Life long photographer passes. How should the spouse deal with a life time of gear?

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Ron Norman

Ron Norman

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My friend Dan Karvasek recently passed and his wife asked me for help in disposing/selling this huge accumulation of gear. I am looking for suggestions on how to move it as a package rather than spending hours on eBay. Your thoughts please! See attached PDF. Ron Norman
 

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I'd try to get bids from as many sources as I could, save for the items that the family wants to keep, if that is an option. Another option is to contact Rob Kepko at Calagaz Photo: 850-456-2697 or [email protected]. Rob is with the Calagaz location in Pensacola, Florida, and does purchase collections of equipment.

Wayne
 
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To get the best price you’re going to have to piece it out. As mentioned above you can probably get a dealer to buy it all but you will get hosed on the price.
 
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Ron Norman said:
My friend Dan Karvasek recently passed and his wife asked me for help in disposing/selling this huge accumulation of gear. I am looking for suggestions on how to move it as a package rather than spending hours on eBay. Your thoughts please! See attached PDF. Ron Norman
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Sorry for your loss mate.
I agree with the above in as much that there are lots of good suggestions regarding companies to take it, but have to agree with those that said you’d get a better price if you split it up.
 
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i would suggest selling it all to mpb. The hassle of squeezing out every bit of value from the set is not worth the time. Mpb gives pretty competitive rates especially if you compare to the average of a bunch of eBay auctions.
 
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I might be out of line but maybe there are other options if money is not the main concern. I look at the list of equipment and except for the bellows cameras the equipment might be a great collection of equipment for a local high school. It include pretty much all the items necessary to teach principals of photography. I don't know how much they would be willing to pay, but what you could get for the batch from a reseller might be a great deal for them, especially the filters and the speedlights.
 
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My condolences for the loss of your friend.

Perhaps you could donate it to a local college, or his alma mater. You'd get no money for it, but the satisfaction that young minds might be turned on to photography like he was by having access to equipment that they might otherwise not have to use.

Also, (talk to a tax accountant first) but I think that could be a tax write-off for next year's taxes as a donation.
 
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Sorry for your loss.
Did your friend belong to any camera organizations? A camera club is a great place to start. Nikonians has a For Sale site in their forums. It will be hard to sell as a single collection unless there are some valuable vintage pieces. If his wife is not looking for the money then a donation to a school teaching photography and a tax write off might be the way to go.
 
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MartyD said:
I might be out of line but maybe there are other options if money is not the main concern. I look at the list of equipment and except for the bellows cameras the equipment might be a great collection of equipment for a local high school. It include pretty much all the items necessary to teach principals of photography. I don't know how much they would be willing to pay, but what you could get for the batch from a reseller might be a great deal for them, especially the filters and the speedlights.
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Again, sorry for your loss but I don't think the suggestion to donate is a bit "out-of-line". High schools, Community Colleges, even local library media programs would be delighted to get the equipment and you might also have an opportunity to help them set up a program.
 
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When I stopped doing wedding and portrait photography I donated all my monolights and backdrops and studio tripods and wireless speedlights and remotes to the local community college for their students to use. The instructor was very greatful to get this equipment that was in perfect working order. High schools also lack photo gear, especially digital oriented items. Do take time to put together a spreadsheet with the "value" of the items for taxes.

For cameras and lenses the easy way to go is to list on ebay. It will be the most expedient manner for selling a large number of cameras and lenses in a short period of time. Be aware though that ebay attracts a lot of scammers and avoid anyone who is not located in the continental USA as well as anyone who wants to pay with a bank draft or money order as they are often counterfeit as are wire transfers.
 
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