Inflation...

[ChristopherCoy]

Remember back in 2012... when you thought you'd give film processing a try, and you bought an entire dark room with the enlarger and all accessories for a 10 cent bid on eBay? Or when you responded to the "just get it out of my garage" post on craigslist and picked up film equipment for free? But then you got stupid and sold everything, or dropped it off at Goodwill cause you didn't want to mess with selling it, but now those 10 cent deals and free stuff are long gone and you're looking at paying ridiculously inflated used prices cause film is hip now?

yeah... good times.

(and I really did win an eBay auction for a 10 cent bid)
(and yes, I really did sell everything and donated everything else cause I thought I was done with photography)
(and yes, I really could kick myself in the ass right now)

 

[Tim Stapp]

I've done that, but not with photography. However, to your point: enlargers are no longer following me home like stray cats!

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I've done that, but not with photography. However, to your point: enlargers are no longer following me home like stray cats!

I know right.

There's currently a Cadet enlarger on eBay and the bid is at $150!!!

 

[M.A.Longmore]

I know right.

There's currently a Cadet enlarger on eBay and the bid is at $150!!!

I've done that, but not with photography. However, to your point: enlargers are no longer following me home like stray cats!

.
If an enlarger followed me home now, I would have to disinfect it with my tea tree oil solution before my wife would allow me to bring it inside . . .

***** Public Service Announcement *****
Tea Tree Oil Is Toxic To Cats, And Dogs.
Spray Carefully !

 

[wyofilm]

I always hear about great deals people got on enlargers. I have never been one of those people. If one wants a 4x5 enlarger that doesn't look like it was driven over by a truck $800 or more, sometimes way more is the price.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I always hear about great deals people got on enlargers. I have never been one of those people. If one wants a 4x5 enlarger that doesn't look like it was driven over by a truck $800 or more, sometimes way more is the price.

That one eBay deal I got was a once in a lifetime change. Some guy in Denver had bought all this equipment in the 90's to learn photography and then never did anything with it. It was all shipped in original boxes. He put it up on eBay for a starting bid of $0.10 with free shipping!! I was the only bidder, and it was like 2pm in the afternoon on like a Tuesday or something.

Another time, I responded to a craigslist add where parents were cleaning out their attic and were giving away their child's college stuff. Apparently one of their children had taken photography in college. It to was a complete dark room.

10 years ago when I was dabbling in film, these sorts of things happened all the time. l

 

[ic-racer]

The inflation calculator indicates that what cost $10 in 2012 would cost $11.24 today.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

The inflation calculator indicates that what cost $10 in 2012 would cost $11.24 today.

$0.10 TEN CENTS.

 

[Tim Stapp]

I paid the whopping sum of $20 for my Beseler CB7 4x5 enlarger. I've been given two 23CIIs and paid $40 for a new, in box color head for one of them. With my JOBO, I have less than $500 invested in my darkroom. One of the 23Cs was part of a darkroom lot that was given to me. Included was a sealed bottle of HC110 and one of Afga Rodinal. Both were still good.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I paid the whopping sum of $20 for my Beseler CB7 4x5 enlarger. I've been given two 23CIIs and paid $40 for a new, in box color head for one of them. With my JOBO, I have less than $500 invested in my darkroom. One of the 23Cs was part of a darkroom lot that was given to me. Included was a sealed bottle of HC110 and one of Afga Rodinal. Both were still good.

Was this recent?

 

[logan2z]

I paid the whopping sum of $20 for my Beseler CB7 4x5 enlarger. I've been given two 23CIIs and paid $40 for a new, in box color head for one of them. With my JOBO, I have less than $500 invested in my darkroom. One of the 23Cs was part of a darkroom lot that was given to me. Included was a sealed bottle of HC110 and one of Afga Rodinal. Both were still good.

Wow, now I feel like I overpaid for my near mint 23C II XL I paid $150 for it about about two years ago. It came with a Gralab 300 timer, film developing tanks/reels/thermometer/etc, 35mm negative carrier, all of the original books/manuals, MG contrast filters, safe lights and a bunch of other stuff. It was very well taken care of and has worked flawlessly. Despite not being free I think it was a good deal

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I picked up some analog bargains for the 20 years as photographers dumped their analog gear to buy their digital toys. The way I see it, I took a risk at buying gear nobody wanted. The purging of analog gear allowed me to buy gear that I could only dream of while I was an undergrad back in the 80's. Now those low prices are long gone. The upside is people are interested in film and analog photography again.

