KEH low inventory

[Theo Sulphate]

I don't see the specifics. They must appear later in the thread?

Yes, starting on page 4 and continuing, there are very specific comments and examples about why many preferred the old to the new.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I cant ever find shit on the website

i rather shop on ebay and take my chances

I have never had the need to buy shit at the KEH website or any other location.

So are you talking about an operator assisted failure [AKA OAF, as in the oaf did this or the oaf did that]? Jus' sayin'

 

[Naples]

Yes, starting on page 4 and continuing, there are very specific comments and examples about why many preferred the old to the new.

Yeah, I see those now, along with posts by those who like the new KEH website, e.g., "After learning how to use it, I much prefer the new website" (p. 4). I dunno. I've used only the new site, find it easy to navigate, have purchased a camera and accessories from them, and have had a great experience.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Yeah, I see those now, along with posts by those who like the new KEH website, e.g., "After learning how to use it, I much prefer the new website" (p. 4). I dunno. I've used only the new site, find it easy to navigate, have purchased a camera and accessories from them, and have had a great experience.

I'm glad it's to your liking. I will buy from KEH when there's something specific I'm looking for. Apparently their site is optimized for that. However, for casual browsing, which is what I used to do there and which accounted for 80% of my purchases, I just won't do that there anymore.

Despite all this chatter, I appreciate KEH very much and hope they are able to maintain a large and high-quality inventory. One of my favorite local camera shops just shut down (it's now online-only), so I hope KEH can stay with us for a very long time.

 

[Sirius Glass]

One could also dial the 800 telephone number and order from a real person.

 

[ChipMcD]

Del's was fantastic. I was only there one time, but what a GAS factory!.

 

[pgomena]

I've noticed in recent years that their MF stock goes down significantly during the spring/summer wedding season.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I've noticed in recent years that their MF stock goes down significantly during the spring/summer wedding season.

I wonder if that is a result of my GAS purchases from them.

 

[winger]

I'm on their e-mail subscription list and got an e-mail saying they've raised the prices they're paying for used equipment.

 

[Xmas]

Supply and demand lots of kit is so cheap when it breaks it is parts or landfill.

Sover Wong says replacing F2 shutters is not economic.

 

[Uncle Bill]

My only beef with KEH is their shipping options to Canada, I wish they had a USPS option instead of shipping everything by Fed-Ex.

 

[barzune]

My only beef with KEH is their shipping options to Canada, I wish they had a USPS option instead of shipping everything by Fed-Ex.

++

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

What the heck happened to KEH?

Just now I type in "mamiya tlr" in their search box and got just four (4!) hits! Two beat up bodies, one lens, and a cheap body cap.

Then I went over to the Ugly Auction Site and typed in the same thing and got 394 hits, consisting of everything imaginable under the sun.

Yikes... In the past I can recall pages and pages of used Mamiya TLR equipment available across all grades on KEH. I used to regularly monitor the prices for that stuff. Now? It's a ghost town. Crickets chirping. Looks like the fat lady has finished and has packed her bags and is standing out by the bus stop. In the rain.

How sad.



Ken

 

[Sirius Glass]

What the heck happened to KEH?

Just now I type in "mamiya tlr" in their search box and got just four (4!) hits! Two beat up bodies, one lens, and a cheap body cap.

Then I went over to the Ugly Auction Site and typed in the same thing and got 394 hits, consisting of everything imaginable under the sun.

Yikes... In the past I can recall pages and pages of used Mamiya TLR equipment available across all grades on KEH. I used to regularly monitor the prices for that stuff. Now? It's a ghost town. Crickets chirping. Looks like the fat lady has finished and has packed her bags and is standing out by the bus stop. In the rain.

How sad.



Ken

Go to Pasadena and buy the cameras before KEH makes an offer.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Go to Pasadena and buy the cameras before KEH makes an offer.

If I were still able to shoot up the 605 to the 210, I might just take you up on that. Bought all of my major darkroom equipment (all still in use) from just south of there at Frank's Highland Park Camera. If you were anywhere in the greater Los Angeles area back in the day you'll likely remember it.

An interesting Frank's footnote... I called from up here a few years back right before they finally closed for good, looking for a 4x5 glass plate holder for my Omega D5. His elderly daughter Jana (she was a teenager in the full-page ads back then) answered the phone. She was kind enough to actually put a very, very elderly Frank on the line, so I got to say thanks directly all of those 40+ years later.

A nice bit of circle closing.



Ken

 

[mgb74]

What the heck happened to KEH?

Just now I type in "mamiya tlr" in their search box and got just four (4!) hits! Two beat up bodies, one lens, and a cheap body cap.

Then I went over to the Ugly Auction Site and typed in the same thing and got 394 hits, consisting of everything imaginable under the sun.

Yikes... In the past I can recall pages and pages of used Mamiya TLR equipment available across all grades on KEH. I used to regularly monitor the prices for that stuff. Now? It's a ghost town. Crickets chirping. Looks like the fat lady has finished and has packed her bags and is standing out by the bus stop. In the rain.

How sad.



Ken

They recently has a "sale" (20% of film gear IIRC), which may have something to do with it. And you can't draw generalized conclusions on one search. That said, I expect that over time we'll see less and less of older gear like Mamiya TLR.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

...you can't draw generalized conclusions on one search.

True, dat.

However, it might also be less than candid to not acknowledge that an enormous number of truths, especially in science, have been discovered whose initial observation or evidence was purely anecdotal.

Ken

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

And that's a very interesting second data point...

