WTH is going on? Cost increases in used MF gear??

[Roger Cole]

i can't imagine that every happening, and IDK about the film cameras vs cellphones that doesn't seem right
are you absolutely sure there are more people making photographs digitally these days, and with a phone than with film ?

Are you joking?

Everyone I know shoots tons of photos with their smartphone cameras. Most don't even know that you can still even get film.

 

[removed account4]

Are you joking?

Everyone I know shoots tons of photos with their smartphone cameras. Most don't even know that you can still even get film.

huh that is weird. i had no idea digital cameras and smart phone cameras were so popular.. people don't know you can get film ?
that is mind blowing .. are you sure ?!

 

[Roger Cole]

huh that is weird. i had no idea digital cameras and smart phone cameras were so popular.. people don't know you can get film ?
that is mind blowing .. are you sure ?!

Yes, I'm sure. I've been asked many times, even of my 35mm gear, "wow, can you still get film for that? Where can you get it developed?"

I can't think of a single person, at least under 70 years old, that I know that doesn't have a smart phone and use it to frequently take photos though.

 

[mark]

huh that is weird. i had no idea digital cameras and smart phone cameras were so popular.. people don't know you can get film ?
that is mind blowing .. are you sure ?!

Your sarcasm cup doth overflow.

 

[GRHazelton]

At least in the case of AF lenses for the Pentax 645n and 645nii, the introduction of the Pentax digital 645 cameras caused a price spike. There has been some increase in some of the used manual focus lenses, such as the truly excellent 35mm wide angle.

 

[Roger Cole]

Your sarcasm cup doth overflow.

If that was sarcasm it totally failed on me. It sounded like legitimate cluelessness.

 

[Luckless]

Good prices on decent gear are a bit all over the place, and finding the really good deals does take far more hunting now than what it would have around ten years ago or so. Two years ago I really wanted a 180mm lens for my C330 TLR to use as part of an upcoming project, and was therefore willing to pay a extra to buy from a source I felt confident in being able to get a working copy to me on time - I ended up paying around $200 CAD at that time. And now recently I found one in almost as good of shape being sold for less than $50 locally.

The initial glut of gear flooding the market due to working professionals switching to digital is over. We have a trickle of it coming and going as people shift focus or pass on, but we also have more and more examples of the gear going off the market and not coming back due to damage.

Good examples at a great price aren't likely to stick around easily accessible online sources for long: Someone is going to spot it and snap it up quickly, which leaves higher priced stuff as the only readily visible gear.
If you shop with the mindset of "I need X, and I'm going to go buy X this week", then you're going to be left with Y being a rather higher price. If however you shop with the mindset of "I have Y for a budget, and there is an X in the store that I wouldn't mind owning, and it just happens to fit that budget..." then you can keep the Y low and still get your X whatever.

 

[removed account4]

Yes, I'm sure. I've been asked many times, even of my 35mm gear, "wow, can you still get film for that? Where can you get it developed?"

I can't think of a single person, at least under 70 years old, that I know that doesn't have a smart phone and use it to frequently take photos though.

smart phone? does american telephone and telegraph know about these "smart phones" do they have "smart morse keys" or "smart baudot keyboards" as well ? i have seen pianos that play by themselves but still,
i find this to be nonsensical ! next thing you are going to tell me is that
people have antenna on their houses and visual entertainment piped in and viewed on something like a fluoroscope
or that dance "the charleston" isn't the bees-knees .. i'm starting to think you are joking !

btW op.. what is this "MF / Medium Format" you speak of? is it the "half plate" ?

 

[abruzzi]

do they have "smart morse keys" or "smart baudot keyboards" as well ?

My smart phone can do morse code. It even translates morse to text...

 

[Stephen Prunier]

smart phone? does american telephone and telegraph know about these "smart phones" do they have "smart morse keys" or "smart baudot keyboards" as well ? i have seen pianos that play by themselves but still,
i find this to be nonsensical ! next thing you are going to tell me is that
people have antenna on their houses and visual entertainment piped in and viewed on something like a fluoroscope
or that dance "the charleston" isn't the bees-knees .. i'm starting to think you are joking !

btW op.. what is this "MF / Medium Format" you speak of? is it the "half plate" ?

I find using my etch a schetch gives me much better black and white images than my smart ever could. Maybe I'm using a Dumb Phone? Does anyone know how I can use my RZ Pro II in hd video mode?

