Posterity

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

I have lots of manual focus stuff now that I will probably never/seldom use in anger. My question is, should I sell these items now or would it be prudent to put them in a time capsule type storage for my grandchildren to exploit in say twenty/thirty years time. I wonder if the current frenzy of digital obsolescence makes analogue tech more special and distinctive and therefore more rare and valuable.

The more modern tech I see, the more I like and value the stuff we all covet. I mean, just take the canon FL 50mm F1.8...just gorgeous, will always be fantastic, and it was just a basic kit lens!

I just wonder if our manual focus era obsession will become a much worse affliction later on, that will enslave our descendants as badly, but infinity more expensively, than us poor sods.

What will an old Zenit E be worth in 2030/40/50 we could make them rich Wink

Does it makes sense to buy more Friends

in order to protect out kids futures Smile

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

h'mm why not use your old film stuff..now and again Wink

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

Hope they'll still find films. Wink

rybolt · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 9:08 pm Post subject:

The answer to your question relies on the continuing viability of film production and the means to process it. It also depends on the continuing popularity of mirrorless cameras. I used film for 50 years with a wide range of manual lenses. Now I use those lenses, and many more, on the mirrorless digital cameras. Many of the unique (and quite a few that aren't so unique) have found homes with mirrorless shooters.
As to the ones that will hold value, it will depend on the volume available just like everything else. Rare doesn't always mean valuable but in the case of sought-after lenses it really does matter. So, if you have a Canon F0.95 in the drawer I'd up the insurance value. If you have a Pentax 50mm f1.8 SMC I'd go ahead and keep using it until the f stops wear off.

Lightshow · Joined: 04 Nov 2011 Posts: 3666 Location: Calgary

Definitely keep the good ones, as the top glass will always have a following even if their prices fall to near zero after society falls apart.
I've seen guys online buy a lens with a great reputation only to sell it because it didn't play well with their camera, fast forward to their next camera and they end up buying that lens again because the camera is less picky with the lenses, or the love the lens on a camera and upgrade to a new camera that it doesn't work well with, so they sell it, only to re-buy it back when they upgrade the camera yet again.
Morel of the story, if you get your hands on a lens that is great, keep it, no matter how it performs on the current sensor, because I think the general trend for sensors is to move towards a more film like method of capture, I'm speaking of organic topped sensors that could reduce the effect of pixel shading to zero.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

kievuser · Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 551

Those good, old guys(products) are about the same as their modern counterparts. They were almost perfected some 50-60 years ago, and they were made regardless of cost to the highest professional standards. The same is true for some high grade, vintage photographic lenses.

One of the images is borrowed from a friend.

Badr12 · Joined: 06 Apr 2014 Posts: 84

Definitely I would keep the good ones

I think as long as

1-you can store them properly

2- You educate you family and tell them the difference between the f stop and bus stop -enough to not throw them away or the end up in the auction site with the description: "these belong to my late ....., I absolutely know nothing about them" Wink

TeemÅ · Joined: 07 Apr 2016 Posts: 586 Location: Australia

Fortunately from what I've seen from old internet forum posts and listings, the prices of film-era lenses has been going down over the past 20 years, although prices have surged a bit recently due to the new popularity of analogue gear but still not close to before. However, it is nothing like vintage watches which in very good condition, have even far exceeded their original retail prices.

Point in case, start a watch collection for real investment and keep the nice lenses you have - which will always have a value not necessarily in terms of money. Wink

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

I would keep them but the long term storage is probably not the best thing for them. Even in a temperature and humidity controlled environment the metals will want to fuse, the grease will tend to dry and stiffen. To keep them in tip top shape they need to be used occasionaly. Take them out of storage every year or 2 and work all the moving parts. The most important thing though IMHO is the humidity. Fungus is the bane of old lenses so storing with adequate silica gel dessicants is very important. I disagree with the assessment that the prices are going down. The short term trend, at least of the stuff I follow has been to stabilize (fewer lenses that fetch really absurd prices for relatively common items, also fewer "steals" to be had) Really common lenses like your Canon 50mm 1.8 will probably always be at the lower end of prices but also will never be worthless. Collector items like a Zeiss Sonnar 85 1.4 will likely continue to trend upwards.