Prices on Medium Format Film Gear

[shutterlight]

nd then basically all AF SLRs, which score a zero on aesthetics/hipness.

Not sure about that. As I mentioned earlier, a Nikon F100 in EX+ condition was going for $440 earlier this week. I bought one in EX+ condition from KEH in 2010 for $199.

In practice, do you mean more consumer AF SLRs? If so, I can see that being the case.

 

[macfred]

35mm has gone up a little bit, but the big price increases are on medium format film cameras ...
... Other medium format film cameras also have gone up ...
Im glad I got my cameras when I did ...

I also try to look at the situation positively ... Every time I'm on ebay and see the current prices for my Fuji's, for my Rolleiflex or for the Super Ikonta, I think: Oh, again become more valuable ... !

 

[abruzzi]

Not sure about that. As I mentioned earlier, a Nikon F100 in EX+ condition was going for $440 earlier this week. I bought one in EX+ condition from KEH in 2010 for $199.

In practice, do you mean more consumer AF SLRs? If so, I can see that being the case.

Not the person you were responding to, but I think there are exceptions in the AF 35mm zone like the Nikon F100 or the Pentax MZ-S which are still seen as desirable, but things like the Nikon F4 are still pretty cheap (though the F4 seems to be climbing a bit.). So, yeah, mostly consumer AF, but it’s not always that straight forward since the Pentax wasn’t a pro camera but still is climbing in value.

 

[reddesert]

In the old days a company that buys gear and resells it was called a "camera shop." A lot of them closed. Now there are new ones, but to survive they have to have an internet presence and address a fresh audience. A younger man took over the remaining camera store in my city; there's a camera shop in Portland that specializes in mechanical cameras and typewriters. These provide a service to people who want a camera that is serviced or at least guaranteed, rather than buying stuff that might or might not work on ebay.

Stores can't simply jack up prices on their own; there has to be an increase in demand as well. If the shops help to foment an increase in demand by marketing to a new audience, that's part of film revival.

 

[Pieter12]

But they can buy the market where direct sellers sell empty.
Brick an mortar camerashops also bought cheap and sold expensive, but at least they did not actively bought anything on the market, they bought when people brought their gear in.

Physical shops bought from estates and sometimes (depending on demand) would actively advertise looking for used gear. But most preferred to make money on two transactions, having customers who would trade in equipment towards a new purchase and make money reselling the trade-in (like car dealers).

 

[mawz]

Note the 'Poor Millenial barista' stereotype is just that, a stereotype. Most millennials are in their 30's now and in their peak earning years. Some are broke for sure, but most are actually doing as well or better than their generational predecessors of GenX.

Generation X is now in their 40's and 50's BTW, the youngest of us are early 40's. Boomers are 60+ now except for the very trailing edge born in the early 60's.

It's worth noting that the 'low' prices everyone is quoting are from the days of the film gear glut. Those prices were low because there was much more stock than demand. This have changed and while there are some absolutely stupid prices now on some items which are fad-driven (or just Veblen goods in the case of Hasselblad, which has become the MF Leica), overall the market is a lot closer to where it should be, especially if you consider what a decent CLA costs. The other aspect is that much of the available MF kit is in the hands of people who actually shoot film. The days of widespread 'bag of old gear in the closet' is now a digital thing, not a film thing. That bag of gear in the closet is more likely to be based around a D700 or 5DII than a 500CM or M645.

 

[cptrios]

Most millennials are in their 30's now and in their peak earning years.

As a 37-year-old who's never made more than $38,000 in a year, I deeply resent this term!

 

[Pieter12]

As a 37-year-old who's never made more than $38,000 in a year, I deeply resent this term!

You must be an artist or musician.

 

[cptrios]

You must be an artist or musician.

Worse...teacher.

 

[mawz]

Worse...teacher.

Time to move systems, that's less than half the average salary for a teacher in your State (2018-2019 average for Mass. is $82,042)

 

[Wayne]

The 30's are in no way the "peak earning years" for men anyway

 

[mshchem]

Worse...teacher.

The people who teach our children, take care of our sick and elderly, and prepare our food, are treated terribly. It's a huge problem, people can't afford transportation and a place to live.

 

[mshchem]

I was browsing around Ebay last night. There's not much NEWER Hasselblad stuff there. Usually Japan dealers, very expensive. I suspect a lot of the nice items have flowed to places like China.
Reminds me of gentrification, the folks that used these cameras, can't afford to buy them.

 

[Kino]

Worse...teacher.

What camera are you looking/lusting after?

 

[Pieter12]

We are treating them quite well by paying huge taxes. Unfortunately, they go to the wrong pockets. It would be more correct to say "they" and point a finger at specific state/government. Also, a teacher can mean many different professions. This quick search reveals a different number, at least for public school teachers. Not extravagant, but the difference is significant.

I really don't want to let this thread get hijacked, but we pay ridiculously low taxes compared to the rest of the industrialized world and in return we get mediocre education and expensive health care.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I really don't want to let this thread get hijacked, but we pay ridiculously low taxes compared to the rest of the industrialized world and in return we get mediocre education and expensive health care.

We also get crumbling infrastructure, filth, and vast corporate giveaways (corporate socialism) to favored industries.

 

[Pieter12]

@Pieter12 That's a myth which you can disprove for yourself with 30 seconds of thinking and some googling, let's not hijack this thread indeed. But if you want to see where your taxes go, at least for California, let me present your our platoon of $500K/year police captains. Find me an "industrialized nation" where a police captain takes half a million dollars a year from taxpayer's pockets. Or poke around. You'll find a $1,000,000/year prison dentists, professors banking over a million at public universities, and then tell me again how we "underfund our education". We have an unprecedented degree of looting of public funds happening, yet the uninformed continue to believe we don't pay enough.

It's the piss-poor allocation of funds, not that we pay high taxes. Lobbying, political favors and corruption leach funds from needed services and institutions.

 

[Kino]

Can we get back to the topic?

Thanks.

 

[grat]

@Pieter12 That's a myth which you can disprove for yourself with 30 seconds of thinking and some googling, let's not hijack this thread indeed. But if you want to see where your taxes go, at least for California, let me present your our platoon of $500K/year police captains. Find me an "industrialized nation" where a police captain takes half a million dollars a year from taxpayer's pockets. Or poke around. You'll find a $1,000,000/year prison dentists, professors and football coaches banking millions at public universities, and then tell me again how we "underfund our education". We have an unprecedented degree of looting of public funds happening, yet the uninformed continue to believe we don't pay enough.

You're conflating two separate issues-- we, as Americans in general, pay low taxes. But they are allocated very poorly by our supposed representatives in the government.

 

[Kino]

Seriously what the heck does all this have to do with the price of Medium Format Gear?

Don't wonder why people avoid this site.

 

[grat]

Seriously what the heck does all this have to do with the price of Medium Format Gear?

People being foolish with their money?

 

[Pieter12]

Seriously what the heck does all this have to do with the price of Medium Format Gear?

Don't wonder why people avoid this site.

A chicken in every pot, a medium format camera in every home.

 

[cptrios]

What camera are you looking/lusting after?

Makina 67 please! More realistically, a GS645S and GW690.

 

[Kino]

Makina 67 please! More realistically, a GS645S and GW690.

Well, if you are going to wish, wish big! Good luck!
I have far more prosaic cameras; Mamiya 645, Rollicords, Kiev 88, Yashicamat 124G, etc., Those are too rich for my blood.

 

[mshchem]

A chicken in every pot, a medium format camera in every home.

Yes, back to the subject. I received a lens from Japan yesterday, minty as they say, price was high, but when you are buying something that was $3000, 20 years ago it's cheap. Early 2000's I was able to buy a Hasselblad 501C, they were all black, 80CB lens, 150 CF, 2 backs, WLF, 45°prism, $1100 ! This was during the great flush. Pros that wrote off the equipment, and adopted the pixels.
Those days are ancient history. Like the guys who found nice yellow lumps of metal in California. Didn't last long.