How do you organise your collection?

[Badr12]

I have got a huge collection of lenses (200-300)and tried different ways to organise the in a way that they
are also easily accessible
For those in similar situations (sure there are a lot here) how do you do it


Focal lengths
Primes, zooms
Make
Expensive, cheapos
Most used
Most loved
AF, manual
Or
Randomly (my default way I keep coming back to it)
Thanks in advance
Badr

[tb_a]

Not at all!

I took the chaotic approach hence I'm not even able to tell the exact size of my collection. I even bought a specific lens a second time because I didn't remember that I had it already.

However, I don't recommend to do it likewise.

[BurstMox]

I mostly organise them regarding to their initial use :
-Projection lenses
-Video lenses (TV and cine)
-Technical
-Aerial
-Photographic (organised by factory, and there is a special place for big lenses).

[Oldhand]

Well, mine are mostly grouped by lens mount which usually means by manufacturer eg Nikon F, Pentax K etc.
The M42's and Exaktas are a mix of course
Tom

[Pete]

I don't have a huge collection but...

I keep my Nikon pre-AI lenses together, usually on display. All have factory AI kits and I use them regularly.
My common use lens kit is in my camera bags and I have a big bag for my AF lenses.
Macro lenses, Bellows and special lenses that I put on the bellows are together.
Fortunately my press lenses are on Speed Graphic or Polaroid cameras and stay together.
I have a few anamorphic lenses that I keep together with their partner lenses.

I have a spread sheet with most stuff listed but admit I am not good at keeping it up.
Pete

[Sjak]

[visualopsins]

Manufacturer

Because I collected specific manufacturers.

Asahi Takumars
Nikkors
Tamron SP
Soligors
Other

Physically lenses are stored 0 on camera, 1 for frequent use, 2 lenses fresh from field going into storage, 3 storage.

Edit: Before lba insanities were cured, I'd begun collecting Vivitars, Topcon, Sun, Hoya, Spiratone. And constant aperture cheap zooms. Before that everything was prime.

[Gardener]

I have several 5x5 Expedit units with lenses arranged primarily by mount.

[leemik]

My collection is about the same size as yours..

My huge modern AF and telephoto lenses I put into 2 large Pelican cases.. or some have their own case

The vintage MF lenses I store by focal range.. 50mm & up and vintage zooms I noticed are on average bigger and heavier than wide angles.. They get stored in a wood cabinet with glass doors so I can see them.. The 49mm and wider focal lengths get stored in a glass and metal cabinet with a door.

All my lighting gear, tripods, grips, boom, rigging, bags, backgrounds, etc,... are stored on one of those baker's shelves.

My camera bodies are all lined up on my workbench right now as I haven't figured out what to do with them yet...luckily I only have a few (9) as I have mostly been collecting lenses.

My cleaning supplies and spare parts get organized in an Ikea doll house on my workbench.. it works rather well!

My lens and camera tools, adapters, spare hoods get stored in an ikea filing cabinet under my workbench

I record everything meticulously in an online database so I know what I have on hand and don't buy it again.

I stopped buying for a while because I'm very low on space and I promised the GF I would not use another cabinet and that seemed to slow down my GAS a lot..

--mike

[kansalliskalaCafe]

I don't actually collect lenses, I just have old and new cameras all over the house and sometimes I search for something for days and find stuff I didn't even remember having at all.

[tb_a]

[Lightshow]

Mine are grouped by mount so I can choose a mount and grab the adapter and lenses easily.
I also have a most used area where I put lenses I always prefer to take shooting.

[cooltouch]

First off, I don't really separate my lenses from my camera bodies. I have a rather large cabinet that has five shelves. The top three shelves are reserved for my most popular 35mm and digital cameras, and their lenses. So, take any one of them as an example, I have the cameras aligned on the left, and the lenses on the right. The cameras are arranged by size, tallest in back (usually motor driven cameras are the tallest), shortest in front. With the lenses, I set them on end -- tallest in back, shortest in front. If I'm feeling particularly anal I might sort them by focal length and zoom range.

