Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/12/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Rob, For most retail stores, used cameras are the kiss of death in the U.S. First, for most cameras, they depreciate by the minute. Second, most owners have heard of Ebay and want Ebay prices on trade without realizing that the first item applies. Two, for most stores that take in used, Ebay is the quickest and most profitable way to reach a world wide audience so you will not see good stuff on the shelves as it has been sold on Ebay. For film cameras check out the pricing of F5's on KEH, mint which for them means new in box are going for around 700 U.S. and after talking to some of their sales guys the operative word is collecting dust. Medium format is truly dead except for some of us old farts, a professional will use mostly a top tier 35mm format digital unless the agency wants superlative in which case they go for the mf back shots. This is definately a very small minority of shots needed and mostly out of name studios so numbers are very small. As to Midwest, they make most of their money from Epson printers and supplies. Don don.dory@gmail.com On 12/13/06, Rob McClure <rmcclure2@woh.rr.com> wrote: > > > For the first time in morte than a year I went to the two primary > professional camera shops in Columbus, Ohio -- Midwest Photo Exchange > and Cord Camera (main store). I realize that digital has overtaken > film, but was shocked to find virtually no used equipment, digital or > film. Both stores previously had massive inventories of this stuff. > Also, the new digital equipment in stock was pretty pedestrian -- the > usual Canon and Nikon. Very little Pentax, Olympus or Panasonic. > Both are Leica dealers, but no digital or film Leicas were in stock. > The large MF and LF departments at MPEX are shells of its former > selves. I guess I am partly to blame as I now buy most of my used and > new equipment mailorder. Is this typical of what is happening to > camera stores in other markets? I suspect it is and it is disturbing. > I'll think twice before buying mailorder in the future (in the unlikely > event I can find those items locally). > > Rob McClure > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >