Online MF Dealers?

National Camera Exchange: natcam.com

Click on the "USED" tab and select medium format under cameras. Some things are priced really well, - others pretty expensive.

KEH is always a good bet. They can be maddeningly vague with descriptions, esp as to what precisely is wrong with "bargain" and "ugly" offerings, but customer service is generally excellent about returns. In the higher rankings, KEH nearly always delivers an item at or above expected condition.

Roberts and National Camera Exchange I would put below KEH. These two can be more problematic in terms of condition descriptions: they don't intentionally misrepresent anything, they have integrity, but I've been burned on multiple occasions by items both described as having "minor issues" that were utter disasters. Unlike KEH, which still somewhat adheres to its once-legendary conservative ratings, Roberts and NatCam tend to be more "optimistic" or indifferent to defects (i.e., a lens described as having a tiny spot of fungus arrived with 85% rear element separation). Aside from text descriptions, the photos are sometimes "off" - the angle doesn't fully depict a cosmetic flaw, or the flawed side of an item isn't depicted at all.

Again, this is not a slam against either: just a heads up to be as cautious as you would with any other decent used merchandise dealer. For better and worse, there really is only one KEH: most other dealers are a bit sloppier with a bit less attention to detail. Ask questions before purchase if you aren't sure about something. Both Roberts and NatCam are open to "Make Offer" bids, but NatCam is far more flexible (Roberts rarely agrees to anything more than 8% off their BIN). For the adventurous willing to put in some work, NatCam offers many attractive bundles or lots of similar items: if you bid on and win a NatCam lot at a good price, selling off the unwanted items can often subsidize most of the cost of the item you wanted. I've snagged some killer lens and Hassy film back deals from NatCam in this manner.

On the East Coast I've had very good luck with Adorama and B&H Photo. I'm old enough to remember when both were pigs: decades ago, native New Yorkers took one look at their storefronts, rolled our eyes, and knew what we were dealing with (pitying the folks who only knew them from ads in the back of Pop Photo). Today they're unrecognizable: vastly better customer service. Adorama esp is a good bet for pieces and accessories you can't find anywhere else at a decent price: be patient, and it will pop up on their eBay with a low opening bid.

For big ticket items like Hasselblad lenses, Henry's Camera in Canada is my favorite. Their listing pics leave much to be desired, but if they claim an item is in great condition it truly is. All my best MF lenses were bought from Henry's via their eBay presence. If you know the realistic resale value of an item you want, and are willing to pay it, the Henry's "Buy It Now" is usually within ballpark (and worth it for peace of mind). Shipping rate from Canada isn't very much more than our domestic USPS, and I've never once had to return anything to Henry's.

^ I have had similar experiences. KEH although as Orsetto said, drives you crazy with the minimal information they provide about the actual item you are considering purchasing. If you call them, they rarely will find the item and give you more detail. But again, their return policy is great. I bought a Bronica SQA body that was described as "parts" for $25. I'm still looking for what was wrong with it.

I had two transactions with National Camera Exchange. Both were Contarexes and they had many more problems than were disclosed. Unlike KEH, I was able to save both sales by haggling with them for a partial refund. Happy ending, I got the cameras and they didn't get them back.

Adorama has been great. I have purchased a few Hasselblad lenses from them and they were all under described (better condition upon arrival than I expected). For Father's Day I let it be known that I would appreciate Adorama gift cards rather than Harbor Freight, Lowes, or Macy's.

KEH has another hidden virtue. Though they have improved it, their search engine was sort of , well.... (like some sites I could mention)

However if you can penetrate the veil of mysteries there are sometimes incredible bargains with odd ball (my specialty) stuff like "Nooky*"s for prices much lower than if you found them on eBay.

________

*perfectly safe for work -- Nooky was Leica's telegraph order code for a closeup attachment...

KEH is my go-to.

They tend to run a bit more than some of the other dealers, but as said they have a rock solid warranty/return policy. I honestly don't see a lot of "ugly" stuff on their web store anymore-most of it seems to end up on Ebay. I do caution somewhat against "as-is" items-I've not bought MF stuff, but I've bought film and digital Nikons and all have had some sort of issue-off the top of my head I had an N80 where someone had put their finger through the shutter, a D100 with a flakey mode dial(it more or less works as long as you don't need to change ISO and can live with whatever exposure mode it decides to end up with) and a D2Xs where the top shutter release didn't work(I fixed that one actually, but that's another story). Oh, there was also the much-maligned FM10 I bought from them that had a broken rewind crank, although that was an easy fix with a $10 NOS replacement on Ebay with a Canon T60 crank(they're fundamentally the same camera). On the other hand, I've had decent luck with a couple of Ebay "Ugly" purchases-I bought a Canon 50mm f/1.8 in LTM that was described as "hazy" but the only thing "hazy" on it was the outside of the rear element and after that it was fine. I also bought a Hasselblad Bay 50 hood(for C lenses) that DID have a few dings and some missing paint on the outside-it was/is cosmetically ugly, but the mounts on the camera fine and the "flocking" is good so it serves its intended purpose well.

I've had a few niggling problems with BGN grade stuff over the years, but they've always made everything right. Most recently, I bought a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR I that was advertised as coming with a Kirk foot(aftermarket part that has Arca-Swiss "dovetails" on it so that it can mount directly to an AS or compatible tripod head without needing an additional plate) and paid ~$25 extra vs. a similar condition one with a factory foot. The lens that arrived had the standard factory foot, and after I alerted them to it I had a Kirk foot in the mail via FedEx 2-day with apologies and-despite my offer-no request for the other back. An older issue was a D300 that I bought right before vacation(never a good idea, whether new or used) and had it develop an intermittent fault while I was gone. I contacted them with the problem and had a replacement without any hassle.

One thing I HAVE noticed about BGN stuff since I've exchanged probably a half dozen pieces out of a few hundred bought from them over the past nearly 15 years-often times when you buy a BGN item the first item that they send you will often be the cosmetically best piece. When I've returned/requested a replacement(always for a mechanical problem, and usually not something immediately obvious) it always seemed that the replacement got pulled for an extra-attention operational inspection, but would not look as good as the first I received. I'm okay with this. EX and better pieces usually are pretty universally good, and what KEH sells as EX is often an Ebay seller's "mint." Heck, one of my last major purchases-my Nikon F6-was "BGN" and would have been an Ebay seller's "like new"(it had some scratches apparently from rubbing against something else on top of the prism housing). I'll also mention that I've had a few times where I requested a replacement and didn't have any more BGN pieces, but-depending on the cost difference-either upgraded me to "EX" at no additional cost, or for less than the cost difference between that and BGN.

I mentioned National Camera Exchange since the OP was looking for an alternative to KEH. However, I agree that KEH has a stellar reputation.

When it comes to National Camera Exchange I have an advantage in that they have 3 brick and mortar stores right near by. They have an eBay "department" but also used equipment they sell online and at their stores. I don't know how they decide what goes on eBay and what doesn't. I found their website a little hard to navigate. Filtering by manufacturer didn't show the cameras I was looking for but using a direct search did.

Anyway, they had two Nikonos Fives. One was for $149 and listed as being "very good". The other was $129 and listed as "average". It was impossible on the website to see what the difference between the two was and it wasn't in the description. But these prices where actually pretty good considering I could inspect them in person before buying so I decided to check them out.

Once I had the two in front of me it was still not apparent at first glance why one was average and the other was very good. The sales person showed me some tiny nicks in the black paint on the filter ring of the average one. He also said that since the "very good" one still had the "Passed" sticker on the lens, it was worth more. First I'd ever heard that. Is that true? I'll leave those stickers on stuff if they don't look too ratty but I've definitely removed them before. Anyway both functioned just fine and the seals were all good.

I was leaning heavily towards the average one because a few tiny specs of black paint and the passed sticker missing didn't bother me a bit. Then I looked more closely through the viewfinders. The average one was definitely scratched and the very good was well, very good. I'm sure it was the viewfinder that was really responsible for the average rating.

