How badly do you want 5x7 holders?

[davidb]

This is ridiculous.

Can't these be found cheaper?

See this auction

[John Kasaian]

Is it a full moon tonight? 24 bids so far...??? And for Fidelitys no less!
Bizarre.

[Darren Kruger]

And I just sold three old wood holders for like $7 each.

[Robert A. Zeichner]

44 bids and the winner gets (6) 5x7 film holders for $870. Holy Cow! I better go insure mine.

[Jan Pedersen]

Now would be the the perfect time for Fotoman to announce the availability of their new 5x7 holders for 55$ each

[Sanjay Sen]

This is ridiculous.

Can't these be found cheaper?

See this auction

Sure, if you can live with wooden holders, the Shen-Hao ones are $66.95 a piece, from Badger Graphic. And these are new.

[Allen Rumme]

Yes, this is insane. Over the past several months folks with more money than ...... well, I'll let you fill in the blank. Anyway the price of 5x7 holders has skyrocketed, as if there will never ever be any made again. The Shen-Hao holders for $66.95 are too expensive and even if Fotoman offered 5x7 holders at $55, that is still too much. They simply are not worth that much money. It would be nice if someone with the money, knowledge, and desire would resurrect the Fidelity holder business. I'm not holding my breath, though.

[Ted Harris]

Allen, how can you say that $55 for holders is too expensive? When they were last available new they were $35-40 new and those had been made from even older parts. My point here is changing international financial markets and increases in raw materials. If you just figure in inflation and the cost of materials I'd bet that $55 of today's dollars is not much different than $40 of 2000 dollars.

[Allen Rumme]

Ted,

If you only need a half dozen holders, $55 might be ok. But if a person needs 20 holders, they are looking at more than $1000, a cost almost rivaling what a new 5x7 Shen-Hao camera costs. If a person were to need 40-50 holders, the cost is simply unrealistic. Something is out of whack when a reasonable number of holders cost more than the camera.

I agree that production costs are somewhat higher today, but I think a lot of this so-called inflation is what has been precipitated by the nonsense on ebay. It has not been all that long ago I was able to buy new-in-the-box 5x7 Fidelity holders on ebay for $35/pair, and good used holders for a bit less. The current feeding frenzy is just that, a frenzy, and it will most likely subside. Unfortunately, the opportunists of the world are never going to allow prices to recede to a reasonable level.

[Nick_3536]

I thought Fotoman already announced prices higher then the Shen holders.

You can find used holders for much less. The question is how much is your time worth? The time to find them. The time to test them. The time to fix any problems. I bought a bunch of older ones for less then 10 per this year. I also bought a hand full of new Shen. I wish the Shen were cheaper but the combination of new and old works for me.