New Wista DX price

[Ben Calwell]

I didn't realize that my lovely rosewood Wista DX is so valuable. B&H is listing a new one -- special order -- for nearly $3,000!

[neil poulsen]

In all my history, I purchased two bellows new for my 4x5. Everything else was purchased used. I've never really had a problem with what I've purchased.

[Ben Calwell]

Same here -- I've had good luck with used large format cameras, although I bought my Wista new in 1989, and if memory serves, it was about $750 then.

[Patrick Gauthier]

Maybe not what they were going for in '89, but I think with inflation, $750 in 1989 would have the same purchasing power as ~$1500 today. I wonder how B&H sets their pricing for 4x5 cameras (not a criticism - just curious), especially for small companies like Wista. There is no pricing on Wistas website so it's hard to know B&H's margin. Wista's website indicates a H.P Marketing Corp as their US distributor (not sure if that is up to date), so perhaps going direct through them could avoid some sales mark-up. I acquired one from Kumar last year for ~40% B&H's price.

[consummate_fritterer]

Maybe not what they were going for in '89, but I think with inflation, $750 in 1989 would have the same purchasing power as ~$1500 today. I wonder how B&H sets their pricing for 4x5 cameras (not a criticism - just curious), especially for small companies like Wista. There is no pricing on Wistas website so it's hard to know B&H's margin. Wista's website indicates a H.P Marketing Corp as their US distributor (not sure if that is up to date), so perhaps going direct through them could avoid some sales mark-up. I acquired one from Kumar last year for ~40% B&H's price.

I would estimate post-inflation price, after nearly 30 years, to be closer to $2500... maybe $3000.

[Bob Salomon]

Maybe not what they were going for in '89, but I think with inflation, $750 in 1989 would have the same purchasing power as ~$1500 today. I wonder how B&H sets their pricing for 4x5 cameras (not a criticism - just curious), especially for small companies like Wista. There is no pricing on Wistas website so it's hard to know B&H's margin. Wista's website indicates a H.P Marketing Corp as their US distributor (not sure if that is up to date), so perhaps going direct through them could avoid some sales mark-up. I acquired one from Kumar last year for ~40% B&H's price.
HP Marketing closed in early 2015.

[Patrick Gauthier]

I would estimate post-inflation price, after nearly 30 years, to be closer to $2500... maybe $3000.

I suppose there are also market considerations that would affect pricing over time. I simply availed to the US Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/cpi/news.htm) (BLS) consumer price index (CPI) inflation calculator (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm). But maybe there's a better method for estimating inflation, I don't know.

[Oren Grad]

And the 45RF is now $9256.99 at B&H. The current distributor is OmegaBrandess, and if you look there, the price is $9867.99. Yes, almost $10K.

What you're seeing isn't really about inflation, it's what you'd expect at the tail end of a declining market, where there are few remaining suppliers of new equipment and those that remain are either in limited production or selling off remaining stock. Under that scenario, the way to extract the maximum value from your remaining stock or your limited production is to price it high, figuring that price-sensitive buyers are going to go with second-hand anyway so you might as well try to extract the maximum profit from those who, for whatever reason, are determined to have new equipment come what may.

Whether OmegaBrandess will be able to get rid of their stock at those prices remains to be seen. At least for the 4x5 wooden cameras, new Chamonix or Shen-Hao cameras will be acceptable substitutes for many of those who want new. The 45RF is a different story - Linhof is the only other game in town for a new 4x5 metal technical/rangefinder camera, and by the time you equip a Master Technika with a viewfinder, it's a couple of thousand dollars more than the Wista.

[consummate_fritterer]

I suppose there are also market considerations that would affect pricing over time. I simply availed to the US Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/cpi/news.htm) (BLS) consumer price index (CPI) inflation calculator (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm). But maybe there's a better method for estimating inflation, I don't know.

I'm just comparing average incomes from 30 years ago and cost of living vs. today. It seems that the cost of living roughly doubles every 16-17 years but incomes for the average person have not kept up.

[erian]

I didn't realize that my lovely rosewood Wista DX is so valuable. B&H is listing a new one -- special order -- for nearly $3,000!

Yes, no. Imagine you have a mass produced car you once paid $20k new that is not built any more except for special order of $100k. What is the value of your car? My rough bet is that it would be $2k max $5k based on the market demand.

Moral of the story? Buy brand new price only for the products you especially want to and can afford to have brand new.

[erian]

I'm just comparing average incomes from 30 years ago and cost of living vs. today. It seems that the cost of living roughly doubles every 16-17 years but incomes for the average person have not kept up.

Welcome to the freaking reality. It would be interesting to find a real culprit for this downlall.

Regardless, I think that beside this, at large we can deduce from he current state of the film photography market - market can bear exactly he amount the buyers are wanting to pay - the sellers are wanting to give up.

[munz6869]

My Wista DXIII was $1299 new from MPEX in 2008! That's only ten years ago...

Marc!

[consummate_fritterer]

My Wista DXIII was $1299 new from MPEX in 2008! That's only ten years ago...

Marc!

Assuming an annual cost-of-living increase of 4.5 percent (doubles every sixteen years), the compounded increase beginning with $1299 ten years ago would make today's cost approximately $2013, an increase of 1.55x. Combine this with greatly decreased sales...

[Paul Ron]

When I was buying my $300 metal Wista there was another add for a rosewood Wista version selling for $600.

Shouda, coulda.

[gnuyork]

Wow! I have a Wista (DX something) that I got used for $400 back in 2004. Guess I'll definitely hold onto that. In fact it's been a while since I've been out with it. I'm due. My newly acquired Rolleiflex has been stealing the thunder.