Lens caps and Hoods - Why so expensive?

[Sam]

Looking for a lens cap for my recently purchased Old Standard Rolleiflex I was amazed to find one on eBay costing £1 more than the camera and a second at almost twice the price of the camera ! No lens cap was cheaper than the camera. There is currently a "ROLLEIFLEX/ROLLEI 28.5MM PUSH ON HOOD" for sale on eBay for £115 but what appeared to be a sound Old Standard Rolleiflex failed to sell at £69.

Do lens hood and lens cap collectors greatly outnumber Rolleiflex camera enthusiasts?

[rolleiclubleader]

[Sam]

I did manage to get a correct lens cap (though I had difficulty getting it to stay on). For a hood I settled for a push on 'ZEISS IKON 28.5mm LENS HOOD' at £2 which works fine though I would still rather like an original - but not at £115.

[JanBoettcher]

Any serious Rollei collector will prefer lens caps and shades over cameras (not to mention the value of boxes and instruction booklets!)

You could post a pic of your camera and think of a way of making payment to Germany (without Paypal, personal cheques (as we are talking stirling, if we were talking greenbacks make that "checks") and the like) and maybe I could help (inluding postage below the quoted 69 pounds). I heard HSBC is able to do transfers wih IBAN and BIC to Euroland at reasonable rates.

[Sam]

Thanks Jan I appreciate your kind offer. I think I will see how well the camera works and stick with the ZEISS IKON hood in the meantime .