How much to sell my Pentax *ist for?

The first thing to say is that it is in New Zealand so I can't sell it to anyone here for 6 months!

What do you think would be a reasonable price to ask for a *ist with 28-80 lens in excellent condition (probably no box)?

Only one sale in my ebay database which was for a brand new boxed one, body only. Went for £69.

Cheers, Kris.

Thanks Kris, I'm impressed with how organised you are! Was rather hoping to get a little bit more than that but you never know. If I end up selling it in NZ I'll let you know and you can add it to your database!

Thank you! I started it because there were one or two bits and pieces I wanted but had no idea how much they would go for, and it rather snow-balled from there. It is a bit biased towards certain things, e.g. lots of LX stuff, very little MZ series stuff.

Best wishes, Kris.

I paid £130 for an istDL about 9 months ago on ebay.
That came with the kit lens and was the cheapest I'd seen for a couple of months ( I hung on until I saw on for the right price ).

Father Ted, I believe they are talking about the *ist film camera not the digital version.

Spencer: There is one listed on E-bay Australia at the moment with a starting price of AU$200 No bids as yet. I think thats a fair price. Heres a link

Thanks guys. Kinda depressing really (from the point of view of a seller not a buyer)how film cameras have become so devalued by the digital revolution.

I know many of you shoot digital and film. How do you split your photography between the two? Maybe I'm being a bit hasty in shifting it.

For me digital gets the lion's share of everyday use, film gets a couple of run outs a year. Film's nowhere near as convenient (and a lot costlier) but it has a magic all of its own - I couldn't give it up completely and the results easily stand up to the best a DSLR can offer.

Unless you're absolutely desperate for the cash I'd say keep the *ist and use it now and again.

I agree with hefty, hang onto it, you will probably regret it in time if you sold it dirt cheap.

BTW, what did these retail for when they first appeared on the market:

I can't remember how much I paid for it. think I bought it in 2003 - maybe it was 400 with the twin lens kit? I vaguely remember the second lens added a hundred quid.

I may keep it, but also have OM4 and OM40 with a few primes. I'm interested to hear others' views on how they split film and digital use - it might help me determine the sort of film camera(s) to keep hold of.

Digital: use it lots and most of the time. Shoot too many bad pictures and throw them away and a few reasonable keepers. Often take multiple versions of the same image to see what works best (e.g. several different apertures, or landscape and portrait versions, or zoomed in and a wider view etc.).

Film: I have a smattering of different film bodies, all older MF ones (S1a, ES, ME Super, ME-F, MX, LX) plus a twin lens medium format and my Horseman. Take far fewer pictures, maybe a roll or two a month (excluding work related stuff). Fewer photos, less mistakes, some keepers. Some days, like yesterday, I'll just take a film camera with a single lens (usually the LX with my SMC-A 50mm F1.4). I find being made to use the old fashioned system for zoom and wide-angle (i.e. my legs) a good discipline and I liked being forced to think about the basics. This is why I haven't gone and bought a AF film camera with all the bells and whistles. Too much like my K10 with none of the advantages of digital.

The biggest difference is how I approach exposure. Usually I am photographing stuff that doesn't move (and therefore not a rush time factor). With digital, I use Av most of the time. Usually, I take the photo, check the histogram, dial in exposure compensation, retake the photo, and repeat if necessary (this obviously depends on what it is). With film, I always use manual, assess the scene, meter off something close to 18% grey, even think about zones. With the Horseman it is a spot meter and the zone system.

None of this is hard and fast, just general trends.

A bit off topic but I recently bought a winder for the LX from a fellow forum person. Utterly different sound to the LX shutter on its own, but also utterly different to the sound of the ME Super or MX with a winder. Makes no difference to the images of course, but does bring a smile to my face.

Now go and run a roll of TMax through your *ist and tell it you love it really...

Cheers, Kris.