[LargeFormat] fujinon

[Michael Briggs]

On 11-Apr-02 dave southwood wrote:
> i have been offered a lens:
> 
> It is a fuginon 150mm lens, f 5.6 with a seiko shutter, it has mx&v on it
> and fujinon optical company. its coated and in good condition. what is this
> item worth?

Is "mx" a switch for setting flash synch?  If so, that is an indication of
age--flash bulbs still being used when the lens was made.   Fuji switched to
Copal shutters in, very roughly, 1980.  I have heard that Seiko shutters are
less reliable and more difficult to repair, but don't know this for sure.   The
lens is most likely single coated rather than multicoated like most post-1980
lenses.  Kerry Thalmann has the definitive page on Fujinon lenses:
http://www.thalmann.com/largeformat/fujinon.htm

> please could someone give me a dollar estimate, thanks

My suggestion: search ebay for completed auctions for 150 mm LF lenses.   Find
the typical price for recent 150 mm lenses, then decrease that price.   Or go to
keh.com and see what they are asking for recent 150 mm LF lenses, then decrease
that price.   I would price it well below more recent 150 mm lenses because of
the Seiko shutter and because it is single coated.   The difference between
single coated and multi-coated isn't large in practice, but the price should be
adjusted for the coating.

--Michael