I don't pay retail and never have. $30k is retail and what it lists for. Some people read way too much into these forums.
I was in the market for an A75 earlier this year when they first came out. There happen to be one on eBay. What had happened was the guy bought the A22 with the free upgrade to the A75 when they came out. That person could not afford to keep it and by the time the A75 came in he was ready to sell it, at a discount with no waiting. He was in the NYC area and we met up and I jumped on it. It was for real and with no worries as my Local Leaf rep was 100% behind the deal. He was also the one who made me go for it because he loaned me his A75 on three occassions.
I never said anything negative about Rick, but they did leave me hanging as they don't have any to send out. He took my call and within minutes was giving me an RMA #. On set that is useless. There seems to be a lot of people on here that can afford to have their back ship away for a couple of days. But I do not have that luxury and even less so on location with a client and a crew of 20 looking at you for answers.
Like someone else on this forum I do not do business with some retailers. From what I have read here about Steve Hendrix and PPR he/they seem great, I just don't know him and he doesn't know me. I use B&H, K&M, Drive In and Shoot Digital on the East and on the West Samy's, Smashbox and Quixote. That is it! I would rather spend the rest of my career shooting with a Holga than to give a dollar to Calumet or Jeff Hirsch's Fotocare.
I look to my manufacturer to support a $30k (RETAIL) product. Not my dealer! I have spent yearsd buying from B&H and knowing that I walk out with it and I am on my own.
For the past 10 years I have had Pentax 67, Contax 645 and Mamiya RZ 67. You always carried a second body on Mamiya and Contax and I always carried seven Pentax 67 bodies. The makers never heard from me. Maybe once a year to Mamiya and Contax for repair and that was usually just to let them know it was on the way for repair. Pentax every three years or so for the winding crank if I used too much 220.
My point was, with Phase you don't need dealer support and with Leaf you do. I prefer to go to one place and that is it. I had my P25 overnighted down and resumed the next morning. I have an RMA from Leaf and will send it out to them for repair.
I am certainly switching to Rollei with the Hy6 hopefully sooner than later and will most likely be selling the Aptus 75 and Phase One P25 and getting a P45+ and P30+ as a back up and higher ISO shooter.
So I will have two 1Ds MII's with RRS RA plates and a 28-70, 50mm and 85mm, four batteries, hoodman protectors and angled diopter viewer, two 580ex's wih quantum cables, Epson Viewer P4000, all with caps, straps and manuals for sale in the new year.
As well as two complete H1's with a CF adapter, 50-110, 80, 100, 120, 150, four film backs, a polaroid back, an Aptus 75 with five batteries and charger and a Phase One P25 with five batteries and charger. All with Really Right Stuff right angled tripod plates.
The Rollei seems like it will be my dream system. Don't think I could ask for much more, except maybe that the back rotates on the body and a 45 degree prism. But in due time.
I don't mean to beat someone when they are down, but it you paid $30,000 then you paid list price, and if you paid list price why would you go to ebay instead of a real dealer? I've had a couple of times that I've needed help with my Aptus and Steve Hendrix and Rick have really helped me out. I know that I feel great knowing that there is a team of people willing to help me when I need it.
I just don't understand why you went to ebay.
Finally, the support I have gotten from these guys has gone way beyond whatever they were contractually required to do to help me. I can't say enough about how important it is to deal with a reputable dealer when you're buying high cost, bleeding edge technology like this.
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