Quote:
Originally Posted by
historicist 
I think precisely the fact that it isn't a Mamiya 7 or a Hasselblad 500 or a Rolleiflex gives it a value which translates to a higher price. All of those cameras are great, and have features that the Fuji/Voigtlander doesn't.
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i feel this comment undermines much of your post, which otherwise made some ok points...this logic doesnt work for me at all. one could say the camera on my phone , a disposible, a point and shoot or holga ect are not hasselblad or rollei's either , which may or may not give them a different use or vaule as well. but hardly equates or translates to a reason for a higher price.
Perhaps I should have stopped with value, i.e. that for some people a portable camera has a value to them more than a less portable camera, even though it might be better in other ways.
In some situations even a mobile phone camera or disposable might have more value to me than my Rollei, maybe if I was going somewhere dangerous or just wanted to relax and take snapshots, but this wouldn't translate into me being willing to pay a higher price because if all I want is a cheap and simple way of taking a picture there are any number of suitable cameras I could buy.
But if someone is in the small niche of happening to want an especially portable medium format camera then they don't really have any options. Maybe apart from the folders I mentioned there's the Mamiya 6MF, which is also expensive second hand, has a known problem with the advance mechanism, and will probably be very awkward to get repaired at some point in the future.
Caught between these relatively expensive, yet potentially unreliable second hand cameras, and only one new, guaranteed offering, they might well be prepared to pay as much as a Mamiya 7 would cost.
Of course, if they are prepared to compromise even a bit on prtability there is a much larger choice of cameras out there that are still relatively small, from TLRs through the Hasselblads to the Mamiya 7 which will offer advantages in price or flexibility, and then a high priced Voigtlander 667 will be very hard to justify.
I can't afford this camera and won't be buying it unless it ends up a lot cheaper than I think it will, but I can see the appeal. A lot of the portability of the camera is in the shape, how well it slips into bags, doesn't catch on anything etc., and even if the Mamiya 7 is about the same weight and volume, the protruding lens will make it more awkward. My Rollei is in weight and volume terms not so different from a good 35mm SLR, but I personally find it quite awkward to carry around and pack in bags because of the shape.
In the hypothetical case I had the money and the 667 was in the same price as a Mamiya 7, I would buy the 667 for sure. I guess it just depends on what your personal preferences in a camera are, whether the 667 is worth buying at a particular price or not.
