The $40 challenge - anybody interested?

archeophoto

archeophoto

I love 1950's quality
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Oct 4, 2009
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So I found $40 in the pocket of my pants and I got an idea.
Is it possible to buy a decent camera on the big auction site with everything included (shipping, taxes, duty etc.)?

Here are the rules for myself:
1. It has to be a film camera
2. It can't be an SLR
3. It has to take photos, so it can't be totally broken
4. It can't be an autofocus camera

I have 2 weeks to make the purchase from Monday 13th of May, 2013.

I'm doing this for myself and report back what I ended up with, but it would be fun if others join in to make a little friendly competition out of it. So here would be some extra rules:

4. If the camera you buy is a rangefinder you definately get brownie points.

5. For every $ you spend over $40 you loose brownie points, for every $ you stay under $40 you gain brownie points and voters (see below) will take that under consideration.

6. In about 4 weeks from now (to allow for shipping times) we post photos of the cameras we ended up with and a photo we shot with it. After that we vote (somehow I will figure out how this voting will work) which one of us got the best deal.
We will judge the camera and the quality of the photo

7. You have to be prepared to provide a link to the completed auction in order to provide proof that you really stayed around $40. So claims that you bought an M4 or Rolleiflex for $40 including shipping have to be cemented with hard evidence :)

8. If the camera you buy is broken, you can fix it, but it can't cost you anything. Of course we can't check that, so the honor system will rule.

8. Voting, brownie points etc. won't be scientific because this whole idea is supposed to be fun.

Remember the $40 include shipping, taxes and duty. So this will be tight especially for a Canadian like me. The folks from the US definately have an advantage here :)

Anybody interested?
 
I recently bought some FSU stuff in that price region, maybe the Zorki6 with Industar 50/3.5 was about that price.... :) Since it is already purchased (and I took photos with it) can I still join ?
 
as long as you can proof the purchase price including shipping, sure :) Otherwise, you have to join "in spirit".

maddoc said:
I recently bought some FSU stuff in that price region, maybe the Zorki6 with Industar 50/3.5 was about that price.... :) Since it is already purchased (and I took photos with it) can I still join ?
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I bought a Minolta CLE for $18.40. Unfortunately it is a box of parts, and it isn't coming back to life anytime soon. There is also no lens, but for $21.60 there should be lots of choice.
 
Hmmmm. Sure, local Ebay is fine. I think we should base the value on the equivalent of US$40 so we all have roughly the same idea. So if you are in Great Britain you could only spend around GBP30.

But don't worry, you only loose brownie points if you are over the US$40 ;) This whole thing is supposed to be fun.

pakeha said:
neat idea..now exchange rate gives me about $50.00 to spend and can i use the local version of ebay?
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I think if you search Olympus XA and set the price bar at $35 you should do fine. LIkely even get a flash. No doubt there are other fixed lens RFs in its range but I don't know them. Does it have to come with batteries?
 
If you need to buy batteries to take a photo, yes you would have to add that to the $40 budget :)

sparrow6224 said:
I think if you search Olympus XA and set the price bar at $35 you should do fine. LIkely even get a flash. No doubt there are other fixed lens RFs in its range but I don't know them. Does it have to come with batteries?
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Y'all missed a $20+shipping folding Vitessa with Ultron earlier today. Wasnt looking for another project but someone got a good deal.
 
I got a Rollei 35 Tessar in decent condition few months back for $50 (hence disqualified from this competition). Everything is working fine. I am sure you can find something reasonable if you are willing to wait and gamble.
 
I just bought a Ansco Autoset with case and instruction booklet I picked the 12.30 shipping and not the 19 dollar one so the total came to $27.30 and seller says the shutter works so we'll see...it comes with an extra Yashica with a stuck shutter.

I'm glad I played your little game because I have been wanting to pick an Autoset up for some time now to go along with my Anscoset that I paid like 27 bucks for also.

The Autoset is an interesting little rig...same camera John Glenn bought at a drug store and took with him into orbit!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Cool-Rang...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I didn't realize he had a Leica too!

http://blog.nasm.si.edu/behind-the-scenes/another-journey-for-john-glenn’s-ansco-camera/
 
8728285690_48719855fa_z.jpg


Just won this for 38.95 including shipping.
No need for batteries and apparently it is working. Looks like I may have to open up the trigger to see if I can reconnect the cable release.
 
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