Bye Bye Gear...

[Trevor Ash]

I'm selling all of my camera equipment except for my little digital point and shoot. I have a LOT of stuff so it's nothing small. Over $10,000 worth of equipment.

I made some ads at another site and learned a lesson. Don't post 40 something ads and expect to be able to handle the email storm that follows. WOW!!!

I'm not saying I'm done with photography, because I'm not. I just find that lately my point and shoot has been enough for 90% of what I shoot. I'm tired of my camera equipment sitting around losing value when I could use that money for other purposes. No, I'm not referring to bicycles but just paying off some bills and putting the rest away for things like travel or house payment. I've ben very happy with my new life and this camera stuff just needed to go.

Just thought I'd share this with everyone here. I feel pretty good about it too. I've already sold about half of it in a 24 hour period although it's been very stressful trying to deal with the emails, questions, and negotiations involved. Mostly just managing who asked for what and when and what I offered them has been hard to manage. It's been getting easier since the initial flux dissipated

Heck, I even used my point and shoot to take photos of the items for sale! lol

[Liz]

Trevor,

I'm glad that you're resolving the situation of selling your equipment. I know how stressed I get when I'm just returning something or selling one or two items. I used to have someone who bought anything I sold. Actually he worked at B&H and I would tell him about it, and he knew it would be in good condition and was trying to build his stock. I gave him a good deal because I knew he didn't have a lot of money - so I basically sold it to him for what B&H would give me for it. I was happy to help him out.

Your situation is much different. A lot of expensive gear is difficult to try and sell all at once and get a good deal. Just sorting through the maze of people who are interested is a full time job.

Keep us updated - and I hope you'll still post some pics around here.

Liz

I'm selling all of my camera equipment except for my little digital point and shoot. I have a LOT of stuff so it's nothing small. Over $10,000 worth of equipment.

I made some ads at another site and learned a lesson. Don't post 40 something ads and expect to be able to handle the email storm that follows. WOW!!!

I'm not saying I'm done with photography, because I'm not. I just find that lately my point and shoot has been enough for 90% of what I shoot. I'm tired of my camera equipment sitting around losing value when I could use that money for other purposes. No, I'm not referring to bicycles but just paying off some bills and putting the rest away for things like travel or house payment. I've ben very happy with my new life and this camera stuff just needed to go.

Just thought I'd share this with everyone here. I feel pretty good about it too. I've already sold about half of it in a 24 hour period although it's been very stressful trying to deal with the emails, questions, and negotiations involved. Mostly just managing who asked for what and when and what I offered them has been hard to manage. It's been getting easier since the initial flux dissipated

Heck, I even used my point and shoot to take photos of the items for sale! lol

[another view]

Must be something in the water. Check my reply here...

I'm glad for you - I did what I did for a lot of reasons, and having extra cash to pay some stuff off was nice too. I've decided my ancient (like 3 year old) Coolpix is really an incredible camera, but not in the way of comparing sharpness and all that stuff. Great work can be done by any camera, and it will be plenty to keep you inspired.

[Asylum Steve]

Trev, I "purged" a lot of my gear this past year, too. Mostly older film cameras and lenses...

As you mention, it is a lot of tedious, stressful work, especially if you put the stuff up for auction. I struggled the most and took a lot of time with my item descriptions, because I hate the thought of someone thinking I was hiding something or lying about the condition of the gear.

Now, I didn't even come close to getting rid of a high percentage of all that I have, but then again, the two of us are in very different situations.

Point is, I've been a pack rat when it comes to gear all these years, and I managed to clean out a great many things I knew I'd never use, as well as getting some spending money in the process. When the dust settled, it was a very good feeling...

Oh, and yes I admit, with some of the cash I DID by new photo gear... ;)

[Franglais]

I tend to hold onto my gear, unless I'm sure and certain I don't need it. I tend to find that when I get something new then I use it a lot for a while till I find out what the drawbacks are then I go back to using the older stuff as well.

My Fuji F10 is vastly better than my Stylus Epic so I gave that to a friend. My D70 is very good for doing lots of things but I still keep my film cameras for difficult light conditions.

As for your old equipment "losing value" - the bottom dropped out of the second-hand market a couple of years ago. I figure the price of film material has already hit the bottom. If Canon release a reasonably-priced 24x36 DSLR soon then this might improve the second-hand price of top quality lenses.

Charles

[Trevor Ash]

All my gear is modern, nothing old at all....I got rid of that a while ago

I learned a little through this experience about what sells. Lenses seem to sell quicker than anything else. Everyone wants lenses. I had a couple camera bags that got a lot of inquiries too.What's not selling at all are filters, but possibly because I have fancy expensive multicoated ones that aren't worth the money for many uses/people. Lot's of inquiries about my flashes too 550EX, 420EX, and a very surprising amount of bites for my white-lightning studio flash heads (which did sell quickly).

People want carbon fiber tripods too but they don't want to pay what they're worth I did eventually find a buyer for one of them.

Oh, people only want L lenses. They don't seem to care about non L ones, although my Tamron 90mm macro sold quickly.

I had a small treasure worth of Arca Swiss plates and related AS compatible equipment. I am very surprised (and pleased) to see how much interest there is out there for that gear. I was worried not many people would want them.

I had a handful of circular reflectors that went quickly (Photoflex 5-n-1).

So, long story short. People don't want filters or non L lenses. They want L lenses, bags, and tripod related equipment.