Studio Sessions

67. Leica Luck

• Matthew O'Brien, Alex Carter • Season 3 • Episode 14

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0:00 | 1:12:48

More of a fun for us one here. What started as a pretty standard phone call turned into one of the most unexpected camera days we've had. Matt found a Leica M11 and Q2 listed on Facebook Marketplace by a woman selling her dad's collection to cover nursing care costs — and after some back-and-forth, both cameras came home with us. We talk through the full story, the legitimacy paranoia, trading a Zeiss 35mm for a 28mm viewfinder, the philosophy of owning things you actually use, and why paring down a collection can feel more intentional than building one. -Ai

 If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving us a rating and/or a review. We read and appreciate all of them. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in the next episode. 

Links To Everything: 

Video Version of The Podcast: https://geni.us/StudioSessionsYT 

Matt’s YouTube Channel: https://geni.us/MatthewOBrienYT 

Matt’s 2nd Channel: https://geni.us/PhotoVideosYT 

Alex’s YouTube Channel: https://geni.us/AlexCarterYT 

Matt’s Instagram: https://geni.us/MatthewIG 

Alex’s Instagram: https://geni.us/AlexIG 

Camera Troubles And Setup

SPEAKER_00

Being a golden afternoon. And I remember having the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with some place.

SPEAKER_05

Maybe we can try. It's just a shame that flip cams have become such so synonymous. You think we'll make it to I don't know if we'll make it to a hundred episodes with these guys, to be honest. Maybe. Maybe.

SPEAKER_03

And I again I have a couple at home. I have to double check if they're the the two-hour recording time one, but there's you know, I think we'll we'll be able to find them on eBay for a while.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. To be able to they might have cycled out of their like they kind of got a little popular for a little bit. We might have just cycled past that.

SPEAKER_03

It's possible, yeah. So the biggest thing, you know, obviously is just the internal memory gets used and rewritten, you know, it's just gonna eventually have an issue.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, um we've done a lot of yeah, a lot of I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And we've only lost one camera.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. So it's just that might have just been a battery issue too. Like, I wonder if I could get in there and re-I have no idea. Rearrange kind of the battery plates and get that thing to work.

SPEAKER_03

I thought it was like the S the actual uh memory was having an issue.

SPEAKER_05

Could be the black, the you said something went black, that's concerning. I didn't I didn't know. Oh, yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_03

I see what you're saying. Yeah, like is it writing data, especially over long periods of time, and if if it the camera warms up a little bit from two, you know, our hour plus long episodes. Yeah. Starts to glitch. That's a good point. We'll see. And you're recording audio, you slated, we're good.

SPEAKER_05

Tell them while we're here. Why, why we're here.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Uh this is um is it Tuesday? This just I don't think we've ever potted on a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_03

No. Everything on the surface to the those watching and listening, it's Wednesday.

SPEAKER_01

No, it's not, it's Tuesday.

SPEAKER_03

It's Wednesday.

SPEAKER_06

It's Wednesday, guys. It's Wednesday. Fuck. Confirmed. I know.

SPEAKER_01

Well, present.

SPEAKER_03

Have we ever potted on a Wednesday? I know. So those watching, listening, you know, obviously on the surface. On the surface, everything looks like a normal podcast. Uh but yeah, this is uh was not expected today. So let's quick rewind. Earlier today. Now, what's funny is Matt and I talked on the phone for like two hours today. It was a crazy day. And the first 40 minutes was had nothing to do with what this podcast is gonna be about. Yeah. You happened to call me, and I had seen what we're gonna talk about on my phone, and I was like, well, I better tell Alex about this. Yeah, yeah. And also like just get your opinion.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

Marketplace Listing Raises Eyebrows

Verifying Prices And Value

Family Circumstances And The Offer

SPEAKER_03

So I'm sitting at my computer this morning at like maybe 10:30, 10.15. I take the kids to school. I ran real quick uh to uh Salvation Army and Thrift World just to see if they had any early morning uh good you know vintage that got put out. Nothing. And came back. And then shortly after I sat down, I'm opened up Facebook Marketplace, as I like to do. Looking for Carhartt jackets, uh anything Levi's, always looking for little digicams and stuff, but everybody knows that those are worth money now, so you can't get them for under a hundred bucks. Always looking for deals, right? VHS, whatever. And the first two things I see when the feed refreshes are two Leica cameras an M11 for$7,500 and a Q2 for$3,750. And I'm like, that's interesting. Now I thought initially, because my brain basically tagged the M11 at about$10,000 retail if you buy a brand new one, and I double-checked BH and a brand new one on BH, um, the glossy black one, because they don't have the more matte black one with the red like a um logo on there, right, is like$9,850, just under$10,000. And I'm like,$7,500 for one that's lightly used. Pretty good. Is pretty good. That's a pretty good deal. So I posted a little story about it to Instagram, and then my buddy Brandon out of Salt Lake City, another YouTuber, he has an M11. He told me that this local camera shop that sells cameras uh nationally and I think even internationally. He's like, nah, dude, 7,500 is honestly not that great of a price. This place, Picture Line, and he sent me the the post that they had has an an M11 for like$5,900. He's like, so he's like a$7,500, I wouldn't go for it. And I wasn't seriously considering getting this camera for$7,500. But I was like, that's a lot of money. But my brain goes, if that's their initial request, how low will they go? Yeah, and are they parasites? We are why are they selling it? What are the circumstances? So I end up messaging her the woman selling it because part of me goes, I wonder. Well, so I messaged her and this is all before Alex called me. So I messaged her and sh sh something I said or we said, she kind of let me know what the situation was. Her dad had had a stroke, he was needing nursing care, and he had this collection of Leikas that they were gonna sell.

SPEAKER_05

Collection is an understatement.

Trading Work For Gear Idea

The $4,800 Turning Point

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. And I'm like zooming in on the picture because underneath the picture of the M11, there's like it's on like a plastic or a glass case, and inside there are cameras that look like they are also in like a glass case. And one of them looked like a Leica 2 or a 3, and the other one looked like a gold contacts T2. And I'm like, what else does this guy have? Um, so I asked her about that. She's like, no, those are just dummy, like little like a wooden and a fake Leica that I got from on eBay just as decoration. Okay. So we're kind of going back and forth a little bit, and she sends me the pro so I proposed to her if your dad was a photographer and had a body of work, even if it was as an amateur or a hobbyist, are you open to trading the Leica in exchange for a short film about his legacy with photography? And even if I can't interview him, I could speak to family members, we could look at his photography, include it in the film, whatever, and I would either get a big discount on the Leica or get it outright for the work. And she was like, That's a really great idea. That sounds like something really nice to do, but I we really just need the money from these cameras. And so she sends me a screenshot of the K and E KEH website where she had submitted the camera for a quote, and they quoted her at$4,800. And she said, if you can do$4,800 cash or Venmo, the camera's yours. And I'm like, this changes everything. Yeah, yeah. So I didn't even talk mention the Q2 or talk about it, but I'm like, Well, if the M11 comes down from$7,500 to$4,800, what would the Q2 be? Yeah, yeah. And then Alex calls, yeah. And I'm like, well, how fortuitous is that?

SPEAKER_01

Where's the worst call of my yeah?

Q2 Possibility Emerges

SPEAKER_03

And Alex calls me, and I don't know if you I won't go into the details of it, but he calls me with a car situation, an automotive situation. He had just spent a big chunk of Super Bowl weekend replacing the thermostat, doing a tune-up, oil change. Spark plugs, yeah. Yeah, bought a bunch of tools and shit to do it in his garage so he could save some money from what the shop quoted, which was quite a bit to do all that stuff. Yeah. And then he tells me that uh the cobalt's transmission is shot. He had some issues, yeah. And he has a big expense if he wants to fix it. So basically, we spoke for 40 minutes going through all the different scenarios, like what are the options and all that. We don't need to get into it. Matt's a car guy, uh car guy. And I'm older, obviously. I've had a few run-ins with used cars uh needing big repairs. We have our 2004 Mazda that I bought brand new in 2005 that is still going to be.

SPEAKER_05

Matt also understands the yeah, the appeal and seduction of these old mechanical relics of yeah.

Car Repairs And Life Math

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, my car is a little, you know, five-speed, uh, you know, has a CD player and some basic electronics, but it doesn't have all the stuff that you see in the cars. Hybrid turbochargers, anything like that stuff, no crazy computer systems or any of that stuff. So relatively easy car to maintain, but it's not worth a lot and it's old. So like throwing thousands of dollars at it every year in repairs, you know, you start to go, is it worth it? But now with used car prices so ridiculously high, and then you new car prices even crazier, yeah. You're really in a pickle to try to figure out what's the best way out of this.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So I called Matt for advice, and yeah, he drops this seductive offer on me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And so he we wrap up the car and said before you go, Alex.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah. Well, so I think this is like after I talked to him for like an hour and 15 minutes, and just I probably do a lot of similar stuff here on the on the podcast where you know I'm just talking in circles and Matt's used to it. So he's it was he's following me. He's like, he knows what where I'm going and what I'm thinking and when to be like, okay, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_03

So yeah. But it was really good. You you know, you listen to sort of my yeah, well, have you considered this or what about this? So you know, um, and and you know, kind of evolved your perspective a little bit, um, and arrived at at what I think is a decision that I think you know wasn't what I was expecting, but I think is um uh I think that's gonna be good for you guys.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So before he gets off the phone, I'm like, I got a little situation for you now. Like, well, I've just indebted myself, so let's have it. So I told him everything I just told you guys. I was like, so there's this Leica M11 on Facebook Marketplace, 4,800 bucks. And uh I'm like, I can I know I can sell a ton of the cameras I have in my collection.

Paring Down Gear To Level Up

SPEAKER_05

Well, we start going through like, okay, let's price this out. Like, what are you yeah, and like I mean, Matt's talked about it on here 50 times, but you know, he's he's uh wants to pare down his collection or whatever you want to call it. And you know, he's already, you know, he obviously he's got the Leica Rangefinder, just got it completely CLA'd, it's in great shape. You've seen it on the show.

SPEAKER_03

The three the three F, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And so he's got you know a lens for that, and you know, he wanted a digital thing option. And um, he's had, you know, digital Leikas, but nothing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, the X1 is is my main Leica, but it has the flash isn't working. Um, not that that's a huge issue. Uh it has some quirks with the menu pad, like kind of go in a little haywire. Every time I turn the camera on, I have to set the date because the internal battery is defunct, and that would be prohibitively prohibitively expensive to send it off to Leica to have them replace that battery. Um, and the shutter, you know, by the time you press the shutter to when it actually takes the picture, there's so much lag that trying to street shoot straight with it is frustrating. It's unshootable almost. Yeah. I mean, I really like the images it produces. It's an APSC sensor. Obviously, the camera was very inexpensive.

SPEAKER_05

Well, it's funny he'll be out, we'll be out shooting together, and yeah, it's like he you know, you'll miss shots. Completely it's yeah, it's the same problem I have with like Fuji or something. It's just frustrating.

Why The Old Digitals Fall Short

SPEAKER_03

And that's why I got the Rico GR and spent well over$100 on the 28mm viewfinder for it because that camera takes a photo instantly. But it has dust on the sensor, so I'd have to send it off to get the sensor cleaned. And while I could do that with precision camera down in Austin, I think, um, it's prone to getting dust again on the sensor. I really love that Rico, but not enough that if I if keeping it, because I think it's worth around 250, maybe 300. Yeah, no, you can definitely flip it for a little bit. Even with the dust on the sensor, yeah. Um, you know, that's a good little chunk of change to put towards this 4800 light gun. I can't because it's such a tiny little camera. There's all these little screws. Like, take you have to take it apart, and it's not because it's not removable in I got you. No, right.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I was well, I'm thinking like I'm like, we just clean the fucking sensor.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and on the X1, you know, you can't remove the lens on that.

SPEAKER_05

Not that I just I'm not like willy-nilly cleaning the sensor on.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Squirting alcohol on there and using a vacuum to suck it out.

SPEAKER_05

Just like put the dice in up against you.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So I'm telling Alex about the camera, and I'm like listing off all the camera bodies I have that I am pretty sure will get me to 4,800 bucks. I mean, I have a couple Olympus XAs, I have all these kind of Canon Digicams that are between$150 and$300 each.

SPEAKER_05

Like the long-term goal was kind of, and you might get into this. I'm sorry if I'm preemptively kind of No, you're good. But you the long-term goal was always buy these to get into whether it's an M9 or an M, you know, M240 or what what I forget what it is. Yeah, M240. Like M240D, M10D, M10, M11. Like it was that was and even an M6, you know, and shooting film. Yeah.

Flipping Gear To Fund The Leica

SPEAKER_03

Uh and it was also just a like, you know, kind of I I know it's a mostly a point and shoot digicam that I use on my uh one photography channel, but that was sort of a way too to be to like test if I'm serious about this. Like if I go out for four hours and you know, shoot around Omaha in the neighborhood and get vibey shots, you know, uh, you know, that look like a kind of like a painting or actual street photography or whatever with them, you know, it's a way to sort of like get your head around, you know, when it's two o'clock on a summer day, like you need to be at this ISO, this shutter speed, you know, how to, you know, all of that kind of stuff. And then some of those cameras that have a manual focus, what F-stop helps you with having a wide, um, you know, much wider uh depth of field and just kind of getting those senses highlights. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So I'm kind of doing the math on all the cameras that I have, and I'm like, I can take a big dent. I have the Leica X1 with the 36mm Leica viewfinder, the Leica grip. You know, that camera's probably easily around a thousand dollars to be able to sell it on eBay, um, give or take. Um, because I think that camera by itself, without the viewfinder and the hand grip, is maybe an$800 camera.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And I know the viewfinder by itself is about$200. The grip is another hundred plus. So, you know, you're up there. Um, and then I just to wrap up, I I told him my ultimate backstop is I have a Canon C300 Mark II that I haven't used other than live streaming on YouTube, which is overcome. Yeah, and that's a$1,500 to$2,000 camera, especially with all the batteries and cards and stuff like that.

Lenses, Loans, And A Friendly Swap

SPEAKER_05

Well, and it's and it's like the other thing is that was always I guess for like our little like group that was the cinema camera that we'd use. Right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And now, and it's I mean, it I obviously these things are not well they the image-wise, they are probably semi-comparable because it's super 35, but like we have the black magics, yeah, three of them between us. And like, like, I mean, mine is built out, yeah, yes, like a cinema camera. I mean, it's completely shootable for any kind of I mean at a certain level you're renting a camera, yeah. And the same applies for the C3. And yeah, it's like we have three of them, like you said, they're all in good shape, they're super easy to uh uh whip around and honestly that's another it's raw, it's a raw image that's you know, it's pretty pretty good.

