ebay 'win'

My Olympus 35ED arrived this week (see photo further up in this thread).

Happy to say that it was a succesful purchase - the camera looks cosmetically great, shutter speeds seems accurate throughout the range, meter and timer accurate (well meter 1 stop off but easy enough to ISO-correct for). The rangefinder is also VERY bright and easy to see. Nice.

Cute camera. Follows the other Olympus 35 compact cameras solid build tradition. Smaller differences such as the battery check and the light on the front of the camera.

Actually came with a little mini-flash and a couple of [dead] batteries - as well as original cases for both camera and flash.

Well spent 24 dollars I say! Fun, fun, fun.
 
24 bucks for an Olympus of that kind? You must be exceedingly lucky... or good at sniping! ;)

Just kidding.

My bid on a Minolta lens was taken over by someone in China. It ended at 0:23 last Thursday and I went to bed a bit before midnight, counting my chicks only to find broken eggshells when I woke up. I should have stayed until the end... :bang:

Hey, I like that head-banging li'l icon... :)
 
I kinda don' understand the 'sniping'. I simply put in the highest amount I would ever consider paying for the camera and leave it at that. If someone outbids me they obviously paid more for the camera than I was willing to.
 
Eons ago, a friend taught me two eBay terms: shilling (when you find a way to place bids on your own merchandise so as to rise the sale price), and sniping, which is when someone places a higher bid seconds before the auction ends. In my pre-rangefinder days, when I was watching an auction for a 50/1.8 Nikon lens I was sure to win, I saw it fly off my hands... to the hands of an auction sniper! Boy, was I upset! :mad: Not really, I was rather p**ssed, big time. Later I learn there's even software to do this.

And here we are, just clicking on a keyboard... :(
 
I'm swearing off eBay while I try to pay for my new computer! And just today I paid the camera repair shop $140 to CLA the most recent eBay purchase of about the same $140 price... a Heiland Pentax H3 dating to about 1960.

There are some eBay buyers who get emotionally involved in making the bidding an ego game. I agree it's much more rational to decide your maximum price, use the proxy bid feature to bid it, and sit back. But I have sniped a few in an attempt to circumvent the egotists who might be inclined to bid yet again following mine. Often I've found that someone else has already valued it higher than I, and that's fine. :)
 
Well Doug, I invested around $80 in a CLA for a $22 Canonet :p

But of course I prefer spending that money and still be able to get a working camera than leaving it as a parts donor and look for another one (that could need another CLA too!)

Don't feel bad Francisco ! My first eBay experience was with a Pentax K1000 for around $25, and someone sniped me for $25.10 or so. I didn't bid again for whole months... until I discovered RFs :p

Congrats also on that 35ED Richard ! $24 (!) I wonder why I never find that bargains! The truth is almost worldwide available items usually go higher than its US Only brothers :( And that's true with credit card paypal vs. classic money order too.
 
I just did something very bad, so no more ebay for me, at least for a while.

I am watching a Fuji GSW690 II though.
 
Let us guess, Rover... is it a nice, brand new TLR?

I learned to not trust items when they're surprisingly "cool." Once I placed a bid on a camera that's always been an eBay hottie: a Konica Auto S2. I was the only bidder and it was an easy win, which, of course, got me thinking... Did I see something nobody else saw, or, worse yet, did I miss something everybody else saw?

It turned out to be the latter. The seller, a very nice antique dealer, knew diddly squat about cameras, and had showered lavish praise on a non-working camera: dead meter, film lever stuck, useless RF... for which I paid $37. No return possible, as the ad had clearly stated it was an AS IS sale. I kept it in the garage for a long time until November last year, when I sold it for pieces at a slight loss. I cannot forget that sale because I tossed out the window every single eBay purchasing law: check the seller's background, ask questions regarding the stuff and, most important, NEVER buy if the ad says AS IS.

Oh, well, some people learn, and others learn from their mistakes... :)

So, Rover, how bad can you be? ;) Tell us, we're listening... :p
 
Oh Francisco, it is 6x6 format, but not a TLR. And I just couldn't buy on Ebay, too big of a purchase, so I went to KEH and am banking on their reputation. The good news is that I am spending cash. I will post a picture when it arrives this week.
 
Lets put it this way Richard, thank you for your replies to my message here, and the post I made on Photo.net. I think I got everything that I need to get started, other than a flash set-up. I will have to figure that out later.
 
came today

came today

well, my minolta himatic 9 showed up in the mail today:D
but my postie left it sitting outside in front of the door:eek:
the temp was about -7c when i arrived home from work.:mad:

so, i unpack the thing and nothing works-had to wait for it to warm up a bit.
popped in a fresh battery and did the meter check thing and thankfully it works.
took a few tries for the aperture to open and close. shutter speeds seem to be ok too.
the film advance lever is bent downwards a bit and while the back opens it does not 'pop' open, takes 2 hands. need to put a little 'english' on it to close.

maybe this e bay obsession is beginning to wane some.

i might try the local camera stores more often to seek out used equipment.

hopefully it actually will take pictures.

joe:bang:
 
I hope it works ok. Maybe a little cleaning will encourage it to cooperate! I know what you mean about waning eBay; I'm taking a break from shopping to catch up with doing CLA work on what I've already bought, and to actually get familiar with using them. Which, given outdoors discomforts, is going slowly. The camera repairman just brought over the newly CLA'd Heiland Pentax H3, and I have a couple newer lenses that need more exercise too.
 
