Fair price for 2.8C Type II?

[sreed2006]

What is a fair price for a Rolleiflex 2.8C Type II (serial 14546xx) with a Carl Zeiss Planar 80 lens, a Rolleifix kit, and an ever-ready case, all in excellent condition?

There's no lens caps, but the lenses look to be in great condition. The focusing screen is bright and clear. It has paint worn down on the top corners of the nameplate, and the viewfinder hood is a little bit hard to open, but not that bad.

I'm negotiating, so thought I'd ask the experts. Prices on the famous auction site are all over the map (as are the cameras).

 

[JPD]

They use to sell for $500 - $700 in OK working condition at auctions.

 

[Leigh Youdale]

I paid $600 for my E2 2.8 Planar a couple of years ago but things (and exchange rates) may well have changed. You might get some useful information by contacting this chap - http://johnsrolleionlypage.homestead.com/index.html

 

[sreed2006]

Thank you for the information. The link you provided, Leigh, is a very good resource. John's listed prices are not really high - about in the range both of you have suggested.

 

[Leigh Youdale]

Thank you for the information. The link you provided, Leigh, is a very good resource. John's listed prices are not really high - about in the range both of you have suggested.

Here are a couple of other sites you might find useful - especially if you buy one!

http://www.siufai.dds.nl/Rolleiflex28_TLR.htm
http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/A-F_tlr.shtml
http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/all_TLR.shtml
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/rolleiflex.htm

 

[sreed2006]

Well, I bought it. I probably paid on the high side, but it is in near perfect condition, with the Planar 2.8. It is the fourth from the left.

The camera must have been purchased in Europe, because the exposure chart on the door is in German, and the focus knob only shows meters.

Along with the camera came a book (that has a Stars and Stripes price tag on it) named "the modern ROLLEIFLEX and Rolleicord GUIDE with special COLOR section including Models 2.8C and IV." It's by Kenneth Tydings, S.P.E. Fifth printing, October 1954. 128 pages.

And, a Metraphot shoe-mount light meter that no longer works. There's no shoe on the Rolleiflex to put it on anyway.

@Leigh - thank you for the additional links. They are very informative.

 

[shyoon]

So how much did you end up paying?

 

[sreed2006]

The seller on Craigslist had it listed for $1500.00, with "lots of extras."

I looked at the links above, and did a lot of searching on eBay and anywhere else I could find a price associated with a 2.8C Type II with a Planar lens. There just aren't that many of them for sale at the moment. Prices varied from $250 for a camera in poor condition to $1499 for a "Buy it Now" price on eBay for a very nice kit. Those all had the Schneider-Kreuznach Xenotar lens. Average prices for recently completed auctions put the price for the 2.8C Type II in Good to Very Good condition at about $750. The camera that I bought looks like it has had possibly a dozen rolls of film run through it and then was stored in perfect storage conditions for the past 55 years.

In the end, I paid $1100 for the camera with the original case which is in very good condition. The "extras" were a complete Rolleikin kit (including the advance knob and leather circle that fits over the screws), the Rolleiflex Guide book, the Metraphot meter with a low-light attachment, two cable releases, an "Enlarg-O-Chart" (for selecting printing paper grade based on negative density), a mercury thermometer for processing, plus a flash unit for the camera (after the seller locates it 🙂 ). There was also an exposed roll of film. I had that processed and it turned out to be all blanks except for one frame that looked like it might have been a picture, but nothing on it was distinguishable.

So the price I paid was higher than average. I justified that with the fact that it has the rarer Carl Zeiss Planar lens, and that the camera is in such nice condition that it is ready to use with no trips to get serviced. Plus, I already have a Rolleimeter rangefinder attachment that fits on the camera, and I've been dying to use it!

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

If the lens is without damages, you probably didn't pay too much, since these cameras are hardly found with undamaged lenses: lenses from the early fifties are very soft and most of them have cleaning marks (i.e. little scatches) + the planar lens provides a little bonus over the ones with the Schneider Xenotar lens. I had one which I sold two years ago for about Euro 400 with the original sunhood and rolleinar (close up lenses) + original yellow filter and leather case. Was my main camera before I got into the Leica thing. What I did miss in practice was an EVF scale and coupled shutterspeeds/f-stops which is really a big plus for these types of cameras.

Info about production (from the Ian Parker book):

launch date: 10 december 1952
termination date: 24 june 1955
serials: 1,260,000 - 1,457,405

prices in those days:
Germany DM 750
USD 345
GBP 147

It is the only model with plastic safety catchers on synch socket and release socket.


Still have a picture of the beast:

 

[sreed2006]

I have closely inspected the lenses, especially since there wasn't a lens cap on the camera; it was just in the case. After cleaning off the dust and a gentle washing, I see one speck of dust inside the taking lens and that's all - no cleaning marks, separation, or defects of any kind.

Sure, I wish I'd offered less, but in reality, I got a very nice camera, and the previous owner got a bonus for taking such good care of it.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

I have closely inspected the lenses, especially since there wasn't a lens cap on the camera; it was just in the case. After cleaning off the dust and a gentle washing, I see one speck of dust inside the taking lens and that's all - no cleaning marks, separation, or defects of any kind.

As I said, i don't think you paid to much also considering the camera is somewhat hard to find in that condition. Mine had quite some cleaningmarks although was still able to deliver crisp pictures as the below one (shot in 1986 - currently scanning my old negs):

btw the negative reads KODAK CP 100