Have you ever paid an insane amount just to make a camera work

Spider67

Spider67

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Did you ever think this piece of my collection/accumulation/set of tools should be in working order again and paid an unreasonable amount?

I paid 70 Euros for an Olympus RD with adent in the top plate which had a gummed shutter in no time.
Then I bought on ebay a new dentless top cover and sent it to Finland for repairs which cost me another 110 Euros.
There I am with a working RD again.....and at least two dozens of other working RFs.
It's insane.😱
So who will join this club😛
 
Yeah- I fall into that category. Which is why I started learning how to pop tops and give a decent CLA to my fixed lens RF's.
 
I bought a black OM-1 off ebay because I just had to have one and it had a winder which seemed appealing also. Cosmetically it looked great!

Well the winder never worked, the camera developed problems with the film advance and the meter suddenly started over exposing by four stops! Not to mention being a little naive about balck OM-1 pricing at the time I paid $150.00 for it. 😱

It lurked in the cupboard for a while while I used my OM-2 then I thought 'what the hell I really wanted to use this' and sent it to John at Camtech for a repair and CLA where it subsequently also needed a new prism!

That black OM-1 courtesy of the overhaul plus the freight costs now owes me over $400.00 ... consequently I can never sell it. Luckily I love the thing to bits! 😀
 
Back when I knew nothing, I spent $200 to get my Nikon FG and 50/1.8 CLA'd at a local shop. It was needed because the lens aperture lever was sticky.

Two years later I helped a friend from university buy a manual SLR for our photo class and there it was, a mint Nikon FG with a 50/1.8 for $150.

You win some, you lose some.
😀
 
Yep. Somebody gave me a Canonet G-III. Free. $100 later it was working. Couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Sold it for $65. Most expensive free used camera I've ever owned.
 
I spent about $20 and maybe 30 hours of my own time fixing my Leica M2. well, I had to replace a curtain... then there was shutter capping... then I dropped it three times... yeah...
 
I have spent a small fortune on prewar Contax and Kiev cameras to customise them to my ASD [ ASdee ] comfort zone ... then adapters to dedicate the lenses to my M8 , followed by a Panasonic G1 to make a J3 almost digitally pocketable .
Then I found a near mint KNeB II from 1952 for £60 ....

[ OK , the M8 and G1 are not just for Kiev lenses ! ]
 
I guess I qualify too,
I have Pentax Super Program getting a CLA and new seals, new internal back-light AND the focusing screen cleaned up from the mirror bumper foam gunk that got on it from a previous owner I guess.... about $100.00, (double the value).. But, it is such a great 35mm.... In the day...

But, I plan to use the camera with the great Pentax M 40mm f/2.8 pancake I will be also buying in few weeks.

Sorry X100.... Not this year
 
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I found my father's old Canon FX SLR with 50 1.8 lens. Spent $300 to tune it up, but it was so delicate, liable to break with usage (and the PC flash synch still didn't work reliably), so I sold it for $200.

Wasted more time and money on a Nikon FG. It worked well for about a year, then the shutter started to taper. Luckily, my repairman was honest enough to tell me not to put any money into repairing it. Sold at a loss as a parts camera.

Wasted a lot of money and time on Russian (FSU) gear. Had it all shimmed for Leica, cleaned, put filters on it. Now almost all sold at a loss (still have a Jupiter-9 with DAG).

Have Leica IIIG and IIF with a few lenses with DAG, a Rolleiflex 3.5F with Harry Fleenor - may turn out to be financially wasteful if I get rid of them.

Soon to waste more money on Zeiss Super Ikontas (B x 1, C x 2, and a Contessa with Contameters) with Henry Scherer (now #10 on the waiting list).

Blowing $125 on overhauling an Aries IIIL with Clarence Gass in Shawnee Mission KS, all because Louis Meluso gave a glowing review of this camera with its 6 element lens in photo.net. It has a 45mm f/2.8 lens that has RF coupling to 20".

Anyone who buys a used item from me will have a well subsidized, fully overhauled piece of equipment!
 
My Leica M5 came to me for a pittance... something like $470. I'm still waiting for it to come from Sherry's camera hospital.

Seems like getting it repaired is going to cost me that much or more. If I ever decide to sell it... it's going to be tough. 😉
 
JSU said:
Probably just a little better than a $7K paperweight. :bang:
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Agreed.

It felt awful when I dropped it.

And in the end Leica couldn't even fix the camera. So they sold me a brand new one at cost which is $4100 because they felt bad for me. And in the end I ended up with a free extra battery and an additional copy of Lightroom 3. That's about $450 worth of stuff not counting the actual camera. I don't think I'll ever understand anyone complaining about Leica customer service.

I had to do some wedding assisting work, save up a handful of paychecks, sell some stocks and my M8 to help pay for it. But I'm glad I did. I very much enjoy my $11,000 M9.

And despite everyone advice. I still use the thing without a camera strap. Besides a strap wouldn't have helped the first time because the camera fell out of my bag while I was running. These days if I run, I do it with camera in hand.
 
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swoop said:
Agreed.

It felt awful when I dropped it.

And in the end Leica couldn't even fix the camera. So they sold me a brand new one at cost which is $4100 because they felt bad for me. And in the end I ended up with a free extra battery and an additional copy of Lightroom 3. That's about $450 worth of stuff not counting the actual camera. I don't think I'll ever understand anyone complaining about Leica customer service.

I had to do some wedding assisting work, save up a handful of paychecks, sell some stocks and my M8 to help pay for it. But I'm glad I did. I very much enjoy my $11,000 M9.

And despite everyone advice. I still use the thing without a camera strap. Besides a strap wouldn't have helped the first time because the camera fell out of my bag while I was running. These days if I run, I do it with camera in hand.
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I admire the fact that you still refuse to use a strap because I'm not a strap person either ... wrist or neck!

Sometimes we just have to accept responsibility for our actions and it sounds like you certainly have!

Do you still have the paper weight by the way?
 
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