The way it was...

David Hughes

David Hughes

David Hughes
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Hi,

I thought I'd share this as I've not seen a box full of old cameras on the floor in a charity shop for ages and ages. And this was just this week...

Box%20of%20Cameras-XL.jpg


Regards, David
 
I always keep an eye open for something interesting or useful.
'Toy' plastic cameras can be a source of tiny springs and wide-angle viewfinder lenses. Unused 'disposables' can, in addition, yield an expired but usable 35mm film 😉
 
Hi,

Yes, and you can find some interesting bits and pieces at the bottom of the boxes. Alas the days when every shop had them have gone but I don't miss the rude comments as I sit there going through the muddle.

Regards, David
 
I was digging into a box like that in a local charity store and dug out a Minolta XG-M with 50 mm f2 lens. I can only describe it as mint - JCII sticker in place and plastic on the baseplate. It cost me $2 and I took it home and put a battery in it and it functions flawlessly. I've found other stuff too, but nothing quite as clean and as satisfying as the Minolta. Cheers...Tony
 
Tony Whitney said:
I was digging into a box like that in a local charity store and dug out a Minolta XG-M with 50 mm f2 lens. I can only describe it as mint - JCII sticker in place and plastic on the baseplate. It cost me $2 and I took it home and put a battery in it and it functions flawlessly. I've found other stuff too, but nothing quite as clean and as satisfying as the Minolta. Cheers...Tony
Click to expand...

The best I've found was an Olympus XA2, slim pickings for pretty much anything interesting in the North East of England.
 
My wife found me a Mamiya Sekkor with standard lens in a box like that a few weeks ago, she paid $3.50 for it.

I do the rounds of the charity shops here just looking for cameras, I've found some gems over the years, buried in among the plastic 35mm compacts.
 
A few weeks ago, I bought a Pentax Spotmatic F and a preset Takumar 200mm lens at the local Presbyterian op shop. They had been put in their window display just a few minutes before, with various other cameras. The next day, all the cameras had gone.
 
I once was in a charity shop where a gentleman was hummimg and harring about buying a camera ticketed at £15, I willed him to put it down, sadly he did not and walked out of the shop with the Rolleiflex TLR under his arm....close but sadly not close enough
 
Sadly I never find anything like that. One time I did find an old Agfa 6x9 art deco camera that some little boy had poked holes in the bellows with a pencil. They wanted $5 for it. I would have paid 50 cents but when I pointed out the holes they told me that no one made film for it anyway and they were only selling it for a decoration.
 
My best recent score was an Olympus OM-2n with a 50/1.4 lens for $7.50 USD. It was setting behind the counter and hadn't been priced yet because the UV filter on it had a dented ring. Put new batteries in it and it seems to meter properly!
 
I wonder if they aren't around anymore because people are no longer donating them (either selling them themselves or just binning them), people are no longer buying them so they're just binned or recycled by the charity shop, or is it a case of the early bird gets the worm?
 
lxmike said:
I once was in a charity shop where a gentleman was hummimg and harring about buying a camera ticketed at £15, I willed him to put it down, sadly he did not and walked out of the shop with the Rolleiflex TLR under his arm....close but sadly not close enough
Click to expand...

That's painful! I saw a Minolta Dynax a few weeks ago but they wanted £80 hahaha!

michaelwj said:
I wonder if they aren't around anymore because people are no longer donating them (either selling them themselves or just binning them), people are no longer buying them so they're just binned or recycled by the charity shop, or is it a case of the early bird gets the worm?
Click to expand...

A lot of charities put them on eBay now. The problem with that is, they are always listed as untested yet the same price as tested ones.
 
Hi,

Those charity shops that put everything on ebay are a pita but there are still some proper charity shops about. You can tell them by the chaos and muddle...

A few weeks ago* I was there when a huge carrier bag filled with cameras (all wrapped in plastic with manuals etc) was emptied and went through it on the counter. I got a couple of P&S's for a pound each.

Also one or two shops now keep the cameras until I (or someone else) visits and asks our opinion. I guess it pays to keep looking.

Regards, David

* Just checked, it was 5th May and there were 3 or 4 of them left this Thursday.
 
I found a Kodak Z710 digital camera in pretty much mint condition at a local thrift store...even had a 2GB SD card...(the biggest card it will accept)...the battery almost cost as much as the camera...$15 camera...$12 battery...
I bought it to take when cycling...

28713691782_91d176f312_z.jpg


28201114914_0f4315c7ce_z.jpg


28534207310_0004531d74_z.jpg
 
nikon_sam said:
I found a Kodak Z710 digital camera in pretty much mint condition at a local thrift store...even had a 2GB SD card...(the biggest card it will accept)...the battery almost cost as much as the camera...$15 camera...$12 battery...
I bought it to take when cycling...
Click to expand...

Some great images from a pretty 'elderly' digital camera 🙂

After commenting on the lack of finds in charity chops, I went and found a Canon AF35MII yesterday haha
 
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