NikonWeb.com

Haven't checked in a while, and was surprised to see plenty of DCS cameras for sale. People using the holidays to clean out their old stuff?

There are currently ten DCS 420s for sale, 2 DCS 410, 2 DCS 720x (!), a DCS 620, a 315, 330, NC2000e, and several Elpac chargers. There are also three hard to find DCS 500/600/700 chargers listed.

Prices are, as usual, all over the place. The DCS 720x is sold for $700 and $850, which is twice as expensive as a nice looking Nikon D1X..

Jarle

Hi,

Yep. This time of year is usually when lots of stuff shows up on eBay. Either trying to catch the gift-giving crowd, or with the idea of folks buying presents for themselves!

There's also the business case of reducing inventory just before one has to pay income tax on their store stock. Now, this last one probably no longer has a lot of effect on DCS gear as I doubt any of it is new stock in stores! It is a factor on the overall site offerings this time of year.

Later!

Stan

_________________
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

Hi too!
I think this is one of the many waves we have had and will have. I'm old enough to remember the dumping of RF bodies when the SLR's arrived; the huge loads of Nikon F's and Nikon F2's when (after showing a cold shoulder) the (automatic) Nikon F3 arrived; a load of MF bodies when the (relatively expensive) Nikon F4 was introduced. In the 1990's one could make a reservation and pay a deposit for a digital SLR, resulting in a clear out of attics and cellars. Look at the present prices for Nikon F - F5! Now digi-SLR's, that were as expensive as a nice car, are sold for peanuts. What will that Nikon D3X do in 2020?
The replacement or substitution race is accelerating every year. Some historical items may remain valuable, but who knows which one?
Regards & have a nice 2011!
Nico

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D1/D1X/D1H etc.

"The replacement or substitution race is accelerating every year. Some historical items may remain valuable, but who knows which one?"

I've been pondering this too. Most digital SLRs of the last ten years have been much of a muchness - the DCS cameras have a lot of quirks that make them interesting - and it's melancholic to see the old Canon 10Ds and Nikon D100s selling for £130 or so. Six megapixels isn't too bad even if they're big and slow. Now that you can get SLR-like image quality in one of those mirrorless compacts I surmise the smaller, cheaper SLRs will fade away as they break and people just junk them. The early Olympus four-thirds cameras, the E-1 and E-300 (the rectangular one without the prism) seem to sell for nothing as well.

Off the top of my head, the only digital SLRs I can envisage holding their value are the oddballs, the quirky one-offs, the experiments. The Fuji S3 and S5 with their novel HDR sensor; the full-frame Contax N Digital, but only if it has at least one lens with it; the 1Ds, also because of its full-frame sensor.

The medium format stuff - the Leica S1 mentioned elsewhere here, the DCS Pro Back etc - seems to hold its value as well. It's just a shame there isn't a good objective article about the image quality of these old cameras somewhere. There are plenty of samples on Flickr of all kinds of cameras, but the medium format stuff is presumably too hard to use with modern computers and too expensive to have fallen into the hands of the kind of people who write about things. They are still in the hands of the doers rather than the chatterers.

Hi,

Personally, I'm still picking up the Kodak DCS series here and there as the price is right. My reason is not for collecting. Those who know me around here know I'm the oddball that buys this stuff to use it still.

The Kodak 6 MP models are unique in that they give us Kodachrome color, and are all that's left of that now that the film itself is dead. I know that there are no parts available anywhere for these things, and I have to support them myownself. So, I pick up what I see going for cheap, as they form a supply of replacement parts.

I have no reason to go to something with greater resolution than 6 MP. I had started down that path with a Canon 1Ds back when they were still the hot ticket, and then backpedaled to the Kodak DCS 560 because I like the Kodak color much better. Since I don't print beyond 13x19, and usually 5x7 and 8x10, 6 MP is good enough.

It's not just the digital imaging parts I want, either. I know that the Canon and Nikon camera bodies are modified from their stock form for use with the Kodak digital backs, so I need the camera bodies for parts equally as well.

I still wish to pass down the Leica DMR road some one of these days. That's the 10 MP updated version of the Kodak imager used in the DCS 760 and represents the pinnacle of that particular line. Then, too, I'd like to have a Pro Back Plus as well, which gives yet a different view of things, as it were.

Anyway, I did pick up a couple extras during this particular glut of units onto the eBay market.

Later!

Stan

_________________
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer