Olympus Mju II eBay bargain still going strong

[John Bragg]

My £6 ebay camera is still going strong. Has anyone else had any good successes recently in garage sales and fleabay etc? just curious.

 

[farlymac]

Got a lot of good cameras for a couple of dollars or less each. And finally fixed the $3 Minolta X-700 that was jammed up.

PF

 

[eurekaiv]

I've had great success but then I suppose it depends on how you define success. A £6 mju II would clearly fall under that category IMO. As for me, I think my $250 Pen FT w/ 38mm lens was a great success just because I love the camera so much.

 

[John Bragg]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25714267@N06/7087705535/in/photostream

Looking for a black one in such good condition now.

 

[Austintatious]

I found a "mint-ish" Stylus Epic with the leather case for $2.99 USD at a Goodwill Store about six months ago. Now I have two of these gems !

 

[Roscoe]

I frequently stop by 4 or 5 local thrift stores to see what jems might be hiding. Recently had a nice win when I found a Yashica T4 super in amongst the pile of random P&S cameras for a whopping $2.99. And a double win when I found it had a good battery in it, as well as not having the data back. I found my OM4 at the same Goodwill a couple of years back, for $10.

 

[Tony Whitney]

Found one this very day in a thrift store. Almost unmarked and with a roll of film in it with just four frames exposed - plus new batteries. It cost me all of $2, but I sure had to sift through a lot of rubbish to find it.

 

[Ronald_H]

Yashica 44 in nice condition for 25 euros.
Polaroid SX-70 for 9 euros.
Werra 3 for 15 euros (but all gummed up).
Nikon FM10 with 28-80 AF Nikon lens for 35 euros.

Not exactly super cheap but all nice deals. Maybe I should drop by the local thrift store today...

Btw, bought my Mju-II new in 2001, still going strong.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I don't know about the rest of you but I enjoy hunting, or even savaging, in flea markets etc for this and that. I must be terribly boring to walk into a dealer's shop and flash the plastic for something you want.

Not so long ago I picked up a Leitz ROSOL for all of 20p (that's about 32cents in those strange US dollars). And don't you just love it when they say something like "Oh, it's a camera, they're all a pound" ... (Or better still "As it hasn't got a lens... " which cost me £3 for an OM. It would have been £2 but as she said £2 or £3 we tossed a coin to decide.)

Or an Industar-61LD for 49 pennies, which I gave away last week to a RFFer. Who needs plastic?

Regards, David

 

[John Bragg]

All it takes is patience and an eye for a bargain. I just think of it as another film camera saved from oblivion. Always good in my book.

 

[WJJ3]

Nice find! the Stylus Epic is such a good camera! I like that it has a spotmeter, and slow sync flash control! It's hard to find a more usable camera.

 

[btgc]

I've had Mju ][ aka S. Epic for about 8 years, bought new. When it broke from use, I bought another, used but fully functional, but it weren't what I expected so I gave it away on RFF Christmas thread. I bought donor and fixed mine, used it for a roll or two and felt great satisfaction, then tucked away as I'm not a sucker for 35mm FOV anymore and there are many as good or better (in certain aspects) cameras. But DO NOT ask me to give it away 🙂

 

[Darkhorse]

While going over my shots from last year, the ones my wife liked the best were ones from my Stylus Epic. Not from my Leica, but the plain old cheap mju ii.

To add to that, since I wasn't using the Leica that much anyway, I recently sold it. Issue after issue arose and I ended up selling it for a fair bit less than what I bought it for which is immensely off-putting. This isn't as much of a worry for cheap cameras such as this.

 

[John Bragg]

While going over my shots from last year, the ones my wife liked the best were ones from my Stylus Epic. Not from my Leica, but the plain old cheap mju ii.

To add to that, since I wasn't using the Leica that much anyway, I recently sold it. Issue after issue arose and I ended up selling it for a fair bit less than what I bought it for which is immensely off-putting. This isn't as much of a worry for cheap cameras such as this.

Lovely photos. I like the limited DOF on the kitten shot. A by product of the shutter priority programing on the Mju II. VERY NICE.

 

[pdexposures]

Both of mine (a standard black and a gold DLX) were found at a goodwill for $3 ea. One had a good battery in it that I'm still using a year later! Great little cameras. I bring one with me everywhere. I've really been enjoying Olympus compact cameras lately. The $100 Pen FV w/ 38mm 1.8 has just been icing on the cake 🙂

 

[racoll]

I've had so many Stylus Epics and have sold most of them, but every time I did I regretted it and wanted another. I now have a gold QD model that I will not part with. I recently sold my Yashica T4 because the Stylus Epic is more consistently sharp...the AF just seems to be more consistent overall, and the Stylus Epic feels more sturdy. I find it impossible not to love!

Andy

 

[jippiejee]

I've decided I want one again.... 🙂 One of the finest point-and-shoots.

 

[bhop73]

Agh! Such luck! That's one of my favorite carry-around cameras. Mine broke, so I tried buying another, but it seemed to have problems with the shutter button (the half press autofocus doesn't seem to work). I rarely see them sell for under $50

 

[btgc]

seemed to have problems with the shutter button (the half press autofocus doesn't seem to work).

If you buy donor w/ dead electronics or lens defect (for cheap, that is) and half-click works on it, you can replace tiny spring under shutter release. That's how I reviwed mine.

 

[HLing]

For next to nothing I just got a newish Olympus Stylus Epic zoom 170 deluxe that still has a VF Technology sticker, and the all weather sticker on, plus a remote(!) that's still new in its own box.

Thanks to you guys I know that this is a good camera, but now I'm going to have to try it out.

Question: what makes it good? Do I need to activate the spotmeter function to get a decent picture? What mode do you guys usually have yours in? How do you get around that tiime stolen with the half-press for focus?

At the moment it feels a bit clunky having to wait for the lens to come out, and for the lag and pillowy feel of the shutter. (spoiled by the crisp and clear shutter clicks of say, a canonet)

Thanks in advance for any input from the experienced ones here 🙂 !