What's Your Best Bargain Find?

Best deal I found some three years ago...A Zeiss-Ikon ZM / lens combination from www.popflash.com And the same combo costs a lot more today. I know there are no deals in electronics, nor in digital cameras...only trade offs.
 
Last night I ran into a black Nikon F prism for little over EUR 100.

On eBay they fetch close to 300 so I think I did good.

The Nikon F that it will go and live on is in the mail. That comes with a perfectly working FTn prism and only set me back EUR 150, shipping included.

I bought a Nikkor-H 50/2.0 for it for little cash and the seller donated me another Nikkormat FTn, again an early black one! I hope the meter on that one is allright.

I wasn't supposed to get this (according to my own limitations) but it's allright, I'm selling off small stuff to cover for it...
 
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a hassleblad 500cm, 80mm planar, hood, 2 film backs, polaroid back, blad strap and filters + cap in near mint condition for £290 last month. a zeiss nettar from the 30's in nearly unused condition at a flea market in berlin for 25€ a couple of weeks ago. A 35mm summicron m asph for £1000 a year ago. A 50mm summicron m version 3 for £350 a year and a half ago. i never really get massive bargains but these few made me happy.
 
Nikon 50mm 1.8 Series E. It came attached to a Nikon EM, which was defective. I think i paid around $60 total.

I'm not saying a got a 'bargain' on the lens. Just that i like the lens more than any other 50 i've owned, except maybe the 50 Lux-ASPH, which makes it an incredible deal. I later bought another one, just in case the world's supply suddenly disappeared and i dropped mine in the ocean.
 
Bessa II w/Color Skopar/Compur-Rapid = $150 via Ivan's.
Perkeo II w/Color Skopar/Compur-Rapid = $80 via Ebay.
Franka Rolfix IIr (rangefinder equiped) w/Compur-Rapid = $25 via Ebay.
 
CK Dexter Haven said:
...I later bought another one, just in case the world's supply suddenly disappeared and i dropped mine in the ocean.
Click to expand...

I'm not alone...:cool:

I have two back-ups of an Olympus rangefinder that I really love...you know...just in case...;)

And by today's prices on these camera I could consider them bargains too...people are asking outrageous prices for them now but when I bought them they were practically giving them away...
 
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Several bargains:

Olympus 35SP - $20 (needed sorting but works well now)
Nikon FM2 & Nikkor 50mm f1.4 with ND & polarisers fitted - $5 (perfect)
Black Nikon FM body with MD-11 motor - $8 (ugly but worked perfectly)
Nikon FE & Nikkor 50mm f2 - $5 (almost perfect - filter ring knock)
Sun Zoom (T-mount) 180-410mm f4.5 - $10 (perfect)
Ricoh 500G - $2 (needed light seals)
Leica IIIf RD DA with perfect screw mount Summicron - speeds off, needed cosmetic cleaning - $150
Super Multi Coated Takumar 300mm f4 - $40 (perfect)
Voigtlander Vitoret f2 Ultron - $10 (perfect)

See my blog @ http://obscurecamera.wordpress.com for more info

Norm, Canberra, Australia
 
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When I bought my first Leica M the dealer offered me a foggy 90mm Tele-Elmarit for €50.
Looking at the lens it was a nearly mint lensbarrel and after some googleing the fog was the typical diaphragma-lubricant mist.
A CLA for around €100 and the lens was perfect. Had two shots in three years and sold it for around € 480.
 
Someone just gave me 600 feet of Portra 160NC. It expired some time ago but has never been out of the freezer so the jury is still out on whether it was a bargain ;)
 
A few of mine...

Contax G2 with 2.8/90 $100 -- Craigslist
Pen F with 1.2/42 $125 -- Craigslist
Fuji GS645 wide $40 -- obscure local auction
Fuji GA645 with 00 000 shutter count $300 -- poorly worded eBay listing
Tokina 2.5/90 macro $100 -- Craigslist

And just yesterday... I won lot 4168 in this auction: http://www.kaminskiauctions.com/sep17p6.htm

My first Leica (M3 SS) and for only $425! I figured that even if it needs a CLA it was still a steal. Now I need to find a nice/cheap 35mm or 50mm to go with it.

I would have put up a bigger fight for lot 4169 (Leica M3 SS w/1.4/50) but it was covered in green grime and I figured the lens would be trashed/fungus'd. It sold for $1200.
 
Not me, but my friend, Roy. We were both poor grad students in San Francisco in the Sixties, and one day we wandered into a seedy pawn shop south of Market Street. He had a beat up Pentax H1a and I sported an equally worn Pentax H3v. Roy spotted a small black RF camera, dusty and very brassy, and asked how much. The shop owner, perhaps unaccustomed to the phrase, said, "I gotta be honest with you, it don't work. Frozen up or something. Fifty bucks and it's yours." I thought Roy was going to laugh, say "Yeah, right," and we'd be on our way. Instead, he fished around in his pocket and forked over the fifty bucks. I was stunned as I knew that must have been all the money he had. Turned out he knew what he was looking at. It was one of those Leicas made for the Luftwaffe and it had as I recall roller bearings or something similar to withstand the freezing temperatures at high altitudes.

Roy did a CLA on it, got it working properly, and sold it later on to a collector for what I considered a stunning sum (don't remember the dollar amount, but was a jaw-dropper).

I have never been so lucky.
 
I just picked up this Contax IIIa w/Sonnar 50mm/1.5 yesterday for $75. I think that's a pretty good deal.

The shutter, rangefinder, even the meter is spot on.
Interestingly, I had just been given another pre-war Sonnar last week for some work I did, but I didn't have a camera to put it on. Now I have the perfect camera and two Sonnars.

It's like they're breeding or something. :D

I don't buy on ebay. My finds are all local.
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A couple of weeks ago I bought a Minolta x-700 for 2.2 GBP. I never expected to win, I never expected it to work, but it seems to be in excellent shape. The eBay photos were not doing it justice.
 
I just picked up a Voigtlnader Bessamatic Deluxe with 50mm f2.8 lens & 2-135mm lenses with leather cases & 2 35mm lenses with cases, a Telex (?) with case, a Voigtlander UV filter w/case & a complete set of Spiratone filters with hood and adaptor and case. (Only problem previous owner's name scratched into camera.) $50.
 
I managed to buy a mint Polaroid Land Camera 190 for 20 Euros. Last night one was sold at the big auction site for 432,90 Euros. :D
 
While most are posting great deals on relatively expensive gear there are other ways to interpret "best bargain find". I'd say, for me, this is the Fujica Compact Deluxe rangefinder. Shutter priority, full manual control, and an independent meter on the top plate - a red dot appears when the meter deems things are underexposed (doesn't block you like a lot of the other fixed lens RFs of the day...) Focus distance scale on the top plate, and thumb wheel focus on the rear of the camera. Focus not on the lens. Love the 45mm f 1.8 - just something special about it, it's one of the more 3D-y lenses next to the Leica Summar I once owned, and is razor sharp by F4... Stops up to F22. Fuji boasted in their ads that for the camera "It's the best lens we ever made...". It's also ergonomically perfect. Nice size and weight - not too big or too small, and well balanced (not front heavy due to lens...). It qualifies as a "bargain find" to me because I think this is camera is right-up-there-with/similarly spec'd to the Oly SP or RD, only nobody ever heard of it and it doesn't attract many - if any, bidders when it does show up on the big auction site. Surprisingly little on the 'net about them, even on the Grand Master's rangefinder site. Downside is they don't come up often, and two I'd purchased died on me, so you may have to go on the hunt and get a few before you strike gold. Might take you a year of hunting - but it's worth it, imo. The one I have now is a fully functional beauty. I been through a lot of fixed lens rangefinders. Sold all of them (or gave them away...) except this and an Oly XA. Love'em both.
 
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