What's Your Best Bargain Find?

I think my best was the Canon QL117 I bought for 2$ at a garage sale when I was 8 years old. That was my entire savings for the week. I remember I was looking forward to buying a roll of Kodak Gold from the grocery store down the street for the p&s hand me down my mom had given me. Needless to say I came home with a Canon instead.

Oh and I did end up getting that roll of Gold the next week!

Or maybe it was that 20$ Summar from Adorama?
 
I hate this thread.

So did I, until three months ago. In local Salvation Army store I found Voigtlander Bessa II with 105/3.5 Color-Heliar for whooping $25. Rangefinder needed cleaning and adjustment, but the rest, including lens, is very nice. Images came back very nice. I think I will hold on to it, since it is very unlikely I will be able to get another one at any price.
 
Not including gifts, my best bargain finds were a Pentax UC-1 for $8, a Promaster manual 35mm SLR with 50mm f/1.7 (k-mount) for $14, and a 35mm f/2.8 by Quantaray in m42 mount for $5.

I do love my Electro 35 that I got with aux lenses and finder for $28, but after a CLA it's not so bargainy anymore :)

That said, my Leica M2 and Nikon SP were given to me by friends and family.
 
Just found a nice, black Zero Halliburton case at the local Goodwill for $9.99:)
Last month I found an Elmar 13.5cm for $32- nice glass and works well.
 
all this for 15$

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Just picked up a Nikon D1 for some retro digital for £18 thats not bad considering they cost around £5000 when the were new.
 
Not that spectacular, but the various 100% working Canon EOS 300's and Olympus Mju-II's I got for between 0 and 5 Euros are nice. My love for the Mju-II is well known, and as far as 'bang for the buck' goes, a free EOS 300 (with lens!) is hard to beat.

Latest acquisiton is a Yashica T4 D (with data back) for 5 Euros at a flea market. But I look upon that Nikon SP with naked envy...
 
Doh! :bang:

It cost me $100 and came with the leather case and a selenium cell light meter.

As I said, naked envy. You realise you are looking at a resale value that is probaby 15 times what you paid right?

Disclaimer: Don't care about the money, care about the camera.
 
I picked up a black paint MP with 50 Lux at a local pawn shop two weeks ago. I can't tell you the price, everyone would kill me.
 
$50 flea market find a few weeks ago. Yes, I tried to talk him down on price, but was still happy to pay the full price in the end.
 

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Guess I've had no super deals but, in the last couple of years;
Canon QL17 GIII, clean and working for $15
Olympus 35RC, clean and working for $35
Sears KS500 (Ricoh KR-5) w/50 f2, clean and fully functional for $5
Vivitar T-12 'T' mount for my Pen F, $1

Certainly nothing exotic, but less than the going rate.
 
My local secondhand store:

New in box, unused and perfect Crown Graphic ----- $5
I also bought the 120 back they had for an extra $2

About 4 years earlier, same store, I bought a Rollei 35 --- $5

Its been about 4 years since I got my Crown, so I'm about due for another deal. I think I'll visit my store later today...
 
None. I've always paid the going rate for everything. The best I've done is and Olympus XA for $15 that worked for about a week, in which case it turned out to be a waste of money.
 
Picked up from a mixed parts bin at a Chicago Camera Collectors show, a Cooke & Perkins adapter for Contax lenses, that allowed the CZ lenses to be used on Leica M bodies, the one with the outer bayonet for wide angles and teles as well as the 50. In a box, no visible use; sold it on eBay for US$1,630
 
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