WTB Phase One P25, H25 or Leaf Valeo22

[Gully68]

I don't have a high budget (thus opening the door to H25's and Valeo22's), but I've been wanting to jump to medium format for a while.  Not interested in H-mounts, as it means buying into the now-proprietary H-family.  I still have my V-series, so that'd be ideal - though I'd consider the Mamiya AFD as well (since I could eventually buy the new AFDIII body, and still use the lenses).

I'm hoping someone out there has an older P25 who wants to go to the + series.  I don't know what kind of credit the upgrade plans usually offer - but maybe someone thinks they can get more selling.

I know actuations and condition can vary widely - and that many buyers tend to want it "like its new out of the box."  I'm basically looking for a scratch-free CCD and no operational issues; aesthetics are very back-seat.  So, I'm hoping someone out there has a back that they don't think they can move to people looking for "shiny and new" - and would be willing to part with it at a lower price.

Thanks a lot!
~Gully

P.S. - Just to preempt any comments: As I said above, I'm well aware I'm looking for a deal; I hope I was polite and candid enough about that - but that I don't expect the moon, either.  I've just gotten tired of E-bay, where I see the guy driving up the price has 20 other bids on, and has clearly calculated the % under retail at which they can resell for profit.  I'm just trying to take some beautiful photographs!

[yaya]

I don't have a high budget (thus opening the door to H25's and Valeo22's), but I've been wanting to jump to medium format for a while. 

I'm hoping someone out there has an older P25 who wants to go to the + series.  I don't know what kind of credit the upgrade plans usually offer - but maybe someone thinks they can get more selling.

I know actuations and condition can vary widely - and that many buyers tend to want it "like its new out of the box."  I'm basically looking for a scratch-free CCD and no operational issues; aesthetics are very back-seat.  So, I'm hoping someone out there has a back that they don't think they can move to people looking for "shiny and new" - and would be willing to part with it at a lower price.

Thanks a lot!
~Gully

P.S. - Just to preempt any comments: As I said above, I'm well aware I'm looking for a deal; I hope I was polite and candid enough about that - but that I don't expect the moon, either.  I've just gotten tired of E-bay, where I see the guy driving up the price has 20 other bids on, and has clearly calculated the % under retail at which they can resell for profit.  I'm just trying to take some beautiful photographs!
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=182869\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Gully which part of the world are you in? Also if your have a budget set in mind, we can try through one of our dealers to see if they have anything interesting for you

BR

Yair

[Gully68]

Gully which part of the world are you in? Also if your have a budget set in mind, we can try through one of our dealers to see if they have anything interesting for you

BR

Yair
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=182900\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hi Yair - I'm in Brooklyn, NY.  

I've seen some Valeo22's at great prices through rental houses - but they're always H or Contax mounts, and since I'm budgeting it's definitely not practical dropping an additional $5-10K on a whole new system of lenses and accessories - at least when both systems are now effectively "defunct" (well, unless you're using a Hassleblad-Imacon back; then only one is defunct).  

Thanks!
~Gully

P.S. - I've amended my original post to reflect the preference for Hassy V or Mamiya AFD mounts; I apologize to any who were mislead; I probably was too tired to be posting.

[Jason F]

You just missed a P25 on ebay for Hassy V mount a few days ago- it ended right at $8k, not bad.

Have you checked with eBay, KEH, etc?

[Gully68]

You just missed a P25 on ebay for Hassy V mount a few days ago- it ended right at $8k, not bad.

Have you checked with eBay, KEH, etc?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=182993\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Jason - yeah, I bid on that one...hahaha!  The crux was, the seller was brand new, and when I wrote them asking the "standard" questions ("why selling"?  "clean CCD?"  "serial number"?) he never wrote back.  I also found part of his description (besides the Phase One boilerplate) in an old cached classified ad via a Google search.  Not concrete enough to file a "suspicious" report - but I decided the risk was too high for a potential scam - since outright losing $8K would've decimated me financially.  (Paypal offered a generous $200 coverage on the newbie seller).

