RE: [Leica] nikon s3

["Mehrdad Sadat" <m.sadat@verizon.net>]

I meant, I WILL NOT!!



_____________________________________
Thanks, Mehrdad

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Mehrdad
Sadat
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 7:36 AM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: RE: [Leica] nikon s3


Ok, for now I will become a member of this club as we have our first and
second child in about two months and need $$ for other dippers



_____________________________________
Thanks, Mehrdad

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of
Photovilla@aol.com
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 1:12 AM
To: leica-users-digest@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: [Leica] nikon s3


<<Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 23:20:22 -0700
From: "Mehrdad Sadat" <m.sadat@verizon.net>
Subject: [Leica] nikon s3
Message-ID: <FKEMKHBBDEGFGKMBDFMAMEBICPAA.m.sadat@verizon.net>
References:

what is the deal with this camera and why is it so expensive? I don't get
the point. what is a collectors item? you pay 4800 to sell it for 5500 10,
20 years from now? why



_____________________________________
Thanks, Mehrdad>>

Mehrdad,

Read all the following with tounge-in-cheek. I'm not ranting at your post,
more just pointing out the irony of all our situations with these highly
priced machines...


It has proven that cameras don't make great investments time and time again
here on the LUG, so I won't go down that road.

Perhaps no tangible asset is really going to be as good as the many other
finacial vehicles which are available to you ...unless perhaps you are going
to turn them over 100x each year. In that case, you are really a dealer, and
it is really a job... more than pure investment. (...and it is a LOT of work
despite how it might appear...) So far -my experience in being a dealer is
that- it pays a lot less than my last job, though it is a lot more fun...

Over the past year I have had literally hundreds of visitors pour in and out
of my tiny store here in NYC and I have heard about just about every camera
and company:

1) it is "obsolete"
2) it is "classic"
3) it is "cheap" for what it is
4) it is "waaay to expensive" for what it is
5) "they" (insert camera manufacturer of your choice) will be out of biz in
a
year
6) if only it has an "x" or a "y," then I would buy it
7) if it didn't have that x or y, then I would buy it
8) x and y company should combine, buy each other out, or give back their
stolen names
9) they don't make 'em like they used to/digital will do away with that in
one year
10) I'll gladly pay you Tuesday to "hold" that camera for me today!

I think these are the tenants of "camera obsession" as a religion. I dare
you
to tell me you haven't uttered one of these last time you were in a camera
st
ore too. It is almost the password to get in the club after all! If you walk
in B&H and say "nice" looking at the latest/greatest x, the guy next to you
won't say anything back after all will he?

Now, all I can really offer you is that, if you don't see the beauty or
purpose in a collectible camera...then it has no value for you! I don't
think
you should pay $1 for one if you don't intrincically get the "point" of why
you would pay xxx for one.

This goes for the new S3, the many-engraved cameras and the ever-so-rare
antiquities auctioned off at various stores/sites/blocks.

I think I really realized this point when my girlfriend's best friend came
to
my store one day and said, "People actually collect cameras? Why?"

She couldn't comprehend the point of "collecting" such machinary and by the
end of an hour long explaination from me I think she got it even less!<g>

It was the first time I had someone in my store that just couldn't connect
with the stuff on _any_ level and was quite entertaining to the both of them
how much that bothered me... Please, the history, the esthetics, the fine
optics and great stories about HCB and friends... Complete disbelief was all
I got -and to this day- I think she never got over how "really weird" I am
and what a weird little place I have created for myself in the city. She has
never mentioned cameras to me again since that day!!!

I guess the little bit I took away from this experience (that I still
remember 10 months later) is that this stuff only holds value for those in
the "club" -this little micro-cosm that we have. That is, those who give a
hoot about any of it!

That is why you always hear stories of cat burglurs breaking into a place,
stealing a P&S wunder-cam and leaving behind the gold plated M6J or
what-have-you. They are only "worth" it because there is a microcosm of
folks
that will pay for it and I suppose that this is how much of economics work
as
well...

cheers!
Rich