GRAFMATIC Film holder - value?

hello,

i was just asked to sell my Grafmatic film holders. i sold my view

camera a while ago and am willing to sell - however have no idea

about the current price range. the ones i have range from good

condition to heavily used but fully operational.

any suggestions? i dont want to through these away but also dont want

to charge more than fair.

thanks for your attention

cheers

 

walter

I've bought a couple lately. Very clean versions with all 6 septums go for $60-$70 if you look around. I've seen them go for more on E-bay.

thanks Ian for the quick response!

 

at least i got an idea now where to start and bargain. in ebay.de i did not find any of such holders offered , surprised to see there are some offered still in the usa. one got sold now for 96$ - hmm - more than i thought. prices in europe and the us dont differ so much in general anymore so i will put the rest i dont sell direct into ebay . may be there comes a new (used) lens ??

cheers

walter

You may want to be quite selective (read careful) about buying used ones from Eb** and such. I bought a used one from Eb** and have had problems with it. I sometimes wonder if the ones we see that keep surfacing on Eb** are not perhaps wearing out. After all the prime use of these new in the mid part of the last century was for "newspaper" photographers. At that time the holders were considered just another handy tool and not a "prime piece of glass" to be treasured and taken care of.

 

Good ones can be quite handy to own so hopefully you are able to see the holders before you buy them. These things do have mechanical parts unlike a simple holder and one must anticipate or expect that these parts will be a bit worn.

 

Kind Regards,

Walter,

I think the others are just being polite - in truth there is very little interest in Grafmatics these days. However, I do have a soft spot for them and suppose I could take them off your hands at around $1 a piece?

I would say the easiest way would be to place in Eb**, start at like $40 or so and let the bidding start :) That way, it is up to the buyer to offer you a good price for it.

Some time ago, I tried to rent Grafmatics from Gassers, and the guy at the rental counter just sort of sneered and said that nobody uses "that old junk anymore".

 

A statement with which I very much beg to differ. I don't know what his issue was, but it was a surprising comment from a person that really should have known better.

 

He seemed to think that everyone is using quickloads... which is an amusing supposition in itself.

 

I have generally seen the Grafmatics go on eBay for (as previously noted) $60-70. Sometimes more. Good clear pictures help. And you need to have a good Feedback rating in order to get a good selling price. If you don't yet, just buy until you do. :) (Or have someone else -with a good Feedback rating- list them for you).

 

They really don't wear out; though the septums can get bent, and the springs can break. You will want to clarify the condition of the septums and the springs in any listing.

 

It's okay to call it eBay.

thanks again - i did sell 2 direct (at 50 EU - beeing generous) and will put the others up for sale at ebay here in germany. will be a surprise to see what prize i will get since i have not ever seen them here. i used to have them with me on trips with my linhof technica when i used to live in california. i liked them a lot - could load them easy and had a bunch of them prepared each loaded for different gradations using ansel adams's zone system (B+W). this way i always had a tray full of negs to develop the same way when back home from the trip. also handy when waiting for just the perfect light and things turned "dynamic" , at least as dynamic as 4x5 and landscapes can get. could "rapid fire" them at 6 shots in less than a minute :-P

 

cheers

walter