Don't worry Joe. We've all been caught by eBay, and more than once in my case. The $22 G-III QL17 took near $80 in CLA, add shipping to that and you'll arrive to the conclusion I could have got a CLAd one from a store for less.

And the broken Iskra is still lost at some point between Barcelona and Kiev, on its way to the seller to get a good one or a refund.

Doug gave me the idea of saving some money for servicing recently acquired cameras and also older ones that have been sitting too much since my ebay adventures (my Rollei Va), instead of obsessing too much on getting new ones.

Also, shipping times here since some months ago take way longer than they used to, and I suspect the local post office is "holding" some packets, as the last time I received 3 packets at once, 2 were from Ukraine but from different cities, and the other one was from the US. That somehow 'ruins' the initial happyness of your last ebay victory.

Maybe it's time to turn our eyes to more 'common' camera places, such as second hand stores, camera shows and even pawn shops. Having the opportunity of trying what you're going to buy is also a very important issue, no matter what pictures show.

OTH, there are completely honest sellers out there on eBay, and if you talk to them you can find they may deal with you directly, to the point of sending you the camera for free to try it and then pay later if you're satisfied !

And remember that we all use to see things worse at the first moment. It's then time to take a break for a while and think about something completely different. Then when you're 'fresh' again you'll see things from another perspective.

Believe me, it works ;)

Oscar
 
Last edited:
Alas my $13 Yashica Electro GSN has a film eating problem. I need to give it a good looking over today, but it seems the rewind button on the bottom does not stay engaged, causing the sprocket to lock and the film to be ripped apart on rewind. I think if I just keep the button depressed while rewinding I will be fine. Other than that the camera works well. Unfortunately I found this out after taking a roll intended for our marketplace assignment. Oh ebay, ebay, why have you drawn us in?
 
rover said:
Alas my $13 Yashica Electro GSN has a film eating problem. I need to give it a good looking over today, but it seems the rewind button on the bottom does not stay engaged, causing the sprocket to lock and the film to be ripped apart on rewind. I think if I just keep the button depressed while rewinding I will be fine. Other than that the camera works well. Unfortunately I found this out after taking a roll intended for our marketplace assignment. Oh ebay, ebay, why have you drawn us in?
Click to expand...

Bummer on the GSN. It may be something easy to fix if you look under the bottom plate. And LOL on your ode to ebay. I too have been bitten. I have finally decided that when my latest purchases come in, I am going to take a break and try to start using some of the stuff. Even more bold, I am going to sell some of the things that looked to good to pass up, but I know I am just not going to use.
 
I just gave it a good going over. Here is what I decided is happening.

When the film is at its end, the winding lever gets stopped part way through a wind.
I pushed the rewind button on the bottom, then advanced the lever the rest of the way to release it so it doesn't get caught up.
When doing this the rewind button partially is released, engaging the one way lock on the sprocket inside, so that it will not allow the film to be rewound.
So, I have what seems to be a very livable problem, I just need to make sure the rewind button remains depressed.

When I took the camera out the other day I was walking around the UConn Campus for 45 minutes. That is as long as I could take the 2 degree temperature. When I got back to the car I was freezing cold, it couldn't warm up fast enough, and while I sat there shivering I "rewound" the film and found the problem. I was too cold at the time to pay attention to what I was doing. Now I know.
 
I still throw a few half hearted bids in most every day, win a few (mostly old folders and lenses lately) and delete the others, but lately I've decided to haunt the local pawn shops again. Yesterday I picked up a Yashica FR1 with 50mm and 28mm, a Ricoh KR-10 with 50mm, a Tokina SZX 80-200 for my Minolta, a Vivitar 70-210 for the Ricoh and today I'm going back for the Pentax MX I made a deal for yesterday. The salesman even wants to sell me his Minolta X700 and lenses, data back and winder, but being a renowned cheapskate, I believe I'll pass on that one. Seems like mostly SLR equipment in our local pawn shops, haven't seen a rangefinder in a great while, but still on the prowl. Luckily there are two new pawn shops opening this month.
 
rover said:
I just gave it a good going over. Here is what I decided is happening.

When the film is at its end, the winding lever gets stopped part way through a wind.
I pushed the rewind button on the bottom, then advanced the lever the rest of the way to release it so it doesn't get caught up.
When doing this the rewind button partially is released, engaging the one way lock on the sprocket inside, so that it will not allow the film to be rewound.
So, I have what seems to be a very livable problem, I just need to make sure the rewind button remains depressed.

When I took the camera out the other day I was walking around the UConn Campus for 45 minutes. That is as long as I could take the 2 degree temperature. When I got back to the car I was freezing cold, it couldn't warm up fast enough, and while I sat there shivering I "rewound" the film and found the problem. I was too cold at the time to pay attention to what I was doing. Now I know.
Click to expand...

I thought all film cameras worked that way. All my 35mm SLR's work that way, which includes a Yashica TL Super and TL Electro X, Fujica ST901 and 801, and a Pentax SV. I have found that by holding in the release button until I have completed the wind with the advance lever then allows me to rewind without problem. I am trying to teach my daughter that trick on the 801.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom