Price Point for the Fuji Voigtlander 667

Price Point for the Fuji Voigtlander 667

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Personally I think the Makina prices on eBay are insane for what it is, but I guess they're priced at what the market will bear.

I guess if you think that MF film quality is comparable to a 35mm full frame DSLR ( it may or may not be, just a thought) then pretty much any brand new MF camera is a pretty good deal by comparison.
 
thegman said:
Personally I think the Makina prices on eBay are insane for what it is, but I guess they're priced at what the market will bear.
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Well, there is no other camera collapsing to that size with a similar image quality, apart from the Apo-Lanthar Bessa II and lens hack jobs to old plate folders - that puts it into a rather unique category. And it still is under full factory warranty.
 
Sellers holding prices up... Free Market would be better.

Sellers holding prices up... Free Market would be better.

It's been interesting to note that when given the opportunity for the market to set the price, the BESSAIII/FuJiGF670 would sell very readily around $1600 to $1700.

I've been following prices on eBay and seen the reserves or starting prices held consistently at around $2000 plus. Some sell and some don't.

However, in the last three months, I have seen three of these folders sold new or used in LN condition sell without reserves and low starting prices. In all three cases bidding was active and all three cameras sold for $1600 to $1700. So the willing buyer market seems strong at those 16-1700 amounts.

Don't know what this foretells, other than the camera's will start moving better when they start showing up from Sellers who are not trying to control the market high.
 
kuzano said:
Don't know what this foretells, other than the camera's will start moving better when they start showing up from Sellers who are not trying to control the market high.
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I don't think the sellers can sell at a loss. The only way the price can come down is if Fuji wants to sell at a loss. That is the problem with the "Free Market" when production cost are high.
 
I got mine from Adorama on Monday...traded is some stuff,haggled with them a bit and walked out with it. Had to pay some cash but not bad. I'm new to taking pictures but this is my second film camera...the other being a Zeiss Ikon. The 667 has great ergonomics...very easy to carry in your bag or on the strap. Lays real flat and doesn't bounce around when you walk. Feels great in the hand and easy to focus. What a great look. Got back my first rolls today and am impressed. Shooting with a camera like this makes it all the more fun. Can't wait to get some big prints made.
I know this camers seems expensive but there is nothing out there like it. The folding mechanism seems well thought out. You must focus back to infinity to close.....there is an interlock so it will not move unless it is there. very clever.
 
Nobody's mentioned this yet, but try as I might, I find no mention of this camera on Fuji USA or Fuji North America web sites. I could be looking in the wrong places of course, but this would indicate at least the possibility that the offerings at the two sellers mentioned above are gray market items... no warranty, in-country service, etc...

Anybody know for sure about this or care to comment? I'd sure hate to pay two grand for a camera I couldn't get serviced in the USA.
 
That's exactly what I'm talking about... and no corresponding info from the factory's US web sites. So when you bought yours, was there any mention of a factory warranty made at the point of sale? What if anything does the literature that came with the camera have to say about this?

One of the characteristics of the gray market stuff is that it sells for less than the equivalent domestic / importer "legitimate" goods. All of which leads me to think that these may be gray market cameras. There isn't anything necessarily "wrong" with this and a lot of folks are quite happy buying in this market, but I would like to know one way or the other just for peace of mind if nothing else...
 
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No replies for a day?? Yup, looks like somebody's got a gray market camera... Check over on Flickr for the story of a guy whose Bessa is still on a 4-month plus trip back to Japan for service.

There seem to be a couple of little problems showing up with these cameras.... Front lens not quite straight, film counter going a bit nutz, flashing viewfinder display when it shouldn't, and focus / rangefinder linkage binding up. I sure wouldn't want one if I couldn't get it serviced in the US and in a reasonable amount of time. Like a lot of things, you might save a bit of money up front, but it can cost you in the long run.
 
I was one of the ones on this board that had a blinking display when the first battery died. My blinking problem never returned after this one incident. I'm now believing it was what Stephen said... that I didn't have the camera closed fully the first time I tried to change battery.

I've shot a lot with this camera now (8 months) and have had zero additional issues with it. Love it.
 
Very strange. I also experienced (and reported) the blinking display problem although the battery was fully charged. I reseated the battery and the problem has not reoccurred. I am very happy with the camera.
 
Really pleased to read the last two posts after all the kerfuffle earlier. I think it puts to rest a lot of the uninformed (and repeated) criticism this camera has received from people who haven't even seen one, let alone handled and used one.
 
John NYC said:
I was one of the ones on this board that had a blinking display when the first battery died. My blinking problem never returned after this one incident. I'm now believing it was what Stephen said... that I didn't have the camera closed fully the first time I tried to change battery.

I've shot a lot with this camera now (8 months) and have had zero additional issues with it. Love it.
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It's happened again with my camera a while ago but not since I changed the battery again a few weeks ago. So far it hasn't happened again so maybe it was just bad luck and I bought two bad batteries.
I'm going on a 2 week trip to LA and New York this summer which will really put the camera to the test. If I run into any issues I'm going to send it to Stephen while I'm there (and save on shipping). Luckily my trip will end just a week before the warranty expires so I should be ok.
 
My battery just got low again. I changed it out, making sure that the camera was closed first. Inserted the new battery. No issues with continued blinking. Everything working perfectly. So this is a non-issue for me. My first experience I am going to chalk up to user error at this point.
 
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