SPEAKER_03

And that's another DNG, another camera that could be on the chopping block. I have two black magic pocket cinema cameras, you know. If I really needed to unload one, I have one that's in mint condition that I would keep, and then I have one that's just a little bit, you know, that I kind of repaired and cobbled together the best parts from multiple cameras.

SPEAKER_05

Was this the first one where because we talked about it? It's the one I got for free. Yeah, yeah. Yep, but then you cobbled it together from others.

SPEAKER_03

I bought I bought like a like a lot of two that had issues.

SPEAKER_05

First five episodes of this podcast. Yeah, we talked about that, yeah.

Sony Workhorse With No Work

SPEAKER_03

You know, and that camera's worth$600,$800. Yeah. So again, you're chipping away at the cost of this Leica pretty significantly with these cameras. Um I have you know a little Leica Digicam, the Deluxe 2. Yeah. I'd be cool to keep it, but I could probably get$200 to$300 for it. I've got a bunch of film cameras, little cannon point and shoots, um, like the Olympus Infinity line. I would probably keep the Infinity Epic and maybe get rid of you know the stylus uh Infinity Epic um and get rid of some other ones. So I I I have a lot that I can unload to cover, but like thinking of getting the M11 even at like$7,000 or even$0000, that picture line had it just felt way too much to me. It felt insurmountable.

SPEAKER_05

And it yeah, there's a certain level where you're like, oh like when I called you about the transmission, I'm like, hey, it's yeah, you're like, what the and here no, there's just a certain level where you're like, that's absurd.

SPEAKER_03

And the other big thing was we can go look at it. Like these I can't, you know, I have to buy them online. And you know, if I buy it from a a reputable camera vendor like KEH or Picture Line or whatever.

SPEAKER_05

Still though, you get it, and you like there's a feeling of commitment as soon as you press buy, you're like, Well, yep, that's done.

SPEAKER_03

Did that stuck on that. So at the end of our conversation, you know, is it wasn't like it wasn't necessarily like, hey Alex, help me puzzle this out, but just like, what do you think about doing it? And here was one of the quenchers. Seriously.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You said, I'm like, yeah, but I don't have a lens. He's like, Well, I have a Zeiss 35 millimeter dust, yeah. That's that's just sitting here. Let me use your 28mm viewfinder from the Rico, and you can use the lens. We'll just do, you know, we won't trade him ownership, but we'll just trade use. I'm like, that was like really what did it for me. Yeah. Because I'm like, 35 millimeter is the focal length I want.

Film Bodies, M9, And Use Cases

SPEAKER_05

I'm pumped about that because that lens is like I love that lens. Yeah, yeah. I just have no use case for that lens. Right. I it hasn't left that shelf since it came back from getting serviced. And that helped that helped too that it's been serviced. Love that lens. Yeah, oh yeah, it's yeah, it's in pristine condition. Um and yeah, I mean, I hate it. I just it's just kind of sat there. And I mean, every day I look at it, and like I won't sell it, it's got too much like value, sentimental value to it, or whatever. And I mean, yeah, it is, it's just that was this is perfect. This is perfect, Matt. And Matt's gonna be able to use this lens. Um and then yeah, just so happened that I'm struggling to find a nice 28mm viewfinder for the yeah, the freaking 20 non-28mm frame lines on my yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So that's a nice viewfinder. It's a little bit, you know, like the look of it is very Rico. Yeah, but that thing is just beautiful.

SPEAKER_05

It just worked, yeah. And well, I'm comfortable with it too. I use it for like a year, so yeah. No, I think it's perfect.

SPEAKER_03

So at the very end of the conversation, I went, you know, Alex, she has a Q2. Yeah, yeah, dumb bastard. And it's 3750. I'm like, I bet you you can get it for 2500. And so she messages me. I'm like, what about the Q2? She sends me the screenshot of the KEH quote, which was 2505. Yeah. And I'm like, I knew it. So I told Alex, 2500 bucks, Q2, 28mm Sumacron on there.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, right? Is it is it sumox or sumacron? I don't know what it is. We can look at it. Well, I mean, spoiler alert, right?

SPEAKER_01

Sumulux, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, sumox. I'll show mine if you show yours.

SPEAKER_03

So uh Alex goes, um that's interesting. I have a Sony uh mirrorless camera and a couple uh G Masters that I could that have been sitting gathering dust and maybe I unload those.

SPEAKER_05

Legitimately, so like these were this was a Sony and I like the Sony A seven four, one of the best cameras ever made.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

Too Good To Be True Or Real

SPEAKER_05

You should you should edit out the uh the reveal of this, by the way. I think you should. I might, I might not at it. But the Sony A74, one of the best cameras ever. This is by the way, this is just a stupid episode. Like this might be a bonus episode. I don't know. It's just us nerding out about cameras. We've done this before, but I don't know. Um, there's nothing artistic about this. This is actually a disgusting episode. We're just parasitic capitalist consumers. Like, we're gross. But anyways. Um opportunists. Yeah, we're disgusting humans. Um, but yeah, the the A7 IV is like one of the and even talking about it, like I'm like, man, I love that camera. I do. It's amazing. I bought it when I was doing commercial work and haven't really done a like for a little period there I used it and I used it for several jobs, and I have like the whole travel case built out. I mean, it was it was unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, it is it is a it might be the best like workhorse camera that's ever been made. Yeah. I use it for YouTube videos. Um you know, when I was doing YouTube videos pretty frequently. But I just I mean, like legitimately might be the best camera I ever made. Yeah. Like from a stamp that standpoint. It has sat in my in my you know, sword unit unused for two years.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

Walking Into The House Of Leicas

SPEAKER_05

Have not pulled it out. I just don't have any use for it. I it's not like that's not what I I don't do videography. Uh never have done videography. I used it for commercial photography, and I don't do that anymore. Well, in and I'm not really interested in the the type of commercial photography that that was used for, which was like, I mean, yes, like portraits and things like that, but then also just like like brand stuff, but not like in the life brand. Like, and you gotta also think this was like what 2020, 2021, 2022-ish, I guess, or whatever. And like, you know, now I think it is more acceptable to just like show up with a film camera.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And it really wasn't then in the same way. You didn't have like AI in the same way.

SPEAKER_03

I mentioned well, sometimes they want you to shoot tethered, like they want to see the photos as you shoot them.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, and that you know, I had like that was the Sony was great for that, right? Yeah, yeah. You can tether in, wireless, view it to the iPad, IQ, all that. I I actually need to check on that. I don't know if I can do that with the uh Q. Q. Yeah. But well, let me just give it a great camera, but it's just going unused is the the long story short.

Testing, Trust, And The Deal

SPEAKER_03

And the the other thing too is for those of you who haven't been listening to this for a while, maybe you're new with this episode. The cameras Alex does have are a Leica M4 and he has uh the Leica M9. Um I think I mean, those are the main ones. I don't think you have any other cameras. Yeah, for a little bit of time you had a you had a little uh Canon Digicam or something.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, got rid of that. Yeah, but I don't I don't hold on to anything. No. Like, I mean, like if I f like the M9 and the M4 have had both of those for like five or six years.

