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Tom_cheshire
Tinkerer
Username: Tom_cheshire
Post Number: 18
Registered: 04-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 05:23 pm: | 
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Are you finding it easier or harder to find old cameras these days? I don't refer to the common oldies like a Canon AE-1 Program or Minolta x-370. I'm more talking about things like a Graflex SLR or Futura or Voigt. Superb. |
Barnum
Tinkerer
Username: Barnum
Post Number: 105
Registered: 10-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 11:43 am: |
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Hello.
Most definitely! You can certainly find want you are looking for , if you can afford to pay camera fayre/dealer prices on all occasions. Other sources, flea markets/boot sales/charity shops, have gone down the tubes. Strangely, in regards to the latter two sources, even the mundane 35mm compacts, Instamatics, & ubiquitous box/folding Brownies have vanished. I used to do quite well from all three sources, albeit with stuff arriving there after,(no doubt), being declared uneconomical to repair. |
Turnergande
Tinkerer
Username: Turnergande
Post Number: 49
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 06:19 pm: |
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I see that several nice Voigtlander Superbs (usually with Skopars) have recently sold for $225 - $300 range on eBay - about same price & volume of sales as a few years back in my opinion. I got one heck of a good deal from KEK a year ago in nice shape @ $83; just needed an easy shutter blade cleaning. KEH can often be a better deal than eBay but you have to look often and jump quick on the good deals.
As I have narrowed my 'want to buy' list down in recent years I still manage to find a few now and then at reasonable prices - mostly eBay but some via dealers as well. I notice eBay auction prices can escalate on the weekends when more people have time to look. I have found some 'buy it now' bargains that were just recently listed - before they got snatched up by someone else!
Some not so common items continue to show on eBay at decent prices or 'buy it now' by honest sellers who do not inflate price - but one may have to take much time sifting through a lot of items listed by 'rip off' or 'clueless' sellers asking two or three times what an item is really worth (too much of that is happening now on eBay).
Some fairly common but desirable / high quality items are still readily available at about same or higher price than a few years ago such as Rolleiflex, Rolleicord, Nikon F, Leicas, Nikkor lenses, select Pentax screw mount lenses, etc.
Serious collectors continue to look to buy the better quality classics especially early versions of 35mm & med format cameras, top end Japanese rangefinder cameras, etc. Konica III series for example can be much pricier now than years ago and Ricoh 519, Minolta-35 usually fetch very good prices.
There are still plenty of classics out there in display cases and the older folks who have collected them won't live forever. 'Trickle down supply' will not end any time soon but prices may creep higher for top quality & desirable lower production items. Unfortunately a lot of estate sellers lack knowledge about what they trying to sell so for the buyer it can be hit or miss.
EBay is also cluttered with a lot of junk, especially high production, low value film cameras chock full of electronics - these can be hard to sell at any price. The sellers persist in trying despite the odds.
Collectors get a bad rap from the film camera users but at least the serious collectors are willing to get some of the clunkers repaired and restored before passing them along. Better to collect than toss in a dumpster. Plenty of cameras out there still for users as the collectors have less interest in the newer film cameras full of sophisticated electronics & features the older 'fuddy duds' never quite understood to begin with. Long post - sorry about that. |
Tom_cheshire
Tinkerer
Username: Tom_cheshire
Post Number: 19
Registered: 04-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 07:05 pm: |
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Fuddy duds? I'll say. I picked up an N70 here that is a mystery to me without the manual. After a long struggle to upgrade to the newer eq. at the lowest cost I have realized it is folly. So, now, as an official "fuddy dud" it is just 1950s to 1970s cameras for me. If it doesn't use a "pill" battery, sell it. |
Nickon51
Tinkerer
Username: Nickon51
Post Number: 67
Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 08:55 pm: |
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"fuddy dud" said he, typeing away on his steam powered babbage, whilst prepping the carrier pigeon for the next message.
Which part of this wide brown land is Ludditesville located. I ask merely for information.
The fact that the N70 has 4 embedded micros should not put you off at all. Everything is micro powered these days. Its just we choose to use cameras that are not.
Nice photos on your website BTW
Cheers
Greg
In Sunny South Oz where the wind is blowing like crazy. |
Marty
Tinkerer
Username: Marty
Post Number: 25
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 09:27 pm: |
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I started collecting pre-1920 stuff back in '67 when I was in high school. (It seemed older to me then than it does now 40 years later.) I was able to pick up some NICE things in antique stores, flea markets, junk stores, etc. CHEAP because there wasn't much competition. A dealer would chuckle about the dumb kid wanting to buy old cameras and then drag out some beautiful old 5x7 plate camera with brass, red bellows, and wood for maybe 8 or 12 bucks. I once laid awake most of the night before I paid 20 dollars for a Rochester Optical Co. New Model view camera.
Later, I bought more out of sellers catalogues and such things as Shutterbug Ads. More stuff available, and more information available about what I was buying, but more expen$ive due to more competition.
Now, I get most of my stuff online, which didn't exist for quite some time after I started doing this. Still more competition, I look at thousands of cameras for each one I bid on, and I win very few things I bid on. Still, I've picked up some nice items in recent months.
I guess what all this is getting at is that the hobby has changed so much over the years that it's hard to even compare availability of stuff from decade to decade...
Any of this make any sense??? |
Harryrag
Tinkerer
Username: Harryrag
Post Number: 71
Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 23, 2009 - 08:03 am: |
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Another fuddy dud here. BTW did any one of you read the def in urban dict on the net?
Amazing but true, sad cases, every one of us.
Meanwhile we've got two TVs my wife and me, so instead of not watching late night shows together with her or going to bed, I sit and wonder about what to do with all those cameras and binos.
No photo shop or film dealer around these days & nothing to observe.
I find people consider every thing related to optics a collector's item, so prices go up continually, and good or interesting stuff is hard to find for a reasonable price. |
Marty
Tinkerer
Username: Marty
Post Number: 26
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 23, 2009 - 02:19 pm: |
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Howdy Harryrag
Being a fuddy dud, it took me a minute to figure out what "def in urban dict" was, but I DID look it up, and I guess I am indeed a fuddy dud. I'm too stupid to operate most modern conveniences. You mention binos and observing... I'm also a long time amateur astronomer, and as time goes by, there are fewer and fewer newbies who can find anything in the sky by "star hopping." Many of the new telescopes have GOTO technology that will find things for you. Only I don't know how it works...
Oh well. Us luddites gotta have fun too... |
Tom_cheshire
Tinkerer
Username: Tom_cheshire
Post Number: 20
Registered: 04-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 23, 2009 - 07:14 pm: |
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Well, um, I needed to look at the manual to reset the N70 to "zero" you might say. Never needed a manual to know what the controls of a Spotmatic were, or an OM1 or Nikkormat. Have to say, the Canon A1 is the only old camera that I find confusing. Sold that one. Give me a trusty twin lens reflex and I'll get you a decent pic. every time. |
Barnum
Tinkerer
Username: Barnum
Post Number: 107
Registered: 10-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 24, 2009 - 12:22 pm: |
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I have been using a pair of Canon A1 cameras for years. Thank you Tom, now I know why I am so confused! |
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