I haven't checked with KEH.  As I said with Ebay, my frustration is that many people are now "professional Ebayers."   On that P25, the bidder who passed me was bidding on many other photo items - mostly cameras; likely a reseller.  The ultimate winner might be a reseller as well, based on their bid history.  It's kind of like yard sales - they used to be  a place to find great deals if you didn't have a lot of money.  Then people started making a living scouring yard sales for their antiques shops; suddenly the deals were gone.  There's currently a P21+; the top bidder has made 364 bids this month on 244 items.  So, that's how I ended-up here: hoping to find people selling to other shooters, rather than resellers - and hoping (as I mentioned) that someone has a back they're trying to move that works great but just won't win any beauty pageants.   It's like my car: I got it at a steal with 30K on it, because nobody in NYC wanted a stick shift Dodge Neon with a bad body repair.  I'm just happy it gets A-to-B without breaking down - I can live with the other stuff

I'll check out KEH, too - thanks Jason!
~Gully

[fotolli]

I am the high bidder on that one ... and haven´t heard of the seller, yet. I don't think I ever will, thus my WTB thread in this forum.
So, without the intend of kidnapping your thread, I´m still looking for either a P25 or P30, if there happen to be two out there, so that Gully gets the first one and I could follow him... would be great.

Thanks

Oliver

Jason - yeah, I bid on that one...hahaha!  The crux was, the seller was brand new, and when I wrote them asking the "standard" questions ("why selling"?  "clean CCD?"  "serial number"?) he never wrote back.  I also found part of his description (besides the Phase One boilerplate) in an old cached classified ad via a Google search.  Not concrete enough to file a "suspicious" report - but I decided the risk was too high for a potential scam - since outright losing $8K would've decimated me financially.  (Paypal offered a generous $200 coverage on the newbie seller).

I haven't checked with KEH.  As I said with Ebay, my frustration is that many people are now "professional Ebayers."   On that P25, the bidder who passed me was bidding on many other photo items - mostly cameras; likely a reseller.  The ultimate winner might be a reseller as well, based on their bid history.  It's kind of like yard sales - they used to be  a place to find great deals if you didn't have a lot of money.  Then people started making a living scouring yard sales for their antiques shops; suddenly the deals were gone.  There's currently a P21+; the top bidder has made 364 bids this month on 244 items.  So, that's how I ended-up here: hoping to find people selling to other shooters, rather than resellers - and hoping (as I mentioned) that someone has a back they're trying to move that works great but just won't win any beauty pageants.   It's like my car: I got it at a steal with 30K on it, because nobody in NYC wanted a stick shift Dodge Neon with a bad body repair.  I'm just happy it gets A-to-B without breaking down - I can live with the other stuff

I'll check out KEH, too - thanks Jason!
~Gully
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[Gully68]

I am the high bidder on that one ... and haven´t heard of the seller, yet. I don't think I ever will, thus my WTB thread in this forum.
So, without the intend of kidnapping your thread, I´m still looking for either a P25 or P30, if there happen to be two out there, so that Gully gets the first one and I could follow him... would be great.

Thanks

Oliver
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=182999\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Oliver - please let us know how that works out.  Like I said, I was too nervous to bid more than a couple grand.  Hopefully you're waiting to pay him until you hear back.  But it's possible if he's a "new" Ebayer he doesn't understand people's communication expectations.  I hope it works out for you! That'd be a good deal (assuming it's in good shape...was it me, or were those pictures really dark? I couldn't see the close-ups very well.)

[fotolli]

As I said I don't have high expectations, but should the seller eventually contact me I will definitely take precautions. Hope it works out.
And Gully it wasn't you, the close-ups were underexposed.

 
In the meantime I have high hopes that friendly people offer their Phase One Backs in this forum at decent prices that allow us newbies in the professional world to upgrade to the real thing.

