Flashback!- 2001 Camera Prices (and depreciation)

[rkm]

I found a copy of a 2001 camera buying guide amongst my stuff (Australian "Better Photography - Which Camera and Film?").

As someone who scours eBay regularly for camera gear, I found some of the Australian retail prices gobsmacking, and thought I'd share them. To be fair, in Australia prices tend to be disproportionate with the rest of the world.

And because I am that obsessive, I looked up completed eBay auctions to see how far these cameras have depreciated.

Here are some examples:

Canon EOS D30 (3.25 Megapixel!) - $6000 / eBay $60 (1%)
Canon EOS1V - $4500 / eBay $400 (9%)
Canon EOS3 - $2899 / eBay $200 (7%)
Canon EOS5 - $1399 / eBay $50 (4%)
Contax RTS III - $6785 / eBay $370 (6%)
Contax RX - $3300 / eBay $150 $ (5%)
Contax Aria - $1895 / eBay $240 (13%)
Contax G2 - $3320 / eBay $320 (10%)
Hasselblad 501CM - $4395 / eBay $800 (14%)
Hasselblad 503CW - $5995 / eBay $1000 (17%)
Hasselblad XPan - $3595 / eBay $1200 (33%)
Konica Hexar RF - $5595 / eBay $530 (10%)
Leica M6 - $5200 / eBay $1000 (20%)
Leica R8 - $4800 / eBay $480 (10%)
Mamiya 7II - $6550 / eBay $1200 (18%)
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II - $7239 / eBay $500 (7%)
Minolta Dynax 9 - $4400 / eBay $300 (7%)
Minolta Dynax 7 - $3500 / eBay $240 (7%)
Nikon D1 (2.74 Megapixel!) - $12249 / eBay $60 (0.5%)
Nikon F5 - $5799 / eBay $280 (5%)
Nikon F100 - $3699 / eBay $150 (4%)
Nikon FM2 - $1649 / eBay $130 (8%)
Olympus OM3Ti - $3498
Olympus OM4Ti - $2706 / eBay $180 (7%)
Voigtlander Bessa R - $1430 / eBay $150 (10%)

In summary:
- No cameras have faired well
- The majority are selling at between 5-10% of those Australian retail prices (there's some incredible bargains when you think of what these cameras once sold for)
- Some faired slightly better, XPan, Leica M6, Mamiya 7II, 503CW, 501CM, Contax Aria, in that order.
- I feel sorry for anyone that spent $12249 on a Nikon D1!

 

[sevo]

It rather looks as if Australian used camera prices were unusually low (in some cases much less than half the European going rate), while the new prices were just as dramatically higher. Probably a issue of shipping cost cutting Australia off the global market...

 

[John Cox]

I'm amazed I can get a Contax Aria that cheap these days. With the amount of adapters out there now the AF would be nice.

 

[rkm]

The retail prices were Australian, however the eBay prices were eBay worldwide completed auctions (generally the lowest priced example in decent working and cosmetic condition).

 

[James24]

Do the same exercise with lenses and, for the most part, it'll be a very different story.

 

[rkm]

Do the same exercise with lenses and, for the most part, it'll be a very different story.

Canon EF 24/1.4L - $3179 / eBay $850 (27%)
Canon EF 85/1.2L - $4500 / eBay $1450 (33%)
Hasselblad XPan 30/5.6 $4695 / eBay $2300 (50%)
Hasselblad 80/2.8 Planar CFE - $2595 / eBay $660 (26%)
Hasselblad 150/4 Sonnar CFI - $4495 / eBay $600 (14%)
Leica M Summilux 35/1.4 Aspherical E46 - $5014 / eBay $3550 (70%)
Leica R 35/1.4 E67 - $5771 / eBay $2000 (35%)
Nikon 105/2 D DC - $2480 / eBay $700 (28%)
Nikon AIS 105/2.5 - $1299 / eBay $150 (12%)

 

[Roger Hicks]

All the more reason to stock with Leica M-series and lenses, it seems...

Cheers,

R.

 

[rkm]

All the more reason to stock with Leica M-series and lenses, it seems...

Cheers,

R.

...and perhaps an XPan

 

[initialssb]

And that's why I'll never buy a digital camera

 

[DC1030]

That's no fair comparison because every item loses about 10-30% of its value when sold as used item, so if you have bought e.g. a M6 new in 2001 and sold it immedately it would have lost value. So you have to compare the prices for used items of 2001 to that of 2012. E.g. leica lenses (such as summilux) would give a great surprise since prices of those went skyrocketing in the last years.

 

[thegman]

Interesting, I'm surprised just how pricey some of those cameras were, like the Contax RTS or Mamiya 7. Makes the new film cameras now like Leica, Voigtlander, DHW Fototechnik etc. seem pretty cheap. Even Alpa does not seem crazy by comparison.

 

[kdemas]

I'm blown away by the new prices you list for AU. Wildly higher than the US prices.

 

[furcafe]

Also, hasn't the Australian dollar, like the Canadian dollar, appreciated greatly in the past 5 years? Not too long ago, both were way below the USD, & I remember being able to get bargains, on used gear at least, from sellers in both countries.

 

[sparrow6224]

The value of the AUD then and now is certainly some kind of factor; but I also question using the lowest completed sale price for a decent model. The RTS III is rarely less than $700 in my experience unless it's plummetted in the last 10 months or so. The great bargain is the RTS II which is going for less than $200 these days (though I paid $250 for mine...)

Edit: I just checked eBay for the RTS III and indeed two recent sales were in the high $300's and another in the mid $500's so I retract the above. Prices are coming down. Couple of those had very high shipping fees.