Learn Photo Editing What’s That Old Film Camera Worth?

In the days before cameras went digital, there was a broad consensus of opinion as to the second-hand value of particular makes and models. This judgment was in various publications Learn Photo Editing Review know generically as Blue Books, which were normally updated annually, aimed at traders could be extremely expensive to buy.

McKeown’s is one of the most respected Blue Books. The last edition was published in 2005/2006, and a used copy can be purchased via Amazon for around £400 in hardback (I said it was expensive).

There are lesser Blue Books, for example Hove International once published an annual price guide, but because these volumes are no longer updated, any price guide will be at least ten years old, and second-hand (pre-owned), so the choice available varies according to when you search for such things.

As a tool for the casual camera collector, a Blue Book is generally pretty useless. The pages are populated with details of obscure cameras; things I’ve never heard of, will probably never encounter, and would not wish to own anyway. For example, turning to a random page in my Hove International Blue Book (the Millennium edition), I am confronted by an Elop Kamerawerk Flansburg Elca II from 1950. I’ve never heard of one of them!

Conversely, many common manufactures and their models can be completely absent. For example, in my book there are a mere three entries for Fuji/Fujica, who began producing cameras in 1948, and marketed many different models.

More than that, the information https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/learn-photo-editing-review-kumar-raj on camera values ten — or more — years ago is now completely out of date. This is not so much due to inflation, but rather shifts in popularity. In short, an old Blue Book is about as useful today as a 127 roll-film camera. They might be interesting, but they certainly will not tell you what the average film camera is worth today.