R
ruben
Guest
Kindly excuss the above metaphoric title, influenced by the current performance of Paul McCartney in the neighbourhood, but as long as time passes eBay becomes more and more a sociological puzzle about the human kind, that I can follow less and less.
Lately I am purchasing 45mm fixed lens rangefinders, many of them being sold at a third of the price of the air mail shipping to Israel, others at open auction, and to my dismay they come dirty, regardless of the price, each one in its own original way.
Just to bring two examples from the last three cameras I gave them shelter, two of them where a Konica Auto S, and a Konica Auto S2. Both of them came fully working and to my great surprise with a relatively contrasty yellow patch before my prospected cleaning.
However, the Konica Auto S, once out of the case, beared a terrible amount of a very thin and light brown toned powder, like the one used for female make up, but totally dry. Fine
I cleaned it, put the camera within the case for some moments and after I opened the case, again a full shower of make up powder covering almost all the camera. After a while I noticed the source. By some physical phenomena, the material serving to cushion the top casting at the upper case, was in a state of .... how can I call it? The part that I am talking about is located between the felt fabric and the leather.
Our interest here is rather in the seller. Additionally there was an ended old fujicolor film, from the time fuji and others used to manufacture reloadable cans. I am waiting for the opportunity to process the film. Next, the battery chamber was very corroded and with a rotten but still working battery ! The corrosion, like all other dirt was easy to remove.
Then came the question of the eBay feedback. I wrote an extremely polite letter to the seller, a 100% one, explaining him that obviously he has not checked the camera, but since the camera was working I proposed not to write any feedback at all. I also explained him how he could have raised the starting price by making the camera to shine. He also lost me for a "fave". What kind of bussiness logic guides these 100% sellers?
Now, if you still have the patience comes an even more enigmatic case, with a Konica Auto S2. The seller, another 100%, showed two rather dark images of what seemed to be a cosmetically ugly camera. Buy it now for u$ 25. Fair enough.
So I asked him if the camera is working, and he answered with confidence the camera belongs to a friend of him and is working. The camera came today. The chrome looked infected by small tiny dots, not close one to the other, but all over the top casting. Let's say that if you wanted to imagine the very embrionic stage of corrosion - this could be a fair speculation. I have never seen such a phenomena, keeping me thinking where this camera was held captive. A Taliban cave ?
The glass of the protective filter (yeap !), and of the both external sides of the viewfinder were die hard dirty too.
But the most interesting thing was that the speed ring was hard to move and the iso lever - almost impossible to move.
Both the outer spot pattern and the mechanical stifness were fully solved with isopropyl alcohol. No corrosion, no sea salt.
------
So these cases, and for sure I am not the first one to feel them, arise some questions.
The first is at the title of the thread. Where these people keep these misfortuned cameras, what places or torture chambers produce such interesting and original marks on the cameras, and why the former owners do
not make the lesser effort to clean an item they are selling.
Then we arrive to the sellers. Ok, I do not have extreme commercial senses, but if I am selling a low price item, why not use it to gain a client that tomorrow may buy from me, the seller, an expensive article ? Am I inventing here something new for the capitalist system ?
I look at all the dirty cameras.
Where do they all come from?
Where do they all belong?
Cheers,
Ruben
Lately I am purchasing 45mm fixed lens rangefinders, many of them being sold at a third of the price of the air mail shipping to Israel, others at open auction, and to my dismay they come dirty, regardless of the price, each one in its own original way.
Just to bring two examples from the last three cameras I gave them shelter, two of them where a Konica Auto S, and a Konica Auto S2. Both of them came fully working and to my great surprise with a relatively contrasty yellow patch before my prospected cleaning.
However, the Konica Auto S, once out of the case, beared a terrible amount of a very thin and light brown toned powder, like the one used for female make up, but totally dry. Fine
I cleaned it, put the camera within the case for some moments and after I opened the case, again a full shower of make up powder covering almost all the camera. After a while I noticed the source. By some physical phenomena, the material serving to cushion the top casting at the upper case, was in a state of .... how can I call it? The part that I am talking about is located between the felt fabric and the leather.
Our interest here is rather in the seller. Additionally there was an ended old fujicolor film, from the time fuji and others used to manufacture reloadable cans. I am waiting for the opportunity to process the film. Next, the battery chamber was very corroded and with a rotten but still working battery ! The corrosion, like all other dirt was easy to remove.
Then came the question of the eBay feedback. I wrote an extremely polite letter to the seller, a 100% one, explaining him that obviously he has not checked the camera, but since the camera was working I proposed not to write any feedback at all. I also explained him how he could have raised the starting price by making the camera to shine. He also lost me for a "fave". What kind of bussiness logic guides these 100% sellers?
Now, if you still have the patience comes an even more enigmatic case, with a Konica Auto S2. The seller, another 100%, showed two rather dark images of what seemed to be a cosmetically ugly camera. Buy it now for u$ 25. Fair enough.
So I asked him if the camera is working, and he answered with confidence the camera belongs to a friend of him and is working. The camera came today. The chrome looked infected by small tiny dots, not close one to the other, but all over the top casting. Let's say that if you wanted to imagine the very embrionic stage of corrosion - this could be a fair speculation. I have never seen such a phenomena, keeping me thinking where this camera was held captive. A Taliban cave ?
The glass of the protective filter (yeap !), and of the both external sides of the viewfinder were die hard dirty too.
But the most interesting thing was that the speed ring was hard to move and the iso lever - almost impossible to move.
Both the outer spot pattern and the mechanical stifness were fully solved with isopropyl alcohol. No corrosion, no sea salt.
------
So these cases, and for sure I am not the first one to feel them, arise some questions.
The first is at the title of the thread. Where these people keep these misfortuned cameras, what places or torture chambers produce such interesting and original marks on the cameras, and why the former owners do
not make the lesser effort to clean an item they are selling.
Then we arrive to the sellers. Ok, I do not have extreme commercial senses, but if I am selling a low price item, why not use it to gain a client that tomorrow may buy from me, the seller, an expensive article ? Am I inventing here something new for the capitalist system ?
I look at all the dirty cameras.
Where do they all come from?
Where do they all belong?
Cheers,
Ruben
