My father recently gave me his leicaflex equipment, and told me I ought to consider selling it. The collection included two Leicaflex bodies (serial numbers are within 2 of each other) in excellent working condition (I shot a roll in each), and many lenses (35mm, 90mm, 100mm, 135mm, and a 50mm) all in the original plastic containers. Also, some filters, and some screw-on macro looking attachments, a leather case (unused), and a bellows with cable release (dual?) this seemingly never used. What's it all worth? Is it worth selling as a set? or should I break it up and sell all the parts individually? Of course I may end up keeping it all because the photos were quite good, just wondering if it is worth selling to buy something newer.

Thanks Leica experts!

-- Jeff Anderson (jbander@email.com), November 10, 2000

Answers

While the outfit is quite old it still has some of the finest lenses made.Period!What would you buy with the money?The lenses require I beleive extensive work in order to work on more modern Leicas.They require extra cams. I would fit new battery for meter.Run a roll or two thru the two SL caneras and see if service is required.Easy to sell,difficult to replace.Every modern SLR except Leica and a few "pro" cameras are plastic.The lenses are fitted into plastic mounts.Do you really want to get rid of a beautiful outfit?It may cost money to be 100%,but well worth it. I was given a Canon-AE1 outfit.Lots of plastic.A service,$125. and it soldiers on doing fine wedding and portrait work.I mainly use my M3 and Pentax K1000 and Spotmatic!Why? Because everything is so well made and simple....like me. Maybe the viewfinder of M3 doesnt have the contols of star inter galactic cruiser.The lenses are really what counts to put images on film.Its what I wrote yesterday,elsewhere. "A thing given freely is not much appreciated"

-- jason gold (jason1155234@webtv.net), November 10, 2000.

Jeff:

I do a lot of selling on e-bay, and even though it is more work to do so, you make much more money by selling things by themselves instead of as a package. I try to write good descriptions and include photographs of each piece. Of course there are still other places to list used equipment, including Photo.net classifieds, but I've had the best results with e-bay, at least as a seller.You can check prices in shutterbug from the 3 or 4 used Leica specialists, as well as e-bay's completed auctions to get a rough idea of value. Condition counts a great deal in pricing leica equipment. The same two pieces can have differences in value of more than 1/2 depending on cosmetic condition and if the glass is super clear in all the inner elements and the coatings haven't been damaged from wiping the lense with t-shirts and hankies. Sounds like nice equipment, maybe you can keep the best body and a few lenses and sell the rest. Might even be someone who posts here that would be interested. Compared to current cameras, they are quite heavy, but if that doesn't bother you, the SL is quite a piece of work.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), November 10, 2000.

My advice? Keep it all. It cost you nothing, has great sentimental value and you can experiment with all types of photography with no equipment cost. The SL is one of the best Leica SLR cameras, only marginally improved upon with the SL2. Bright clear focusing, amazing reliability and wonderful variable shutter.

Cheers

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), November 10, 2000.

Gee wiz Jeff, don't break up your Dad's kit and sell it on Ebay!. First of all, you have a great Leica system--for nothing! You can take great pictures with it! It's also old enough to be collectors' item-- You're an instant Leica collector. You can join the LUG and bitch with the rest of us. Great fun! Another thing. Don't we hate Leica sellers on Ebay who break up a great old kit that has been together for 40 or 50 years for the sake of a few extra bucks? If you sold your Pontiac GTO, would you sell the bumpers first and then the steering wheel? Doubt it. That's my 2 1/2 cents! Keep your Leicaflex.

-- Steve Hoffman (shoffman2@socal.rr.com), November 10, 2000.

I don't think the camera body is going to "miss" the other pieces if sold seperately. Come on folks, the guy wanted to know what would net the most money if he decided to sell. No good Leica seller sells things as a set (unless it is a special edition camera like a R3 Safari, etc.) because it severly limits the number of people who will be interested. Of course if you are going to use the stuff and don't need the money, hang on to it.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), November 10, 2000.

You'll be happiest if you keep it all. If you sell it as a set, you'll only have to damn yourself for a fool once, whereas if you break it up, you'll damn yourself for a fool several times.

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), November 10, 2000.

Jeff

You have a wonderful kit. Here is perhaps what I might expect to pay for such a kit, but I am not everyone, on ebay as there are no guarantees I might want to pay less it all depends what mood I was in. I assume all the lenses are the original two cam lenses and includes all relevant hoods:

Leicaflex SL bodies: $200-350 each.

35mm Elmarit $250-350. 35mm Summicron $350-450 50mm Summicron $200-250 90 Elmarit - $300-350 90 Summicron - $350-450 135mm Elmarit - $300-400 100mm Macro - god knows, depends if you found someone who does a lot of macro work. Bellows - as above

I think you should break it up if you want to realize its value. Of course you should really keep it as all these pieces are superb and will give you beautiful images.

To use these lenses on a current R model you need a third cam installed which Leica will do for you for a sum of about $200 per lens I think. They do not make them like this any more.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), November 13, 2000.

So, I think I'll hold onto it all for awhile.

Now, off to buy some film for the weekend.

Thanks everyone. How do I sign up for the LUG?

-- Jeff Anderson (jbander@email.com), November 17, 2000.