SPEAKER_03

And you had an M6 that got fully repaired after an accident, and um right afterwards because it was basically brand new direct from like a you sold it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And it was too, it was I mean, essentially I had the thing that I joked with Matt about where I didn't want to use it because it was so new, right? And it was just so pristine. Yeah. And um, I had all the service records and everything. And then also I just didn't have a use case for it. Because I I kind of bought that to shoot um color positive film.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

Why Owning Fewer Cameras Helps

SPEAKER_05

And the reason I bought that is like color negative film, I'll shoot on the M4 all day. Like I can kind of just eyeball it and figure it out, and it's forgiving enough. Color positive film is not forgiving. I don't know if people have shot anybody listening who shot color positive film knows exactly what I'm talking about. Dialed in. You have to nail it and you can put a light meter on the M4, but that something about that built-in light meter on the M6 makes it so much easier. Yeah. But the problem was is color positive film over the course of the time, like that camera was away for a year getting restored by Leica. And while it was away, the price of color positive film went up probably 50%.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I mean, what's a roll of ectachrome now? Like$30. I'm sure it's like I think 30, 36 exposures is close to$30 a ectochrome.

SPEAKER_05

So you're talking a dollar and exposed, it just became and then getting a developed anybody like you have to get it developed, you have to get it put into slides, and it's awesome, and especially if you have like a slide projector, but it just wasn't worth the investment um or the time commitment. Yeah. And I was like, well, this is really the only reason I have this camera. Like I'll shoot color negative on the M4. And I mainly only shoot Tri-X anyways, because that's the only thing I can actually do in a dark room.

SPEAKER_04

Yep.

SPEAKER_05

Um, we don't have color dark rooms. It's just, you know, that technology is hard to I mean, you I could do it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um, but it's just the temperature and like the the testing for printing, it's just a lot. Yeah. It's not as easy. Black and white is easy and it's beautiful. And you know, I'll just it's cheaper. It's cheaper. It's everything about it is is, you know. All the people who I love, like, you know, a lot of them shot black. I mean, obviously, like Eggson, Stephen Short, but anyways. Um, so yeah, I just got rid of it. I sold it. I was like, let's get out from under this. The value's never gonna be better than it is right now.

SPEAKER_03

Like, I'm just gonna start to and after, you know, we've been friends for a long time. I was there maybe not as closely since we started the podcast, but before we started the podcast, and you can see this for those of you who are interested on Alex's YouTube channel where he ripped through a bunch of different cameras. I mean, some seriously good stuff. Oh, yeah. I mean, you had the I went through a phase for sure, yeah. But you know, similar to me.

Cameras As Assets And Tools

SPEAKER_05

I mean, what it what we had the contacts. Yeah, the contact two. That was awesome. Love that camera. The RoliFlex. Yep. Only camera I regret telling out of this entire group is the RoliFlex. That's the only one I actually missed. Did you have the Mamiya 7? Mamiya 7. Yep. The Texas Leica. Texas Leica. Yep. The Fuji, what is it? Get the 470 or whatever. Yep. The Hosselblood. The Hosselblad, yep. Hasselblad X, what is it? X something five. I can't remember. Whatever it is, but it was it had the removable back and it had the film back. So you could shoot four by five, or not four by five, you could shoot um medium format. Um my brain's not working right now, but yeah, you could shoot just medium format, or you could shoot digital.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_05

That was sweet, but it was just honestly not uh like that was maybe the most gorgeous images, like the most real life images that I've ever gotten out of a camera were from that, especially digital. Um God, that was pretty. But yeah, it just it didn't make a lot of sense. And like I had it in like a look, I looked like the nuclear football case that you see in like the movies. I mean, yeah, it was just it was too stressful to have that thing. Um SL2S. SL2S, which I yeah, I never I vaguely recall. And it's not I'm like, I don't I don't have a lot of money. Like this isn't like a this is I just like that was my full-time thing at the time. And right I I'm literally selling to get into something else. And I was just trying to I was trying to identify it's I mean, yeah, it sounds like oh man, this guy's fucking.

SPEAKER_03

No, because I think that's an important distinction because when you can get into a camera system where you're getting a really good deal, like below market value, you can kind of flip your way into some serious camera systems, and that's essentially not to co-op this back to me, but that's essentially what I've been able to do in a in at uh in a much higher volume. Because I'll pick up a$300 can and Digican for$20 at a thrift store and just sit on it.

SPEAKER_05

It's use it for my channel, it's whatever it's an important point to make, is like like some of these things are not like if you if you're doing commercial work, like the Sony was never like an asset for me. Like that was a depreciation kind of like purchase. Um, oh yeah, we didn't even talk like the Fuji's had a couple of Fuji's too. Right. I mean, but essentially, like once I got the Leikas, like the M9 and the M4, I was I pretty much haven't bought a camera since then. Like this is literally, I think, the first camera series camera I've bought. And the only reason I bought it was because yeah, the Sony was I don't know. I just I hated having that Sony sitting in the basement. Yeah, it's such a beautiful camera. And but I mean I just I don't have a use case for it. I just do not have a use case for it.

Focusing A Creative Practice

SPEAKER_03

And I hate that the C300 is sitting there for over a year unused. Unused. But the only thing I will probably use it for is to live stream, and and maybe I would use it on a little dock project or something, but it's just the Super 16 looks so cool. I know. I just I I've really enjoyed shooting a lot of my YouTube videos on the black magic pocket cinema camera. Yeah, as far as like B-roll goes or a talking head kind of thing. And yes, there are lots of um frustrations with trying to like run and gun with that camera um in a little on a little dock shoot, but part of me's like, uh I can make it work.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, like well, though the thing I think about is like that is like every great dock that I that I love was made with a camera that is shittier than that.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And so you you pair that with the idea that you know you just get a good sound person who knows how to make sure that you're getting your slating right. Yep. You know, it might not be as sophisticated in the sync and things like that, but yeah, I mean everything on film was just slated and you have to make sure you match the tracks correctly.

SPEAKER_06

Right.

SPEAKER_05

So if you're you know, again, if you're on your craft, then it's not gonna be a problem. It's a great-looking camera. And you know what? If you bust that thing up, you just and you're on. Good to go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So uh at the end of that conversation on the phone, you were left contemplating making the purchase of the Q2 work, and I was left sort of with two feelings. The big one is just disbelief that this was happening. I'm like, if am I really gonna get an M11 for$4,800 today? I you know, my brain is just going, there's a catch.

SPEAKER_05

Some there's something that's and that was that was the biggest thing is when we were talking, I was like, oh, this is amazing, you should go for it. But also as somebody who's like definitely gotten into some like bootlegged deals on cameras where you're like, oh, this is a scam, and you start to identify it because I just And that's the first thing you asked. You're like, is this legit?

SPEAKER_03

Like and I'm like, she knows a friend of mine.

Documenting Picks And People

SPEAKER_05

Well, and even even then, I'm like, are you sure like this isn't one of those like da-da-da? And I mean, no, it was like can confirm was legit. But I mean, that's the first thing. It's like if usually, you know, the rule of thumb is if it's too good to be true, it is right. And that's what I was thinking the whole time about. But then I I also told Matt, I was like, we have this constant reference point and where um for anybody who's like a typewriter nerd, there was this so the like the the like the the absolute peak of the mechanical typewriter world.

SPEAKER_06

Oh buddy, here we go.

SPEAKER_05

The I the the Rolex submariner of the mechan, and I mean, like I know there's like potential, I know that I know there's a lot like yeah, yeah. But like the I think for like the average person, the sub is the the peak so much. The combat of luxury utility, just reasonable affordability, a mechanical like masterpiece, yeah, right? And it's just it's durable and it's timeless, timeless. Yeah. Well, that in a typewriter is the Swiss made Hermes 3000. Oh, buddy. And they go for anywhere from 700 to what 1500, maybe?

