Plunder!

[ChrisN]

Sunday is "Trash-and-Treasure" market day for me. Today's plunder includes a Minolta A5 rangefinder in good working order with leather case in excellent condition for $10, and a mixed bag of bits including a mint Canon Power Winder A and a motor drive MA with a faulty battery holder but otherwise ok.

What did you find?

 

[Heath]

I went out and tried to finish off a roll of film I put in my Neoca to test it out. PLus I started a roll in my Ensign Selfix 20 and my EOS 1000F plus shot some digital to test my 70-200 lens.

Heath

 

[back alley]

right now i'm just waiting for my first cup of coffee.
can barely see the keyboard.

joe

 

[captainslack]

Woo-hoo!!!! Another A5 owner!!!! That's two that I know of!! :dance:

You scored better than I did when I snagged mine. I got that exact setup, but for $20. Then I had to shell out another $100 to get it working again. Was worth it, though. That camera is a joy to use. Nice feel: not too big, just right for my hands, not too heavy. Sharp lens, too! Does yours have the 40mm or the 45mm? 500 or 1000 shutter? I have the 45mm & 500.

 

[ChrisN]

Mine has a 40mm lens, 1:2.8,but looks a little different from the others I've seen on the net. 1/500 max shutter. No meter. Nice size! I'll have to run some film through it to see how it flies.

 

[wierdcollector]

I have one too, so I guess we're three so far. Mine is the 1/500 shutter, 45mm f2.8 version identical to captainslack's version. I have an AL also but it has the 1/10000 shutter, 45mm f2 and a meter cell on the front. Great cameras with the always sharp Rokkor lenses. Hope yours works well Chris.

 

[captainslack]

FrankS also has one, so that's four. His is non-functional at the moment, though.

Chris, your's is quite a bit different from mine. Looks more like Frank's, actually.

 

[ChrisN]

Hi wierd - I've also an AL-F that has just shot it's first test roll. Mine has 1:2.7 38mm lens, 30-500 shutter and match-needle aperture indication in the viewfinder, f2.7 - f22. The first few shots were dark but then it loosened up and the metering came spot-on. Just scanned these from prints at 300dpi then resized - nowhere near as sharp as the originals and the colours are a bit off. The film was a 5-year-old roll of some sort of Fuji, 100asa. Of the three cameras I've put test rolls through in the last week, this was the most impressive. Only problem with the camera is that the film advance doesn't lock when the shutter is cocked, so if you're not paying attention you can wind-on twice and miss a frame.

Oh, and captain - this was another $10 job. 😛

 

[captainslack]

Oh, and captain - this was another $10 job. 😛

I need to start shopping at your flea market!!

 

[ChrisN]

Oh, and did I mention the QL 17 GIII?

 

[MCTuomey]

What an elegant compact! Congratulations. Beyond the HiMatics, I didn't even know Minolta made this line. Thanks for a cool thread.

 

[captainslack]

I got lucky today!!

Went back to the local flea market and the same guy I bought my A5 from was there again. This time, he had an old Bell & Howell model Canonet 19 that I picked up for $20. It's not in any better condition than the A5 was, though, but this time I'm going to try my hand at fixing it myself. The viewfinder needs a good cleaning and the shutter doesn't want to fire. The shutter release will depress and you can cock the trigger winder (which is on the bottom of the camera - odd!), but no shutter movement. In other words - a challenge!!! 🙂