Prices on Medium Format Film Gear

[mshchem]

Fiat currency. Thhhpp!!!

Buy as much mint Hasselblad stuff as you can find.

Trade it for a nice 3 bedroom home after the stock market collapse!



Carry On!!!

 

[awty]

I thought it was generation y that followed generation x that followed the baby boomers and millenniums were born after 2000......so confusing.

I have a Bessa 1 that cost $50 and takes pretty good 6x9 pictures and folds away into a nifty leather case. Think I could do just as good a picture with that than a $2000 6x9.
Maybe I should do a YouTube vid.

 

[Pieter12]

Fiat currency. Thhhpp!!!

Buy as much mint Hasselblad stuff as you can find.

Trade it for a nice 3 bedroom home after the stock market collapse!



Carry On!!!

A. In what part of the world?
B. Stock market collapse? Before or after the next civil war?

 

[mshchem]

A. In what part of the world?
B. Stock market collapse? Before or after the next civil war?

It's so confusing. I'm going to build a nice shed in my back yard. I can live there. Rent the house to someone to make tax payments.

 

[reddesert]

Just buy an RB67 and live in that.

 

[Pieter12]

Just buy an RB67 and live in that.

An 8x10 would be roomier.

 

[Sirius Glass]

One of the ironic facets of the medium-format prices today is that most of those cameras will need at least a CLA if not a repair in the near future. And there are fewer parts and techs working on them, that can be an expensive and lengthy process. Sometimes not even possible.

Not a problem. Both Samys and KEH will do a CLA for free if the CLA is needed. Otherwise I include the CLA price in the cost. I do the same with 35mm and large format equipment.

 

[Pieter12]

Not a problem. Both Samys and KEH will do a CLA for free if the CLA is needed. Otherwise I include the CLA price in the cost. I do the same with 35mm and large format equipment.

That assumes either Samy's or KEH has the gear you want. I'm not sure either can or will do a CLA on all makes of camera and lenses. Including a CLA in the cost makes the price goes even higher than what some are already complaining about and adds to the wait time.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That assumes either Samy's or KEH has the gear you want. I'm not sure either can or will do a CLA on all makes of camera and lenses. Including a CLA in the cost makes the price goes even higher than what some are already complaining about and adds to the wait time.

Those two places were where I found most of the Hasselblad equipment I bought.

 

[reddesert]

An 8x10 would be roomier.

This is the problem, one thinks one just needs the basic necessity of shelter, and before you know it, you're trying to keep up with the Joneses.

 

[Pieter12]

This is the problem, one thinks one just needs the basic necessity of shelter, and before you know it, you're trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Or keeping up with the Deardorffs.

 

[grat]

I have a Bessa 1 that cost $50 and takes pretty good 6x9 pictures and folds away into a nifty leather case. Think I could do just as good a picture with that than a $2000 6x9.
Maybe I should do a YouTube vid.

I picked one up last year for around $60-- it needed some minor work. Looking on eBay right now, at the price history for the past week, they're selling for anywhere from $115 to $299, with the average hanging out around $150. Most of those, like mine, have the Vaskar lens.

 

[awty]

I picked one up last year for around $60-- it needed some minor work. Looking on eBay right now, at the price history for the past week, they're selling for anywhere from $115 to $299, with the average hanging out around $150. Most of those, like mine, have the Vaskar lens.

The Vaskar is a descent lens, very sharp stopped down. We'll do a you tube vid and get the price up to a grand by the end of the year .

 

[albireo]

It's not the `bearded millennials'.

Many `bearded millennials' have seen their disposable income shrink or disappear as a result of COVID-related redundancies. These people will if anything buy the cheapest point&shoot they can still find. Sure, a few in the US and elsewhere will buy the Pentax 67s and make videos on youtube - that doesn't mean there's only millennials or teenagers on the other side buying the kit.

It's the old retired wealthy boomers. They are sitting at home, bored during multiple COVID lockdowns, and buy the sexy MF cameras from the Japanese cartel sellers on ebay to see what the fuss is all about.

How do I know? Go check the medium format pages on Flickr. Plenty of new MF users showing 120 shots and proudly announcing:

"Scanned with a NIKON D850/Z7/SONY A9/ INSERT OTHER 4000$ digital camera" + 2000$ macro lens.

So there's a lot of digital 'power users' sitting on plenty of disposable income who are looking for a kick and are trying to avoid that their $$$ DSLR becomes a paperweight during lockdown.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Or, in relative terms, view YouTube videos on using cameras.
As an illustrative example, a screengrab of my computer folder with scanned manuals and other written resources:

Can I send you a thumb drive so you can make me a copy of your hard drive?

 

[ChristopherCoy]

It's not the `bearded millennials'.

I supposed the generation gap skews one's opinion somewhat, but as a 40's person I believe that it is the 20-30 year old bearded millennials. DSLR prices have gotten fairly cheap, but MF backs have not. It follows suit that some "influencer" on InstaFaceTube realized you could shoot MF film, scan it with a halfway decent 25+ mpx DSLR and have nearly the resolution of a Phase 1 digital back. Plus, that cool vintage gear looks "cool" hanging under their beards. I mean look at Willem Verbeek. Although he doesn't have a beard, he has 284,000 "followers", and every time he does a "review" of some new camera, prices go through the roof. He did it with the Mamiya 645 Super, and the RB67 recently. He sold himself out because he realized he could make money through his youtube channel. I quit following him after that, which is a shame because he's very talented.

 

[RokkorZ]

The best deals in MF are still the Japanese TLRs - Ricoh, Yashica, Minolta, even MPP are brilliant and provide some great MF images. Okay they're not Rolliflexes but they go for £80-£200 and some are super sharp.

Willem Verbeek and the like have opened up the realm of film MF to the YouTube masses but they mostly want an easy modern 35mm experience, and forget these older gems. Heck even the old Zeiss and Voightlander folders give great images for little money.

Who's carrying an RB67, Bladd or P67 around on location? I guess there are some people who would but really is it worthwhile unless it's a paid gig?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I watch a lot of Youtube videos on photography, and in almost 90% of them, its 20-30 year olds buying these cameras. So that is why I said Millenials. I dont see as many 50+ year olds still using film in the videos, but there are some. Most of the people my age are buying less expensive film cameras and using them in their darkroom setups. Shoot Like A Boss is an example.

I'm 76 and have used film from before digital, first 35mm, then 6x7 about thirty years ago. But I've gotten back into film with my RB67 and now a new 4x5. I think it's great younger people are getting involved. I watch YouTube blogs produced by a lot of young people involved in the hobby. It's great to see their enthusiasm. It also actually makes me feel younger again. And I learn a lot from them. When I learned to shoot decades ago, I was pretty much on my own. Today, the internet makes learning things and being open to new ideas and concepts a lot easier and a lot quicker. It's allowed me to combine film and digital as well as still and video clips into shows I can play on the internet, my monitor, and on my 4K TV. Progress has opened up a lot of creative possibilities that didn't exist before.

 

[Cholentpot]

I supposed the generation gap skews one's opinion somewhat, but as a 40's person I believe that it is the 20-30 year old bearded millennials. DSLR prices have gotten fairly cheap, but MF backs have not. It follows suit that some "influencer" on InstaFaceTube realized you could shoot MF film, scan it with a halfway decent 25+ mpx DSLR and have nearly the resolution of a Phase 1 digital back. Plus, that cool vintage gear looks "cool" hanging under their beards. I mean look at Willem Verbeek. Although he doesn't have a beard, he has 284,000 "followers", and every time he does a "review" of some new camera, prices go through the roof. He did it with the Mamiya 645 Super, and the RB67 recently. He sold himself out because he realized he could make money through his youtube channel. I quit following him after that, which is a shame because he's very talented.

I'd like to sell out please. As a bearded millennial this would be called 'success'.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I'd like to sell out please. As a bearded millennial this would be called 'success'.

Depends on your definition of success I suppose. Selling out, to me, means doing things that please others to make a buck. BTDT and it’s not worth it to me. I want to do my thing, to please me.

 

[shutterlight]

I supposed the generation gap skews one's opinion somewhat, but as a 40's person I believe that it is the 20-30 year old bearded millennials

The youngest millennials are now 26 and the oldest among us are 40. We're not as young as we used to be.

 

[Cholentpot]

Depends on your definition of success I suppose. Selling out, to me, means doing things that please others to make a buck. BTDT and it’s not worth it to me. I want to do my thing, to please me.

I do what I do to make a buck. If I get paid to wear a Tshirt while I do it who am I to complain? If they tell me not to do x y or z I guess I'll take off the shirt.

 

[RokkorZ]

I do what I do to make a buck. If I get paid to wear a Tshirt while I do it who am I to complain? If they tell me not to do x y or z I guess I'll take off the shirt.

That's a slippery slope my friend

 

[Cholentpot]

That's a slippery slope my friend

The more you near your destination

 

[bluechromis]

I'm seeing on Flea Bay prices for a Yashica Mat TLR between $600 - $750. I don't know if this has changed, but seems like a lot. On the other hand, a Meopta Flexaret can be had for $160 - $200 dollars. I have not owned either, but it is hard for me to see how the performance of the Flexaret would be dramatically worse than the Yashica Mat. I wonder if this is because when people venture into medium format they are sometimes encouraged to start with a TLR and if they can't afford a Rolleiflex, to get a Yashica Mat. But they don't realize that there were probably over a hundred manufacturers of TLRs, many of which had decent performance.