GAS thwarted

[cathy_w_J]

Hi Everyone,
My husband and I were on our way to a tag sale on our street. But it looked like a zoo complete with crazy drivers looking for parking and a police car with the blinking lights. Seeing al this, my husband said he didn't want to go and have to deal with all the people. So I went up later that day with my mother and what did i find...... a whole lot of photography equipment. All the cases were cleaned out. There had been a Leica there and a few Canon lenses. The original ower had labelled all the cases as to the content. Whoever bought the stuff left the cases. I was very sad. 🙁 But I did get a GE pr 1 meter for $2. I was in need of a light meter so that's not so bad. I am not sure it is working so well and have to investigate further. There is a box of filters and stuff that I might go back and bargain for tomorrow. They wanted too much for it so I didn't bother getting it.

Any one else have near misses like this?

 

[FrankS]

Hi Cathy! It is stories like this that fuel my alsmost compulsive desire to check out every yard sale that I come across because you just never know what might be there. A yard sale Leica kit is one of my fantasies. (I won't go into my other fantasies right now.)

 

[Krasnaya_Zvezda]

I'm with you, Frank. One of these days, I'm going to stop at a yard sale, I'll ask some kindly looking person there, "You have any old cameras laying around here?", and they'll say, "Well, yeah I do, it's old, but it looks alright, I think it even works. My uncle bought it in Germany when he was stationed there in the 60's, it's sat around here for years.... don't know anything about it, but it's yours for say, 10 bucks..."
And there will be a pristine M3 staring back at me. And right then, I'd suffer a fatal MI. They'd be looking at me on the ground, "Looks like he's died and gone to Heaven."

 

[cathy_w_J]

HA! I keep kicking myself and wishing I had just got out of the car and checked it out. I could have walked home in a state of bliss or fear from ruining the checkbook.

There is a big tag sale coming up in August for a local charity here. I definitely have to go check that out. I need to get the babysitter arranged now.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

I think Cameraquest has a story about a Nikon S that two old ladys purchased for under 100 bucks at some flea market back east. Neither they or the dealers knew the value of the camera that was in working condition.

Then, there is the trash find Nikon...

 

[ScottS]

I got an Olympus OM-2S + flash + 3 cheap zooms at a yard sale last week. It's probably going on ebay, though, as it's not really on-topic here.

Scott

 

[back alley]

nice camera scott.

 

[kiev4a]

I picked up a near mint Nikkormat FT3 and F2 lens at a yard sale a couple of years ago for $10 and an Olympus RC for $5. Sold the FT3 for $150 (wish I still had it) and the Olympus for $95 to someone in Sweden.

 

[ScottS]

nice camera scott.

Yeah, it's a nice body -- the lenses (tokina zooms) don't do it justice. When I want SLR, though, I prefer the simplicity of my Canon F1 and FT bodies -- and I've got good lenses for those. So the Olympus setup will help fund the hole in the checking account caused by my recent rangefinder purchases.

I find the shutter speed info in the OM-2S finder more difficult to read than the F1 finder's aperture readout -- and the shutter speed ring around the lens mount is just weird.

Scott

 

[MrRanger]

That is the kind of story that makes you lie awake at night thinking about what MIGHT has been at all those garage sales you passed by! 😱

Mike 😀

 

[back alley]

Yeah, it's a nice body -- the lenses (tokina zooms) don't do it justice. When I want SLR, though, I prefer the simplicity of my Canon F1 and FT bodies -- and I've got good lenses for those. So the Olympus setup will help fund the hole in the checking account caused by my recent rangefinder purchases.

I find the shutter speed info in the OM-2S finder more difficult to read than the F1 finder's aperture readout -- and the shutter speed ring around the lens mount is just weird.

Scott

i had an om1 and an om2 a long time ago. i liked the oly lenses. and don't knock those tokina zooms, they made some (not all) good ones. i liked the small size of the om cams too.

i also had an ftb and an original f1 that i just loved, long gone now also...

joe

 

[Krasnaya_Zvezda]

I picked up a near mint Nikkormat FT3 and F2 lens at a yard sale a couple of years ago for $10 and an Olympus RC for $5. Sold the FT3 for $150 (wish I still had it) and the Olympus for $95 to someone in Sweden.

Now that's a nice profit margin. 😀

 

[FrankS]

Last weekend at a yard sale I bought a Rolleicord IV (rough but working well), Pentax Spotmatic and a few pentax lenses for $100.

 

[TEZillman]

A couple years ago I picked up two bronica lens and a winder at a resale shop for $36. Sold them on ebay for $590. My wife didn't comment on equipment purchases for a whole month afterward!

 

[Nick R.]

I picked up a leica for $3.00 at a garage sale three weeks ago --but it was a Leica mini! I think my best flea market find was a working McIntosh tube amplifier and preamp for $15.

 

[FrankS]

A few years back I got a Nikon FG with 50f1.8E lens for $20 (it needed a new battery) and at another garage sale, a Nikon F60 with Nikkor 28-80 zoom (lens needs to be set at min. aperture to function on this camera, that's why "It doesn't work.")

 

[ScottS]

A few years back I got a Nikon FG with 50f1.8E lens for $20 (it needed a new battery) and at another garage sale, a Nikon F60 with Nikkor 28-80 zoom (lens needs to be set at min. aperture to function on this camera, that's why "It doesn't work.")

Frank,

I got the Olympus OM-2S referenced above at an "it doesn't work" price simply because neither the seller nor I knew that with no battery, the mirror stays in the UP position (the only other body I have with an electronic shutter is my F1, and I don't recall ever trying to use it without a battery). When I got home, I discovered that it worked fine on 1/60, and with new batteries it functions perfectly (at least it seems to -- will know for sure when I get the test roll processed).

Scott

 

[Justin Low]

Scott, do buzz me once you feel like selling the OM. 🙂