# Anyone collecting digital cameras that took famous photos?



## chris jordan (Jun 24, 2016)

Hey peeps, greetings from Seattle, got a camera collector's question:

Does anyone know of a collector who is collecting digital cameras that took well known photographs? Maybe I'm not famous enough to do this, or maybe I need to be dead first lol, but my Phase One rig took all of my photos in the last 8 years including the plastic-filled dead birds on Midway Island, which have reached a global audience and won a couple of fairly respectable prizes (Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award for Photography and Prix Pictet Commission in Paris). 

The new 100MP cameras are so expensive that I can't otherwise afford one, so I'm hoping there might be a way to maximize the value of my existing rig. Any helpful thoughts, suggestions, etc.?

cheers,

~chris jordan

www.chrisjordan.com
www.midwayfilm.com


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## gsgary (Jun 24, 2016)

I can't see anyone collecting digital cameras because they will never go up in value

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## chris jordan (Jun 24, 2016)

Yeh I wonder if there's something fundamentally different about digital cameras that way. But maybe someone would have said the same thing about wooden Deardorff's back in the day? Most of those are worth nothing today either, but the one that shot "Moonrise Hernandez" might be worth more to someone. Not that my dead albatrosses are Moonrise Hernandez LOL, no one is buying prints of my photos but maybe the camera has some value. : )  ~cj


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## epeddy1 (Jun 24, 2016)

I'm not up to speed on the art world,  so can't comment on that.  But I would think a camera that took a famous historical photo might have some value.  The images would need to be recognizable by lays people, not just art/photography enthusiasts.  And only a long period of time will tell which photos will be remembered.  In other words, the photo needs to stand the test of time.  Like the camera that took the photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima I could see being worth something.  Probably not much.  And if the camera that took the photo on Iwo Jima doesn't sell for big bucks, I doubt there are many digital cameras with collectors value.

Just my opinion from a non-expert.


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## MikeBcos (Jun 24, 2016)

gsgary said:


> I can't see anyone collecting digital cameras because they will never go up in value
> 
> Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk



I do, I just picked up a Sony Mavica for $3. 

I would imagine a camera previously owned and used by Ansel Adems, Henri Cartier-Bresson or Annie Leibovitz may possibly command a premium but for the most part I can't imagine anyone paying extra because of the photos a camera may have taken.


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## gsgary (Jun 24, 2016)

MikeBcos said:


> gsgary said:
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> > I can't see anyone collecting digital cameras because they will never go up in value
> ...


We are talking film cameras now, I use Leica M film cameras one of them is a 70 year anniversary M4P if it had belonged  to HCB it wold be worth a lot of money 

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## gsgary (Jun 24, 2016)

MikeBcos said:


> gsgary said:
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> > I can't see anyone collecting digital cameras because they will never go up in value
> ...


That Sony is probably worth $1 now [emoji3] 

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## MikeBcos (Jun 24, 2016)

gsgary said:


> MikeBcos said:
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Surprisingly eBay says otherwise, I could probably get $15 for it.


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## gsgary (Jun 24, 2016)

MikeBcos said:


> gsgary said:
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I would give you sweet FA

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## Overread (Jun 24, 2016)

Come on now Gary the Digital VS Film war ended years ago - move with the times 

Digital hold little resale value now because, barring a few very limited edition firsts there's basically no interest. The same for pretty much anything mass produced close to its release time. Things gain value as they get older and older and rarer and rarer. I certainly know poeple who pay a LOT and collect old computer games and computer consoles - many mass produced but now rare to get in good condition.

Give it 50 years and maybe a 5D in good condition with a working set of shutter curtains might hold some value for those interested. Right now though its a non-issue and honestly you'd have to be a HUGE name for someone to want to own the stuff you'd used - or at least to want to pay more than market value for it.


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## MikeBcos (Jun 24, 2016)

gsgary said:


> MikeBcos said:
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That's OK, because it isn't for sale anyway, it looks quite good sitting next to my Kodak disc cameras.


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## gsgary (Jun 24, 2016)

Overread said:


> Come on now Gary the Digital VS Film war ended years ago - move with the times
> 
> Digital hold little resale value now because, barring a few very limited edition firsts there's basically no interest. The same for pretty much anything mass produced close to its release time. Things gain value as they get older and older and rarer and rarer. I certainly know poeple who pay a LOT and collect old computer games and computer consoles - many mass produced but now rare to get in good condition.
> 
> Give it 50 years and maybe a 5D in good condition with a working set of shutter curtains might hold some value for those interested. Right now though its a non-issue and honestly you'd have to be a HUGE name for someone to want to own the stuff you'd used - or at least to want to pay more than market value for it.


It's not film v digital  it's just that some makes of film cameras are worth good money because they still work and don't need batteries, digital  cameras become obsolete very quickly 

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## compur (Jun 24, 2016)

chris jordan said:


> Hey peeps, greetings from Seattle, got a camera collector's question:
> 
> Does anyone know of a collector who is collecting digital cameras that took well known photographs? Maybe I'm not famous enough to do this, or maybe I need to be dead first lol, but my Phase One rig took all of my photos in the last 8 years including the plastic-filled dead birds on Midway Island, which have reached a global audience and won a couple of fairly respectable prizes (Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award for Photography and Prix Pictet Commission in Paris).
> 
> ...



Pardon me for asking but were those plastic bits really eaten by the birds or did someone simply stuff the junk into the bodies of already dead birds before the photos were taken? I ask this because, in reviewing the internal anatomy of birds, it makes it hard for me to imagine that the birds managed to nearly fill their entire internal body volume (like a piñata) including the space occupied by all their internal organs with this junk before dying. That is, it doesn't seem physically or biologically possible.


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## petrochemist (Jun 26, 2016)

I'm more interested in my cameras taking famous photos AFTER I brought them.


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