Which cameras will be valuable antiques

[flake]

OK to clarify this I'm not taking about todays cameras, but the early ones such as Apples Quicktake, of the Casio which was the first digital consumer camera only sold in the US.

But which would be the best to invest in for future classic status and value ??

[chris-p]

Hmm... well obviously anything with Leica written on it.

For me I hope it'll be the oddities and the weird looking ones like the Agfa ePhoto 1280 and 1680. Or the Contax N SLR. I always lusted after a Minolta DiMAGE Z1 or 7i both of which were pretty awesome and deserve (to me at least) to be remembered.

But for me it's got to be the Ricoh RDC-i700. In 2000 when it was released it had a 3.5" LCD and was the first digital camera to have video capture, sound recording, a touch screen, fax capabilities and was completely web ready. You could even upload pictures directly to the internet with it's built in modem. If that doesn't deserve to be valuable then I don't know what does.

[OldBoy]

You have to be careful with cameras, as even some that cost a fortune at the time are not worth much today. Even cameras that are in first class condition are sold for modest sums. The only way to increase this value is to have the orignial box with all the gubbings included.

[flake]

I think that's true Oldboy, but Chris I was thinking more of the early early stuff at maybe less than a megapixel. I had a Dimage 7Hi which in it's day was great, but seeing it described as a potential classic doesn't feel right, it dioesn't feel long enough since I owned it!

The Apple Quicktake is about half a MP and can be bought for less than £50, when it was released in1994 it cost about £1000 (ouch) it's apparantly becomming collectable by Apple Mac enthusiasts.

Leica will always be collectable, but did they enter the digital market early enough to be interesting to collectors yet? Some how I can't see the Canon D60 being collectable despite it being one of the first DSLR's nor the D1 or D100 from Nikon despite the fact that they can all be used with current lenses and software.

[sglguitars]

Just check out the prices on ebay for Canon G3's!! I had one years ago and thought I'd look up a bargain cos I really liked it.... not a chance!
Simon.

[ianpinion]

Cameras like any other type of collectable rely on one thing, demand. If it's not sort after it won't be worth much, plus if it's massed produced and lots of them survive that will keep prices low. You need to find cameras that are rare, either because not many were ever produced or because a lot were thrown away or recycled and few examples still exist. It's still a fickle market though driven by demand outstripping supply.