The Commemorative Camera

I am at a loss to understand why a manufacturer of some of the most expensive cameras on the market would make relics.

Because that is what they are – photographic relics. Even if they are the latest iteration of a classic design, and perform flawlessly, the business of engraving some name or date on the top metal plate turns them into a relic. And a dreadfully over-priced one at that.

Relic? I define it as something that has passed from use to disuse. This perfectly describes a camera that is simultaneously costly and rare – so much so that people dare not risk lowering its value by making it perform the very tasks for which it was made. Its only value will be as a traded collectible – a digital version of the old joke about the case of tinned gefilte fish.

Those with more money than they can count – or admit to – will seize upon it as a novelty or a way of laundering their money. The trade will goo and gaw preciously over it, and the firm’s accountants will stash the riyal or yuan transfers in the account and look out for the next thing to commemorate.

I wonder if anyone would buy a rangefinder camera commemorating P.T. Barnum?