Value of a new FM2 "Year of the Dragon" Millenium Edition

[jordi_boada]

I have the opportunity to buy a new Nikon FM2 "Year of the Dragon"

Millenium Edition for a fair price (camera + 50mm 1.4). My intention

is to buy it as a investment, in order to sell it, immediately or

after a while, in Ebay or elsewhere. What is the value nowadays of

this camera? Thanks in advance.

Jordi.

[loreneidahl]

On Ebay its worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.

 

Check past auctions to see what they have been selling for. Factor out the real high and real low and there's your answer. The market for glitzy manual Nikon's is not the same as Leica's.

 

(Personally to me its a FM2 with a 50 1.4 - total value to me about $100.)

[lex_jenkins]

I wouldn't expect many Nikon SLRs to have any collectible value. Even Leicanauts are skeptical of the various "special edition" models, such as the Charles and Diana Get Divorced Commemorative M6. When I first got into the Nikon lineup I passed on a titanium FM2N, body only, in favor of an F3HP with MD-4 and 50/2 AI for the same price; and later a like-new FM2N for $200. I suspect most Nikonistas will be a hard sell where special editions are concerned. However, there are always a few loyalists who will enjoy such a camera in their collections.

 

Me, I'm looking forward to adding one particular Nikon to my collection: one of the very early Kodak branded dSLRs built onto a Nikon body. It was something like a 1 mp camera that cost close to $10,000 new. When I find one for five bucks I'll grab it. It took me almost 15 years to be able to afford a Mac IIfx, over which I had lusted when it was first on the market but couldn't talk my supervisor into buying one for our graphics department. The original $10,000 price tag was a bit steep. But when I found one in a thrift store for five bucks, it was mine, at last.

 

And I still treasure my Mac Color Classic as much as any Leicaphile would the Charles and Diana Divorce model. You can't put a price on curiosity value.

[andy_blagbrough]

I have seen an unsed, boxed, etc, combination with matching serial numbers on sale for

�995!. It has been available for a while and I suspect it will remain so. As you are asking

for advice, mine is only buy it if you are prepared to sell it at no gain. I feel that the

collectors market for film cameras is rapidly dying. For investment, use the money and buy

something made of silver.

[ggoodroe]

A good growth Mutual fund would be a better place...compared to a film camera...I'd pay $6 for the Kodak branded 1MP digital in the Nikon Body..(I smell an auctio)...heheheh...

 

George Goodroe CFP

St. Petersburg, FL USA

[vivek iyer]

US $125 tops. Not a penny more for defacing an otherwise beautiful camera.

[andy_blagbrough]

Ah, well, if we are bidding. When you get it, I'll give you 125 pounds sterling for the

camera and lens combination. And I promise to USE IT as a companion to my FM3a.

[conrad_hoffman]

Lex, just FYI, Kodaks remaining stock of those Kodak/Nikon cameras were sold off as industrial surplus without the digital backs. After adding the various missing parts from Nikon service, like the back, motor drive cap, and maybe finder screen, they ended up in the hands of dealers who sold them as nearly new F3HPs, indistinguishable from any other F3HP.

[Sanford]

Be careful. The value of used film cameras, in general, are rapidly droping in value.

[lex_jenkins]

Aww, heck, Conrad, are you telling me that the Kodikon is a collector's item now?

 

Okay, I'll bid $7.

[jordi_boada]

Thanks to all for your advice. Definitely I will not buy this camera, in part because the price is not so "fair" as I was thinking.