SPEAKER_03

Like a good deal on a Hermes is like 350 at an estate sale. Like that would be. And it's probably pretty fucked up. Could be some cosmetic issues, uh, or if they did baby it, it's gunked up, it needs a lot of work, needs some attention. Needs to be maybe needs the platin redone, you know, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. So the but yeah, like the best. So this person that Matt knows, and Matt almost took took advantage of this deal, just didn't get it in time. I was late. It was five dollars. Like it's the constant, like, oh yeah, I got an M6 at a thrift store for five dollars. Yeah, yeah. Like joke. Yeah. And yeah, our Airmith's 3,000.

SPEAKER_03

It goes up on Facebook Marketplace, it's down, I think, in Plattsmith or Nebraska City, and it's posted for five bucks. And he thought it was fake ticket.

SPEAKER_05

But yeah, I'm like, this is just a this is a really niche scam.

SPEAKER_03

Africa is gonna try to get me to send them money or whatever.

SPEAKER_05

And so I like how Africa gets all the blame for that.

SPEAKER_03

Well, there's all the Nigerians. I mean, people from all over the country, but the stuff that's in the cultural zeitgeist is all is always these guys in internet cafes in Nigeria that are trying to steal people's money.

SPEAKER_05

Um but uh yeah, and Matt knows the person that ended up buying it. And so that's always like it's like if it's too good to be true, it is, but it could be an Airmans 3000 situation for five bucks. And this kind of seems like it was an Ares 3000 situation.

SPEAKER_03

That's what it felt like to me. I mean, I know it sounds crazy for some people that you know aren't.

First Impressions Hands On

SPEAKER_05

We're gonna go to register the serial numbers and it's gonna be like flag stolen, FBI shows up. No.

SPEAKER_03

Uh you know, with the with that body selling through Picture Line for around$5,900, some people might be going, geez, dude,$4,800 is it's not like it's some like some phenomenal deal. But the demand is so high that if you listed a Leica M11 on eBay or KEH or whatever for$5,500, it would not last an hour before someone bought it. 100%. Whether they bought it to flip it, whether they bought it to own it.

SPEAKER_05

Um if you listed it for$48, you'd probably not get as soon as eBay cleared the listing, you would have you would it would be gone.

Sharing Gear With Partners

SPEAKER_03

Someone would just pull the trigger and and and get and get it. And think they were getting scammed. Right. Yeah. And if you ever saw one, especially for sale online, in a more like like on eBay or KH or something like that, maybe eBay were like an and just a normal person can sell something and it was below four thousand dollars, everyone would think it was stolen. They probably would be afraid to buy it because it's too it is beyond too good to be true. Yeah. But everything added up this uh young woman, her profile, her seller history. We had a mutual friend. She told me that that friend had photographed her wedding. I mean, like everything just kept showing that it wasn't uh bullshit. She responded in messages right away. Um, communication was great, and so um she wasn't available until like 6 30-ish at night. And I'm, you know, telling Alex, like, you know, I'm my kid has conferences at school. We're gonna go out to dinner afterwards, I'll come pick you up around 6 30 and then we'll go over there. And the whole time I'm just like, I'm nervous because again, I am I I just can't believe this. This is this is that she's willing to just let it go for$4,800. Like, why not wait a week? You can sell it on eBay for$6,000, probably. Yeah, yeah. Especially if you find the accessories. That was another thing. Like the the owner kind of was he was elderly and they they think maybe had a little bit of dementia, and so stuff was kind of scattered and not organized very well. So they have a few things that they need to track down, like the battery charger, and I think a uh a case or something for the camera that he had purchased with it. So we drive over there, you know. Um, you know, we're both, you know, in a good mood, optimistic, you know, chopping it up. I don't even think anything about the cameras. And we pull up, house looks nice, you know, it's not like some area killing things all that in sort of like a slightly older part of West Omaha. Go up to the you know, text her that we're here, go up to the front door, she lets us in, two cute little kids, husband's making dinner, the Leikas are sitting on the table. We're like a idea the whole time. I'm like, when do we get killed? Yeah, when do they take our money? Like, when do they brought when do they need something to defend ourselves? When do we uh you get taken down to the basement and there's like 17 locks on the door and right oh I've got some I've got some Leicas down at the basement. Come on down, I'll show you a whole bunch of them.

SPEAKER_05

Did you lock the door?

Weather Sealing And Real-World Use

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, don't worry about it. And they're just sitting there, so we start looking them over. And Alex is looking at the Q2, I'm looking at the M11, turn it on. Battery work, I mean everything, display works, menu, everything's good. Take a few pictures. I'm like, I look, I'm trying to look for one scratch to be like, maybe I could get it for even less. But I'm like, Jesus. Like her dad's ill, like, I'm not gonna, and this is already a phenomenal deal. Yeah. So I tell her, I'll take it. Yeah, and then Alex continues looking at the Q2, and he's like, I'll take it. Yeah, yeah. So we Venmo the money over and walk out of there with these two Leica's. Yeah, we're like looking at each other, like I'm like, this just might have ring we need to know. I'm just like, this is crazy. And and and for me, again, part, and I told you this, part of why I sort of seize the opportunity when I see a$300 Canon Digicam at the thrift store for 20 bucks. There's multiple reasons I buy it. One is I'm curious about the camera. I want to see what it can do. Like, how fun is it to use? You know, what are its capabilities? I can use it on my first photography channel and just make a vibey video that showcases hey, this camera's, you know, it can take some fun, cool photos. And for the photography channels is gonna shift into a classical just Matthew O'Brien photography at the and then the other thing that I'm thinking about when I grab them is this is basically a savings account. I paid$20 for this. I'm gonna sit on it. It's not gonna lose value. These things are hot right now. And I'm gonna eventually get to a point where let's say I pay$800 over the course of two years for a hundred of these different cameras, they're gonna be worth thousands of dollars to be able to sell. I mean, it's not dumb.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, it's like it's like buying an asset. Yeah. I mean, and to be fair, you know, you probably are better off owning an asset right now than just having like cash in an account. Cash in an account. And it's hard to have cash in an account. Yeah, an asset is easier just to get it. And uh you're gonna be it just a general rule of like life and finance that I've learned is you're always gonna be better off with an asset than you will with just right. It's just how the you know, and yeah, people stretch the definition of asset, and obviously there's a lot of stuff, but yeah, you're always gonna be better with an asset. Plus, you know, Matt and I have talked about it a hundred times too. It's like buy things that are gonna last and that you can put your mark on, and you know, they develop a quality, uh like a sense of you as you. There's nothing more fits the bill than can we just bring it out? Can we show it?

The Biker Shirt Treasure Trove

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Let me let me just say one last thing about the whole like savings account of the stuff. There was always something in the back of my mind that said, because I've I have uh thought about how could I get my hands on an on an M11, on a digital Leica range finder. And it or an M9 or an M10 or anything between an M9 and an M11. How can I get my hands on that body and then eventually uh to start a 35 millimeter Leica lens, which is another thing that I have to figure out.

SPEAKER_05

But I'm gonna be funny how the consumption process I like that's what I hate about this is how consumer-minded it all is. Like how much it's just like if I get this thing, then this thing. I mean, I guess like it's not really because you are getting rid of things to yes, like it's not like you're just consuming a new thing. It was it's it's like you're getting you're exchanging essentially. Yeah. And you know, part of it is almost less consumer-minded with you because you're getting rid of a bunch of shit. To like focus in on, okay, these are like three things that I'll use for the rest of my life, and I'll give to the girls, and you're gonna have to put a strict like no-sell, even if you need to put me into a home.

