Canonet madness.

gareth harper · May 28, 2005

While waiting to get my borrowed Canonet back from a service a Quiggs in Glasgow, I thought I'd have a look for a possible spare on e-bay. These old things must go for buttons, right?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....ndexURL=0&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

94 quid! That's crazy. The next one up on e-bay uk is already at 51 quid with a day to go.

What's going on? There is a lovely black one coming up too, but at these prices I'll be looking elsewhere.

Frank Petronio · May 28, 2005

Ha, it is just like the stock market. The more you drumbeat the Canonet, the more the lurkers will drive up the prices. If you want to depress prices, start to post compliants about them on all the forums - and watch the prices plummet.

For a couple thousand you could corner the market on used Canonets sold at discount, and then slowly build a campaign to raise the price so you can sell high. Don't laugh - business does it with billion dollar companies all the time.

modafoto · May 28, 2005

Thank god I got my beloved Olympus Trip 35 for $1.50 last year. Works great, but I bought at an auction in my photo club, and noone there was interested in that little wonder of analogue equipment. I use it a lot!

I may, however, wait a little with a Canonet

gareth harper · May 28, 2005

Frank Petronio said:
Ha, it is just like the stock market. The more you drumbeat the Canonet, the more the lurkers will drive up the prices. If you want to depress prices, start to post compliants about them on all the forums - and watch the prices plummet.

For a couple thousand you could corner the market on used Canonets sold at discount, and then slowly build a campaign to raise the price so you can sell high. Don't laugh - business does it with billion dollar companies all the time.

Truth is they are crap cameras anyway. Why am I even bothering to get it repaired. I must have also taken leave of my senses.

TPPhotog · May 28, 2005

The worst £39.00 I ever spent on my first one and to think I've just wasted another £50.00 (inc flash + hood) for my next one

gareth harper · May 28, 2005

You need your head examined Tony!

Look if you want some cheap fun with a rangefinder, and one that will give you much better results than the Canonet, get one of these.
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=5931
Look it's even got a built in flash,all for 1 pound 49 pence what more could you want?
Now sling those Canonet's in the post, so I can dispose of them in an enviromentally friendly fashion for you..

Andy K · May 28, 2005

Those prices are for the sought after QL17. Look for a less fashionable QL25 and prices are much lower.

gareth harper · May 28, 2005

Andy K said:
Those prices are for the sought after QL17. Look for a less fashionable QL25 and prices are much lower.

Those prices? Sought after? If you look around you'll find em for about a third of the e-bay price. Plus there's about 1.2 million of the little things kicking around. Mass produced 70's Jap crap.

Almost 100 quid that one was. Meanwhile I got a Canon UK ex-demo EOS30v for 140 quid with 12mnth warranty, including postage off e-bay a few days ago. What a steal. E-bay is nuts.

Andy K · May 28, 2005

gareth harper said:
Almost 100 quid that one was. Meanwhile I got a Canon UK ex-demo EOS30v for 140 quid with 12mnth warranty, including postage off e-bay a few days ago. What a steal. E-bay is nuts.

Thats just another SLR. The QL17 is desirable because it is a rangefinder with a fast 40mm f1.7 lens, the option of fully manual or shutter priority, exposure lock, flash sync at all speeds and is small enough to slip in a pocket.

Sjixxxy · May 28, 2005

modafoto said:
Thank god I got my beloved Olympus Trip 35 for $1.50 last year. Works great, but I bought at an auction in my photo club, and noone there was interested in that little wonder of analogue equipment. I use it a lot!

Shhhhh. We dont' want people to realize how awesome the trip is. With enough hype we may have to end up paying $15 dollars for one! Wait. I alreayd have, but it was black, so the expense was justified.

gareth harper · May 28, 2005

Andy K said:
Thats just another SLR. The QL17 is desirable because it is a rangefinder with a fast 40mm f1.7 lens, the option of fully manual or shutter priority, exposure lock, flash sync at all speeds and is small enough to slip in a pocket.

It's a 70's relic, with cheap and nasty build quality.

My EOS has the fastest auto-focus in it's class, the latest EOS ETTL-2 flash system, plus it does fully-auto, shutter priority, Apeture priority, fully manual, has Canon's excellant DOF feature, 4.5fps motor drive, fill in flash at all speeds, 35 zone, partial and centre weighted metering, auto-bracketing, do I need to go on? I could you know. What a beauty. New price 340 quid from discount stores. I got it ex-demo with 12mnths warranty, boxed with instructions for a mear 140 quid. Not a mark on it. What a steal! He he.

If I want a fast lens I can pop on my 24mmf1.4L, my 35mmf2,my 50mmf1.8 or perhaps my lovely 100mmf2.

