Black QL17 GIII value

[nparsons13]

A black paint QL17 GIII was sold on the shopgoodwill.com web auction this evening for $203 US. Are the black ones that scarce?

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

They are not common, and those are for sure great cameras... Nice fast lens and parallax correction... One that works well shouldn't cost less...
Cheers,
Juan

 

[Mackinaw]

Unusual, but but not scarce. Mint condition G-III’s may fetch north of $200.00, but most models, with a bit of brassing, etc., seem to go in the $150.00 range. The black Canon used has a nice "warm" glow to it. Makes the camera look classy.

Jim B.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

They don't show up often, and when they do, they never go for less than $150 (at least in the auction site). Rare? I don't know, but they look a heck of a lot better than their silver chrome brethren, so one can assume that their owners won't let them go that easy...

 

[btgc]

People are ready to pay premium for the look. Same with cars, too - red, yellow, green car can fetch more than same model in white or brown.

Personally I'm not buying any GIII as there many fixed lens rangefinders with better controls and ergonomics. I fancy original Canonet, though. GIII has better lens? Hah, they all have better lenses than my skills are 🙂

 

[kuzano]

Black implies Progessional.....

Black implies Progessional.....

In the 70's black camera's were usually the professional models, so black was the implication of professional.

I sold a Black GIII in eBay about three years ago for $500 and very clean models bring that much. The camera's are no different in any other way.

Camera's that benefit from this "Black is Pro" thinking are:

Olympus SP35. Normally a 100+ camera, I sold a nice black one for $400.
Canon Ql17 GIII
Yashica 35CC which only ever came in black
Petri Color 35... I sold a black one for $350

Typically, camera's that only came in black don't benefit from this thinking. Reason for that is if the camera came in chrome/black, there were not that many all black examples produced.

If it was over $200 on Shopgoodwill, somebody probably flipped it for double their purchase price. But it's still just a GIII, only it's black. Go figure.

Shopgoodwill has been found, but is still a risky buy because of the lack of expertise on items sold. A good deal on Shopgoodwill is, for the most part, just a lucky deal.

I found a Canon E1 and 1.4 FD lens for $35 about a decade ago, and turned it over on eBay for $195 after dusting it off and running a test roll. That was the camera referred to by many as the "Black Beauty" and concurrent with the A1/F1 bodies.

I fear those days are gone for Shopgoodwill.com, much the same as eBay has changed.

 

[goamules]

Interesting statement when a black little Canonet sells for more than a Leica II, even in black. All because of hype on "rarity" and "professional model" as if that matters today.

 

[kuzano]

Interesting statement when a black little Canonet sells for more than a Leica II, even in black. All because of hype on "rarity" and "professional model" as if that matters today.

True enough, but in a world where strange mind games and conceptions of values rule, I will not turn away the profits.

I have been selling film camera's on eBay for about fifteen years now and business is brisk, often profitable. Never had touched a Leica.

It's the sad state of our economy when true values really mean nothing, when the "GAS" begins to flow, in all merchandise and commodities.

 

[farlymac]

I've noticed on Goodwill that the collectors seem to have taken over, driving up sales on items that would have normally gone for much less just three years ago. Where something like a Canon IVSb would have sat there for a while before anyone got interested, now they have $150 in bids in less than an hour after first posting.

Saw a Leica IIIc go for over $270 the other day, which in itself wouldn't seem too bad, but it was junk. Even the lens cap was green with corrosion. I might have paid $50, painted it some gaudy color, and put it on the shelf as a conversation starter. But it didn't look to be rebuild-able. It's just irrational the way the bidding goes on some items, with folks not paying any attention to the physical condition of the item.

I've also been noticing some items getting bid up way over their value, and then back up for auction a week later when the buyer backs out.

I'll usually put something on my Watch List, then go to http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/ to see if it's worth getting into a bidding war over.

PF

 

[nparsons13]

I've noticed on Goodwill that the collectors seem to have taken over, driving up sales on items that would have normally gone for much less just three years ago. Where something like a Canon IVSb would have sat there for a while before anyone got interested, now they have $150 in bids in less than an hour after first posting.

Saw a Leica IIIc go for over $270 the other day, which in itself wouldn't seem too bad, but it was junk. Even the lens cap was green with corrosion. I might have paid $50, painted it some gaudy color, and put it on the shelf as a conversation starter. But it didn't look to be rebuild-able. It's just irrational the way the bidding goes on some items, with folks not paying any attention to the physical condition of the item.