All in all, the ratings were accurate. I took the "Very Good" one home. The "Passed" sticker fell off the lens less than 24 hours later so I guess it's not "Very Good" anymore. :)

KEH is always a good bet. They can be maddeningly vague with descriptions, esp as to what precisely is wrong with "bargain" and "ugly" offerings, but customer service is generally excellent about returns. In the higher rankings, KEH nearly always delivers an item at or above expected condition.

 

Roberts and National Camera Exchange I would put below KEH. These two can be more problematic in terms of condition descriptions: they don't intentionally misrepresent anything, they have integrity, but I've been burned on multiple occasions by items both described as having "minor issues" that were utter disasters. Unlike KEH, which still somewhat adheres to its once-legendary conservative ratings, Roberts and NatCam tend to be more "optimistic" or indifferent to defects (i.e., a lens described as having a tiny spot of fungus arrived with 85% rear element separation). Aside from text descriptions, the photos are sometimes "off" - the angle doesn't fully depict a cosmetic flaw, or the flawed side of an item isn't depicted at all.

 

Again, this is not a slam against either: just a heads up to be as cautious as you would with any other decent used merchandise dealer. For better and worse, there really is only one KEH: most other dealers are a bit sloppier with a bit less attention to detail. Ask questions before purchase if you aren't sure about something. Both Roberts and NatCam are open to "Make Offer" bids, but NatCam is far more flexible (Roberts rarely agrees to anything more than 8% off their BIN). For the adventurous willing to put in some work, NatCam offers many attractive bundles or lots of similar items: if you bid on and win a NatCam lot at a good price, selling off the unwanted items can often subsidize most of the cost of the item you wanted. I've snagged some killer lens and Hassy film back deals from NatCam in this manner.

 

On the East Coast I've had very good luck with Adorama and B&H Photo. I'm old enough to remember when both were pigs: decades ago, native New Yorkers took one look at their storefronts, rolled our eyes, and knew what we were dealing with (pitying the folks who only knew them from ads in the back of Pop Photo). Today they're unrecognizable: vastly better customer service. Adorama esp is a good bet for pieces and accessories you can't find anywhere else at a decent price: be patient, and it will pop up on their eBay with a low opening bid.

 

For big ticket items like Hasselblad lenses, Henry's Camera in Canada is my favorite. Their listing pics leave much to be desired, but if they claim an item is in great condition it truly is. All my best MF lenses were bought from Henry's via their eBay presence. If you know the realistic resale value of an item you want, and are willing to pay it, the Henry's "Buy It Now" is usually within ballpark (and worth it for peace of mind). Shipping rate from Canada isn't very much more than our domestic USPS, and I've never once had to return anything to Henry's.

Henrys isn't apparently on eBay any longer, along with Vistek. You can buy direct thru their storefronts but there's very little film gear on offer nowadays.

Henrys isn't apparently on eBay any longer, along with Vistek. You can buy direct thru their storefronts but there's very little film gear on offer nowadays.

Oh, well, so much for that recommendation. Glad I'm done putting together my 'blad outfit, then: I really liked Henry's for their super-clean Hassy lenses. Last thing I got from them was a pristine Nikon F2S body, probably over a year ago now. Didn't notice they'd evaporated off the 'bay: thanks for the heads up. They had a fairly extensive, top quality stock: for them to have much less on offer now indicates they made a conscious decision to pull out of film gear.

Oh, well, so much for that recommendation. Glad I'm done putting together my 'blad outfit, then: I really liked Henry's for their super-clean Hassy lenses. Last thing I got from them was a pristine Nikon F2S body, probably over a year ago now. Didn't notice they'd evaporated off the 'bay: thanks for the heads up. They had a fairly extensive, top quality stock: for them to have much less on offer now indicates they made a conscious decision to pull out of film gear.

Bought loads of quality gear from them, too, during the Great Recession years when they were awash in nice film equipment. Trade-ins later slowed to trickle. That's what made the decision for them. Selection narrowed and eBay traffic went elsewhere.Simply not worth the bother for them and their competitor, Vistek.