Holy price drop - ever looked at Hasselblad lenses lately?

[Vickko]

Holy price drop - ever looked at Hasselblad lenses lately?

I just peeked at V lens ebay "sold" prices, thinking of maybe selling a couple of mine.

Wow. Almost not worth it to sell.

Better to just go out and shoot them.

 

[segedi]

Yep, I'm glad I sold my kit last year... buyers market now!

 

[Highway 61]

For an amateur photographer, even someone quite advanced and liking MF a lot, keeping Hasselblad V stuff at home over the years doesn't make sense any longer : second hand prices drop, shutters gumming-up themselves, backs light seals deteriorating, backs geartrains gumming-up themselves or getting dry, mirrorr damping material deteriorating...

At the end of the day you're left with some gear in need of some expensive repair/service, on which you cannot work yourself most of the time, and having lost most of its potential resale value.

The story is different for the Rolleiflexes and the Mamiya 6s/7s, fortunately.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

I bought all of my Hasselblad kit in "beater" condition, so this hasn't affected me much. I do sympathise with those who bought new or mint and have looked after it, in the hope of selling on later.

On the other hand, it's an ill wind that blows nobody good. Time for us to pick up all those goodies we wanted but could never afford! 🙂

 

[FA Limited]

i sold my hasselblad a few months ago after owning it for a few years purchased off KEH and David Odess and well taken care of. my initial posting was for prices around what i had paid for the gear but realized later the prices had fallen significantly. i took a big loss on the gear unfortunately but i guess it's like a rental fee 🙁

 

[Highway 61]

For some reason the Hasselblad V system hasn't got the kind of magic the Rolleiflexes are now surfing on. Get out with a Rollei and you'll see how cool young people will find you are. 😉

 

[Frank Petronio]

If you think Hasselblads are cheap look at the prices for RB-67 gear....

Hasselblads and Mamiya SLRs, etc. made sense for pre-digital pros who needed to switch films and shoot Polaroids, do close ups and other commercial applications but nowadays most people who shoot medium format are doing it for fun. If you want high image quality you might as well go to 4x5 for not much difference in weight, and a good DSLR will do all the telephoto or macro work you'd want... so most people are left shooting wide to normal lenses. And the medium format rangefinders are excellent with wides and normals, as are the TLRs.... Lugging a medium format SLR with a couple of lenses is actually heavier than many 4x5 kits.

 

[philipus]

I've wanted a V series for the longest time but I'm always put off by the stories that one needs to have them serviced regularly and that it isn't easy to find people who do it. Is this true?

 

[Jan Pedersen]

Is this true?

Speaking from own experience no, it is not true. I haven't had Hasselblad's for decades but in those 8 years i have been shooting there has never been a need for service. I did buy almost mint gear so maybe that is why. If you are buying well worn gear that have been used heavily by a pro i think you will need to set money aside for service.

I did not buy my kit with the intention of selling again so no concerns about dropping values, i may even pick up the 180 f4 that i always wanted.

 

[zleica]

Used Hasselblad V lenses have been dropping. But the cost of servicing them is still not cheap. I recently had David Odess serviced three lenses, 100/3.5, 250/5.6 SA and 903. He did a wonderful job but the cost is more expensive than servicing Leica equipment.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Vick,

Doesn't that apply to most high-end film kit nowadays? Only a few collectibles are exempted.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Ansel]

David knapman always services my hasselblad kit if it needs it, which it rarely does. And he is very inexpensive. But to be honest it is so well built that it is fine for decades without. It's a great time to be a hasselblad shooter.

 

[SuperUJ]

ever looked at Hasselblad lenses lately?

Just did and did not see "significant" drop in price other than some 80mm lenses. When is the reference point that you referred to, 1 years ago? 5 years ago? I have my Hassy 503 CW kit, a 903 SWC and a few lenses for 5-8 years purchased as used off from eBay. It is not that much of a price drop that caught my eyes when I checked just now.

John

 

[J. Borger]

i do not see the difference compared to 2-3 years ago, probably with the exception of the very old lenses and the "latest".
latest series film backs and acute matte screens on the other hand are more expensive at the moment compared to a couple of years ago and difficult to get.

 

[sevo]

I've wanted a V series for the longest time but I'm always put off by the stories that one needs to have them serviced regularly and that it isn't easy to find people who do it. Is this true?

No. There are enough options for service left (in doubt, even Hasselblad themselves service them). And they don't need service all that often - leaf shutters generally keep up quite well. The main concern, in my experience, is that the majority have never been serviced, as they were only ever shot with studio flash (where even several stops of shutter inaccuracy would not matter), so that the shutter will have gummed up and be lagging. To get the shutter up to spec for non-flash use, you often have to have older Hasselblad (as well as all other medium format leaf shutter) lenses serviced, but after that they are good for ten years at least before they need the next cleaning.

 

[KoNickon]

Note to self -- exercise the Hassys this weekend.

 

[x-ray]

I've used hasselblads since the late 60's or early 70's. As said they rarely need service. I also used Rollei SL66 during a 28 year period and both are equally reliable.

Three years ago I had a body calibrated and one set of shutter blades replaced on a very old C lens.

 

[Zonan]

Dear Vick,

Doesn't that apply to most high-end film kit nowadays? Only a few collectibles are exempted.

Cheers,

R.

Absolutely!

 

[SuperUJ]

Dear Vick,

Doesn't that apply to most high-end film kit nowadays? Only a few collectibles are exempted.

Cheers,

R.

Just ckecked eBay sold items, recently sold Leica M7's have been pretty much the same price now as 10 years ago when I got mine as (comparable used condition) 10 years ago. The price for used Leica lenses (e.g., 35 & 50 crons), however, went up significantly. And I don't consider M7 and the crons collectible items, at least not mine.

John

 

[Roger Hicks]

Just ckecked eBay sold items, recently sold Leica M7's have been pretty much the same price now as 10 years ago when I got mine as (comparable used condition) 10 years ago. The price for used Leica lenses (e.g., 35 & 50 crons), however, went up significantly. And I don't consider M7 and the crons collectible items, at least not mine.

John

Dear John,

Not sure. I suspect that Leicas are ALWAYS classified as collectibles, whether rationally or not. Also, Leica M7s are current production cameras, unlike Hasselblad V-series, and high-end MF cameras were in widespread use by professionals, who mostly dumped them to go digital, thereby flooding the market. Finally, if prices are the same as they were 10 years ago, than allowing for 2% inflation (generous), then prices are about 4/5 of what the were.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but equally, I was making a broad generalization which I suspect is mostly right.

Cheers,

R.