Ken

 

[GRHazelton]

KEH had a buyer that travelled all over and kept them well stocked. That buyer has moved to Roberts Camera in Indianapolis. They are trying to position themselves to take over the market from KEH.

Interesting. I've noticed that Roberts has a good assortment in focal-plane shutter Bronica gear, much better at this time than KEH. Good prices, too. I'd hope that there'd be room for two first-rate used gear dealers. Certainly KEH has been my go-to for many years.

 

[contaxg2]

KEH had a buyer that travelled all over and kept them well stocked. That buyer has moved to Roberts Camera in Indianapolis. They are trying to position themselves to take over the market from KEH.

That's bad news in my opinion. I've bought 3 camera bodies from Roberts, all described as fully tested and functional. 2 of the 3 had major issues that kept them from being used at all on arrival. The first one they were quick to respond to and handled very well so I wrote it off as an abnormality. However the second time it happened they never responded to a single email and I had to file a complaint through eBay to get a refund. If you look at their feedback it seems that it is now standard for them not to respond to an issue until a formal complaint has been filed.

 

[GRHazelton]

That's bad news in my opinion. I've bought 3 camera bodies from Roberts, all described as fully tested and functional. 2 of the 3 had major issues that kept them from being used at all on arrival. The first one they were quick to respond to and handled very well so I wrote it off as an abnormality. However the second time it happened they never responded to a single email and I had to file a complaint through eBay to get a refund. If you look at their feedback it seems that it is now standard for them not to respond to an issue until a formal complaint has been filed.

Oogh! Not happy news! I bought a 50 mm Nikkor for my Bronica S2a. Rated "good" it arrive with a non-functioning diaphragm. With a phone call the problem was resolved, they sent me a return authorization shipping label, etc, and I exchanged it for one rated "very good" which is just fine. My loss? A week and a few dollars. But: Checking the diaphragm on this lens takes seconds. Why wasn't that done? Did they put that lens back into the queue for another customer? As the tabloids say, "Enquiring minds want to know."

 

[CatLABS]

Unfortunately, as a personal buying experience, i have had similar not so great experience with roberts. I had bought on separate occasions, several lenses and bodies. In most cases they were marked as good or better, but arrived less then so and in some cases down right unusable even if ugly.

To their credit, they took everything back and paid return shipping with no problems.

http://usedphotopro.com/usedlenses/...6-sironar-s-copal-1-large-format-lens-210-5-6 This one for example, which is listed as good - but has massive separation on both cells (which i really would not say if it would or would not affect image quality)

 

[John_Nikon_F]

KEH has diverted a lot of their inventory to their eBay account. At this time, their site lists EX+ grade black and EX grade chrome FM2n bodies. On their eBay account, they've been listing FM2/FM2n bodies sometimes two or three at a time every week or so for the past two months. With respect to the searching, when I entered "Nikon FM2n body" into the search box, yes, the first two hits were what I was looking for. Then, after that was every other Nikon-related item they sell. Used to be that I'd hit "Camera Store" at the top, choose Nikon 35mm from the next page, then open up a new tab for "Camera Bodies". Scroll down a bit, and *boom* there's what I was looking for. No 18-55 zooms, no V1 mirrorless camera kits, just FM2n bodies with the various grades listed. I guess they got bought out by the people who run Pepsi-Cola. At least, that's what the guy running their booth at the PSPCS swap meet last April said.

With respect to Roberts Camera, I really haven't had any issues with them. Bought a few bodies from them, plus some other items. Everything was either as advertised (like the latest arrival, a barely alive beater FM2n that they had listed on their site for the past 6-7 months), or better, like a couple black F2 bodies that I bought for $22-$30 each. Those were missing the back, open/close key, finder, and screen, but were mechanically fine. After sourcing the necessary parts for them, then putting them together, I had perfectly working cameras that I spent maybe $75-$100 on, if I went with a DP-12 F2AS finder. Both of those bodies were sold/traded for $150-$200. One went to another APUG member here, the other was traded, along with an FM2n body for a minty F5 at Kenmore Camera, which is a place that tries to out-KEH KEH when it comes to lowballing sellers.

-J

 

[Truzi]

John_Nikon_F, that's what really turned me off to their new web design, except I could search for a very specific item and get results from non-compatible brands (plus the fact that the search engine would not find things they did have). It got too frustrating, so I went elsewhere.

 

[mgb74]

Unfortunately, as a personal buying experience, i have had similar not so great experience with roberts. I had bought on separate occasions, several lenses and bodies. In most cases they were marked as good or better, but arrived less then so and in some cases down right unusable even if ugly.

To their credit, they took everything back and paid return shipping with no problems.

http://usedphotopro.com/usedlenses/...6-sironar-s-copal-1-large-format-lens-210-5-6 This one for example, which is listed as good - but has massive separation on both cells (which i really would not say if it would or would not affect image quality)

What I've found with Roberts/Usedphotopro is that you have to read the description very carefully, as opposed to relying on the overall rating (good, vg, exc). I've seen lenses listing as "very good" where the description including "light hazing" of the front and rear elements. Another lens listed as "good" included "Heavy haze on internal elements. Light fungus on rear element." in the description.

So, as opposed to the conventional wisdom with KEH that their overall ratings are conservative, Usedphotopro's are quite optimistic. But I've been satisfied with a couple of purchases from usedphotopro having read the description carefully.

Also, with respect to lenses, it seems KEH is more strict with condition of the glass than Usedphotopro is.