Will it fit in my pocket? Well not with the f1.4L on it, but it will with the little 35mmf2.

100 quid for a secondhand Canonet? Oh dear somebody lost the plot!

Andy K · May 28, 2005

gareth harper said:
My EOS has the fastest auto-focus in it's class, the latest EOS ETTL-2 flash system, plus it does fully-auto, shutter priority, Apeture priority, fully manual, has Canon's excellant DOF feature, 4.5fps motor drive, fill in flash at all speeds, 35 zone, partial and centre weighted metering, auto-bracketing, do I need to go on?

So all thats left for you to do is press the button? Thats a very expensive point and shoot.

TPPhotog · May 28, 2005

Andy chill out If you look at the thread we are talking the prices down and taking the pi$$ LOL

gareth harper · May 28, 2005

Andy K said:
So all thats left for you to do is press the button? Thats a very expensive point and shoot.

The choice is yours Andy, or rather mine. On fully manual, I can take my time and create a master piece, or if I'm lazy let the camera do all the work, I just have to press the button, and I'll still get a better shot than I would with one of those crumby old Canonet's.

Sssh Tony.

TPPhotog · May 28, 2005

gareth harper said:
Sssh Tony.

You know who Oooops that was the shweppes advert LOL

gnashings · May 30, 2005

I hate both of my Canonets, they are C R A P. What's with the smallness and the "I am drunk" looky-thingy... And the fact that the Bell&Howell 19 is as old as me and still works... well, big whoop...and the QL17, well, its so small that other photographers make fun of you whenever you have to pull it out... I would pay someone to pretend to take them away from me...I mean take them away....yeah! NOT WORTH A RED CENT.

TPPhotog · May 30, 2005

I may have to try a QL19 just to see how bad they can be

Bob F. · May 30, 2005

Hey - I bought mine 6 months ago - talk the price UP UP UP!!!

Did I mention the lovely little Oly Trip 35 SP I got last month?.... Greatest camea on the planet - buy buy buy....

Actually, thinking about it, I've no intention of ever selling it so:... it's rubbish, don't touch with a barge pole: two barge poles tied end-to-end in fact... total smelly pants... not at all the best lens ever put on a fixed mount rangefinder, no way...

...

OK, you can buy one now....

Bob.

MattCarey · May 31, 2005

I love my Canonet dearly. My all time favorite image was taken with it.

That said, 100 pounds for a canonet is just silly. I think I paid $45, with the aged case. For that price, you could get an OM1 with 50mm lens. I was shocked to see that the OM1 was nearly the same size/weight as the Canonet. Heck, a Nikon FE with a 50mm 2.0 lens isn't too much bigger. Unless you want the really quiet shutter of the Canonet (and, sometimes, I do), the OM1 is a better bet.

Matt

Andy K · May 31, 2005

I have to make a confession.

I am a mug.

I've been following an Ebay auction for a week. For a mint condition QL17 GIII. Last night I won the auction. £42. I figure I've overpaid by about £35.

TPPhotog · May 31, 2005

Andy you have our sympathies, welcome to the self inflicted suffering club

Woolliscroft · May 31, 2005

TPPhotog said:
Andy chill out If you look at the thread we are talking the prices down and taking the pi$$ LOL

And we thought it was the US that was the irony free zone

David.

gareth harper · May 31, 2005

Oh dear Andy, what a waste of money.

Never mind, tart her up, take some nice snaps of it, hype the camera, shove it back on e-bay and you might even double your money from what I've seen.

Seriously though, what's going on.
I watched another going today for 56 quid plus 5 quid postage, I'd say that's clearly on the rich side. The best bit is it says reserve not met! So I had a look at some of the sellers other recent sales,

Canon T90 - 112 quid (reserve not met)
Canon A1 - 72 quid (reserve not met)
Canon AE1 - 39 quid (reserve not met)

Now he says if the item does not work he will accept it back, but he offers no guarantee, yet he's looking for dosh than many dealers are!

Still waiting to get my Canonet back from service, why am I wasting money on this junk?

Andy K · May 31, 2005

I'm wondering if I'd get away with crossing out the '25' on my QL25, writing in '17' in magic marker and putting it on Ebay...

kaiyen · May 31, 2005

hm.

Is no one else bothered by the phrase "Jap crap?"

anyway.

allan

gareth harper said:
Those prices? Sought after? If you look around you'll find em for about a third of the e-bay price. Plus there's about 1.2 million of the little things kicking around. Mass produced 70's Jap crap.

Almost 100 quid that one was. Meanwhile I got a Canon UK ex-demo EOS30v for 140 quid with 12mnth warranty, including postage off e-bay a few days ago. What a steal. E-bay is nuts.

Canonet madness.

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