There has been some recent activity here by a few medium format digital equipment dealers posting notices about specials, product pricing, availability and such.

As a general rule, I don't wish to have this forum become a marketing tool for dealers, or a buy and sell arena.

But, I'm going to make an exception in this case and cautiously allow medium format digital and related products to be mentioned by dealers. This will include posting of news about specials, refurbs and such. No long listings of products, no competative nonsense. Just useful information about pricing and availability.

The reason for this is that this section of the Luminous Landscape discussion forum has become one of the only public arenas for intellegent discussion of this topic, and conseqently there are a large number of knowledgable users and dealers who have become regular visitiors here. I would like to therefore foster this as a place for like-minded people to continue to meet and discuss their (our) common interest.

I'm not making any hard and fast rules about commercial product mentions. Just try and keep it from getting out of hand. Oh yes – and I'll be the sole arbiter of what "out of hand" means.

Michael

Ps: I don't wish to have "for sale" or pricing offers here on any other types of products other than professional medium format digital equipment, so no point in asking.

Thanks for generous, opportunity and clarity of rules. I believe, like you we can all benefit from a non committee aproach to censorship based on common scence. The MF digital market is all smoke and mirrors that assists no one when trying to make objective decisions. Openness on pricing policy would be a good start. Mystery does not create demand. I was told to tell no one how 'little' I paid for my P25 I'm sure this line rings bells with a lot of you.

Damien.

Guidlelines are necessary in every relationship.

Happy to be a part of the forum.

Thanks.

In other words:

Dealer price quotes allowed !
Refurb announcements allowed !
Private for sale of MF equipment allowed !

This is wonderful - thank you, Michael !

Edmund

I don't understand the smoke and mirrors comment. I emailed Steve Hendrix and I think Dave (but it could have been someone else at CI) and I was given prices on every back they offered including refurbs. Sure it would be nice if the prices were on their web sites but I don't mind a little communication. There's been zero hard sell from either of them and Steve has even helped me out with an issue and I didn't even buy my back from him.

i could not agree more...the prices are very easy to get...just call a dealer...calumet and samys list all their prices on the website...

I don't think they are looking for retail list prices. I think they would like to see real world prices, what someone might actually pay.

I don't think Michael implied this at all. He did specifically mention dealers only.

Why aren't the prices on the dealer websites? I have seen about 20 dealer websites and can only think of one which shows prices.

Compare this to any dealer selling canon, Nikon, etc.

Back on topic

I too would like MF for sale and wanted to be allowed if clearly marked.
- Imagine the convenience of posting "anyone got a spare film back" ?
- Dealing with fellow pros is more pleasant than getting scammed on ebay.
- More realistic pricing by dealers.

I suggest this be put in place with clear rules (eg. MF stuff only, FS or Wanted in topic subject). I see no problem with FS/wanted being mixed in with the MF forum, but others here seem to think differently, and although I do not understand their motives I would feel inclined to respect their opinions.


Edmund

PS Sorry about this crosspost from the meltdown thread.

Back off topic !

One of the reason the MF boards always seem to 'meltdown' is that MF users tend to go no where else - all other photo boards are rammed with 'how do I turn the flash on' claptrap

Posters wouldnt post thier FS Alpa in with a jumble of FS rebels and D70s

They dont whant to discuss thier workflow issues with persons who's workflow is 1mb jpgs

MF is a very small community - either new boards need to be started FS MFDB gear

OR

Discassion of workflow, FS etc should be tollerated

Should the FS outwieigh the chat than it will be clear that there is big enough demand for a seperate board

The RG board started to collapse when Mr Tucker said this..

"This doesn't have a thing to do with PhaseOne, but I want to post it here, because this is the only forum where pros are. "

Here is becoming "the only (public) forum where pros are" that is what needs to be encouraged. The fact that the title is MF gear is just a shield rally IMO

SMM

Since RG there really is no public forum for professionals to discuss all topics, cameras, business, art, digital issues . . .

This is the closest to what RG was but RG was only interesting because of the people posting and we all know what issues RG had with the people that were posting.

It became so uncomfortable that most people left the public air waves.

The thing that keeps me away from this forum is the lack of real names. I am quite aware that anything posted on a public forum can and probably will become public, but I still want to know who I am talking to. Personally I'm not that comfortable with any public view forum without a registered log in, real name and real name e-mails, websites to give some indication of who and what experience is being related.

Personally, I don't like the for sale postings on this forum, at least not under this heading as it just confuses the following of a topic and leads to the silly DP review type of arguments we've seen.

You've seen the progression. One dealer posts a refurbished listing, another competing dealer posts a counter offer, then all of a sudden everyone with a used digital magazine pops up and trys to sell it for twice the going rate.

Granted, there needs to be a professional forum for selling gear that gets away from e-bay, but in the middle of this section is confusing and seems to cheapen the quality of the content.

JR
http://www.russellrutherfordgroup.com/

Even though Michael gave the go ahead for "for sale" postings, and even though I'm a dealer, I agree with the point James made. Right after Michael gave the thumbs up, "FS" headers started showing up.

I would suggest having a separate "for sale" section for any kind of commerce-related postings. It gums up this category, in my opinion. A category like this works best when it's focused.

Steve Hendrix
PPR Digital

I agree. I'd personally prefer it to be a separate forum, so that when I look for "New Posts," I won't get the FS stuff unless I am looking to buy or sell something.

Eric