Newton Ellis — The Main UK Repairer — Are Closing

[stephen_mcateer]

I see that Newton Ellis in Liverpool are shutting shop this summer.

They are perhaps the best-known repairers of analogue cameras in the UK.

As the number of service and repair shops dwindles over the coming years, I wonder if the value of medium-format film cameras will go up or down?

And what do we do with cameras that need repair?

[c_watson1]

Repair resources have declined steadily for some time for all film gear. Need service? Get it now. Prices seem up with much of the better grade stuff offered by Japanese sellers. If your gear is in especially nice shape, you might consider selling. Film prices and fewer lab services are both downdrafts. It's a resdual market now for all film gear and film materials.

[stephen_mcateer]

@c_watson1 I have a few film cameras in good condition,but I only really need two. The others are useful now and again but I don't often use them.

Just wondering whether or not to hang onto them. On the one hand, they're not making them any more, so you would expect prices to go up.

On the other, there's an ever-diminishing number of people to repair and service them, so maybe there'll be decreasing demand…

Edited April 19 by stephen_mcateer

[c_watson1]

There are islands of desire for film gear. Lived in and now near to Toronto where film photography is well-rooted and supported by an ecosystem of labs and stores. That's where demand survives. Elsewhere? Not so much. I grabbed stuff like mad in the early 2000s when the "big auction site" was awash in film gear.  NOS/mint stuff was cheap and plentiful. I bought lots. But then the repair guys retired, died, or moved 10+ years ago. Friends are now scarfing up stuff I rejected years ago. It breaks and no one can fix it. Again, it's sane to see film cameras as mostly disposable now. Safe to say buy the newest/best condition film bodies you can afford. Enjoy 'em while you can.

[stephen_mcateer]

On 4/19/2024 at 11:09 PM, c_watson1 said:

the repair guys retired, died, or moved

That's what's happening here in the UK.

On 4/19/2024 at 11:09 PM, c_watson1 said:

NOS/mint stuff was cheap and plentiful. I bought lots.

Prescient. I sold off all my stuff and went digital, then re-bought it all at inflated prices.

On 4/19/2024 at 11:09 PM, c_watson1 said:

Safe to say buy the newest/best condition film bodies you can afford

I find that I buy stuff, get bored with it and decide to sell it. Usually I break even or make a small profit. Just not so sure about that being the case in future. 

[orsetto]

On 4/22/2024 at 8:34 AM, stephen_mcateer said:

I find that I buy stuff, get bored with it and decide to sell it. Usually I break even or make a small profit. Just not so sure about that being the case in future. 

Buying and reselling just to check out and play with various camera systems has always been financially unpredictable. Sometimes if you time it on the upswing of a popular model, you'll break even or eke out a slight profit. Usually you'll take a fairly significant loss upon resale, either from eBay/broker fees or lowball offers from established dealers.

We usually write off the loss as a "rental fee", but its still painful to eat a $200 loss on a camera you paid $600 for a couple months earlier. I think a lot of vintage camera "dabblers" got spoiled by the white-hot COVID-era market, where resale prices were rising so fast you could generally try out any camera for "free". That feverish era seems to be hurtling toward an end in recent weeks: for the first time in quite awhile eBay is again awash in Mamiya RB67 gear (after being nearly unobtainable from domestic sellers since 2016).

Global economic woes (and the recent issues with Fuji's true intentions re ongoing film manufacturing) seem to have deflated the latest "vintage film camera" binge. Compounded by rapidly disappearing repair sources, we may soon see a massive selloff and market correction. The hipster kids and retro-boomers are beginning to realize their beautiful looking $1799 Rolleiflex or Hasselblad can be terrifying post-purchase money pits of maintenance cost, with ever-dwindling numbers of truly competent techs and wait lists of months to years. 

The recent unfortunate passing of David Odess was a big wakeup call to me personally: suddenly, my heavy investment in vintage Hasselblad (with its utterly absurd neverending repair costs) seems rather ill-advised. Since I have more fun with my Mamiya TLR system anyway, and the simplistic Mamiya lens shutters can be repaired by any geek wielding a screwdriver, it may finally be time to unload most of my 'blad stuff.

Leica and Rollei TLR enthusiasts seem to enjoy living their lives hostage to only two or three aging specialist techs: thats not for me. A competently overhauled Leica M can run a decade or more with no issues, but you're lucky to get a few months from a 'blad overhaul before it fails again. I've been burned by generalist techs several times: truly excellent 'blad service costs dearly and has become increasingly difficult to find. Knowing my Hassy kit (esp lenses) are ticking time bombs of spite kinda sucks the joy out of the user experience.

 

[stephen_mcateer]

@orsetto Thanks for those insights. I've been keeping an eye on medium-format prices on eBay Uk and they do indeed seem to be falling.

You mention Hasselblad: I have a nice 501CM that I don't want to keep. I will list it on eBay in a couple of weeks and see how it goes. There's a specialist V-series repair man in the UK (I forget his name) who might be able to service / repair it but as you say it gets expensive.

I also have a nice (Not perfect) Rollei that I prefer to the 501, but again, it's looking like I might have to send it overseas for repair in future, so I may have to think carefully about hanging onto it. 

The Mamiya TLRs are nice, not-too-expensive cameras that do the job (I have a 330 Pro. Yes I have too much gear.). I've never tried to repair one, but if the shutters are as simple as you say, there's maybe not too much to worry about. And with the relatively low cost of these lenses, I suppose if they break it might be less headache to just buy a replacement. The bodies seems to be pretty bulletproof. And it's a camera that does 90% of what I need / want.