The lower two shelves are reserved for my medium format gear and rangefinder cameras and lenses. On the upper of these two shelves, I have my Pentax 67 camera and lenses and my Bronica ETRSi with accessories and lenses. On the lower shelf is all my rangefinder gear. Which include my Canon LTM cameras and lenses and my 35mm and medium format rangefinders.

I'm running out of room. Some of the overflow is cluttering up a bookcase that I really need for books. So I may be looking for more space scattered throughout my man cave.

[stevemark]

1) Manufacturers/systems (eg Canon FD, Minolta SR, Konica AR, Carl Zeiss CY, Nikkor, etc.)

2) Generations within one manufacturer (e. g. Canon "breech lock" and "new FD" or "Minolta Auto Rokkors", "MC-I", "MC-II", "MC-X", "MD-I/-II", and "MD-III")

Stephan

[l9magen]

Lighthouse wrote:

[Sjak]

One thing with the spreadsheet, is that I am much more focused to stay within a only few main lens mounts (for me Exakta, M42, LM/LTM) with few exceptions. It makes it easier to resist the temptation of all those lenses screaming to be bought

[luisalegria]

The last time I was sorting my things I was separating them by smell, but I quickly gave up.

[Oldhand]

[visualopsins]

Luis' post reminds me of the corollary question:

How much have you spent?

I go first here. Low 5 figures in US$ first few years of collecting.

[Gardener]

My spreadsheet tells me that since I've started collecting I've spent just under $100k on lenses (or just over, if you count in Canon AF gear). However, this number does not mean much as I no longer own a significant portion of those lenses.

[luisalegria]

In total, net of sales, I think I have spent $500/year on photography over the last decade.

I don't think my collection is worth much as I sell most of the valuable pieces.

[luisalegria]

In total, net of sales, I think I have spent $500/year on photography over the last decade.

I don't think my collection is worth much as I sell most of the valuable pieces.

[GrahamR]

I'm pretty new to the photography scene..started in november last year.

Fortunately i found this site and just read an researched as much as i can..between you guys and gals on this site/forum and that angry photographer dude i've learned a ton in a very small amount of time.

Pretty much bypassed a lot of messing around and mainly because of the extortionate prices of modern lenses and the unique and amazing character of vintage/legacy glass,i was able to learn the right way,and very quickly.

I started realizing it was a rabbit hole so i decided on one main brand which was "konica" and set out to get the basics.

Ended up getting the 28,35,40,50,1.7 50,1.4,57 and 135mm.

Once i got that out of the way,i just grabbed the most popular russian (jupiter,mir,helios,industar) and a couple german (zeiss,voigt,Meyer optik gorlitz,rollei?).

So now i only try out the classics and replace as i go.

Separated and stored in one clear container,into Japanese,Russians and Germans.Only after focal lengths i don't have now.

Price-wise i don't even think i've spent 1K on lenses yet.

Been blessed to get sweet deals, example my profile pic the Voigtlander Vitoret i got in excellent condition with manuals, lens hood,and case etc for less than $2.

[visualopsins]

I resold almost everything too. I didn't run a comparison of purchases to sales. I'm pretty sure I spentI much more than I received from sales. I tell myself that's how much my "education" cost. I think money well spent then.


Shipping costs were significant. Those don't get recovered when lens is sold. Pays more to be a shipper/distributor., almost.

[LucisPictor]

I do own so much stuff that I need 7 different places/cabinets to store everything.

All the things are organized according to system:

Nikon/Nikkor
Sony and all lenses adapted to
Leica M & Fuji X
Olympus µ4/3 & Nikon1
Leica 4/3 and Leica compact
vintage cams (chrome era)
vintage cams (really old ones, mostly medium format)

and a fridge for my films