Wow... Just wow...

Picked up a KEH EX grade F5 from Kenmore Camera for $210. Came with everything except the stock "Nikon F5" strap and the manual. Even had the box. Swapped my spare F2AS and my FM2n in a straight across trade for it.

-J

I dont get it. You paid for a camera then swapped two cameras for the camera you bought?

This reduces the number of cameras in your collections.

I'm thinking he means they were asking $210, and he paid for it by trading in the other two cameras.

Enjoy the F5 John, I have one too and it quickly turned this Canon guy into a Nikon user.

I am confused... is it from KEH or Kenmore Camera?

I think he's saying it's from Kenmore, but KEH grading is well known so he's saying it's in the condition that KEH would list as EX.

Ah... ok.. to the OP... curious to how many shutter actuations... any idea?

Maybe I'm missing something here, but an average condition F2AS alone should be worth much more in trade than $210 - just looking at completed auction listings shows that. The FM2n is selling for a good price as well.

Anyway, the F5 gives you a great body for all the AF lenses including VR, plus a great matrix meter for color. The F5 should cost more :- )

Theo Sulphate said:

Maybe I'm missing something here, but an average condition F2AS alone should be worth much more in trade than $210 - just looking at completed auction listings shows that.

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They can't give him what the camera is selling for. They have to be able to turn around and sell it at a profit themselves.

Yes, that is the case, if you're selling it outright. Due to how used camera shops operate, though, an average condition F2AS frequently is only worth about $60-$90 in trade-in value. This one would've been what KEH calls BGN grade. Not much in the way of brassing, but it had the usual dings around the advance lever, and the MD-2/MB-1 was borderline UG grade with shrunken leatherette on one of the battery compartment doors, missing paint everywhere, and some corrosion on the MS-1 contacts. It also needed the dust seals, finder well pad, and the mirror cushion replaced. DP-12 wasn't in bad shape, but had the usual prong scrape across the "AS" on the nameplate. Bought the body from Roberts Camera on eBay for $22.50, plus shipping, the DP-12 from Pacific Rim Camera for $50 (was marked as not working - mounted it on a body when I got it, and noticed that it worked fine), and the MD-2/MB-1 for $50 from Glazer's Camera. So, it's not like I lost my shirt on it.

The FM2n was fairly clean, with minor brassing and had just been refoamed. I lost more cash on it, since I'd paid $120, plus tax for it, then added a refoam job, which was $48, plus tax. But, I'm ok with that. When I get another FM2n, it's going to be a body from the 7465xxx serial number range, which is what my original FM2n was from. If I wind up coming across my original body, great.

When I bought an F3P from KEH in 2013, I sent both my old F eyelevel with F-36 drive, a couple lenses, and my other F2AS (the one I still own and won't sell, since it received the full Sover Wong treatment). If I traded everything to them, I would've only been out the shipping cost for the F3P. Asked for a breakdown. Without the F2AS, they were willing to give me $450, which was $49 less than what the F3P was selling for. So, I had them box it back up and return it. Unfortunately, since the purchasing department is in a different area of the building, I wound up receiving two boxes, one containing the F2AS, and the other containing the F3P.

Kenmore's pricing has always been on the low side, especially in the past 3-4 years. In 2013, they had a low KEH BGN grade chrome F2AS listed at $149.50. Had some cosmetic damage to the DP-12, but was otherwise in good working order. The last black FM2n they had in inventory was a similar condition aluminum shutter body. Sold for $89.50.

With respect to the F5, yeah, it should've been priced higher. I would've expected to pay KEH about $349-$379 for it. But, I guess what drove the price down on it was the previous F5 they had, which was the one I owned last year. Got it in trade from BradleyK when he bought my F3P. They had it listed for $249.50. Apparently, it sold fairly quickly. Had a scuffed up and cracked MS-30 battery clip, and a small cut in the rubber grip below the self-timer LED. This current F5 is my tenth since 2007... And, pretty much the nicest one I've had. Already partially pimped it out with a BS-2 hot shoe cover from a D3 and a RRS L-bracket that I purchased for Mr. Keith's old camera.

With respect to Trythis's comment: What I did was to trade both the FM2n and the F2AS body toward the F5, which made the amount owed on the F5 nothing. Essentially, the only time the card came out was to buy the roll of film. What I should've asked is if they would've thrown the roll of film in with the camera. I wasn't expecting to do it, but, when I saw the condition of the F5, I knew that I wanted it badly enough.

-J

John,

From someone who spent years toiling in the retail salt mines, bless you for understanding how that stuff works.

John_Nikon_F said:

Kenmore's pricing has always been on the low side, especially in the past 3-4 years. which made the amount owed on the F5 nothing.

Click to expand...

They may need a high turnover for overheads, not a good sign for future.

Tamara said:

John,

From someone who spent years toiling in the retail salt mines, bless you for understanding how that stuff works.

Click to expand...

Tamara,

Not a problem. Been trading too much gear over the past 11 years, so I'm pretty familiar. I do know that, if I can find the same item at Glazer's Camera in Seattle, I typically will buy from them. Just get better trade-in values on gear through them usually. If not, then I have a choice, either take what Kenmore offers me, or pray that the item is still available when I've sold my gear some other way.

Xmas said:

They may need a high turnover for overheads, not a good sign for future.

Click to expand...

Not surprised. They did move into a new shop about a year ago. It doesn't help, though, that a former employee of theirs was notorious for lowballing customers, then, when the customers sold their gear, entering it in at a low price, selling it to himself, then eventually selling it back to the store (after it didn't sell on eBay) at a higher price. So, a lot of prices at the store have been artificially influenced by this kind of shady dealing. That, and the used equipment manager wants analog gear gone as soon as possible. He's willing to let digital gear sit on the shelves at a higher price, but wants the case mainly filled with that gear and not with the analog gear. Glazer's Camera, however, seems to be more balanced in their inventory for the most part. Film gear isn't an afterthought with them.

-J

Are you going to use it?

I paid $350 for mine a couple years ago. It's was virtually new,even has the covers for the sockets. No box,manual or other stuff but I bought it to use. Always wanted one but couldn't afford it then. Mine has the MF-28 control back. Everyone wants to see the picture.

Thanks for the explanation on the trade; it makes sense. Was just thinking earlier that maybe you could've gotten ~$250 for the F2AS on eBay. Personally, I, too, prefer to deal directly with a person at a real store and I do realize they have to offer quite a bit less so they can make a reasonable profit.

John_Nikon_F said:

... the used equipment manager wants analog gear gone as soon as possible. He's willing to let digital gear sit on the shelves at a higher price, but wants the case mainly filled with that gear and not with the analog gear. ...

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Are they reluctant to buy analog gear then? Pro Photo Supply in NW Portland no longer takes non-AI bodies or lenses and no longer takes manual focus Canon bodies or lenses. Not that I would dream of selling anything I have, it just reduces the number of places I can visit that has that stuff.

It depends... They still take the stuff, but expect to get almost nothing for it. The pro bodies (F and F2) typically have some value with them, but, not much. The only way you can get rid of a Nikkormat with Kenmore is to just donate it to them. Even if it's an FT3. I actually had better luck downtown at Glazer's when I had a black FT3 that I wanted to get rid of. Glazer's at least paid me $25 for it (I paid $40 for the camera off evilBay). You might want to head north for the PSPCS camera show & swap meet next month. Last year, I picked up a 180/2.8 ED AIS for $100. This year, going to try to source a finder for my spare F2, along with a back, open/close key, and battery cap. Maybe also some 50's for the Nikkormats I picked up in one of KEH's 6 camera lots that they frequently do.

Anyway, my old bodies are listed. F2AS with drive is going for $249.50, and the FM2n is going for $189.50. Grab'em quick.

http://www.kenmorecamera.com/c-1680-used-nikon.aspx

-J

MartinCrabtree said:

Are you going to use it?

I paid $350 for mine a couple years ago. It's was virtually new,even has the covers for the sockets. No box,manual or other stuff but I bought it to use. Always wanted one but couldn't afford it then. Mine has the MF-28 control back. Everyone wants to see the picture.

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Of course. Has a roll of Ektar loaded up already.

Yeah, my father thought my old F5 with MF-28 was my sister's D90. Checked it out to see if it was set up right, and fired off a couple shots. Thought it was strange that the photo didn't show up on the LCD. I think, at that time, he realized that he had grabbed the wrong camera.

IIRC, you must've bought it in the summer of 2013, right when I was selling a pretty clean example here on APUG to help fund a Nikon F3P resurrection project.

-J

F5 MF-28

Not to hijack this thread just needed to say Hi to Martin glad to see you are using the MF-28 back seeing I never would have.

John

Haven't really done anything more than imprint between the frames. Stuff this complicated takes me some time to acclimate. Thanks again for your generosity. Haven't gotten around to using the photo secretary yet.

John_Nikon_F said:

I actually had better luck downtown at Glazer's when I had a black FT3 that I wanted to get rid of. Glazer's at least paid me $25 for it (I paid $40 for the camera off evilBay).

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A clean-ish FT3 with 50 1.8 has just sold for £96.10 (about $143) on ebay uk. Nikkormat prices are all over the place. Well used examples are peanuts, nice ones sell for proper money, the lens helps of course.

To a non-aficionado, what are the main differences between an F4 and an F5? I've heard the F4 takes the widest range of Nikon lenses, in fact the widest range of any camera ever made. As someone with a number of manual pre-AI, AIS and AF lenses, which would be the better buy?

If you want metering with your older lenses, then the F4 is the way to go. The F5 eschews matrix metering with all the older ai and ais lenses. The F5 does, however, have a monster of an auto focus motor, has the matrix color meter that is amazing, shoots 8fps if you need it to, and is generally a badass in all respects.

blockend said:

A clean-ish FT3 with 50 1.8 has just sold for £96.10 (about $143) on ebay uk. Nikkormat prices are all over the place. Well used examples are peanuts, nice ones sell for proper money, the lens helps of course.

To a non-aficionado, what are the main differences between an F4 and an F5? I've heard the F4 takes the widest range of Nikon lenses, in fact the widest range of any camera ever made. As someone with a number of manual pre-AI, AIS and AF lenses, which would be the better buy?

Click to expand...

An F4 will let you mount non-AI lenses and meter them in stop-down mode. It does take all the modern lenses, but with some limitations for the newest, e.g. with G lenses you can't use Manual and Aperture-priority. You also can't make use of VR.

The F5 will let you mount and use all lenses except non-AI.

Check out: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

That said, the F4 has all-external discrete controls; on the F5 it's more like a digital camera.

I love my F4s's.

Theo Sulphate said:

An F4 will let you mount non-AI lenses and meter them in stop-down mode. It does take all the modern lenses, but with some limitations for the newest, e.g. with G lenses you can't use Manual and Aperture-priority. You also can't make use of VR.

The F5 will let you mount and use all lenses except non-AI.

Check out: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

That said, the F4 has all-external discrete controls; on the F5 it's more like a digital camera.

I love my F4s's.

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+ 1

+2

https://flic.kr/p/aq72zb

I like knobs and dials so I'll look for an F4. I've owned an F and F2 but no later pro Nikons.