Black Canonet Prices - What's up?

[Al Patterson]

I was looking through the auction site for a Canon P, and I saw two auctions for Black Canonets. One ended at about $273 and didn't hit the reserve, and the other a BIN of $600. For $600, I could get a much better camers than the Canon. What are these guys smoking?

 

[jayfixit]

There are a handfull of sellers that are listing the "regular" Canonet G-III's for the $275-$325 range. They're the same people as the $600 black ones. No one ever bids on them, as the current going price is ~$120-$150 for a fully CLA'd Canonet G-III. I've seen two black ones sell for ~$270 in excellent shape. Of course, people are buying them for the "rare" color, so it has collector value.

The $600 black Canonet sellers are the ones who make eBay a bad place. I also buy a lot of used digital P/S cameras to fix and re-sell. A camera that I know is worth $100-$125, people are listing for $275-$300. They're hoping they get a sucker who doesn't know you can go to Best Buy and get a better brand new camera cheaper.

It's quite sad IMO.

 

[jayfixit]

A few came from the factory as a black enamel, but the quantity was low. So, I'm assuming these are "original paint".

 

[kuzano]

A repaint would be a real chore.

A repaint would be a real chore.

I've had a couple of the black models and they would be the devil to paint, because of the lens components... aperture ring, shutter ring etc. Since they are fixed lens and a very difficult disassembly, I can't imaging changing one from brushed chrome to black.