> > Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 08:52:46 -0400 > From: Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: New Pentax body from Cosina > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > > Cotty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >On 16/7/04, John Mustarde, discombobulated, offered: > > > >>Actually, the best bargain in a film camera would be a used PZ1p for > >>around $300 - 400.
Interestingly, this is one of the few Pentax cameras selling at this price. LXen are normally $400-600, and the best of the old old stuff is $200-300. From what I've seen a $400 killer camera is a good thing to have in today's market. > >Crikey, are people still spending this much on a film camera? > > I'm now working part-time at a camera store and I can tell you the > answer to that question is.... no. That's clearly not entirely true. The best you can argue from experience is "people don't spend $300-400 on a film camera in the camera store I work at". Mail order houses still stock more expensive film cameras (which are now niche market items more than they ever were). Used places still stock cameras for much more than $300-400, and presumably this is because there is still a market for them. If KEH couldn't sell them, you wouldn't think they'd buy them. Nikon apparently still sells a number of N80s, which are about $400. Of course Nikon and Canon are tripping over themselves to produce a slew of $200-250 film cameras, so clearly either most of the market is there or most of the profit is there. What's really falling out of use of course are the $2000 pro SLRs, because most pros are using digital now. $1000 semi-pro SLRs are probably suffering too because for $1000 you can buy a bottom-of-the-line digital (and get much less camera...) or a used top-of-the-line model. One problem the new camera market presumably has is that as pros and advanced amateurs have dumped their stuff for digital, the used market is flooded with great products at low prices. It's gotta be hard to sell a "modern K1000" because you couldn't produce it cheaply enough to compete with the used K1000s on the market. DJE
