Dismayed EOS 3 owner

I was thinking of selling off all my film camera equipment; a minty EOS 3 body

and an 550EX flash. I don't use it much if at all any longer. I currently own

the 5D + 24-105mm and am happy with it. I just checked prices on ebay. The 3

body goes for about $250 and the 550EX about the same.

 

Now don't go off on me saying film is out digital is in and therefore film

bodies are extinct creatures and therefore have very little value. I still

very occasionally like to use the 3 especially with B&W but the times I use it

are rare and there are amongst us people who still swear by film and those who

prefer it over digital. The 3 body still blows away the 5D body as far as

construction, etc. but geez this is a great body and now it's worth 1/3 of its

original cost? grrrrrrrrrr

 

But, hmmmmm.. if I sold them .. a nice down payment on a new L lens for the

5D!

Well, whatever some people say, film seems to be going the way of the dodo. Yes, I know it will (most likely) never be extinct - but mainstream it is not (any more...).

 

As a result - prices of excellent film gear plummeted, not that it was unexpected. Some three years ago I figured that new film bodies may soon not be available - and treated myself to a brand new 1VHS from B&H (paid full price too, which some people may consider unwise). Although I use 1DMKII now - the 1v is still occassionally ued with B&W film. I am not going to sell it, ever.

 

You may as well keep the EOS 3 camera. It will not fetch much when you sell it - but this doesn't make it a worse camera. It still is an excellent piece of gear. For as long as they make film, it can be used.

Unfortunately its the way its gone and folks now expect them cheap, I have 9 film bodies for sale incl 2 hassy`s, 2 t90`s 2 OM2`s flat out getting what I want, sometimes aither hand em down or bite the bullet and move on.

 

cheers

Welcome to the marketplace. You have a lot of company who own film gear.

Don't feel bad. I paid $1300 for an EOS 3 and PB-E2 in 1999. The VF and hand-feel put

my DSLRs to shame. It's mint but I can only sell it but for $300, maybe 350, so it's worth

keeping for a few rolls of NPH or Velvia a year.

 

Incidentally, the EOS 3, as nice as it feels, is plastic! Canon calls it "engineering grade

plastic," whatever the hell that is. It does have some metal in the mirrorbox. The 5D is

magnesium. But that EOS 3 grip sure fits my hand nicely...

 

I guess I should sell my 10D and 20D before they pine away to nothing...

Doesn't matter what the film body blows away. It ONLY matters what people are willing to pay for a specific item. Whatever that amount may be, that's the price you are going to get.

 

You couldn't give away a Synclavier today...

I for one am glad I could get a 1V + power booster + eos link thingy for the low price of

$700. I'm in heaven...

 

Keep it (can't you still use the flash?) and shoot a roll of Tri-X for me every once in a while so

Kodak continues to make it.

There is almost zero demand for film cameras. Some photogs dumped there film cameras and were disappointed with the depreciation in the last two years. They actually did pretty good by todays market pricing. Film stuff will only go lower due to the abundance of camaras that photographers are holding because of the reduced value. Some unique cameras will hold value, but most will be worth almost nothing in a year or two.

At least for you it's only the bodies. I am in the process of selling my extensive manual focus Minolta collection to buy into EOS. Even the most die-hard fans of the manual focus Minolta system by now have given up hope of ever seeing a DSLR to use their lenses with, and as a result prices have plummeted over the last couple of years. Mind you, I bought almost all of my stuff second hand and spend a lot of time getting good prices initially, so with good descriptions now and lots of photos on eBay I usually manage to recoup what I paid. For the longest time I contemplated keeping some SRTs to get my kids into photography once they get old enough - they are 8 and 9 now - but eventually I had to admit that they will never want to use a camera where they can't see the picture right away!

My daughter started on digital. A short time ago she said she'd like to pick up a film camera and shoot some black & white. With film bodies so cheap, I picked up a "professional" film body for her for next to nothing and she's having a blast. The digital has received a well earned rest.

It's a free market -- items are ONLY WORTH what people are willing to pay for them. Film SLRs are now an extreme hobbyist tool -- not for working pros or budding enthusiasts or talented amateurs. There is no new market for 35mm film thus the super low prices on nice film bodies.

Budding enthusiasts and talented amateurs should still use them - I bought a Minolta SRT ($27) and Canon EOS 10 (25 pounds) this week. 1. For astrophotography, 2. For low light performance and darkroom enthusiam. If anyone wants to offload a bargain Pentax 67 I'll take one of those too (they're not worth anything are they and they'll only clutter your shelves.)

I picked up a Mint Eos 3 and PB-E2 drive 15 months ago for $425. Its a fantastic camera and I plan to keep it to use as a backup to a canon 5D digital I may buy someday. I'd guess with drive I'd loose about $75 for the pleasure of owning it. A small fee for the 60 rolls I've run through it.

 

Anyone else notice Canon bumped up their factory waranty on 1V to 3 years?

Two AE-1's, an A-1, an OM-2. Looked to see what they were worth on E-Bay. I thought the decimal point was in the wrong place.

I got double-whammied. I picked up a used Bronica SQ, 3 lenses and accessories from KEH in 2004. Literally 2 weeks later, I read here on PNet that Bronica was ending production of SLR's. I loved my Bron for 2 years, then picked up the 30D. I carried them both for a brief time, but really haven't used the Bron since then. Now the dollars involved are hardly worth the effort of advertising, packing it up and shipping it out.

I think EOS 3s hit $250 some time ago. Film camera prices tend to be lower around the time of major new DSLR releases, and even bounce back a little if there hasn't been a new release for a while. With the new Canon and Nikon offerings I'd expect film body prices to remain weak for some months, but I doubt they will really fall much further - at least for bodies in good working condition. However, depreciation on film bodies has slowed right down compared with DSLRs, which continue to lose a significant proportion of their much more expensive new price quite quickly. Try looking to see what a 300D sells for now, compared with its $999 launch price just 4 years ago.

Keep it.

 

Enjoy it.

 

USE IT.

 

I love my 3 and still shoot mostly slides and have a 7n as a second body. Also have a D30 for snapshots.

Never sell it because some day you will gravitate back to it.My ancient EOS 630s are about worthless these days but all still function perfectly and take beautiful exposures.Film will be around for a long time and most top end bodies will retain some value.Go to E bay and take a look at what people are getting for "old" Canon F1s (manual focus)and the better L series FD lenses.This stuff has been out of production for over twenty years and really clean items are still getting as new prices.As supply dwindles prices have a tendency to go back up over time,especially when they stop making them.

I know, we are young, and we need the money :-) but wouldn't it be great to own an old Canon camera of the first days (perhaps inherited from our grand-grand-grand-pa)? Or have a look at an old Canon F-1.. an amazing piece of mechanic perfection. Perhaps the EOS-3 will stand for perfection in many ways in 30 years or so.

 

So I go along with Joe:

Keep it. Love it. Give it to your children one day.

I sold my EOS 3 back in 2003 and it still had some value then. I am glad I did, as it has little value now.

 

Now days even a professional film camera is little more then a fancy paperweight to most camera users.

I wish someone would tell KEH about the EOS3 250 price point, they're about 100 too high :)

 

 

I just like using film. I need a break from digital at times. Developing film and printing in the darkroom is different than sitting in front of a PC. Do Bill Gates and Adobe really need any more of my money? I have a woodshop with modern power tools, but sometimes I like slowing down and using hand tools...it's all what you like. The way I see it, no one is forcing me to use digital or film.

Hi,

 

Yep, market prices are one reason I've still got my pair of EOS3 with PB-E2 (and three 550EX, although I use those regularly), along with a large number of other film cameras. I still like to shoot some film from time to time, but if it's just for fun I'm more likely to use one of the more classic, manual focus kits I've got.

 

It could be worse. I bought a near perfect black Nikon FM2N (in an ER case, like new) with two 3rd party zooms and a flash for $27 at the local Goodwill just a couple months ago. Couldn't believe someone just "donated" it, bu they did! I later picked up a "non-working" MD11 motor drive for it off eBay for $20 incl. shipping (the seller was wrong, it works fine... it's amazing how many people load the batteries wrong in those things!). Since then I've added two FE2s with MD11s, Nikkor 24/2.8, 35/2, 50/1.4, 135/2.8, a Nikon flash and adpated a 90mm Tamron macro I already had... All for less than $500 total. One of the FE2s will need a new meter, but the other works perfectly. Note that Nikkor AI/AI-S manual focus lenses can still be used on many D-SLRs, so tend to maintain their value pretty well (the same is true of Pentax-A lenses).

 

I also still have my D2 color & B&W enlarger and the rest of my darkroom, in storage and boxes. Don't look up the prices used darkroom equipment is bringing. It'll make you cry if you own some... But it's a great time to be a buyer!

The film camera market is great if you are buying... nearly unlimited selection and low, low prices. And people *are* buying film cameras. There's just so many being "sacrificed" to feed the digital monster, that they lose a lot of value in such ready availability. So of course, it's terrible if you're selling and paid retail prices when film cameras were new.

 

I am struggling to even afford a digital SLR, so I looked to film cameras to feed my photography urgings while I save up. I've bought two Minolta SRT's for around the $30 mark, and picked up 4 different Rokkor lenses in the deals -- I will be hanging on to these mechanical marvels for astrophotography if nothing else.

 

I just recently bought a more modern Elan 7 for $60 with a battery grip for more "realistic" film shooting while still being able to share lenses with a Canon dSLR in the future.

 

I would, as others suggested, just hang on to that EOS 3, or whatever other film cameras you have. Sometimes it's just fun to shoot film. And the "old" SLR's from the 70's are perfect learning tools to loan out to your friends and family who are interested -- and are just plain satisfying to use yourself from time to time.

The "value" of the camera is in what you can use it for. It certainly has little monetary value in the current market. Keep it and use it when you get the urge. Put in a supply of your favorite B&W film and keep it frozen until one of those urges hit you.

 

The market for used film camera may have changed somewhat recently. I use film cameras for B&W and, among lots of other film equipment, I bought a used EOS 1n last year at KEH. I was thinking of buying a second 1n and checked KEH last week. The 1n in "excellent" condition is now $50 more than it was when I bought mine in the same condition. Maybe prices have taken a little bounce.

Look at it this way.You own one of the best auto focus film cameras ever made.It is state of the art and probably when it goes out of production it will be the end of a era.High quality photographic film will be available for a long time into the future so the body will remain viable for many years.No digital camera will retain any value over time because technology will doom all of them into obsolescence in a few short years time.If you really want to flush a large chunk of cash down the toilet go ahead and purchase a high end digital SLR.Your EOS 3 will only become a worthless and obsolete paperweight if you stop using it.