What a deal!

[Henry Friedman]

Just point this baby at your wife and her sisters and it'll make you some pictures that will hang in The National Gallery of Art. And for only a grand over what a new one would cost from Badger!

http://cgi.ebay.com/K-B-CANHAM-8X10-Traditional-Field-Camera-Rare_W0QQitemZ7612203575QQcategoryZ15248QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Diane Maher]

LOL! I was tempted to send this seller a comment saying the following: Rare? You can still buy these cameras new! And they cost less new than you are trying to sell it for used.

[tim atherton]

Yes, but Jock Sturges Kodak Master wnet for normal, same - famous dudes camera - buy it and you can take pictures just like him. It's like buying St. Ansel's sinar

Nixon has always been a bit of a gearhead - I wonder if he is just sticking to his Phillips or if he's going digital...? (btw - I don't think he is the seller)

[tim atherton]

jeesh - that should be "Yes, but Jock Sturges Kodak Master went for more than normal"

[Oren Grad]

Nixon has always been a bit of a gearhead - I wonder if he is just sticking to his Phillips or if he's going digital...?

So far as I've heard, he's never stuck with any camera for very long, Phillips or otherwise; he's probably used more different 8x10 field cameras than anyone else I can think of. His vertical Explorer was sold on eBay a few years ago. I don't know if he had another Phillips or exactly what he's using now. A couple of years ago he was showing 10x12 contact prints as well as larger prints, 18x22 and 20x24, some or all of which may have been enlargements.

[Caroline Matthews]

To my mind a lens used by a famous photographer should command a premium, not a camera. After all, the lens captures the image; the camera is merely a light tight box through which the image passes. Everybody agree?

[David A. Goldfarb]

"There is a plate under the ground glass that reads 'in memory of my father'. I added that after I purchased the camera from Nick."

That would definitely enhance the value for me. Whenever I looked at the groundglass, I could fondly think of the father of a guy who bought a camera from Nick Nixon. I hope he wasn't an axe murderer. And boy, if I were to buy the camera, I would hope my father wouldn't see it, since he's very much alive.

[Marko]

I'd say that most lenses are better than most photographers. Much better.

Especially those photographers that think any lens will make them better photographers.

[e]

I heard Nixon is using an Ebony now. The ultralight version with just front rise/fall and tilt. Emile/www.deleon-ulf.com

[ADG]

Well said Marko

[Joseph O'Neil]

IMO, what is "rare" about cameras on Ebay in recent times, is just about any field camera - unless it's a total junker - how high some of the prices go. I saw a used Tachihara that looked a little shop worn go for only $60 less than a brand new one, and used Toyo with munched up bellows go for half the price of a new one.

That last one may sound like a good deal, but when you factor in the *full* cost of a new bellows (shipping on the bellows if doing it yourself, and/or cost of having it installed), and you look at the total cost by the time everything is done (all those "little" missing parts that need to be fixed or replaced) quite often you are approaching 70 to 80% the cost of a brand new camera.

I dunno, there are some good ebay sellers, but just the way things see to be going, I am at the point I would trust a dealer better for a used camera or lens, or even a private sale from somebody off this list or APUG, etc, somebody who is actively using the gear and talking about. For example, you may get somebody who is totally honest on ebay selling a used camera or lens, but no experience, so they don't know what exactly to look for or how to give a good working evaluation of a product.

Ah well, I figure at the rate things are going, I'll raise money for my next camera by selling an old, dried piece of toast with the image of Ansel Adams on it.
:)

joe

[KenM]

Joe, you make a good point about purchasing from a 'real' dealer - while I've tried to bid on lenses in the past on eBay, I've thankfully lost out every time. However, I've never lost out when buying a lens from KEH or from MPEX. Oh, and there's also the bonus of being able to return the lens no questions asked if I'm not satisfied.

Now, where's my toaster?

[Donald Brewster]

Well nobody bid on it before expiration. The market speaks . . . . .

[Jim Galli]

Atlanta Camera had (or has) Nixon's 10X12 Deardorff field camera for less than the Canham! It was still too rich for my cheapskate blood at $3400 but I dreamed and drooled for a day or 2.

Man, if I ever get famous << sounds of peals of uproarious laughter around the room >> I'm going to buy a new camera every year and sell it for a profit after I beat it up.

[William Mortensen]

An interesting ebay marketing experiment might be to offer a collectable lens along with a nice mounted print made with that very lens, just to show what it can do.

[Dan Fromm]

Mark, I've sort of run that experiment.

When I had small pile of 38/4.5 Biogons in F135 shutters, I offered 'em one by one on eBay. The listings had pictures of the lens on offer, also of one Steve Grimes had remounted in a #0 for me, and an example shot on 2x3 taken with the remounted one. One of my buyers sent me an e-mail to the effect that the example shot had grabbed him and wouldn't let go. He had to have the lens.

Another time I sold a 35/4 Eurygon on eBay. Ex-MP-3, I think, a macro lens. Someone had a couple of nice shots taken with one on 8x10 up somewhere on the web. I mentioned this in my listing, gave the link. I don't know if the guy's good work helped, but the lens brought more than I'd expected.

[Brian Ellis]

I sent a note to the seller inquiring about the price compared to a new Canham. He responded by telling me I must not know who Nick Nixon is. Of course I know who he is but the notion that one of the many cameras formerly owned by him would command a $1000 premium is kind of ridiculous IMHO, afterall Nixon isn't Alfred Steiglitz or Ansel Adams or someone of comparable stature and this isn't the camera used to make "Moonrise" or the one Edward Weston used in Mexico or something of that kind of historical interest. Then there's the inscription. Personal inscriptions - names, initials, etc. - usually decrease the value of used cameras and this one is even more personal than most. But who knows, maybe someone will buy it at that price and we'll all look foolish.

[Ted Harris]

Well ... seems like this thread got a bit of a response from the seller. The original auction ended without any bids and he has relisted the camera. The headline on the listing now reads:

K B CANHAM 8X10 Traditional Field Camera /
large format photo forum = boring lives

and the description adds:

"If you came to this auction via large format forum, get a life, dry up, and tell the losers that started the comments that they are talentless, ignorant, philistines. Don't be one of those people that spend all day talking about equipment in front of their computers. It's the person that makes the pictures, not the equipment." Of course he fails to realize that is exactly wht this thread has been saying all along.

So as not to be lumped in with those iwthout a life I am signing off and going out to expose film.