This is not a question, but a friendly word from someone who has been shopping for a wide-angle lens for my 67: Watch your prices carefully! I have seen a gentleman pay way too much for a 45mm f/4 lens on eBay. He bid $800. for a new one. I purchased one (brand new) from Smile Photo in NYC for $675. including shipping. Granted, their $35. shipping fee is exhorbitant, but with an advertised ("Shutterbug") price of $639.95, I still saved $125. compared to the eBay offering. Caveat emptor!

-- James Sharp (sharpie7@gte.net), June 25, 1999

Answers

James: Comments and opinions are welcome here as we are not limited by the titles "question" and "answer". I totally agree with what you say. Ebay has gotten so popular and so competative that I have given up on it for P 67 items. The Takumar 400mm went for $1450 or so several months ago. This is more than my local, high priced, non discount camera shop sold one for. Too many bidders equals high prices. It's a seller's market. SR

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), June 26, 1999.

Yep, I can agree there also. I was bidding on a Rodenstock Apo- Sironar-N 210mm for my 4x5 camera, until the guy literally bid it higher than the brand new price. So much for that auction.

I've sold a few P67 lenses on eBay and am amazed at how much they bring. Good ad copy, several nice images, and disclose everything about the lens, good+bad, and you often realize Value+50%. eBay is the place to sell, not the place to buy.

I've been shopping at Robert White in the UK http://www.robertwhite.co.uk for excellent prices below those of the US market. It costs me about $50 for UPS air shipping and 2~3 percent for duty, and is still much cheaper than buying in the US. Others have bought reliably from Tony Leung at New Sankyo Camera in Hong Kong at "newsanky@hkstar.com"

-- Bruce Gavin (doc@compudox.com), June 17, 2000.

Well, I just today bought a mint- 67 body and a mint waist finder for the reserve price of $749 (shipping and insurance of $20, but NO $45 sales tax)with a ten day return period and a ninety day warrenty on e-bay. I would not have paid more than $500-600 without the warrenty.

The seller is Ft. Lauderdale Camera. I think the price was reasonable after looking at prices for used bodies from several shops, KEH and Hawaiian Camera in particular. Suprisingly I did not get any bidding competition on this camera even when I started at $300( I bid it just up to the reserve). Of course I have not seen the camera and finder in the flesh yet. I'll report back later if I return the camera.

I agree that you have to know what you are doing on e-bay, other wise you can get up to new B&H prices with some of the wild bidding I've seen there. You have to decide what you are willing to pay and try to keep a cool head at all times. I've recently picked up some old cameras from my collection, but they were all as is and most were under $30, which is not too bad for a functioning camera of any type. I've also passed on a number of cameras because the price got too high.

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@worldnet.att.net), June 22, 2000.

Gene, I saw your bid go by on the 6x7 body. I hope it works well for you. I'm looking half-heartedly for a 2nd body, but want the "67" body, not the older "6x7" one, and certainly not the 67-II style.

I've got a spreadsheet of 6x7 bodies, and found the average selling price is $602, with a low of $128, high of $920, 36 samples to date.

Right now, I have 3 Nikkor LF lenses closing out today, and they have bid them through the roof. I expect the feeding frenzy to kick in the last few minutes of the auction. The prices right now are approaching new prices, if one knows where to shop for them. Truly amazing.

-- Bruce Gavin (doc@compudox.com), June 23, 2000.

I'm a long time user and collector of Pentax 35 mm cameras (1 H3V, 4 Spotmatics including a motor drive version, an LX, and 2 MX), but I'm new to 6x7. And it was only because I was able to find a bargain on ebay that I was able to get into the big Asahi. I picked up a MLU 6x7 with prism for $202.51, just last week. It seems to be mechanically excellent with minor cosmetic flaws. Needless to say, I'm very pleased. The holiday season seems to be a good time to hunt down ebay bargains, since the serious equipment is not "present" material. Many shoppers are busy elsewhere. (I'm also very plesed I found this community. Great place. Great info.} Paul Stenquist

-- Paul Stenquist (pnstenquist@earthlink.net), December 21, 2001.

A long time since the e-bay purchase. The p67 is in near mint condition and has been functioning flawless for the last year and half.

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), December 27, 2001.

This is more a comment than a question, and is the flipside of some other assessments here. In the last six months I have seen at least five different P67 300mm lenses sell on ebay for $274-319. In all but one instance, the seller had a reasonable amount of ebay feedback which indicated honesty in transaction; judging by the description, I would also say the seller was a photographer (in other words, this was not an untested item from a pawn shop, or what have you). Granted, these were all the older versions of this lens, but when compared to original suggested retail, the discounted NYC price, and whatever else you want to factor in, this is a paltry sum for any 300mm 6x7 lens. I might be a little off here, but I would say the going camera show price and used price from a reputable dealer would be around $625-825; Delta International still has them at nearly $1200. Being able to pay 25% of the Delta price for any P67 lens is a steal; can you imagine buying the new 55mm or the 165mm LS, used, for $189? Although not everyone is thrilled with the performance of this lens, I just found some auction results to be the complete opposite of what happens when the 35mm & 45mm lenses appear on ebay. The depreciation on this 300mm is at the level one would expect from an extention tube (cost new vs. cost used), not a more specialized piece of medium format glass.

-- Michael Tolan (mjtolan@kbjrmail.com), December 30, 2001.