Did LF prices go up?

[V-12]

I've been watching Ebay on and off for over a year thinking about buying a 5x4 camera again. Two good lenses doing nothing on the shelf made it tempting, but I kept putting it off. In the last six weeks I decided to go for it, only to find the prices were a good bit higher than when I started my browsing. I ended up with an MPP that I firmly believe would have been a 33% cheaper this time last year.

 

[z.bruce.li]

It seems lots of newcomers to LF want a press/field camera with coupled rangefinder, an Aero Ektar or similar large aperture lens for OoF rendition, and Grafmatic holder for rapid action. I admire those made it work handheld, but for me it is far from practical. I think LF equipment fall in this category enjoyed the most price hikes.

Another segment seeing rapid price rise is vintage lenses with character, as others mentioned above. All the Petzvals, Heliars, soft focus, etc etc. I do like them and will keep them like many other LF shooters so I can see why demand is surpassing supply nowadays.

On the other hand, the price for contemporary LF lenses and monorails are actually dropping quite steadily. I would say there is a big surplus of those modern 90/8, 150/5.6, 210/5.6 lenses since not many people are buying at all.