Historical price question ...

[dmr]

With all of the recent talk of the current price points for good-condition black and chrome QL17 GIII cameras, it got me to wondering ...

Anybody know or remember what the QL17 GIII sold for, street price, when new?

For a better one, how much did the Mamiya Super Deluxe 1.7 sell for new?

It might be interesting to compare how much in yesterday's dollars and today's dollars these were. 🙂

 

[dll927]

We would probably all roll our eyes if we were told what a new Leica III cost in 1940. And I'd bet that anyone who has one to sell wants several times what it cost new.

But let's be realistic. I'm not an economist, and I can't explain what causes inflation, but I do remember this example: When I was in late high school, 1954-55 or so, I had a Montgomery Ward photo catalog. A Contax 35mm camera was $444. I suppose that was with a lens, as at that time that was the normal procedure.

However, in 1955, $444 was probably more than a lot of people brought home in a month. So as far as affordability is concerned, probably things haven't changed as much as we think. An Argus C-3 (a.k.a. brick) sold for $69.50.

In 1983 I bought a Leica M4-2 new and a 50mm lens. (The M4-P was out, but I didn't see the need for the additional finder frames, and the store still had an M4-2 in stock, for $100 less, even though it was no longer made.) The body cost me $800 (plus the appropriate remuneration for the then CA governor.) A current M-7 will cost several times that.

It's also worth noting that a Leica III isn't an M4-2, and an M4-2 isn't an M-7. So we aren't exactly comparing apples and apples. But one thing is for darned sure - the prices aren't what they were at some point we can name in the past.

 

[furcafe]

I'm not an economist, either, though I know just enough to be dangerous. 😛 I believe the problem w/calculating inflation is that you have to take into account not only how much money has depreciated, but many other economic factors, such as how much more wealth people have today (i.e., it's not like there's a fixed amount of wealth in the world), that wealth can be measured in different ways, the fact that people don't spend as much money on the same things today as they did in the past, & the changes caused by technology (e.g., do you compare a family's radio in 1930 w/today's family's flat-screen TV or do you compare it w/a modern radio?).

For ballpark/bar bet uses, I generally use the CPI (http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/) because it's used for many official federal gov't purposes, though it's often criticized for relying too much on the cost of food, etc., which no longer makes up as large a part of the typical family budget as it did in the past (as discussed above).

Using the CPI calculator, dll927's brand new $800 M4-2 in 1983 works out to about $1650 in 2007 dollars & Brian's 1970 $109 Canonet works out to $577, both of which sound about right to me.

With all of the recent talk of the current price points for good-condition black and chrome QL17 GIII cameras, it got me to wondering ...

Anybody know or remember what the QL17 GIII sold for, street price, when new?

For a better one, how much did the Mamiya Super Deluxe 1.7 sell for new?

It might be interesting to compare how much in yesterday's dollars and today's dollars these were. 🙂

 

[sepiareverb]

Beat me to it furcafe. This is just what I was thinking as I read dll927's post.

 

[rbiemer]

I use this site for this kind of comparison:
http://www.measuringworth.com/index.html
Seems comprehensive and the results look to be OK--CPI is one of the scales used.
Rob

 

[furcafe]

Thanks for the link. That looks like a good site, as it includes calculators (& explanations) for factors other than purchasing power.

I use this site for this kind of comparison:
http://www.measuringworth.com/index.html
Seems comprehensive and the results look to be OK--CPI is one of the scales used.
Rob