Car Boot find

[Range Loser]

Well you could knock me down with a feather, perusing the local car boot fair today and discovered a Nikon F3AF with 200mm AF lens. Bought it for £60, and it all works. One of the last cameras I would have expected to find.
Anyone else found an unusual camera like this..?

 

[GarageBoy]

Really cool! the weirdo Nikon AF camera

 

[Huss]

Never, ever find anything like that in LA. Here we have thrift shops selling broken in pieces (literally pieces) OM1s for $120...

 

[x-ray]

Not in a while but antique stores have been good to me. I found a Leica M2 and like new IIIG with 50 Summicrom and 8 other M lenses, 2 visoflexes, ton of adapters and focusing mounts, bellows and leitz tripod and head for $1600. This was 20 years ago but even then it was an amazing deal. Everything was almost new except a 50mm sonnar ltm.

Also found 2 Nikon F bodies with 50 1.4 and standard prisms for near nothing.

Another time I found a 4x5 baby Deardorff with 210 Zeiss Tessar in a Shutter with new wooden holders for $800. The camera was nearly 50 years d but had not been used.

 

[John E Earley]

Several years ago I found a mint Retina IIIC with case at a flea market for $18.

 

[FrankS]

Yashica T4 for $15 at a yard sale.

3 Hensel monobloc flash units (1000 and 2x 500) for $300 at a pawn shop.

 

[Austintatious]

I also got a Yashica T4 at a yard sale. It was only a dollar for the silver version.

 

[Darthfeeble]

I found an MM in a garbage can one time. Oh wait that was a dream. I've done a couple Canon 35AFs for two bucks at a thrift store but that's all. The $25 Leica at a garage sale remains a fantasy.

 

[Huss]

Funniest one was the Goodwill Store (thrift store) that I visited in Hawaii. They had a several years old beat up Sony digicam (I think 6mp) that they were asking $300 for.

You can buy a brand new 20mp Sony Cyber Shot for $78...

 

[presspass]

Years ago, in a junk shop on a back road outside West Point, Va., a 90 mm Elmar in good shape for $7 and a 73 mm f 1.5 (I think) for another $20. Sadly, the internet has put an end to most of these finds.

 

[nikon_sam]

A Nikon F body, Serial #64650xx, for $10 at a garage sale..he posted it on Craigslist and it was still there...handed him the ten and ran to my car...

 

[Red Robin]

Two weeks ago on flea-bay I discovered my own holy grail, a Canon Camera Holder L. This idem helps to level the larger Canons on a tri-pod. Nine years ago I passed on one thinking another would soon appear. Not so the next one I saw was advertised out of Hong Kong at a mere $200. WAY out of my league.Now this nearly-new example Totaled 30.90 with shipping! I've now purchased this buy now prize leaving me with the only thing left to find being a good subject and whether having is as sweet as wanting. The adventure continues. .. ...

 

[Roger Hicks]

A couple of weeks ago I saw a Leica R4 with motor and 50 Summicron, and a few other bits, all receipts, one owner from new, 250€ (under £200). I didn't bother because I already have plenty of cameras. I wouldn't have bought the Nikon for £60 either. Some years ago I realized that it's easy to forget that a "bargain" ain't much use unless you use it. I've bought very few cameras since!

That's just me, of course. I hope you'll use your new camera lots!

Cheers,

R.

 

[kshapero]

While traveling thru Virginia about 10 years ago I stopped at a local Camera store. I asked if they had a any used film cameras. They had just got in a Leica IIIc with 2 Leica lens, all in mint condition. Paid $125.

 

[stonecutter]

A few years ago I found a Leica M2. 50mm Summitar, 90mm Elmar at a garage sale for $25. I had to buy a lens cap for $20,so that put my cost up to $45. Sold the set at a camera show a year later for $1600.

 

[nikon_sam]

A couple of weeks ago I saw a Leica R4 with motor and 50 Summicron, and a few other bits, all receipts, one owner from new, 250€ (under £200). I didn't bother because I already have plenty of cameras. I wouldn't have bought the Nikon for £60 either. Some years ago I realized that it's easy to forget that a "bargain" ain't much use unless you use it. I've bought very few cameras since!

That's just me, of course. I hope you'll use your new camera lots!

Cheers,

R.

I have way to many cameras and I know I'll never get to use all of them to the point of wearing them out...I look but I go in knowing I cannot buy another body...my latest purchase was a Mamiya 70mm 2.8 Lens Shutter type lens (I allow a lens once in a while)...the other night I started pulling gear out of the closet so I could at least shoot with the ones that had film in them...
Too many cameras, too little time...:bang:

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I'm always amazed at what turns up in flea markets and charity shops. I'm mostly pleased when I find something at a silly (that means pennies) price.

I've bought lenses, cameras and SLR bodies for nothing more than the price of a cup of coffee (an OM body for instance) but the cameras and lenses for 49 or 50 pence are the real bargains. Trouble is, the lens caps and instruction manuals cost far more. I use the cheap caps &c but, when you get to know and like the camera, they can cost a fortune to complete the outfit. I've had even Zuiko lenses for coffee prices but the cost of a lens hood...

Regards, David

 

[p.giannakis]

The majority of the cameras on my blog were found in car boot sales (unless stated otherwise).
I suppose the most unusual find was this Fuji DL Supermini for £2...

 

[Steve Bellayr]

Nikon F2 still boxed, never used, Canon F1 never used, Nikon Photomic F2 with 50mm f2.0 lens and carrying case barely used: Total $110 in one day. But and this is the but the foam in all three need replacing. Still not bad.

 

[farlymac]

Goodwill can be a source for decent cameras, but not always. My first "big" find was a Minolta X-700 with the standard 50, an Albinar 28mm macro (which is surprisingly good), a Sigma 70-210, and one of the dedicated flashes for the X-series. I had to look all over the store, as these parts were scattered on the shelves. Total price was $10. The camera didn't work at first, but after I had gotten a replacement body, I dove into it and found a chunk of something blocking a lever in the bottom, and that solved its problems.

And what got me into LTM territory was a Yashica YF that could use some repair. Even if I pay to send it to Mark Hama, I'll still come out ahead of the buying and repair costs ($130 + ~$300). I'd fix it myself, but there are parts missing or destroyed, and Mark should be able to replace them. But I never thought I'd find a YF in this area, considering there were only between 7k and 10k ever made, most of which were sold in the home market.

So yeah, I still swing into the parking lot whenever I come up on a Goodwill.

PF