agentlossing
Well-known
Right there with you - if a manufacturer (not stratospheric like Leica) made the film camera I wanted, I'd buy it new in a heartbeat. But if a camera manufacturer is not making exactly what I want, I will NOT be a good consumer and drop a lot of money for new gear, and I WILL buy it used, and I'll sleep better at night knowing I'm not being wasteful with my money. The argument that we're part of the problem because we don't buy new is pernicious at the best of times, but in this case it's not even vaguely relevant.
My allegiance is to my personal finances, and never to the quarterly profit reports of some corporation majority owned by people who couldn't give a crap about the product being manufactured.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
The problem is that the damage has already been done. People wouldn't pay what the new film cameras would cost, and the manufacturers concentrated on making and selling digital cameras instead. So now we get to buy ancient, used film cameras, with all the problems that occasionally entails, and the manufacturers no longer make anything like them.
No one makes anything even remotely like a 1957 Kodak Retina IIc nowadays, which is why I bought one, have sent it off for service, and have collected all the lenses and a sampling of the accessories for it ... Because I too want that sort of thing and no one makes anything like it any more.
The problem I'm pointing out is that if all we ever complain about is how much something costs, and we drive the company out of production of what we want because of it, well, we're left with the situation that the things we want are no longer made. It's fine to say, "I'd love an M-A but I can't afford one." and to buy a less expensive alternative, new or used. But if everyone says it, and no one buys them, eventually the M-A will no longer be made and there will be no more quality film cameras made at all.
G
No one makes anything even remotely like a 1957 Kodak Retina IIc nowadays, which is why I bought one, have sent it off for service, and have collected all the lenses and a sampling of the accessories for it ... Because I too want that sort of thing and no one makes anything like it any more.
The problem I'm pointing out is that if all we ever complain about is how much something costs, and we drive the company out of production of what we want because of it, well, we're left with the situation that the things we want are no longer made. It's fine to say, "I'd love an M-A but I can't afford one." and to buy a less expensive alternative, new or used. But if everyone says it, and no one buys them, eventually the M-A will no longer be made and there will be no more quality film cameras made at all.
G
agentlossing
Well-known
The demand is different for film cameras now than it was when digital was up and coming and all anyone wanted to hear about. If manufacturers don't try new film cameras then your supposed line about the market not wanting to pay what they'd cost is just so much empty talk.
Last I checked, Lomography is almost always sold out of their LCA+ and seems to do quite well with their little niche!
Last I checked, Lomography is almost always sold out of their LCA+ and seems to do quite well with their little niche!
AAlfano
Well-known
That makes more sense. It's the reality of a saturated market—everyone who wants one already has one, so demand drops to the point that selling prices for new products dip below the cost of production and marketing. Any further production of film cameras would have to be as a low-volume niche market product. (Leica obviously is brilliant at this.)
Forgive me for going back to Nikon again, but it's the brand I'm most familiar with. I think we're at an interesting point where the prices of used FM3As are reaching or exceeding the inflation-adjusted price they sold for new. Similarly, prices of used F6s shot up after they were discontinued recently. I do wonder if anyone in Nikon's product planning and marketing departments takes notice of these trends. However, because Nikon shut down (or is in the process of shutting down) camera production in Japan, I think it unlikely that it would be economically viable for Nikon to produce an occasional run of these models as low-volume products.
AAlfano
Well-known
I have also noticed that Lomo is often out of stock on its LCA models. I'm very curious about their sales volume.