* Start with 2 million.

Every now and again a madness comes over me when I look at the shelves with my camera gear on them. The result is, I sell something. The eBay money comes in and I get that feeling of smugness that comes over practical, sensible photographers like me who see their equipment purely as tools of their trade. I do not hoard equipment. I keep only what I will use. Would a plumber keep two 17mm spanners in his bag. ? Of course not. So why would I keep two lenses both of which cover 17mm?

Actually, I can think of several reasons. One is that my 17mm prime is faster than my standard zoom encompassing 17mm. Nevertheless, I actually have 17mm covered with my Panasonic 14-140mm, 12-32mm and 8-18mm zooms and my Olympus 12-40mm zoom and 17mm prime. That’s five 17mm optics. Ridiculous. I really ought to sell a couple of them.

Unfortunately selling is often as not a mistake. Here are a few of my past transactions. I bought a Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 zoom when they first came out. It was in the vanguard of the pro spec lenses for Micro Four Thirds. It was something of a revelation, being small and very light for its constant aperture and internal focusing. I loved it. It slipped nicely in my camera bag and it was good and sharp too. Then along came the Olympus 40-150mm. It was everything the Panasonic was but covered the very useful 6x magnification tele so beloved of professionals the world over. I wasn’t cheap though, so the Panasonic was sacrificed to help fund it.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. In my enthusiasm for this fabulous lens I discounted its considerable extra bulk. With my 7-14mm Panasonic and 12-40mm Olympus zoom it just about shoe-horned into my Lowepro AW250 bag but left me no room for a backup body, accessories or flash. Plus, occasionally the size and weight annoyed me and if I was going out around London on my trusty Brompton bike, I’d leave it behind in favour of the 14-140mm Panasonic zoom. I could always get a bigger bag, I suppose but in my mind that is a no-no. The AW250 is just about a perfect size, big enough for a carefully chosen outfit, small enough to avoid all the back pain and aggravation of a bag containing a DSLR outfit with lens covering from super wide to long telephoto. To say nothing of of the loud tuts and dirty looks from people I unwittingly assault as I haul myself on and off trains and the tube with the behemoth bag.

Wind the clock on a couple of years and Panasonic release their 8-18mm f/2.8-4 zoom. I buy one and review it. It was obvious from the moment I wanged it through its zoom range from super-wide to a general purpose 18mm that this lens was would find a happy home in my bag.. But it was bigger than the 7-14mm and there was a definite lack of accommodation in my bag with the 40-150mm Olympus in there. Something had to go. A rethink was needed. Hmmm…

Ok, so I was going to have to sacrifice something. It’s hyperbole in this context I know but in Chinese, the word for crisis is the same as for opportunity. The Olympus 40-150mm would have to go to free up space. I’d replace it with a Panasonic 35-100 f/2.8. However, that left a bigger gap than I like, a hole between 18mm and 35mm. I tend to work outside this range but sometimes you really need a 25mm focal length, whether from a zoom or a prime. So, I needed a 25mm. That would obviate the need for the 12-40mm standard zoom. On the other hand, if I was to sacrifice the flexibility of the standard zoom, I wanted something in return. What I wanted was what zooms don’t have, speed. The Olympus 25mm f/1.2 is all very nice but small it isn’t. For the loss of half a stop, the Panasonic Leica f/1.4 was tiny by comparison and just as sharp, if not sharper.

In the matter of the backup body, it’s only a long stop so a tiny Panasonic GM1 would be ideal. So here is my up to date out working outfit. Panasonic G9, Panasonic GM1, Panasonic 8-18mm zoom, Panasonic 25mm f/1.4, Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8. I’m sacrificing 100mm on the telephoto end but finishing up with an outfit that is considerably lighter.

Now, finally, the point of this piece, how to waste money my way. The GM1, 25mm f/1.4 and 35-100mm are all items I had bought and owned in the past and sold in favour of the next big thing. I thought it would be fun to calculate the the cost of doing this and if there were any lessons that I could learn (but won’t).

The 3 items cost me around £2,000 new and £1,000 to replace, the 35-100 new and the GM1 and 25mm f/1.5 second hand. So that’s £3000 in total. I got around £800 on selling them so they’ve cost me an extra £200 overall and I haven’t had the use of any of them in the meantime. Is there a moral to this tale? Not really. The only one I can draw is that unless you are absolutely certain you won’t use something ever again, you might as well keep it. I like the sound of that and I think most photographers will. And I leave you with an interesting thought.

For review purposes, I bought an Olympus E-M1 Markll and a Panasonic GH5 last year, the Olympus in December 2016 and the Panasonic in March 2017. I sold both a month ago. Both had a shutter count of just over 5,000 and both were in pristine, unmarked condition in the box with mostly unopened accessories. I paid £1849 for the Olympus and it sold for £849, 46% of its new price. The https://amzn.to/2ITEnx8 cost £1599 and sold for £1049, 65% of its new price. The Panasonic was a bit newer but both cameras were in the same condition. Why the big disparity in resale value, I wonder?