really don't like about the user's guide that came with the NEX 7 is its on a CD. I can't take a CD with me to read in the Dr's office or in the car, or wherever. I hate it when they cheap out like that, try to save a few dollars in their costs by shipping product with CDs instead of paper manuals.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas