Selling older gear, regrets?

WindyPhill

WindyPhill

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I was using a Nikon D750 24mp FF camera with some decent lenses when I bought an Olympus OM-D EM5ii as a more compact option for wandering around with.

So impressed was I with the m4/3 system that I found myself defaulting to it and the Nikon equipment was all left at home.

I recently upgraded the M4/3 camera and lenses and thought about selling the Nikon gear to maybe fund a 100-400 or the 300 f4. I hesitated though, as I'm a tad concerned I may regret selling it. I'm indecisive at the best of times which really doesn't help. I don't know if I'd use it again if I kept it, only that if I don't keep it I won't have the choice.

Financially it isn't essential to sell and it bites a little that I paid over £800 for a lens just over a year ago from MPB and it will only return £340 now if sold back to them. That makes me wonder if I'd be better off keeping it all just in case.

I'd like to know others experiences with selling gear, changing systems etc. and whether they have regrets or not. Especially if they have changed from FF to M4/3.

Phill
 
I know how you feel

Started with Canon APSC with my last body being the M50 ii. Then switched to M43rds with the GX9 and G9. Decided my photography was pet and macro. Upgraded to the S5, S1 and then S5ii. Found the AFC terrible and sold the lot. Purchased to OM1 and 90 mm and then a second OM and built a little travel kit set up (8-25 F4, 12-40 F2.8 Pro V2 and the 40-150 F2.8). Wanted to get back into FF and eventually settled with Nikon and the Z8.

I think I'm happy now lol

But...I miss my gx9 and look at the current prices and can't bring myself to buy one. I've considered adding the OM5 / OM5 ii but again not sure. Currently looking at the Fuji cameras but being put off by prices.

Then thought, I'll chop the OM travel kit and had quotes from Wex and such...not a chance I'd sell it for what they offer. So I shall keep it..
 
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I've never regretted selling gear, although I do have some of my older stuff still, going back to the 1980s. In general, if you don't have any specialised lenses that can't be added to the new outfit and you don't use the old stuff for 6 months then you're probably not really going to miss it. I had a few years using a Nikon D610 & various lenses, which I sold at a low pprice to move on quickly in order to move to a Sony A7III - I haven't once missed the Nikon, and very glad I moved.
 
I see your real problem is with buying from and selling back to a reseller at grossly punishable margins... where you may feel.... robbed. What if I told you that you don't have to use them at all? There are people queuing up to pay a fair going rate on ebay. Likewise there is plenty to buy from there, and for full discloser it is not the only marketplace but the largest or the best known one.

So this likely removes the friction with selling if something is not required but depreciates. You may at some point revisit your strategy and maybe purchase a modern full frame system.
 
Hmmm several years ago following heart failure I sold all my Nikon gear both dx and fx due to needing something lighter , I moved into Olympus gear and have had all there 1 series bodies and most of there lenses bar the big white.
However a few months ago I felt there was something missing so I bought a Nikon dslr and loved it .by circumstances beyond my control I have ended up with a D500 and 200-500 vr lens plus other lenses , and now run both systems side by side plus I’ll possibly get a D850 I; the new year ..
A s you so rightly say the bottom has dropped out of the F mount lens market and I have bought two primes a F2.8 and a F1.8 in the past week for just over £100 each ,a crazy buyers market at the moment .
So my advice would be hang on to your kit as nostalgia always bites you on the bum
 
I’m only a hobbyist, I don’t think I’ve ever regretted selling old gear as it usually means I’ve got something new to play with. I changed from DSLR to micro 4/3 last year, might change again n future for new toys but don’t regret selling my old stuff.
 
I've regretted selling two things. I think.

Voigtlander Classic M 40/1.4 MC
Leitz Tele-Elmarit 90/2.8 [thin]

I started my Sony phase off with those two back in 2015 and sometimes wish I still had them both now.

..... Looks like I can kit myself back out for £760 :ROFLMAO:
 
Personally- I regret selling my kit, all of it, about 12~ years ago. But I did get the money and put that into a new hobby (mountain biking), but then the cost of keeping it was rather higher than yours. So yeah, I am looking at buying some older gear so the yearly cost of keeping it is much lower- I had a brand new 5dm2 when it came out etc etc.
 
I sold a 40D a few years ago, I do regret letting that go. I've asked Santa for another (used) one.

I recently bought an R5mkii, lovely camera. I already had a 5Div, long story short, I had planned to switch to mirrorless and the chance presented itself. I kept the 5Div though, my mates often ask me about it and why don't I sell it. I know I would regret it.
 
Thanks to all of you for your replies, I think I'll keep hold of it for now. Most of the significant depreciation has probably happened already so the only real issue now is where to keep it all!
 
WindyPhill said:
I was using a Nikon D750 24mp FF camera with some decent lenses when I bought an Olympus OM-D EM5ii as a more compact option for wandering around with.

So impressed was I with the m4/3 system that I found myself defaulting to it and the Nikon equipment was all left at home.

I recently upgraded the M4/3 camera and lenses and thought about selling the Nikon gear to maybe fund a 100-400 or the 300 f4. I hesitated though, as I'm a tad concerned I may regret selling it. I'm indecisive at the best of times which really doesn't help. I don't know if I'd use it again if I kept it, only that if I don't keep it I won't have the choice.

Financially it isn't essential to sell and it bites a little that I paid over £800 for a lens just over a year ago from MPB and it will only return £340 now if sold back to them. That makes me wonder if I'd be better off keeping it all just in case.

I'd like to know others experiences with selling gear, changing systems etc. and whether they have regrets or not. Especially if they have changed from FF to M4/3.

Phill
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Always look forward, not back. Any decision you make is always the right one at the time. No-one deliberately makes a bad decision.
 
Digital cameras - I just move 'em on when a better one comes along as they mostly decrease in value.

Analogue cameras mostly increase in value, so are worth hanging on to.

I've had around seventy analogue cameras in my time and have only lost money on two (but I still have them both).

I've had about ten digital cameras and have lost money on every one.

:popcorn:
 
sk66 said:
My regret is hanging onto stuff too long that it loses so much value it's almost pointless to sell it; and so it sits in dark dejection...
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You and I both. My motorbike should have been sold when I first stopped using it. Having put just 500 miles on it in 5 years or more, it's now worth 1/2 what I payed for it and not worth selling. Maybe next year I'll use it again....
 
I sold all my Nikon gear at quite a large loss and bought into the Olympus MFT system. I worried at the time but always in my mind was the fact that even with my shortest lens on, a D850 was just too heavy to cart around. Now I have the OM-5 and even my longest lens, a 100-400mm, is only roughly the same size and weight of the Nikon 24-70mm. My widest prime lens is a 17mm f1.7 and the camera and lens combo practically firs in my pocket.

So do I regret selling the Nikon system? No, after the first few minutes with the Olympus. I realised I would do a lot more photography than I ever did with the Nikon.
 
sk66 said:
My regret is hanging onto stuff too long that it loses so much value it's almost pointless to sell it; and so it sits in dark dejection...
Click to expand...

:plus1:

I'm in this camp.
I have bought and sold a lot of gear and changed a lot in the past.
I have even re-bought lenses i sold in past and without regrets for having to do so.

Most of regrets are with the gear i have hoarded. We pay a lot in rent or mortgage for space and that's being used up on stuff that I'll probably never use. So I'm paying to keep useless items that depreciates in value itself.

Well if you are a collector and enjoy your old gear that's a different matter, I'm not one.
 
nandbytes said:
I have bought and sold a lot of gear and changed a lot in the past.
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I'm well into three figures on cameras alone and probably as many lenses.

In sixty years, I've bought a dozen or so new cameras and lenses. Everything else was second or third hand. When it came time to pass it on, my monetary loss was quite low and sometimes I made a small profit. In fact, when Ebay first came along, I found that I could buy most of the stuff I wanted to try and sell it for much the same price. Unfortunately, that period has passed, as Ebay has become home to those of the "Dell Boy" tendency. :(
 
I sold all my Nikon film gear on eBay years ago and got almost exactly what I paid for it in numerical amounts, of course inflation had bitten into the amount but I felt I did all right, all this considered. I sold it at the end of the nineties/early 2000s and at that time, students were still learning film photography and were looking for used film cameras and lenses. These days, if you don't sell it the second you don't need it, your losses will just become greater as the months, perhaps even weeks, go by. Unless you are a collector, it's best to get shot of it, sharpish-like.
 
sk66 said:
My regret is hanging onto stuff too long that it loses so much value it's almost pointless to sell it; and so it sits in dark dejection...
Click to expand...

I feel your pain. I've kit unused for several years, but probably now not worth the hassle of trying to sell it.
 
I don't think I have really regretted selling gear. Regret is a strong word, I have missed some gear but not regret selling them.

I have however regretted not buying a X-Pro2 for £599 4 years ago, but now I am passed it now.
 
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