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Analog camera prices

Thwyllo

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Apr 27, 2022
Messages
114
Location
SW France
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Large Format Digital
I'm mainly curious from a European perspective but would also be interested to see what's happening in the US.....

I have a large collection of kit that I have been meaning to reduce for some time and I noticed of late that, on some of the auction and other sites, prices seem to be softening quite a bit, with stuff that would have previously easily sold for reasonable money failing to attract even half acceptable offers.

Is it just the time of year or have old film cameras lost their shine?
 
I would say that, for my part of France at least, there always has been some stuff that was way over-priced and some stuff that was "I don't know what it's worth, take it away" level. What seems to be happening now, if I look at Le Bon Coin for example, there is a lot less of the really cheap good stuff, junk is being way over-priced and probably not selling and what is left is expensive enough to depress the enthusiasm of the buyers to the point that they are simply not buying at all. No point in putting collector's prices on good but not collectable items, which is what seems to be happening. (The extreme being the number of Instamatics and similar that the sellers consider "collector"!)
 
Ah but France is on another planet isn't it! My neighbours used to say "you Brits and Americans, all you talk about is money and property prices".....they stopped when I pointed out - with online evidence - that we are not in the habit of putting second hand plastic buckets on LBC for €2...

But in particular, it's Catawiki that I've watched for ages now and analog stuff just doesn't seem to be getting what it fetched a year ago, and in a lot of cases often doesn't even reach the assessors auction estimate....maybe it's because Xmas is on the horizon.

Although I have noticed an increasing number of Japanese sellers on there and so import duties don't help I'm sure....
 
I think at this point some of the rise and fall in prices must be coming from YouTubers with big followings doing videos on certain cameras or lenses.

Personally I don't notice a universal trend - some things are going up a lot, others are going down or staying the same.
 
Trying to micromanage the sale of old cameras seems a bit of an impossible task. Like many other things being bought and sold, the market is fluid. Sell when and if you are ready. Be glad that someone is interested enough to buy it. Market as effectively as possible in places whre it is most likely that a motivated buyer will be found.
 
It fluctuates and focus changes. The shop where I work can’t really sell Rolleiflex cameras even close to the prices 1.5 years ago. The interest has evaporated.
Nikon FE/FM series has gone 50% up the past year. Compact point and shoot is still strong and crappy digicams fly off the shelves.
 
I thought everyone is outraged that gear which used to be offered at flea markets for pennies is now $$$$. Now that it softens, its also not ok.
 
KEH is still a good option for me. I'm interested in simple. No 9ne has money, selling on eBay can be horrible or not.
 
I agree with Brian. I see prices on older gear all over the place. The same camera will sell for $10 or $110. No rhyme or reason, but lately I've managed to find some "deals" that were basically "steals". On EBAY, for example, most sellers (about 80-90%) are NOT auctions, they are fixed price, but some sellers -- like me -- offer things at auction.

Some sellers start their auctions at amazingly low prices. I guess there are plenty of reasons for this, such as they want to get rid of it, they don't think it's worth much, they don't know if it works, or they'll take whatever they can get.
 
On eBay's USA site, it seems to me that asking prices from USA sellers are high right now, while prices from non-USA sellers tend to be more modest.

I speculate that non-USA sellers are absorbing some of the USA tariffs, while USA sellers are taking advantage of reduced competition.
 
More likely it is the other way around. Non-US sellers have lowered their prices because the buyer is going to pay for tariffs. Unless the seller has a US presence, he or she cannot absorb the tariff--it is charged to the buyer upon entering the country and varies according to the whims of those who cannot be mentioned here. US sellers might be charging more because there are no surprises from a customs/tariff bill upon arrival or shortly after, from my experience. In addition to the tariff, many carriers will charge a broker fee too.
 
Asking and selling prices are often not related.
Earlier this year in BC Canada the asking price for a Yashica Mat 124G almost rivaled Rolleicord and Rollieflex T models.
To add insult such TLR's as the Ricohflex , Halina and others are still advertised at buy this sucker pricing.
Darkroom equipment is yet another category with weird pricing.
At $50 CDN a darkroom was sold in Vancouver BC.
It consisted of a Beseler 4 x 5 enlarger, Ilford 500 multigrade system plus all the trimmings with a Durst M800 as a bonus!
Words fail me..
 
What Melvin said. Plus desirable cameras do not seem lower.... Mamiya 6 MF, Plaubel Makina 67/670, Fuji GW/GSW .....Leica, Rolleiflex prices seem as high as ever. Prices aren't dropping to bend a knee to absorb US tariffs.
 
  • mshchem
  • Deleted
  • Reason: Politics

The fad is wearing out
 
The influencers' popular cameras, perpetuated by social media algorithms and AI recommendations, stays high in demand and high in price. The lesser known ones that need more than superficial research, sometimes can be had for bargain price.

Overall I see at least stabilizing price for film gear in general, if not slight decrease.
 
It must be the influencers that are keeping the Pentax K1000 prices higher than the other, better, K-models. Same with the Minolta SRT101 prices being higher than the other, better, SRT-models.

Just nuts -- but it's not just photographic gear. Influencers are getting people to throw away millions of dollars into the Crypto machines in every grocery store!!!
 
Well, I don't blame someone new to film photography just copying the steps someone else does for their first try. That's pretty much what I did - bought a bottle of Ilfosol-3 since that's what the simplest development tutorial I saw recommended. People can only learn so fast, they need to delegate some of the thinking to others.
 
For what it is worth, prices do seem to be softening in the UK for items on Ebay, but this is partially because Buy It Now prices have been absurdly high for the last three or four years. When things are on auction prices seem to find their own level and the trend seems to be downwards.
 
Luckily some prices come down, although unpredicablility makes some come up unexpectedly.
 
blee1996 said:
The influencers' popular cameras, perpetuated by social media algorithms and AI recommendations, stays high in demand and high in price.
Click to expand...

Agree, the prices asked for Canon AE-1's are crazy. I have bought a Nikon F3 with motordrive for less.
 
Craig said:
Agree, the prices asked for Canon AE-1's are crazy. I have bought a Nikon F3 with motordrive for less.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that it is very likely that it'll need a repair due to the shutter squeak that is common on them.
 
Years ago, I made a killing selling my Yashica T4 P&S because the devil's advocate Terry Richardson used one all the time.
 

With film and paper prices on the rise, analog equipment has become less attractive, but analog equipment prices are still solid.
 
I live in the US and I have observed over many years that eBay prices are well above the market values. For US prices I look at KEH.com for the range of prices of cameras and lenses in the US. There should be websites with the range of prices for cameras and lenses in Europe.
 
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