Prices on Medium Format Film Gear

[Arthurwg]

The sad trend on eBay is gradual disappearance of "Make an Offer" buttons on Japanese auctions. I guess the demand/supply pressure removed the incentives for sellers to offer that. I was lucky to negotiate a significantly lower-than-listed price for both my Blad and the M6 this way. Some domestic listings still have this feature, but I avoid non-Japanese sellers.

Prices from Japan are skyrocketing. Difficult to believe that they can get that money considering how much inventory is available and how much competition there is. . You might think that those prices will come down eventually.

 

[grat]

Prices from Japan are skyrocketing. Difficult to believe that they can get that money considering how much inventory is available and how much competition there is. . You might think that those prices will come down eventually.

Horseman 6x12 backs just jumped by about 75-85% in price.

 

[Steve Goldstein]

Are those asking prices or selling prices?

 

[grat]

Are those asking prices or selling prices?

Asking. Selling prices are all in the $500-550 range, with one crazy at $1000 in March. Now they're all being listed at $850+.

 

[Arthurwg]

Are these Japanese dealers a ...cartel?

 

[Sirius Glass]

I dunno...I find it hard to take you seriously after your latest claptrap in the Rose and Driftwood thread.

Oh? Lets take score then. In MF, I have the Hasselblad 503 CX, 30mm Fisheye, 50mm, 80mm, 100mm, 150mm, 250mm, 500mm, Hasselblad 903 SWC plus a Jobo processor and a color and black & white dark room. What do you have?

Have I embarrassed you again? If you start listening to me, your photographic life will be better.

 

[MattKing]

Oh? Lets take score then. In MF, I have the Hasselblad 503 CX, ...

You misunderstand - this is the post I was attempting to correct by adding "exists" after "depth of field" :

I have a more nuanced response to the fandom of shallow depth of field photography.
For anyone who comes from using a cel phone for most of their photography, the discovery that shallow depth of field is a revelation.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You misunderstand - this is the post I was attempting to correct by adding "exists" after "depth of field" :

Sorry, I quoted the wrong post. I agree with you on your post.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Oh? Lets take score then. In MF, I have the Hasselblad 503 CX, 30mm Fisheye, 50mm, 80mm, 100mm, 150mm, 250mm, 500mm, Hasselblad 903 SWC plus a Jobo processor and a color and black & white dark room. What do you have?

Have I embarrassed you again? If you start listening to me, your photographic life will be better.

Embarrassed me? Not in the slightest. I'm referring to the condescending, childish bullshit you posted in response to me in that other thread. I couldn't care less how much Hasselblad gear you have. "If you start listening to me..." Haha. Get over yourself already. I'm always tickled by those who have nothing but tripe to post in response to people's counter arguments. (Yes, I'm referring to you.)

 

[Sirius Glass]

Embarrassed me? Not in the slightest. I'm referring to the condescending, childish bullshit you posted in response to me on that other thread. I couldn't care less how much Hasselblad gear you have. "If you start listening to me..." Haha. Get over yourself already. Clown.

Be careful in the rain, the tin foil hat could short out your brain.

 

[Mike Lopez]

Be careful in the rain, the tin foil hat could short out your brain.

Look at me, I have nothing to say in response to your arguments, so I'm going to post a picture of Weird Al! And look at how much gear I have! Just look at this list of gear! Trust me, I must know what I'm talking about...have I told you about all my gear??? It sure would be nice if having shitloads of gear made one a good photographer. Oh well!

 

[Huss]

I thought this thread was about MF gear prices.

 

[BobD]

Two weeks ago I found a clean-looking Bronica SQ w/80mm, WLF and grip at an estate sale for $125. I snapped it up without even checking it out. I hadn't seen the prices on these for some time and figured they sold for about $300. I thought if it didn't work I could still sell it for at least what I paid. I got it home and everything works. Cool. Then I checked for asking prices and was shocked at what sellers were asking for these!

 

[grat]

You could sell the WLF and recoup the cost of the camera. Of course, then you wouldn't have a finder. There's a reason I have a 3D printed handle on mine-- I don't want to pay over $100 (with shipping) for a handle.

 

[BobD]

Two weeks ago I found a clean-looking Bronica SQ w/80mm, WLF and grip at an estate sale for $125. I snapped it up without even checking it out. I hadn't seen the prices on these for some time and figured they sold for about $300. I thought if it didn't work I could still sell it for at least what I paid. I got it home and everything works. Cool. Then I checked for asking prices and was shocked at what sellers were asking for these!

Yes, I noticed the ridiculous prices on wind cranks. I would like to have one because mine has the grip only and no handle. Maybe I could just make a knob for it.

 

[Leolab]

you can get a crank handle 3d printed out of metal

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2360488

 

[grat]

you can get a crank handle 3d printed out of metal

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2360488

That's the one I printed-- but PETG has been working fine.

 

[Carlini Fotograf]

5 years ago I got my Bronica GS-1 in near mint condition, one 6x7 back, speed grip, Metered Eye Level Prism, 150mm
and 65mm lenses, and the bellows lens hood for $450 on eBay. That same setup is now on eBay for over $1300. Its interesting,
that now on eBay, quite allot of the medium format gear is mostly sold by Japanese camera dealers who have way overinflated
prices. Allot of other sellers have followed too.

But that's not to say there isn't still deals to still be found on eBay. You just have to have patience and keep searching. In the past year
after searching and searching everyday and weeding through all the over priced stuff.. Ive managed to get 8 TLR cameras and got great
deals on all of them.

These cameras I shoot with....
Yashica-Mat 2.8 in mint condition $99
Mamiya C2 with 105mm for $110
Mamiya C220 with 65mm blue dot lens in perfect working condition for $160
Mamiya C220 for $40 in good condition, I needed to do some lite restoration.

also found these too..
Mamiya C33 that is in perfect working condition for $55
Yashica A for $22 that was a total mess and I completely restored it back to good condition
Yashica A for $36 that was in near mint unused condition.
Yashica A for $40 that I repainted, totally redid the leatherette and cleaned all up.

All of these had good lenses, and good working shutters too

 

[Luckless]

Its interesting,
that now on eBay, quite allot of the medium format gear is mostly sold by Japanese camera dealers who have way overinflated
prices. Allot of other sellers have followed too.

Given that the "Sold" items on ebay tend to be in a similar ballpark to what's still up for sale for the most part, are they really 'over inflated prices', or are some people comparing really lucky lowball deals they've gotten, and assuming that is the 'fair value' of the cameras?

 

[Pieter12]

Given that the "Sold" items on ebay tend to be in a similar ballpark to what's still up for sale for the most part, are they really 'over inflated prices', or are some people comparing really lucky lowball deals they've gotten, and assuming that is the 'fair value' of the cameras?

Who is to determine the fair value of an item? It is the market--and ebay is a good example of that.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Ive managed to get 8 TLR cameras and got great
deals on all of them.

These cameras I shoot with....
Yashica-Mat 2.8 in mint condition $99
Mamiya C2 with 105mm for $110
Mamiya C220 with 65mm blue dot lens in perfect working condition for $160
Mamiya C220 for $40 in good condition, I needed to do some lite restoration.

also found these too..
Mamiya C33 that is in perfect working condition for $55
Yashica A for $22 that was a total mess and I completely restored it back to good condition
Yashica A for $36 that was in near mint unused condition.
Yashica A for $40 that I repainted, totally redid the leatherette and cleaned all up.

All of these had good lenses, and good working shutters too

View attachment 276453

What a beautiful portrait of beautiful machines. Good job on cleaning or repairing them.

 

[Carlini Fotograf]

What a beautiful portrait of beautiful machines. Good job on cleaning or repairing them.

Thanks I appreciate it!!!

 

[Carlini Fotograf]

Given that the "Sold" items on ebay tend to be in a similar ballpark to what's still up for sale for the most part, are they really 'over inflated prices', or are some people comparing really lucky lowball deals they've gotten, and assuming that is the 'fair value' of the cameras?

No I'm not comparing my lucky finds in the past year to what I think the market price should be.. I'm comparing it with
what things normally sold for from 2012-2018.. I thought this thread was a discussion about how prices went up.

Besides being a published working photographer for 37 years... For a side business and hobby, Ive been buying, restoring, and reselling medium and
large format cameras and lenses on eBay since around 2000. Today, Japanese camera dealers who now have 75% of the medium format film
gear for sale on eBay, really kind of set the market price for what everyone else is listing theirs at. Prices remained the same from about 2012 to 2018
and then all of sudden when 20 something millennial and gen Z hipsters decided Film Cameras, Vinyl records, Cassettes and lots of other stuff from the 70s
and 80s was cool...These same Japanese camera dealers then doubled and tripled their prices and all other sellers soon followed suite. Its the exact same
with Vinyl records. I search eBay every night and watched as things soon went way up. Don't get me wrong, it's great for resale, but sucks when you need something.

Like I wanted a few extra 120 6x7 film backs for my Bronica GS-1... in 2018 they were $75 each.. now they are almost $180. My Bronica GS-1 outfit has tripled in
selling price. Paid $450 for it in 20016 and now that whole outfit is selling for $1300...or at least that's what the Japanese camera dealers have them listed at.

 

[campy51]

Everything I have has been bought much lower that present market value and thought about selling it off but as long as prices keep rising I will hold onto it unless I find something I want. I recently sold off a Hasselblad 503CW to fund a Mamiya 6. I also have a 500 C/M so I really didn't give up much but gained portability. I wish it was the Mamiya 7 since I have too many 6x6 cameras.

 

[4season]

I know that it's boring and no one really wants to be reminded of it, but since April 2020, the S&P 500 composite stock index is up 44%+. Sometimes the stock market soars, sometimes it crashes, but over the long haul, it tends to pay a whole lot better than the crummy interest rates from a bank or money market account, where interest earned on a $10,000 balance might be something like $1.50: Forget about buying a Hasselblad at those rates!