P.S. When I sold my RZ Pro outfit 2 years ago, It sold for 30% more than I paid for it 3 years earlier. When I decided to get back into MF I purchased the RZ Pro II. The 110mm 2.8 lens now goes for a lot more than 5 years ago. However the 180mm, 250mm, are still cheap.

 

[aoresteen]

With regards to the Pentax, it depends; I have seen significant price rises for a lot of that gear over the last year or so. The Pentax 67II is now very expensive (typically £2k+), but even the older models have also increased. The 105mm lens similarly commands a high price.

The P67 II has always been high but £2k+ is really high. 3 years ago I got two MLU bodies for a song. One was not repairable but the other was. I let Eric Hendrickson have the un-repairable 6x7 for parts. The other one re restored. Glad I got the 105mm back then as well. The 6x7 MLU bodies seem cheap compared to the P67 II.

 

[removed account4]

I find using my etch a schetch gives me much better black and white images than my smart ever could. Maybe I'm using a Dumb Phone? Does anyone know how I can use my RZ Pro II in hd video mode?

i can help you with the rz pro II
what you have to do is expose a whole bunch of frames one after the next, like you know kind of fast
you won't be able to do 24fps but do your best! then .. you are going to make contact prints and sequence them
exactly how you took them mount them on cards and put them on a ring. THEN comes the hard part
you will have to outbid me for this ...

no idea what you speak of when you say HD but i asked a local 14 year old and he told me "video" means moving pictures ..
hope that helps
and i have an etch a sketch but wasn't able to get it to do this ...
https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/egyptians-urn.56335/
i tried .. but it didn't work ...

 

[Ste_S]

IMO digital photographers (camera or phone) are photographers-first, antique-collectors not-at-all.

Very few living pros use film cameras...the big names from the 1990s are digital now (e.g. Salgado) and Kodak isn't capable of driving its own bus . The "market" has moved ahead.

It depends. Are they making money from selling prints ? Then they're probably shooting film, or at least working in the darkroom
Whilst Salgado doesn't shoot film anymore all his prints are wet printed from digital negs.
Salgado ditched film due to airport x-ray machines more than anything else.

 

[removed account4]

how did this turn into another one of these long winded tit for tat debates ?
obviosly parlementary rules are not being followed
so just use what you like and like what you use... even if it means
an etch a sketch, slinkey or morse code key ...
judging from the sorry state of the world today
it seems that photography has died and is having
a long funeral service ... now if you will excuse me
i have to ride my penny farthing to the coal mine
and then to the under taker.

ps.

Are they making money from selling prints ?

i am sure there are more people making money from new fangled prints than there are
people locked away in their dank basement breathing in fumes of hypochlorite and metol.

 

[jtk]

It depends. Are they making money from selling prints ? Then they're probably shooting film, or at least working in the darkroom
Whilst Salgado doesn't shoot film anymore all his prints are wet printed from digital negs.
Salgado ditched film due to airport x-ray machines more than anything else.

Oops, somebody missed the OT: the cost of MF gear. Salgado shoots digital. He also shoots digital films (I saw his very moving video in a movie theatre).

Given the types of images Salgado creates my guess is that the extraordinary detail resolution and range of full frame digital is a big reason he's abandoned MF film. That plus the infinitely smaller hassle of transporting (or sending) digital files the way many/most photojournalists do.

As for people "making money from selling prints" I'll simply ask how many have bought houses that way. Having done it with LF and 35mm Ektachrome (and virtually no prints), that's how I'd define "making money" photographically.

 

[jtk]

.

Salgado chimping. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3674140/videoplayer/vi3804082457?ref_=vi_nxt_ap

 

[jrhilton]

It sounded like legitimate cluelessness.

Brilliant - if you don’t mind I’m going to pinch this phrase and use it at work!

 

[removed account4]

Your sarcasm cup doth overflow.

thanks mark

It sounded like legitimate cluelessness.

yes roger i am legitimately clueless. i have been asleep for the past 40 years, and a beard to my feet.
i have no idea that cell phones and digital cameras exist or are so pupular and i've no idea
people don't know you can still get film .. LOL

 

[Theo Sulphate]

The age of low-priced medium format equipment is over...for now.

When photographers started switching to digital in the early 2000's, that was when unwanted medium format bargains could be found. Today, there's a somewhat renewed interest in film and there's also the fact that nice medium format equipment is becoming scarce.

I paid full price for my new Hasselblad equipment in 1994, but managed to get total bargains on several bodies and lenses even less than 10 years ago. My RB67 and Fuji medium format cameras and lenses were also bought then at a fraction of their original cost.

I suspect, as the generation of the 1940's-1960's gets older and passes, that medium format equipment will one again be available at low prices, but I wonder if there will be interest from that new generation in buying it.

 

[Ste_S]

Oops, somebody missed the OT: the cost of MF gear. Salgado shoots digital. He also shoots digital films (I saw his very moving video in a movie theatre).

Given the types of images Salgado creates my guess is that the extraordinary detail resolution and range of full frame digital is a big reason he's abandoned MF film. That plus the infinitely smaller hassle of transporting (or sending) digital files the way many/most photojournalists do.

As for people "making money from selling prints" I'll simply ask how many have bought houses that way. Having done it with LF and 35mm Ektachrome (and virtually no prints), that's how I'd define "making money" photographically.

Oops, I think someone missed the context of the post I was replying to.

As Salgado says in 'From My Land to the Planet", he changed because of airport x-ray machines. There may be other reasons, but that's the only one he's saying. Kodak apparently (unsuccessfully) tried to convince him that x-ray machines weren't damaging his Tri-X
He (more his lab/studio) still wet print from digital.

As far as I'm aware, Salgao hasn't shot any digital films. You're probably thinking of 'Salt of the Earth' which was shot by Wim Wenders

Re making money from selling prints - I never qualified it by saying it's enough to buy a house . Nice Strawman.
People charge more money on a per print basis for darkroom prints vs other prints. Some photographers, especially those in the fine art world, use that as an additional revenue stream.

 

[removed account4]

no clue what the
name dropping has to do
with the price of a hassy at KEH

looks like the undertaker needs to build a bigger coffin, so i have to go back in a few days.

 

[johnha]

There was certainly a price drop (wouldn't call it a crash) in the early 2000's, recently some specific gear has increased markedly whilst others have stabilised. From my perspective, the Mamiya C330f sells for double what I paid in '93, whilst Mamiya 645 & Bronica SQ prices have stabilised after falling a reasonable amount. Not long ago Lubitel prices were ridiculous. Fuji GF670 & Mamiya 7ii are both rare & very expensive, Fuji MF rangefinders are very hard to find in the UK. Pentax 6x7s are rare and sell very quickly, the 105/2.4 (originally one of the cheaper lenses) now goes for silly money.

Online purchasing provides a sellers market for those that aren't in a rush to sell (particularly if they break gear up into individual items - obscure accessories long out of production can be very rare & expensive). I've thought about selling some lenses, but I'm unwilling to break up a system for the price of a few lenses I might manage to sell at worthwhile prices.

 

[jtk]

Oops, I think someone missed the context of the post I was replying to.

As Salgado says in 'From My Land to the Planet", he changed because of airport x-ray machines. There may be other reasons, but that's the only one he's saying. Kodak apparently (unsuccessfully) tried to convince him that x-ray machines weren't damaging his Tri-X
He (more his lab/studio) still wet print from digital.

As far as I'm aware, Salgao hasn't shot any digital films. You're probably thinking of 'Salt of the Earth' which was shot by Wim Wenders

Re making money from selling prints - I never qualified it by saying it's enough to buy a house . Nice Strawman.
People charge more money on a per print basis for darkroom prints vs other prints. Some photographers, especially those in the fine art world, use that as an additional revenue stream.[/QUOTe

In Salt of the Earth you can see Salgado shooting digital...and, apparently, video with his DSLR.

Nice hedge about "making money." Thousands do it with modern cameras every day. I'd guess hundreds do it weekly with film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Would anyone be interested in starting a collaborative price tracking website? People could be assigned to track selling prices of various items on the auction site and classified sections on websites. We'd type it all into a Google Sheet and make some live charts. I suppose we'd have to make a visual dictionary for condition ratings to make it consistent and standardized.

I frankly have better things to do with my life. I just look on KEH and the items are conservatively rated. When I needed to know the price of a Hasselblad lens from 1963 of which only about 1,500 were built a year, I called up KEH and told them the condition and they told me the price range. I then described the lens in detail and they told me that I was getting a good price. Furthermore, they said that if it needed service, they would do a CLA for me at a very reasonable price.

 

[John51]

A Super Isolette described as fully working just went for about £530.

Much as I'd like to have a folder with no red window, that money would get a nice RB67 system.