 

[wiltw]

To put some perspective on this bemoaning the rising enlarger equipment prices, 3 decades ago I spent $4700 to acquire via NYC mailorder what was $8700 MSRP. The 4x5 enlarger without lenses, but with an electronic color head was $2300.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

To put some perspective on this bemoaning the rising enlarger equipment prices, 3 decades ago I spent $4700 to acquire via NYC mailorder what was $8700 MSRP. The 4x5 enlarger without lenses, but with an electronic color head was $2300.

I paid over $3000 for my Beseler 45MXT back in 1982.
My wife spotted a whole darkroom set at our local thrift store with the same enlarger, a Zone IV 16x20 print washer, 8 boxes 16x20, 11x14 grade of Seagull paper, 16x60 bladed easel, a Peak grain focused, safelights and a bunch of chemicals for $100. Needless to say, I bought it before somebody else could. Most people saw it as old useless junk.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I always hear about great deals people got on enlargers. I have never been one of those people. If one wants a 4x5 enlarger that doesn't look like it was driven over by a truck $800 or more, sometimes way more is the price.

I had to sell mine for $100 because nobody offered more.

 

[btaylor]

I am amazed at the change in enlarger prices. I picked up a couple of nice darkrooms for a few $ on CL from people who didn’t want to just throw it away. A Beseler 45 with a dichro color head, lenses, carriers, etc for $75. They wanted me to take more but I didn’t want to haul more stuff in the car. The prices are surprisingly high for stuff that was going to be tossed just a few years ago.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

those bargains still exist, but you have to be in the right place at the right time. I had someone GIVE me a Beseler 45V-XL about three years ago. With the color head. The photo school where I teach gets darkroom donations regularly, often including enlargers. A friend of mine developed arthritis and can't shoot her large format stuff any more, so in a fit of downsizing, two weeks ago she gave me her Gitzo tripod, a very nice 11x14 light box, a densitometer, some contact printing frames, and a whole bunch of pristine 1L graduates, stirrers, trays and other miscellanea.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Let's extend this discussion to Hasselblad V system cameras. Have any of you followed the way the prices of backs, 80mm, and 100mm lenses are going? Amazing. And clean Acute Matte screens can be close to $500 now. Fortunately here in USA, Sinar Bron in New Jersey still accepts the V stuff for maintenance and repair.

 

[guangong]

I never lost faith in film, so nothing was dumped. Bought my Leicas for real money. For my Hassy 1000F, with adapters I used my Leitz and used Killfit lenses. During digital age I have been able to by a Hasselblad cm to back up my 2000FCM, among with some Hasselblad lenses I could never afford before. I am always minutes behind the guy who gets the bargains at Thrift stores.

 

[muhco3]

Yes this unfortunately applies to all of photography supplies new and used , for example Kodak film prices ,processing chemicals and cameras , this probably due to the sudden popularity of analog photography in recent years

 

[NB23]

I always hear about great deals people got on enlargers. I have never been one of those people. If one wants a 4x5 enlarger that doesn't look like it was driven over by a truck $800 or more, sometimes way more is the price.

shiiiit!!
2 years ago a dude left a 4x5 enlarger in the backstreet, and I couldn’t fet it Inside the house, I already had 4 focomats. It finally got picked up by a garbage truck

 

[jtk]

This isn't "inflation"...it's demographics.

Office-slave boomers started to retire around a decade ago.

If they were still married, with or without children, gay or straight, they wanted to hide out in darkrooms. That created sudden demand.

The people who wanted darkroom equipment simply didn't know how good scanners and inkjet printers had gotten...the people who knew that were pros or (like me) former pros.

Pros were mostly digital by 2000.

 

[AndyH]

Let's extend this discussion to Hasselblad V system cameras. Have any of you followed the way the prices of backs, 80mm, and 100mm lenses are going? Amazing. And clean Acute Matte screens can be close to $500 now. Fortunately here in USA, Sinar Bron in New Jersey still accepts the V stuff for maintenance and repair.

Absolutely! I barely got in on the tail end a little more than a year ago. The market is going crazy, although I think there may be a reset due to the economic impact of COVID 19.

What will be the next brand or item to go crazy in the marketplace? I've already missed the days of bargain Mamiya MF gear, I personally thin Bronica will be next.

A

 

[jim10219]

If you wait long enough, the prices will fall again as people realize how much of a pain they are to use.

I'm just happy that for once, I am on the right side of the price spike. I bought several when they were low priced (each had different features that allowed me to convince myself that I needed them), and now I'm selling off all but one (because it turns out I need the space more than those features).

And as for who's buying them, I've been selling all of mine to millennials, so far. They seem to enjoy the process more than the results. This is a generation that hasn't had the opportunity to make much by hand, since almost everything is done by computer these days.

 

[perkeleellinen]

The people who wanted darkroom equipment simply didn't know how good scanners and inkjet printers had gotten...

Or they associated computers with their job and wanted to switch off for their hobby.