SPEAKER_03

Like, there'll be like a dossier, like this is what I want to happen with these things that are like iconic tools or items in my that I've that I've acquired in my life. Yeah, and I agree. There is definitely social media puts, you know, plants that seed, my buddy Brandon and and the kind of the crew that he rolls with all having Leica cameras, and they also have many other cameras because they're um photography and cinematography YouTubers.

SPEAKER_05

There's just there's a cool feeling that comes walking out with Leica.

SPEAKER_03

It's just, you know, and it takes you know, like, you know, it it it help it can produce an uh the the foundation of an incredible image. Uh obviously, what what you do as a photographer is the biggest part of that um composition, uh exposure, you know, all of those, all of those aspects of the craft. Um and you know I it's a good tool though. It's a good tool. I do like and you know it it it is it is a little ridiculous that part of me goes, Well, now I'm really gonna start taking a lot of photos because I have this.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, well, and now like you know, there's accountability. Yeah, yeah, it's it's interesting to talk about it. And it's what's fun about that is yeah, now there is like right, there is no well if I.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And if that comes up again, then you know, like, oh, it was never the well if I. Right. And then that's another conversation to have.

SPEAKER_03

But yeah. And you know, if six months, a year from now, we're sitting here on this podcast and I'm going, I haven't really shot with the M11 in like three months.

SPEAKER_05

Dude, film photo Friday is so bad. Oh, dude.

SPEAKER_03

I know. And and and the cameras that I was taking with me every day, you know, I was going with my F1 and my QL17, but film it, yeah. You know, my revenue has has been inconsistent, and I just have not been able to come to terms with the cost of the film developing and uh all of that.

Deadstock, Sizes, And Resale Logic

SPEAKER_05

We call it Film Photo Friday. It's it's actually just fun, but between his M11 and I mean my dark darkroom membership now or GM4, like it is, it's on. It's gonna be a good good summer. Only we had a studio space.

SPEAKER_03

And I think too, one of the other things I hope to have happen with getting rid of so many cameras to focus in on this one is that you know, part of having like a collection of cameras, every time you buy one and then keep it, you're sort of saying to yourself, I really need to shoot with this camera. And every time you look at them and you haven't shot with them, there's sort of this like little hit that your psyche takes where you're like, you feel guilty or bad or whatever that you haven't done it. So there's sort of like a burden that they give you. And when you're creating work and work on my YouTube channel, where kind of the deal of that channel is I'm experimenting with all these different cameras, it sort of scatters your focus, pun intended, where the the work isn't getting focused through a specific camera, the look and vibe it has, you know, all of that. And I definitely want to shoot my medium format camera. I want to shoot my F1. I want to shoot like these other cameras.

SPEAKER_05

The the like the the Grainy Days channel. Yeah. Um I was talking about that with a buddy the other day. I watched this, he so he did this video where you went to Sturgis. I don't think I think I sent it to you a long time ago. I didn't I didn't actually watch it until the other day. I fell asleep on the couch for a beautiful, beautiful Sunday afternoon nap, and it was just on when I woke up because it just somehow cycled through. Great Sunday afternoon naps are just peak experience. Um and that was the thing that always frustrated me about him is I was like, man, I like he definitely has like a vision, and you know, he puts himself in these situations to take like photos that align with that, and it's really good, but he always switching up cameras, and he's really nailed nailed it down, it seems like. Yeah, seems like he only shoots with a few cameras.

SPEAKER_03

He's yeah, it's definitely a little bit more concentrated.

Curation, Quality, And Patience

SPEAKER_05

I mean, it's like the roly and like the contacts and like maybe a Leica here and there or something.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Um and then you know, he he's shooting four by five and yeah, and he'll yeah, the four, yeah, and the eight by ten, I guess.

SPEAKER_05

Sometimes the eight by ten, yeah. But um, no, I just I like that. Yeah. I like like because yeah, I've got yeah, the four by five, and then like everything I've taken in the last few years is either on the M4 or on the M9. And those are so like especially I'm using the same lenses. So, no, there's something to be said for everything goes through. I mean, in your case now, there's gonna be like a couple of digicams and like Leikas.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and even on the Digicam front, you know, I'll probably keep the SD1000. You don't know what else, yeah. Yeah, the X1 is gone. The Rico GR will probably go. Um, I have a couple other little Canon PowerShot Digicams, a G11. Yeah. Um, I don't know if I'll get rid of the G11 just because that's the only one of that G series that I have. Um but that's the other thing too. You know, I've I've shot with that camera on my YouTube channel, and now if I have the if I have the M11, am I ever really going to go back to it? I don't know. But it could be one of those where like, okay, just sit on it for six months to a year. If you never revisit it, then make the decision later. Um the cameras that I will be keeping, the Context T2, my Canon F1, the Leica or the Canon QL17. I have the Leica 3F that's all ready to go. And then I just sent off my Nikon S um to get CLA'd by precision camera down in Austin. So um I will I will most, yeah, I will most likely keep that one as well, um, especially if I can find a 35mm lens for it and a 35 millimeter Nikon optical viewfinder. Um but everything else is for the most part on the chopping block. See ya, yeah. So get rid of it.

SPEAKER_05

It's gonna feel like cleansing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, it'll feel sort of like just sort of validation that you're that your instincts to acquire these things for that rainy day where you need to cash them in. And I don't mean like, oh, you know, I broke my leg and I have meta hospital bills. I mean this insane opportunity arrived and I can comfortably take advantage of it.

Closing Reflections On Serendipity

SPEAKER_05

Well, there is that's the other thing about these cameras, is like, yeah, it's like I know I talk about that's why I say be wary. Like it it is important to you know think about them as an asset in some regards, but be wary with doing that because you also at the same time, like a camera is not supposed to be on a shelf. Yeah, a camera is like old shit, like you know, old shit is fun to buy. But it's only fun to buy when it works and you can use it. Like there's nothing sexy about I mean, like, there's maybe like I can I can see aesthetic value, but I would never have a typewriter that is just sitting there to look cool. Right. It's that hurts me. Like, I I like I mean, just look around here. Like, what I don't think there's anything in here that doesn't get used. I mean, it's yeah, like that that typewriter gets used. And if it didn't, I would get rid of it. Right. Like there's a typewriter up there, there's a couple up there that like need to be serviced. Um, obviously that's just a financial thing. It's like gotta wait till I find the right that's right. We don't have any service people here in Omaha, so you gotta mail it or you gotta drive it somewhere. Yep. So yeah, that's its own thing. But you know, I I like using stuff like when I get that serviced, one of them will go somewhere else, so I can use it there or whatever. Um but like yeah, I mean, like like I I bought a couple of like pipes at different antique shops or whatever. I use them all. Yep. Uh the cameras, I only have like four cameras.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but you did like the pipes, the typewriters, you know, and I like I like old shit.

SPEAKER_05

I go shit that is usable.

SPEAKER_03

But you don't, you know, get like, oh, I'm really into pipes right now, so I'm gonna buy a hundred of them to figure out like to either have a collection or to figure out which ones I use. I go a little crazier on my stuff.

SPEAKER_05

Well, I mean, you just talked about how I did that with cameras. Yeah. I mean, so it happens, and yeah, you do it at first.

SPEAKER_03

And I don't know if I, you know, we'll see after after having this for a while, if I start acquiring them and holding on to them. The only reason I think I would is again, I still do want to do videos on the photo videos channel where I get a random kind of weird, quirky digicam or I just worry about like stretching yourself too.

SPEAKER_05

Like, I almost think it's more productive for your long-term work to just use that camera as like a photography-centric channel, use that channel as a photography-centric channel, and then yeah, occasionally, like you are in some weird situations. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I you know, we we go to some funky places and like um we gotta tell the biker shirt story too. That's that's hilarious to me. Um by the way, I was like, Matt's gonna I told Audrey I was like, Matt's gonna spend like$300 here.

SPEAKER_02

I actually exercised restraint.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we only I only bought 25 because I'm like, I'm gonna do the treat this as a pilot run. I'm like, nothing indicates that yeah, that these t-shirts are gonna go anywhere in bulk anytime soon. Yeah. Especially because I'm not telling anybody about them. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, so I'm gonna do like a pilot run at the shop, and if like these things fly off the shelves, then I'll go back up there and get more.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, for sure. I bought one and I told Audrey, I was like, this might just pay for the whole day. Like we've you know, we spent like 30 bucks a day or something. I was like, this might cover the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like for sure. Um, anyways, yeah, that was crazy. Um but no, you're in some weird places and like you're in barns and like people's houses. Oh, yeah. And that's that is a chance you find something nutty, right, and then you put it on the channel. But I do think it's probably more productive to probably just focus on, like, you know, these are my five cameras, and you know, these are the three that I use out of the five most commonly. I uh it's probably like what the canon, the like a film, and the M11 now.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And there's something about T2, maybe, but that's expensive.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Having that camera, the the M11. And when I do go out on these picks, because I've talked how I want to document them, like I want to I want to photograph the spaces that I'm in. I want to shoot portraits of the people that I meet, um, like the the woman in Missouri Valley who's a clairvoyant former butt model. So now you just have it. Yeah, and it's like, can I, you know, I'll have the camera on like can I take a photo of you to document this? You can totally say no, it's fine.

SPEAKER_05

And even today, you know And it's digital and it's so unassuming. It's not like you're showing up with a DSLR.

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_05

Look at this. Look at this freaking thing. You gotta learn the like a way, buddy.

SPEAKER_03

Just a wheel. No. No. Just a little D-pad. Yep. I gotta get a different I think I'm gonna do a different my uh other strap and put this on one of the other cameras.

SPEAKER_05

I'm flipping this for an M10D. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_01

I'm just kidding. What's the damage on one of those? Oh, too much. Yeah. Can I find one of those first? I know. So yeah. I've never seen one in Omaha, by the way.

SPEAKER_03

An M11 with the original packaging. Um, she has to find the extra battery charger, but it has one battery. Um the camera strap. She says she has a case for it uh that she'll include. She just has to find it for 4800 bucks. I just unreal.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Battery's still going, so I'm not gonna grab it. But can I just I want to see what the shutter sounds like? Spill water over. Hey, this is weatherproof, so this might be too. I don't know. Yeah, we got a little bit. So honestly, what I would do is just while you work tomorrow, just beat this shit. I know this shrapnel. It's like getting a baseball glove. You're gonna love it once you get it. Smack them though.

SPEAKER_03

Holy cow. I wish I was uh right eye dominant, man. See what I mean? Like smashing that thing against your face. It sucks.

SPEAKER_05

You definitely might want to get a yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_03

And I have the 36 millimeter, uh which I think Well, you could probably train yourself to be right eye dominant.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe maybe. That's nice. It's completely underexposed, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05

That is nice. Can you it's pretty good. Oh, how do you go? Interesting. So you have to turn in multiple modes somehow else. Which I'm sure it's easy to do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it's gonna take a little bit of time.

SPEAKER_01

I don't use the M9 because you can switch it over to continuous mode where you just hold it down. And you can fire it off. Which I do use occasionally.

SPEAKER_03

And I have image preview turned off, so you're not gonna see anything obvious.

SPEAKER_05

What a find, brother.

SPEAKER_01

What a wild, wild day.

SPEAKER_05

I don't think this one has a uh Yeah, this one doesn't have any way to charge it. Yeah, there's no USB.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You have to take the battery out and charge it through a charger. Yeah, that's interesting. Crazy dude.

SPEAKER_05

What's the trick? So oh just barely press it. So you open it, you pop it, and then just do that all. No SD card came with us. But it has internal memory. Right. Oh no, it does have no SD. No SD. So yeah, you do have internal memory. Which is kind of nice. Because yeah, I've I I've only done it one time, but I did forget the SD one time and it crushed my soul. Yep. I'm not the kind of person that like carries SD cards either. I I have two cameras that take SD cards at this point. So um, so another thing I'm really excited about. This is whenever I go out and shoot, Audrey never has a camera. So now Audrey will finally have like a camera, a digit. I I've just never had a digit, like I guess she could use a Sony, but it's just yeah, I don't know, dude. It's like a little you're lugging around. It's not a fun camera. So this is this has the option for I mean she knows how to shoot manual, but it's just not fun to shoot manual all the time, especially if you're not like a if you're not like I don't think about it, yeah, but it's just that's from doing it a lot, right? And if you if you don't do it constantly, then you it's just a pain in the ass. Yep. And it kind of makes the process less fun. So you can turn on autofocus and auto exposure on this and digicam it. Yep, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_03

Really cool. So on the drive home, I was like weatherproof. I was like, how about we go into the house and just rip a podcast about this? And I'm like, We're at 102 when you let's go. So that's the story. And uh should you talk about the bike shirts real quick? Should we just go completely off? I just want to wrap up this by saying, like, one thing I'm excited about with having the camera is documenting the role it plays in life through this podcast, you know. So you guys, you know, listening, watching six months from now, you know, we'll get to hear about how it's being used to take family photos, to make work, to whatever, whatever I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_05

So sick. Pretty badass. Crazy find. And yeah, I don't know this guy's place per se, but there's definitely times though when I've been like, man, if I'd had an autofocus camera, it would really kind of so I'm sure I'll use it in that in those moments. Mainly just like night stuff. Yeah. Um, that too. Or later, not night stuff, but let's just like later. I don't know. Yeah, I really I really don't know if there's a use case that's like obvious, but the Audrey thing is really cool. The weatherproofing is really cool. Um, I'm hesitant to take my, you know, 2009 M9. I mean, and those things are tough. Like, don't get me wrong. And the M4, I'm I'm not hesitant. Like, I I I think I've told it on here before. Like, the story that convinced me to get that camera as a soldier in Vietnam literally had to like hide in a in a in a pool of water for like 48 hours and they had their like on and they just put it in an oven when they got out of the thing and it was good to go. It was good to go. And they shot on it for like another year before they had to get it CLA'd and then I don't know. It's just like crazy stories like that. Hell yeah. I mean, likers are built like they're they're resilient, but still, like, yeah, I don't I'm not it's pouring rain, I'm not like rushing to rip the M9. This thing I can just do it. So hell yeah. Gotta figure out how to get that display off though.

SPEAKER_03

It's in there somewhere. Chat GPT has set us.

SPEAKER_05

This is what I don't like, I will say. Does yours have this too? What's that? A little bit. I keep setting it. This it's just printed onto the plate now? It looks so simple. Oh, instead of being engraved?

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_03

This one doesn't have anything but the sticker on the bottom.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, is there is that a sticker?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it looks like see? Look. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05

Just the bottom plate.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Like this.

SPEAKER_03

All that beautiful brassing on there. All the beautiful brassing. Yeah, they really wanted it to be closer to the film style. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And a lot of people complain about this. Like, I get it. That battery style is better, maybe, if you're if you're doing a lot of commercial, but I just there's something about this, man. No, I I don't disagree. There's something about and yeah, I mean, I've worked the hell out of the thing to get the brassing, but.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it looks great. I think this one is aluminum with a matte finish, so there won't be any brassing. Maybe you can wear off some of the paint on the corners and it'll just expose the aluminum underneath, but there won't be any traditional brassing. And there's a little bit of cleaning I need to do. Like there's some debris in the eyepiece, you know, um, that I'll need to clean up a little bit. I don't know if he had an accessory on here, maybe. I don't know if there are accessories on here that you can add a little rubber deal or something to pad that. But and I can't tell if there's a cover on the screen. I don't even know how you would tell yours. I feel like you can tell because it's like raised up. Yeah, it's like off a little bit. But this has like a let me see, you know.

SPEAKER_05

I think your screen is sapphire in here though. Oh yeah. So it's like so I don't know if you necessarily need a cover.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I'll ask uh Brandon too what he what he does.

SPEAKER_05

Which though I'd assume that one is too. I don't know for sure though.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Might not because very cool.

SPEAKER_05

Alright, you want to tell the biker shirt story and get out of here?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So the this isn't the most exciting. What I think is cool about this though is the synchronicity of it. Because it was us hanging out that Friday.

SPEAKER_03

And at the shirt.

SPEAKER_05

We hung out the whole time. I had no idea about you know bike shirts. I gotta show you the one I snagged too, because I did snag one. Southern style. It's awesome. It's the only one. Surgis down style. Oh, buddy. Um, and I'm keeping that one. That one is not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_03

You've got to wear it on film photo Friday so it can get all faded.

SPEAKER_05

Snag that one and then the uh surge 2007 is like the maybe sell it. I watched them both though, because they were kind of gross and you know, whatever. It's fine.

SPEAKER_03

They weren't gross, they were just they're just like brand new and they've been in the shop for a long time.

SPEAKER_05

Um but what I think is cool about it is I would I had no idea that these shirts were worth anything. Yeah. And then you and I hung out for uh the pretty much yeah, a lot of the evening on Friday and hung out in the shop. And essentially, yeah, we somehow we got to the conversation where it was like, yeah, bike shirts are real valuable, pretty, pretty valuable. And then you also we recorded a podcast late that night, and then you were like, Yeah, there's this thing up in um Plank uh Midwest town. Yes. And um we decided to drive there and um you know, did at the place that you recommended, didn't find anything, and then we we just went trekking around.

SPEAKER_03

And found another little place, went in, and in the back of this place, which is a just a basic like flea market antique mall that has booths from different vendors where they have their stuff in these different booths. And there's probably a hundred booths in that place. It's huge.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it's huge. We find this bike, this collection of biker shirts. Yep. And uh there were a lot of them. There were a lot. I FaceTime Matt, I'm like, dude, we just talked about this. I did not know this was a thing, but there are like a hundred biker shirts here. And he's like, Are there any like of this year? And I'm like, Yeah, there are. There's a couple. There's a couple. And I mean, it was like I imagine that's what it felt like to find El Dorado when they come out and they're just like, Whoa, whoa. So I tell Matt about it, and this is like on Valentine's Day. This is with the family.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, it's on Valentine's Day.

SPEAKER_05

You're like the you this is like prime dad day for you. And we were going out to lunch, and then these are just here. They're just here. I'm just saying. And they're three dollars each. It was it was insane.

SPEAKER_03

Now, just just for anybody that's aware of like finding clothing, vintage clothing. This is this is sort of a mixed bag, okay? There are Sturgis shirts from 2007 with some of the like the sickest graphics you've ever seen. Uh everything from like 2007 to maybe 2011, 2012, and then it kind of takes a big jump to more modern, like 2019 to 2023, or whatever is the range. Now, vintage is pretty much anything that is getting around 20 years old. So a 2007 shirt, like we consider that the Y2K era, most of that stuff is considered vintage. So this is checking a lot of boxes. Alex is showing me on FaceTime some of the graphics on these shirts, and they're just incredible. Yeah, they're nuts. Skulls and snakes, and yeah, go grab it. So some of the shops only sell vintage clothes, they won't sell stuff that's more modern. Well, our shop isn't like that. We will sell a shirt that was made a year ago. If it's a high-quality shirt, like the actual like cotton is a really nice, thick, robust cotton, and the graphic on it is something interesting. Cars, a cool nature print, um, motorcycles, a band shirt, um, anything like that. And so Alex is showing me shirt after shirt after shirt that is like I would feel lucky to find a shirt with this kind of graphic on it at the thrift store if I just found one of them, let alone this booth, which is full of easily 150 to 200 of these shirts. And they're all optimal sizes too. This is the other thing. A lot of times when you find these, they're 2XL, 3XL, or they're like a small. And these are not the best sizes for resale. The best sizes are medium, large, and extra large, where large is the best size to get. And the bulk of these shirts are size large. So Alex is like, look, I'll take some of the best shirts, which are the oldest ones. Now, these are all dead stock, these have not been washed, they haven't been worn. Um, and Alex is like, I'll put the best ones as far as how old they are, back in this corner of the clothing rack. So when you come up here, you can find them right away. So after lunch with the family, we decide we're all gonna go up to this Midwest town. And oh, you grab that one, yeah. Yeah, dude. That one's that, yeah, that and that that's the only one. So this is a 2010, so that's right at the cutoff of the Y2K era, and this would be considered vintage, um, even though it's only 16 years old. It's on the Gildan Heavy Cotton Tag, size large. Um awesome graphic, little front hit, um, Sturgis Mississippi. Uh, and then the back hit is just awesome. Skull is just yeah, dope too. Yeah, um, with a chopper, I mean, like I can grab the 2007 one, yeah. Yeah, and they're they had multiples of this one. Um so uh so I get up there, I start going through them all, and I'm I'm saying to myself, I'm only going to get a small amount because if I bought all of these, I would have too much capital tied up in these shirts, and it might take six months to sell them all. And I'm not a hundred percent sure because they're new, like brand new looking, if people are gonna like them as much as a sort of a typical vintage shirt that has a little sun fade on it, maybe some holes, it just looks more lived in and worn, which most people want over a shirt that looks brand new. So I go through and I pick the best ones that are size large and medium. I get about 25 of them at$3 a piece. Um, and they're all just like incredible, incredible graphics. And the ones I was leaving behind were not as good of graphics, but if I again saw one of these at a thrift store, I would have been like, oh my God, this is like this made coming to the thrift store for this one shirt completely worth it. So I brought the t-shirts into Josh today. We took a look at them, and he's just like, Yeah, dude, these are sick as fuck. So um, we are definitely gonna put these in the shop. And we're basically just gonna trickle them out. Um, yeah, dude, this one's insane. Now, this one had all of the ones that I found, because I bought multiples of this, they had the original tags, it had a sticker on it that talked about how it was the award-winning design for that year. It's on the Delta Pro weight tag, a large, 100% cotton, nice, thick, heavy, cut, heavy cotton. So a real quality t-shirt. It's from 2007, and it's got this hog on this chopper with this like skull, skull um headlamp. Like just incredible.

SPEAKER_00

And I remember having the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summaries.

Head Shot

Alex Carter

Host
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Matthew O'Brien

Host