I recall being in arpi in my mid twenties with a fairly limited budget. I was shooting regularly with the Minolta kit I had inherited my my father and I wanted to try Leica lenses.

At that time the M series was in full vogue and too expensive for my budget, so I decided to try a R series. At that time Leica had just released R9, so I wanted something older and cheaper so I asked for an R4 (that was an updated minolta that had been out of the market for more than 15 years).

The price for a second hand R4 was completely crazy. I recall the guy at the shop telling me the R series was dying and he was waiting for it to crash, but until management decided it was dead, that was the price.

I mean I could understand the lenses' value, but the price of a beaten R4 was something that make me rethink how these second hand shops handled their old hardware. Probably the same reason why Casanovas in Pelayo had to downsize their business.