Film camera prices?

ronlamarsh · Jun 9, 2011

Just checked out KEH, its been a long time since I went there. I was rather blown away by their asking prices for Rolleiflex 3.5T BGN $465 ! And nikon F3HP EX+ $665! Are these actually reflective of the market?

LyleB · Jun 9, 2011

From what I've observed, KEH prices not only reflect the overall market, but also how many they have in stock at any given time. If they have just a few of a popular camera, the price goes up, an over-abundance of a popular camera, you can get some decent deals. Great deals even, like my BGN rated N90s for $29. It looks and works like new.

Just keep shopping, you can find a good price, maybe not on the Rolleiflex...

mwdake · Jun 9, 2011

I think it must be the market driving up the prices.
I have noticed some things I used to keep an eye on are getting more pricy.
I pulled a KEH catalog from late last year and...
A Rolleiflex 3.5T BFN listed at $364 and a Nikon F3HP EX+ for a low $225.
I have some older KEH listings, I may look at them too.

brucemuir · Jun 9, 2011

It's crazy.
I'll admit I have a problem and watch the prices on that site pretty closely.

The Zeiss C/Y 50mm offerings have doubled in price in the last 4-6 months.

Prices on abundant film bodies can still be a deal though.

Shawn Rahman · Jun 9, 2011

I think it reflects the market more or less. I saw a couple of FM2Ns on ebay go for as high as $400 recently. Also, a 50 f/2.0 AI lens I paid $60 at Adorama only two years ago is selling for double that by them now. Even E series lenses are priced higher than the comparable AIS lenses were sold new.

As good manual gear n close to mint condition becomes rarer, prices are going to keep going up.

CGW · Jun 9, 2011

Check eBay "done deals" for a reality check. Most F3HPs I see these days are rough, often with issues or near-death. NOS/mint examples got scarce 3-5 years ago. I snagged a late run NOS F3HP+MD4 in 2004 and shelved it, unused. Looks like I'll hang on for awhile.

The micro 4/3s gang is driving up prices on fast MF primes in popular mounts.

KEH is practically giving away Mamiya RB K/L lenses now. Go figure.

brucemuir · Jun 9, 2011

CGW said:
The micro 4/3s gang is driving up prices on fast MF primes in popular mounts.

Yup...

Richard S. (rich815) · Jun 9, 2011

While KEH has always been a good place to reference when you sell something (i.e. "And I'm pricing this at 75% of KEH EX prices....") I find eBay completed auctions to give a better sense of the market. For example I recently got a brassy but perfectly working F3 for about $100. Granted it's not an HP, but still. Now lenses are a different story. With the Chinese-built influx of Canon DSLR adapters, 4/3 adapters and the Sony NEX adapters some primes are skyrocketing. I was pleased recently, after not having looked for maybe 3-4 years, to see my nice colleciton of 5-6 Contax Zeiss SLR primes to have practically doubled or tripled in price since not long ago. That's cool! (wish I had bought more though back then!).

John Koehrer · Jun 9, 2011

Last week there was a HP with a 55 micro-nikkor for under $200. Chicago area craig's list.
Pricing is all over the place.

ArtTwisted · Jun 9, 2011

When you consider it, if the film market keeps up for much longer, since the supply of film cameras is almost at a standstill, prices are bound to go up and up. KEH though over charges, but with the price you do get the promise that the camera will be as rated or better. If your patient you can always snag a much better deal on the Bay, and Adorama also sometimes has crazy prices, BnH not so much.

chriscrawfordphoto · Jun 9, 2011

ronlamarsh said:
Just checked out KEH, its been a long time since I went there. I was rather blown away by their asking prices for Rolleiflex 3.5T BGN $465 ! And nikon F3HP EX+ $665! Are these actually reflective of the market?

My God! I bought a very nice Ex+ rated F3-HP last year from KEH for $250. $665? Forget it!

Carl V · Jun 14, 2011

Here in the UK, you can pay very high prices for film bodies particularly when described as 'mint' or 'as new' condition. There's a Nikon dealer in London where cameras such as the FM2n and F3 regularly sell for as much or even more than what they cost when they were available to buy new years ago - providing they're in mint condition, that is, otherwise their value does decrease quite substantially.

lxdude · Jun 14, 2011

The EX+ for $665 is actually an F3THP.
Still, prices are up.

zesbaugh · Jun 14, 2011

KEH prices seem to me to be a little schizophrenic. Only a few months ago I purchased a Maxxum 7 in EX+ condition for 135.00. A week later a BGN was selling for 166.00. Today an EX for 199.00 and a BGN for 144.00
I did snag the camera only a few hours after it listed. I had been checking site every 6 hours or so on a regular basis - REALLY wanted a second one and ebay offerings all seemed very sketchy. Maybe KEH took the quick turn-around as evidence demand was higher than initially thought when setting price...but that's just speculation on my part.

Diapositivo · Jun 14, 2011

I bought three cameras in the last year for relatively cheap money. One of them was an obviously risky bid (heritage, as-is) but it was very cheap, actually I got a partial refund because it was not properly described, it only costed me the shipping cost. Some 50 cured the problem and it is now a wonderful CLAed Voigtländer Vito CLR. Another one was a Canon Canonet with a milky viewfinder and a dent on the filter thread. Got a partial refund on that as well so that the final cost was some 30 or 40 plus shipping. Some 40,00 later it was like new. A third one was a Cosina - Voigtländer Bessa-L which I got together with a lens for a price which I think can be evaluated - for the camera - to less than $100 (not that the camera is worth much more anyway).

If you are not in a hurry, don't go for mint or excellent condition, and are prepared to foresee a minimum of CLA which you should in any case if you want to actually use the camera, you can still find a lot of very good value for money on the second-hand market. I have no experience with KEH, only with auctions on eBay though. I think with online auctions patience and going for normal conditions are key to make good bargains.

bblhed · Jun 14, 2011

In the last few months I have seen prices on a lot of stuff head up. Maybe all those people that were shooting LOMO decided they like film and now want cameras that offer more control.

Whatever the cause, lets hope that it is more people shooting film, and more people buying film. Having camera prices go up somewhat is a small price to pay for the security of knowing that film is still going strong.

pbromaghin · Jun 14, 2011

I've had GAS for the last 4-5 years (now thankfully controlled with medication) and it seems to me that prices got real low with the financial crisis and recession but have increased a quite a bit in the last year.

CGW · Jun 14, 2011

pbromaghin said:
I've had GAS for the last 4-5 years (now thankfully controlled with medication) and it seems to me that prices got real low with the financial crisis and recession but have increased a quite a bit in the last year.

Like many, I was into bingeing between 2007-10 when prices were low--ridiculously so in the case of most medium format systems--which cleared the market of a horde of great quality gear. There's just not as much in circulation now, particularly EX+ or better merch, compared to 3-4 years ago. More people after a shrinking supply only chases prices in one direction. Only a serious reduction in film choices and/or increase in prices will change things.

Film camera prices?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency