What is...

Mitica100 · Nov 21, 2006

...the most expensive camera you ever bought and why did you buy it?

Yeah, another worthless thread but I'm curious.

I'll start:

-the Hasselblad 500ELM (with lens, WLF and back)
-because I've always dreamt of owning one

There!:lmao:

Your turn...

mysteryscribe · Nov 21, 2006

In todays dollars the kowa 6 when new. I bought it for the leaf shutter built into the lenses. I forgot to figure in the cost of additional lenses. The secondary lenses cost more than the camera with standard lens.

terri · Nov 21, 2006

- Pentax MZ-S. It was a pretty expensive SLR when first released (body alone $799) and I added lots of rooty-kazooty Pentax glass to make it a hideous expense. :mrgreen:

- Why? Despite all the cool bells and whistles, it converts to fully manual, and I took all my photo classes with it and learned on it, and took it everywhere. I still love it, though I shoot more MF these days. It's a rockin' little 35mm system I have there. :heart:

Good thread, Mitica!

Jeff Canes · Nov 21, 2006

Other that my Canon 1D MIIn and lenses it would be my Hasselblad. Unlucky I bought it about a year before the prices dope 40%-50%. Why did I buy it? It is one of the four cameras on my list to own one day. I have the Hassy & Rollei still need to get the Nikonos & Leica

Hasselblad 500cm (with 80mm lens, WLF and 220 back)
Add on 120 back & 60mm lens

usayit · Nov 21, 2006

When i first started collecting cameras (I was pretty young), everything I purchased was around the 50-150 dollar mark... I had a focus on early Asahi/Pentax/Takumar stuff.

that was history...

I then moved to a bit more expensive items such as my Pentax 67 and Pentax 645 systems...

then that was history...

I then moved on to Canon EOS stuff.... with a nice mix of primes and zooms (L and non-L) not exactly collectors stuff but so very enjoyable in their own right.

Once again.. history..

Then all notions of the young kid inside taking delivery on a expensive sports car flew out the window when I got a Leica. It started with an M3 with a 35 and 50mm summicron from the same era. It then progresed to my most expensive ( and will be for a long time) purchase; a mint Leica M6 Titanium with a 50mm f1 Noctilux.

Why? Its a rangefinder, a fast lens, and a very nice "look" captured on film. Absolutely no regrets....

fmw · Nov 22, 2006

Probably the camera in my avatar - a Cambo Ultima 4X5.

Don Simon · Nov 22, 2006

Honestly, my new Pentax DSLR. Cost twice as much as any other camera I've bought.

I'm almost ashamed to admit this. Partly because I've never spent so much money on a camera body before, and partly because as great as it is, I get the nagging feeling I should have spent it on a really nice film body instead - maybe a Pentax LX or the MZ-S like Terri has, a Minolta Dynax 7, Nikon F3HP... and thats before I even consider the medium format systems I could have bought into...

Realistically I know I made the right choice... but the voice of the gear fetishist in my head tells me that no digital camera is as classy as a good film one. Hmm, now that voice is trying to calculate how many meals I would have to miss to cover the cost of an LX and a Limited lens...

So, any advice on successful bank robbery?

terri · Nov 22, 2006

So, any advice on successful bank robbery?

Yes - whatever happens, don't get caught. :lol:

It's hard for me to say anything bad about that MZ-S, ZaphodB. It's not a cheap camera so when beginners are asking for recommendations I am hard pressed to offer it up as a realistic choice, even second-hand. It was considered their "flagship" SLR when it was introduced, and it's been flawless in performance, so easy to use, plus the glass is superb - I know I made a great choice, if maybe not the cheapest one. If you start reading up on it, it can make you drool!

So far, yes, as a whole it's been my most expensive camera outfit to date. My Mamiya 645 would have beaten it out just a few years ago. Thank goodness digital is around - it makes great MF cameras so affordable. :mrgreen: I have my eyes on a 4x5 next. I aim to be well outfitted.

santino · Nov 23, 2006

my Hasselbald 500CM with 80mm CF Planar and A12+A16 backs.

santino · Nov 28, 2006

btw. there is a problem: I don't use my Hassy much (I just have one lens!). My pentacon is a set of 4 lenses and I use it much more often than the Hassy (besides 35mm of course). As mentioned above it wasn't cheap and I don't like it to lay around but it would be a sin to give it away. any advice?

Mitica100 · Nov 28, 2006

santino said:
...and I don't like it to lay around but it would be a sin to give it away. any advice?

If you decide to give it away...

I want it... :drool:

Hehe...

Well, there's the Ebay option or you can try to trade it together with the Hassy for something else.

nealjpage · Nov 28, 2006

Mitica100 said:
If you decide to give it away... I want it...

I'll arm-wrestle you for it! :lol:

Mitica100 · Nov 28, 2006

nealjpage said:
I'll arm-wrestle you for it!

You're on!

layball: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

Torus34 · Nov 30, 2006

Cost can be relative. 'Expensive' can be in terms of how much money you can afford. Lee Travino [the golfer] was asked, after dropping a putt on the 18th for a $50K first prize, whether he felt much pressure. His reply was that he didn't feel much, but that he felt real pressure when he was just breaking into the sport and bet $50 on a putt -- with just $25 in his wallet!

In that vein, my most expensive camera was a Minolta Autocord, purchased to provide enlargements with less grain than 35mm. I ate cheap for quite a while. Now I can buy whatever gear I wish. There's no pressure. Curiously, the most recently purchased rig, and one I'm most pleased with, is an Argus C-4 at $6.99. After a while, cost drops off the short list of importance.

mysteryscribe · Nov 30, 2006

To go along with the story above my son in law who operates my business is always going on about all the things he had to buy to update the company. I hear it and just smile, my wife never made a sound about it for over two years now. Lately he says, "I don't see how you ran a successful studio with the equipment you used.

After he left my wife said to me. "I want you to arrange to go shopping with him when you both have time. I want you to buy the most expensive camera you ever wanted and write a check for it. Then I want you to turn to him and say, I operated all those years like that because it's what I enjoyed doing, not because I couldn't buy something different. You got to love a woman like that.... Even if she did hint that I should take it back the next day.

But the problem really is that the most expensive camera I want right now is about thirty bucks and you cant get it here. I want an argoflex 40.