How low can you go?

[lushd]

One of the joys of rangefinder photography is that we have access to very good quality gear at very attractive prices as well as the most expensive cameras and lenses ever made. I have a challenge for you.

Just how little can you spend on an outfit?

I want hear from you about your cheapest gear. Here's the test:

What did you spend on a 35mm rangefinder body, 50mm, 35mm (or 28mm) and 135mm (or 90mm) lens? Everything had to be working when you got it and acquired reasonably legally (at least you shouldn't have got caught yet). Inherited and given gear doesn't count.

The person with the cheapest outfit gets glory but no prize, I'm afraid. There will be extra glory for included bonuses (multi finders, leather cases etc) that were thrown in with anything that you bought.

Also, post photos from or of your cheap outfits. My 4k features in my gallery quite a bit.

To get us started here's mine:

Zorki 4k with case, box and instruction manual in mint condition = £24
Jupiter 12 = £19 in Jessops sale
Jupiter 9 = £35 also in Jessops sale

That makes £73 for a lifetime of high quality photography, which is pretty cool, I think.

I also got a Leningrad 2 meter for £2 in Cash Convertors in perfect working order.

Can anyone prove they got a Leica for £5?

 

[Frank Granovski]

I see we have another Dr. Who fan here.

I had a Vitomatic 11 for years and years and I loved it's 50mm fixed lens.

 

[lushd]

Yes - I am hoping he will take me back to 1973 or therabouts so I can scoop up some gear at a cheap price.

How much was the Vitomatic? I sense a bargain!

 

[back alley]

i paid 10 bucks for this.

of course it didn't look this good till g'man worked his magic on it.

joe

 

[lushd]

$10 - a bargain! Congratulations. Still looking for that £5 Leica!

 

[captainslack]

I just have to say, lushd has one of the coolest avatars on the forum. 😀

 

[kaiyen]

I got a Voigtlander Vitoret II DR for $3 at a camera show. Meter and RF are accurate, and photos are at:

http://www.kaiyen.com/photos/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=72

allan

 

[dr.kollig]

Well, a 1 € Smena SL and 10,50 € Ricoh 800 EES ( including 1 € I had to spend on batteries).

Wolfram

 

[cp_ste.croix]

my GSN was about $15 (CAD) plus postage to Gman...

 

[oftheherd]

I have yet to find my lowest greatest RF deal. Closest would be $25 for 4 cameras and a 400mm preset lens. Two of the cameras included Pentax SV and a Rolleiflex TLR (at least it had a RF focus on the ground glass) if that counts.

A tossup between that and a $15 for a Yashica FX 103 because the seller on the 'bay didn't know it required a battery to work (?). Purchased to mate with my $20 Zeiss T* 50mm f/1.4 because PX buyers only knew and trusted names like Nikon, Canon and Minolta. Evidently they thought the Zeiss was a cheap knockoff of some kind.

When I get my RF deal to match either one of those, be sure you will hear about it here at RFF!!

Those of you who can post RF deals here on RFF have my envy.

EDIT: Say, I just remembered, several years ago I bought a 50mm Mamiya Press lens for $50 along with an super ugly Super Press 23 body. Does that count? I still have it too. Does that get me off the hook and allow me to post here legitimately?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I am, of course, out of my league. I thought $30 for a Canonet QL17 GIII that only required Goodman's lightseals was a steal (the mechanics, RF, all are spic-n-span).

But I did save $30 on my car insurance by not switching to Geico...

 

[lushd]

I just have to say, lushd has one of the coolest avatars on the forum. 😀

Most kind - and I never even threatened to exterminate you. 😀 Also must confess - it's my son's from his Dr Who forum (it's a cool place too - I think they'll all grow up to love rangefinders)

 

[lushd]

I am beginning to feel like a blooming millionaire in such company. Keep 'em coming - I love these stories.

I am sure you are all really well acquainted with this site:

http://www.merrillphoto.com/JunkStoreCameras.htm

But if even one new person gets to see Marcy and her insanity then it was worth posting.

Zeiss - some kind of cheap knockoff - I'll be smiling for days!

 

[smiling gecko]

....eeekkk!! here come the darleks...have been out of the dr who loop for too long, thanks for the mention of the good doctor...nothing to relate in bargain photo department...aarrghh!!
hasta la vista, adieu, dasvidanya,,fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen, and later y’all
kenneth
___________________________________

"...patience and shuffle the cards" miguel cervantes
"nothing can be learned" herman hesse
"everybody knows everything" jack kerouac
"some memories are realities and better than anything" willa cather
" doo-wacka doo, wacka doo" roger miller
"we have met the enemy and they is us !" pogo

 

[zuikologist]

Leica M2 and 50mm (I don't even remember which one) about 20 years ago, as a teenager. £30.

 

[RML]

3 euro on a Canon Canonet 28 on koninginnedag last year here in Amsterdam.

Was going to replace the seals but because of the moving house we did some months ago, I misplaced the pressure plate. If anyone has a spare one that I can buy, I'd be much obliged!

 

[gbb]

Well, I got re-started in real photography a few years ago when I found a couple of old Rollei TLRs for $10 at a garage sale, an Old Standard and a Cord III. Made some excellent photos w them, and have yet to slow down. Amazing what a garage sale can do to you.

 

[Trius]

OK, this is about a whole kit, right? Body, 50mm, wide (28 or 35) and tele (90 or 135) ... so I guess I won't tell my story [again] about how I bought a 5cm micro-Nikkor for $1USD, gave to a friend who sold it on oBoy for $1200CDN... Nope, not going to tell that story.

Earl, ready to get a shower and head over to the thrift store....

 

[lushd]

Really glad you didn't tell me that story about your (by now ex?) friend who made 1199$ on $1 lens, I would've got depressed.

Incidentally - for anyone in the UK - have you ever (I mean ever) see an interesting camera in a charity shop? Ever?

I keep going into Oxfam in the hope that someone will have passed on and their family donated their entire collection of Leicas and lenses thinking it was a funny old fashioned set and might raise a tenner for a good cause and then I just happened to walk in and pick them up ... oh stop, this dream is too much!

 

[OpenWater]

My only really, really good deal occurred years ago. My step father noted that with my Brownie Holiday Flash ($5 at the pawn shop in 1962) I brought back photo after photo from the drug store showing such interesting things as my friends lined up in front of their bicycles, their bicycles lined up in front of my friends, them going away on their bicycles, them coming back on their bicycles, etc. (No natural talent was evident.) He, on the other hand, got maybe one printable exposure per roll with his Leica IIIf - given to him by his ex-serviceman brother. He asked me if I wanted to trade. I thought this seemed like a good deal and said, yes. I've had the camera ever since. Don of DAG is now bringing it back to life for me.

PS It is the camera shown in my avatar. He threw in the case, a flash unit (a cool folding fan affair), a Norwood Director meter, and a copy of the Leica Manual - wherein one finds interesting chapters by Ansel Adams, Peter Stackpole, Alfred Eisenstadt, and others. Although my dog decided to eat the corner of the book one day, I still have it too.