For cameras, I doubt that anything is going to go "up" in value, unless it is exceedingly rare. Lecias and Rollies are expensive these days, because of all the people that always wanted one but could never afford it--I doubt the younger "digital generation" will be so enamored.
What will remain collectible and increase in value is anything with historical significance. A camera owned by a famous photographer, or used to take a famous photo--things like that.
Exactly! Well put!
What is collectible and what is it not? Well, everything can be collectible to someone but if we are talking valuable collectibles, then there are different parameters one should go by in collecting. For example, everyone likes to collect
Brownies, they're cute, cheap and at every thrift store in town. Some collectors go as far as collecting
Brownies made in various countries or various sizes. Others, including myself, like to go after the rare cameras, the ones that hold their value in time.
Leicas,
Contaxes,
Rolleiflexes are all collectible because their values hold. That being said, a
Contax that came from a German U-Boat (
Kriegsmarine issue) holds a lot more value than a
Contax of the same make but made for general public. I happen to have one like that. Also, a
Hasselblad which belonged to someone famous will be considered more valuable than a user
Hasselblad. I have one like that as well.
The name of the maker is really not that important though when it comes to collectibles. Of a lot more importance is how rare one camera is, in other words how small of a run that camera had in production. For example, a
Kodak Ektra 35mm camera in good functioning order is a lot more valuable than most
Leicas due to the fact that they only had a small run of over 2,000 cameras. Same goes with the
Kodak Super 620, small production run and also important historically, being the very first camera with an automatic exposure. The very first 35mm SLR camera,
Sport, made in the former USSR in 1933-34 is historically valuable and so is its main competitor, the
Exakta (many claim Exakta was first, but really they were the first successfully marketed 35mm SLR). A
Red Flag, Chinese copy of a
Leica M2 is very hard to come by due to restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, hence is valuable. These are just a few examples.
And if you are looking to purchase collectables as an investment, you would be better served looking at stamps, coins, or even comic books.
Rare cameras hold their values as well as the other collectibles mentioned, sometimes even better. The trick is to know what cameras you collect. And that needs a lot of camera manufacturing study.
If you want to start collecting cameras, go for it! Start small, then study as much as you can, read as much as you can on the web and then decide what suits you best. Some collect cameras from the 19th century, some collect stereo cameras, some collect toy cameras. It's up to you what you end up liking.
Take a peek at my collecting page below my signature, if interested.
Good luck!
