McKeowns price guide.

<p>Hi everyone, does anyone know what is the latest published McKeowns price guide, I can only seem to find 2004 as the latest. Asking because Santa may buy me a new one. The one I have is 2002, so 2004 may be no real improvement.</p>

<p>The last one is 2005-2006.<br>

The newer one is still "in production".</p>

<p>Eugene is correct. Unfortunately the 2005-2006 was printed before the digital revolution and the pricing accordingly is questionable today.</p>

<p>Yeah, unfortunately any McKeown's is pretty much useless at this point. If you want a sense of what some camera or lens is worth today, check eBay's "completed items" listings or check the range of prices between major online dealers such as KEH, Adorama, and B&H.</p>

<p>The good news is that you can now ask Santa for something else.</p>

<p>The point of any published catalog these days is identification and historical information, not the pricing. The pricing never was realistic even when such lists (McKoewn, Kadlubek, etc.) were hot off the press.</p>

<p>They would do well if they would just rate rarity or some such criterion and leave the pricing to the market. "Actually sold" items on eBay, for example (and eBay has recently made it easier to sort out the asked, but unsold, from the prices things were really bought for).</p>

<p>JDM is right. The prices themselves are useful as an indication of how rare and desirable a model is, relative to others. They aren't relevant to the actual purchasing process.</p>

<p>JDM is right. The prices themselves are useful as an indication of how rare and desirable a model is, relative to others. They aren't relevant to the actual purchasing process.</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses and I agree with Marc and JDM regarding prices. I just look at the comparisons to get an idea of a cameras worth, but of course that changes as time goes by. I just like the tome for the pretty pictures and as a reference as it is a very useful resource for finding information on particular odd items. Yes, I know there is google, but sometimes a hard copy is just nice!</p>

<p>It seems as though the bottom has fallen out for many camera bodies, except for some of those that were at the high end in their day. The glass seems to holding up better since lots of classic lenses are now used on digital bodies. Now that would be an interesting thread, but what forum would that go in? </p>

<p>I agree Dennis, still a lot of people using those old bodies and some of the lenses have increased in price considerably due to Digital. Most digi users seem to be drawn to either the classic fast glass or the really old suff that gives a vintage look.<br>

It's not necessarily that the old lenses are better, but the build quality is certainly superior, and they have a certain feel that doesn't seem to be present in modern lenses.<br>

It would be interesting to see what Digi users are putting on their cameras these days when they opt for a classic.</p>

<p>Although I dearly love my Topcon cameras, I do want to use some of the Topcor glass on a mirrorless digital, but I don't have a clue which one would be the best balance of price vs quality. Thinking about an Oly EPL 1 or 2.</p>

<p>To those considering using the "old glass" on their digi's, I worked with Olympus OM's for a couple of decades and have accumulated a lot of lenses as a result. I'd really hate to give them up just to make the jump. I currently own an Olympus DSLR and have an adapter that allows me the use of those lenses. Granted, i give up the autofocus, but then I do KNOW how to focus a camera lens better than the algorithm anyway. I've also bought an adapter that allows me to use a Contax 100mm macro with built in ring light flash on my Oly. Do keep in mind that you are doubling the relative focal length of the lens when using it on most digital cameras.</p>

<p>BTW, While I find that price guides are good for determining rarity, I almost never see anything selling for the prices shown in those guides. And the same rings true with cameras, records, books, and glass, all of which I'm involved with. There is an on-line site that posts sales info for collectible cameras. It's located at:<br>

http://collectiblend.com<br>

and covers cameras and lenses in separate sections. Once again, use the prices listed as a guide, not a mandate, unless you want to own them forever.</p>