I've also been noticing some items getting bid up way over their value, and then back up for auction a week later when the buyer backs out.

I'll usually put something on my Watch List, then go to http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/ to see if it's worth getting into a bidding war over.

PF

That's why I asked about this GIII. I've also noticed the escalation of camera and lens prices across the board on shopgoodwill, and I wondered if this was another crazy bidding war. From everyone's comments, it seems that because this GIII is black it drew higher bids, but the final price was still high for an an untested, sight unseen one.

 

[dogberryjr]

That price seems about right, and I agree that Shopgoodwill is not the hunting ground it used to be. It's amusing to see the prices certain brands command there.

 

[gb hill]

When I bought my silver version GIII back years ago I didn't even realize they even made a black version of the same camera. IMO Canonet's are user cameras not shelf queens for some collector. In around 2007 when I saw someone offering for sell a black QL17 for around $150 I thought crazy. Realized the black made it no more stelthier or a better picture taker than my silver one does. BTW my Canonet is loaded with film right now & 7 years later I don't tire of using it.

 

[ronnies]

I paid £10 for my black GIII. 🙂

Ronnie

 

[Contarama]

I gave my black Canonet away...only camera I regret not having today.

IMO and I am nobody really I think $200 ought to be the end of the world for the amount of camera you get with the Canonet and even then it will need to be near mint.

 

[airds]

... and they are so stylish ! Think Canon's missing a trick, not packaging a digital camera in a similar retro body.

 

[goamules]

The online Goodwill prices are almost always higher than Ebay (averages), which are higher than out in the real world. Too many shows about instant profits like Storage Wars and such...make people with too much time on their hands buy for whatever the cost. I don't mind a user wanting one, and deciding to spend an extra $40 or whatever. But most waves of cult buying are usually driven by speculators. They buy many of the item, to try to gain wealth by hoarding or flipping.

In the large format world, there is a guy that is buying up a lot of nice equipment, he knows nothing. He puts prices 3 times the going rate as BIN, and they never sell. Months and years go by and none of his completed items are sold. He lives in a mansion, drives a Corvette, and has fountains and gilded mirrors all in his house. He's buying at any price....because he can. He's not selling for realistic prices....because he doesn't care.

 

[in2focus]

The online Goodwill prices are almost always higher than Ebay (averages), which are higher than out in the real world. Too many shows about instant profits like Storage Wars and such...make people with too much time on their hands buy for whatever the cost. I don't mind a user wanting one, and deciding to spend an extra $40 or whatever. But most waves of cult buying are usually driven by speculators. They buy many of the item, to try to gain wealth by hoarding or flipping.

In the large format world, there is a guy that is buying up a lot of nice equipment, he knows nothing. He puts prices 3 times the going rate as BIN, and they never sell. Months and years go by and none of his completed items are sold. He lives in a mansion, drives a Corvette, and has fountains and gilded mirrors all in his house. He's buying at any price....because he can. He's not selling for realistic prices....because he doesn't care.

Plus I think people just spend more on shopgoodwill because it's a charity, but it's worse at in person auctions. Canons or Nikons are always the most expensive to go, based on name. Next is anything that looks old, even if it's worth no more than a few bucks. Sad thing is a lot of this stuff winds up sitting on antique store shelves where it rots. Granted a lot of the stuff the more savy camera buyers pass on is broken, but it is still sad to see it wasting away for no reason instead of being sold to someone who will use it or fix it.

And I do think that is a fair price IF you know it's working, free of fungus (seems to be a trend with these), and the meter works (another fairly big if). But for the money they're commanding I'd rather have a Konica Auto S3, which is probably just as rare, if not more so, than the black Canonet, and in my (heavily Konica-fanboy-biased opinion 😉) a little nicer camera.

 

[Vintage35]

Seller Greed is what I blame for the high prices of cameras these days. A "pro" seller on eBay or in an antique store will ask $150 for a canonet, along comes some estate sale person or un-knowing ebay person referencing eBay for the latest prices and will ask $125 for his camera when it's only actually worth $40-50 and so there they sit until somebody stupid or desperate enough buys it. "rotting on a shelf" I've seen them and it breaks my heart. You ask the Antique store clerk if they can drop the price and their response is "I'm only allowed to drop 10% without the owners approval"...

 

[yossarian123]

Mine was $30 at a local salvation army. Then I turned around and spent $140 on a Mark Hama CLA. So $150 to $200 sounds about right.