Thoughts

I Sold My Gear

I love old cameras and lenses. Why have I sold them?

Dominik Marczuk

Jul 18, 2026 — 9 min read

The only film gear I'm left with

Anyone half-familiar with the contents of my blog knows I love old gear. My Konicas and Minoltas are the crown jewels of my collection, and I love shooting them. Before I shot them, I used their lenses, adapted to mirrorless.

Yes, I’m a gear freak with GAS.

And I’ve sold most of my camera and lens collection.

Background

Over the years, I’ve accumulated insane amounts of film gear. Or at least insane by my own standards; after all, many YouTubers I follow easily have two, three, or ten times as much photographic equipment. Still, I'd acquired close to a hundred lenses, around 20 film bodies, and numerous adapters and accessories.

Storage was a concern. I had to play around with carpentry at some point and build myself additional shelves to keep half of my collection in a confined space. And even with the custom-made shelves, I only managed to fit a part of my 35 mm gear there. Medium format had to occupy extra space in the closet.

When going on a hike, I always had to ask myself: which system do I want to take? Which camera? Which lenses? Having to choose from a cornucopia of gear always resulted in wasted time and pure choice paralysis.

There was no significant difference between the different systems. The cameras were comparably capable. The lenses covered the same focal lengths and apertures. I chose one system over the other only to tote one brand logo over another for a few hours. One would be hard-pressed to spot any difference between similar shots taken with one lens or the other.

Decision

I admit I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to photo gear. I distributed my love equally between all cameras and lenses, and I genuinely tried to use them all. But space constraints and a massive duplication slowly led me to realise that I didn’t really need it all. I merely wanted it.

I like to put practicality and real needs in front of mere desires. After a months-long deliberation, I finally decided to slash my gear collection down to a manageable size. I wanted to retain the flexibility in terms of film formats, so I knew I wanted to keep one camera each capable of shooting 6x9, 6x6, 6x4.5 and 35 mm. I also couldn't bring myself to pick just one 35 mm system; I decided to pick two, but with the least duplication of gear and with different capabilities.

Choices

I've always been amused by the claims made by various influencers about which camera is best. The Nikon F100 is the perfect film camera! No, the Pentax LX is! Look, the Minolta Dynax 7 is all a photographer could ever want! Oh, but don't forget the legendary Canon AE-1. The truth is that no film camera is going to be perfect. They all have some downsides. Flaws resulting from age and wear: dirt buildup, material degradation, and the scars of heavy usage. Quirks from inadequate quality control and imperfect mechanical designs. Prohibitive prices on the used market. Decaying electronics. Disintegrating plastic parts. Physical damage…

Most importantly, each photographer is unique. We all have our expectations, our habits and idiosyncrasies. My camera of choice is not the same as another person's, and our choices are equally valid, despite using a completely different comparison framework.

With that in mind, here are my choices and rationale.

Medium format 6x9: Belfoca. It's the only 6x9 camera I currently own, so it was a no-brainer.
Medium format 6x6: Zenza Bronica SQ-A. It easily defeated the temperamental Kiev 88, with its light leaks, inconsistent frame spacing and general user-unfriendliness.
Medium format 6x4.5: Pentax 645. Won due to having no competition.
Modern 35 mm: Nikon F80. Light and pleasant to use. With its modern AF-S glass that I can also use on the Nikon Z7 via the FTZ adapter, it's the perfect camera for me. The heavier F100 with its brittle battery holder had to go. I kept four lenses; the AF-D nifty fifty had to go because it offered no autofocus on the FTZ adapter, while its AF-S counterpart did.
Manual 35 mm: Pentax MX. It's a mechanical marvel that I've found to be the most reliable of all the Pentaxes I've owned. I kept seven prime lenses, one of which I might eventually get rid of due to focal length duplication.

It was Ockham’s razor for the rest of my collection. I enjoy using Minolta and Konica gear, but they do nothing that I can't get from the Pentax (save for automatic modes, but I don't care for them). My Olympus glass, adapted to mirrorless, was razor-sharp, but not sharper than the Nikkors. My M42 lenses, especially the zebra-striped Carl Zeiss ones in absolute mint condition, were somewhat rare and also razor-sharp, but again, not sharper than modern glass, and definitely more cumbersome to use, whether adapted to Nikon Z or to Pentax K. Let’s face it: most of my gear collected dust. As painful as it felt, letting it go was the right decision.

Transactions

I made a detailed list and sent it to Kamerastore. It’s by no means an advertisement; it’s just an easily accessible option for me. They’re not known to offer a whole lot for the gear they buy, but at 70 items in the lot, I was willing to accept a reduced price rather than photograph and list it all on an auction site, then watch it accumulate dust for months before someone eventually buys a few of the more sought-after items, negotiating the price along the way. Most of it would sit on my shelf forever unless I offered it for next to nothing anyway.

Kamerastore was therefore the hassle-free and quick solution. They rejected some of my items based on their low resale value (I can’t blame them), but gave me a super quick response with an acceptable offer on the part of my gear they deemed profitable. Predictably, it was below market rate, but that's the convenience tax. I packed the items and sent them off to Finland.

The rest of my gear went straight to an auction site, divided into sets: Minolta, Konica, Pentax, Nikon, and everything else. The first four included a working camera (or three in the case of Konica) along with some lenses. I listed it all for a fair price, well below market value, to be able to quickly free up storage space. Some of it went immediately, some needed to wait for a while (specifically, my first Minolta with battery drainage problems), but eventually, I ended up with a clean slate and only my dream selection of gear.

Aftermath

The first weeks without my extensive gear collection felt hollow and incomplete. The phantom pain of my Minoltas haunted me for a while, but then it stopped. I knew beforehand that I was doing the right thing. I eventually came to terms with the loss. Instead of amputation, it now feels like liberation.

Obviously, I got some money for my gear. Not nearly as much as I'd invested, but I'm not concerned with milking every penny out of the hobby. I've had tons of fun, and fun isn't free. Now I can invest in what I feel I really need to complete my kit.

With the storage space freed up, I began looking at what remains of my collection in a different, more pragmatic manner. With my decision tree shaken, I now ask myself one or two questions to determine exactly what I want to pack. First, which format do I want to shoot? Second, if it's 35 mm, do I need autofocus?

I still peruse auction sites, obviously. I haven't lost interest in gear exploration. However, I now have one rule: if I buy something I already have an equivalent of, that equivalent has to go. For instance, if I get a Bronica ETRS, I need to let go of the Pentax 645. My bucket list included quite a few cameras, but buying them would duplicate the gear I already own, so I've decided I shouldn't get them.

On the other hand, my gear still has a few missing bits. I only have standard lenses for the Pentax 645 and the Bronica SQ-A. I'm now completely free to buy the missing glass. I still want the prism finder for the Bronica or the right-angle finder for the Pentax 645. Some filters are on my list too: Pro-Mist, ND1000, maybe an IR filter…

I have no idea what I'll do once I deem my kit complete. Maybe simply focus on taking pictures?

Some of my current gear: