RB67 parts and the whims of the marketplace

So, Sekor C lenses, which briefly were plentiful, are now not so much. Still relatively cheap though, except the fish eye and 500mm of course. I looked for a 360mm Sekor C over this last week and only found mislabeled older ones on the 'bay and none at KEH.

OTOH, Pro SD backs are flooding eBay courtesy of Japanese sellers. For a while, you couldn't find these except for relatively expensive rarities and KEH ($), but now there's a crap-ton out there for ~$100 *including shipping* on the 'bay.

I managed to hoard 10 of them over the last few years, wondering when the world was going to run out of these desirable, light-seal-free backs. I guess not any time this week! Snap'em up if you need one or ten. (I'm not selling any of them btw)

Yes there seems to be a lot of RB stuff offered from Japan recently, I made some purchases a year OK that went smoothly. Also I see other classic film cameras from there, such as the Fuji MF rangefinders.
I find myself wondering why we are seeing so much on offer from Japan. Is it a change in the ebay rules about international listings? Is it a change in the international mail services? Or are Japanese un-hoarding while there is still a market?

Yes, it's very interesting, and probably unknowable from distant Philadelphia. This and the remaining stocks of discontinued film are a nice soap opera right about now, and I promise to follow it without buying anything. Much.

Btw, I've had nothing but good experiences so far with Japanese sellers on eBay.

What I find interesting, so many cameras were trashed instead of being fixed because of repair cost vs availability. why aren't any of those older series broken n non functioning cameras hitting the streets for parts? Are people hording them just in case or maybe want to DIY someday?

I sold off nearly 25 RBs n tons of lenses for parts and working just in the past few years to clean out my closets. I still have a few left as paper weights or to has as "incase" situations if I needed for my cameras.

I have a Japanese friend - he thinks that a lot of these cameras were purchased new or almost new years and years ago, and culturally, the Japanese had less of a "disposable" mentality and cared for the gear, even though many were just hobbyists. As those people have aged out or died, their families are coming across the stuff and selling it to dealers - so maybe it's a generational/cultural thing that's hit its time?

They should be kept around! And if that's what the Japanese were doing then kudos!

Me, I bought a second Pro body rather than upgrade to a Pro S so I could have backups of all original parts. The only redundancy I have in lenses is in owning both the 100-200mm zoom and the 90/127/280 primes. (edit: 180mm prime... no I don't own the world's only 280mm for this camera )

tedr1 said:

Yes there seems to be a lot of RB stuff offered from Japan recently, I made some purchases a year OK that went smoothly. Also I see other classic film cameras from there, such as the Fuji MF rangefinders.
I find myself wondering why we are seeing so much on offer from Japan. Is it a change in the ebay rules about international listings? Is it a change in the international mail services? Or are Japanese un-hoarding while there is still a market?

Click to expand...

Could also be that the Japanese Economy isn't doing as well as in the past... Or, as suggested, the old super-collectors have passed and the youngsters are clearing out the closets.