Many thanks

Oliver

Oliver - please let us know how that works out.  Like I said, I was too nervous to bid more than a couple grand.  Hopefully you're waiting to pay him until you hear back.  But it's possible if he's a "new" Ebayer he doesn't understand people's communication expectations.  I hope it works out for you! That'd be a good deal (assuming it's in good shape...was it me, or were those pictures really dark? I couldn't see the close-ups very well.)
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[WBusch]

Hi Gully 68,
It will take you about a 1 to 3 months to find a Valeo 22 or H 25 V mount .They are out there. Many people either trade up or switch to the new canon 1ds mk3. These boards are a great place to find what your looking for. You can't trust Ebay for this type of equiptment. I was able to go look at my H 25 before I bought it. I could not give someone $5000. and up dollars and hope they don't rip me off. Expect to pay between 5500 to 7500 used from private person , depending on what comes with the back and its condition. Less than that I would be very careful of things you may not be able to tell just by looking at the back.

[Gully68]

Thanks for that advice Bill!  And as Oliver shared with his own experience - Ebay is at least "questionable" for such large purchases.  I did notice that some rental houses and retailers have taken to moving equipment on there - sometimes at great prices (I wish I had an H-mount...DPI has been posting Valeo22's for CHEEEEAP; nobody's buying). But yes - a random seller 2000 miles away makes me rather nervous.

[WBusch]

Gully,
Since you are in Brooklyn Try Digital Transitions in the city . They will show you how the back works before you buy.  Capture Intergration in Atlanta also goes out of their way to help. Both of these are phase dealers, but some times they have leaf backs too. By the way those Valeo 22 have been for sale forever.Probably well used as rental backs. At 3800 though, worth the look. You won't get into MFBD any cheaper (at the 22 mp range) and DPI is a reputable dealer.

[Colorwave]

I would imagine that the P25 that just sold (or didn't) on eBay recently caught quite a lot of people's attention.  It certainly did mine.  The price was outrageously low until the final hours, and still wound up way below average.  Only the P45 that sold recently on LL was a better deal.

I sent the guy a message asking if he would be willing to get ID verified, as a brand new seller, and suggested that it might raise the bid price for him.  I know of someone else that tried to contact him with no luck as well as the people responding on this thread.  When he never got back to either of us, I decided that it didn't pass the sniff test for me.  He also said that he only deals with eBay, but had no previous history.  Hmmmm.  What might be someone's motivation to hold an auction like this if they aren't really trying to sell the back?  If he wanted more money than the winning bid, why didn't he set a realistic reserve price?

Best of luck Oliver.  If there was something wrong with the back, no response from the guy is probably the best outcome for you.

I'm in exactly the same boat as Gully, in looking for the same backs (except no H model Phase backs and hopefully in a Contax mount).  I hope this will prevent us from outbidding one another.    

I haven't seen the Valeos that DPI has for sale, and can't find it on their site.  Does someone have a link to this offer?

Thanks,
Ron

Edit:  I just noticed that the "only deal with eBay" seller is actually someone else with no history, and they are selling an Imacon Ixpress 132C vs. a Phase back.

[Gully68]

Ron - DPI posted them on E-bay.  Just do a search for them.  There are 2 H-mounts - a good "bargain" buy at $4K (I say "bargain" because they're a rental house - so I assume they've seen a lot of use).  There was a Contax, but it disappeared.  You could always call DPI to ask.  I would buy one in a heartbeat, if I didn't need a V-mount.

~Gully

[clawery]

Ron - DPI posted them on E-bay.  Just do a search for them.  There are 2 H-mounts - a good "bargain" buy at $4K (I say "bargain" because they're a rental house - so I assume they've seen a lot of use).  There was a Contax, but it disappeared.  You could always call DPI to ask.  I would buy one in a heartbeat, if I didn't need a V-mount.

~Gully
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=183133\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Gully,

I might be able to help you with what you are looking for.  We have several used backs in stock.

Chris Lawery
Sales Manager
Capture Integration
chris@captureintegration.com
www.CaptureIntegration.com

404-522-7662 | Atlanta    
305.534-5701 | Miami      
877-217-9870 | National
404-234-5195 | Cell

[cfoster]

check my post of Jan 20.   Re: mamiya/phase. maybe this is possible for your needs. I am open to offers