best buy,worst buy

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tvagi

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I am collecting vintage photo cameras for about 8 years.
when i started i bought almost everything!now i prefer RF and most of all FSU RF.
some days ago as i was looking at my cameras and i realized that i had a lot of cameras that i just paid too much for them and some others that are a bargain!
i am sure that everyone has at least one camera which paid too little or too much.then why not share this experience?!
which is your best for the money and which is the worst for the money.
 
My best buys, worst buys?

My best buys, worst buys?

Well, it depends on how you look at it. All camera bodies, with a few exceptions loose value. I bought a Pentax 645N when new for over $2000, and now I can get one for $1000. I created alot of work with it, and it more than paid for itself many times over. My Minolta SLR's cost more than they were worth, but again, alot of good work came from those too. My Leica M8? I think it is little too much for my money, but I already have a full collection of used Leica lenses, and if I had to move to Canon, or Nikon, I would need a new full line of lenses, so Canon or Nikon would have cost me more. My Fuji GSW 690 is worth more now than what I paid for it in 1992 (that camera made me fame with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in washington DC).

What about lenses? All of my lenses have come down in price with one exception, my Leica M lenses, all of which I bought used. I love them, the build quality, sharpness, tonal range, etc,,,,. I moved away from them when I went totally Medium format, but re discoverd them with My M8 (Falling in love all over again). As a matter of fact, I had two I sold to get a Medium Format lens, and now I regret it (I sold my 90mm summicron and my 50mm Dual range Summicron, ARRRGHHH!!!)
 
by best buy was a Voigtlander VITESSA A3 in leather case + accessory leather case with lens hood,two filters(green and yellow) and a close up "filter".i paid for all of these 20euros!
one of my worst buys was an AGFA Clack.it was one of my first cameras as a new collector.i paid for it 20DM (German Marks).i thought i was buying a little treasure.it looked too vintage and i couldn't resist!then i found out that it wasn't neither rare nor expensive!
 

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Best buy: Leica CL with 40mm and 90mm for $300. Meter wasn't working but it only cost about $200 to fix.
Worst buy: Panasonic LC1. Paid $425 for a dealer demo, which WAS a good deal, but now it's dead, out of warranty, and the repair would cost $700.
No more digicams for me, thanks!
 
Best recent: Olympus 35RC at $20.00
Worst recent: Olympus Trip at $5.00 until I fixed it.

Best ever: Leica IIIf plus 50mm for $50.00 (1963)
Worst ever: Canon AF35M used for $75.00, besides being a piece of plastic garbage, it ate/eats batteries
 
Best buy: Either my 1942 T 50/2 collapsible Sonnar for $30 or my 1941 uncoated 85/2 Sonnar for $150. The 1937 uncoated 50/2.8 Tessar is up there too.

Worst buy: $200 1956 Kiev 2A. Totally inoperative and would have cost a fortune to repair. The J8 that came with it wasn't even usable. I think I salvaged the accessory shoe to use on a 4x5 field camera and that's it.

William
 
Best: Zeiss Ikon Nettar. $20 and it has given me great pleasure

Worst: Mamiya 6. $1600 (with two lenses) but has needed $700 worth of repair and I've only shot two rolls with the thing.
 
Not really into this game, but this year it has gotten a lot worse.

Best: Nikon FM. Perfect and indestructible (and cheap) Canonet GIII QL17. Amazing lens (VERY cheap).

Best lens: Summicron DR. Complete for half the usual price. Kneetremblingly good.

Worst: FED-5. Shutter has light leaks, it scratches my film and the finder is very dark. And the Jupiter on it has obviously received a few knocks.
But that's not really fair, because it was GIVEN to me 😉
 
Best buy (value): Military Kodak 35 "PH-324" for $125
bought it earlier this year, you won't find it for that value ever again.

Worst buy (value & quality): Fake Leica IID (escaped from the tractor factory), bad shutter curtains, unreliable shutter. The 50mm lens was salvageable. Worst $100 I've ever spent on a camera.
 
Ok, I left them out because they are not vintage (what is vintage anyway):

Worst: LOMO action sampler. Don't ask.

Very bad: Minolta 2300 digital. I think I have one keeper from it.

Very good: Minolta Dynax 7. One of the best 35mm SLR designs EVER. So much it can do and still intuitive to use. World class AF.

Nikon D70. A step back from the analogue Dynax, but with this I established myself as a photographer. I wrung everything it had out of it and then some.
 
Worst: kiev 4, not particularly a bad camera , i just dont feel like fixing it yet. i paid $25 for it.(although the light seal kit is on its way)

Not the worst: Argus A2b, with a little practice this will be a fun user i paid 27.00 for it

Best: Canonet GIII ql17 works perfectly , i may have paid a lil more than what its worth but its the best "vintage " user i have.

The very best camera ive bought recently , its not vintage, but its what i really wanted a Bessa R2a for less than half of what they go for.
 
Best: Olympus 35SP $10

Worst: The old Polaroid stuff I bought which is even more worthless now that film is hard to find
 
Best ever, the Leica IIIc with VC 3.5 28mm and viewfinder I have now; not so much in terms of dollars spent, though I thought the price was very good, but the best because the little Barnack is such a nice camera to carry daily; if only I had one for the other pocket...

Worse, the almost mint TLR Ricohflex VI with sport finder I bought for very little money, simply because I have never yet run film through it as I'm satisfied with the Minolta Autocord and Sawyers Mk.IV for shooting.

Nothing sucks worse than a perfectly good camera you just won't use; my opinion of course!

Cheers
 
Worst buy: FED 2 from a Russian seller who got kicked off of eBay the day after I sent him the money. Never got the camera or heard from him again.


Best Buy: Olympus XA with sticky seals and A11 flash for $4.98 at a local thrift shop. Replaced the seals with material I already had and it works fine.


Bob
 
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