What's Your Best Bargain Find?

I picked up a LN boxed Voigtlander 101st Anniversary Set (Olive) with all original items in the presentation box for $517 shipped on eBay. Then traded it for a LN Boxed Voigtlander 50/1.1 Nokton! Best deal I ever have ever found.

I did pick up my Leica M4-2 in EX condition for $550 about a month ago, pretty good deal as well.
 
let's see...

black paint M3, 90mm summicron, 35mm screw mount Summaron, 50mm Rigid Summicron, bag of finders, filters and meters for $2100.

black paint M4 and 3.5 summaron for $800. ugly but everything can be fixed.

chrome M3 with 35mm V1 summilux and ollux hood, rigid 50mm summicron, 135mm hektor, MR4 meter, large assortment of finders and filters for $500.

and most recently i traded an M6ttl for a 8 month old M8.

now if i could just find a WATE for $1k...

bob
 
An Elmar 50/3.5 for $150 at a camera fair. Maybe not that big of a deal, but it's turned out to be my best lens. Most Elmars I run across these days are either trashed, or $400+
 
I got my Yashica T4 for £5 from a charity shop.

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Yesderday, some lucky guy picked up a like new Summilux-M ASPH 35mm with all the package and hood for 1295.00 Euro BIN of EBAY.DE...

I would have take it if local pickup were possible (too far away)... payment only through wire transfer, which finally was to "hot" for me!
 
Hmmm What constitutes a bargain ?

Market price , £50, for a camera which is just that little bit special -mint Kiev 4a in TOE box with all documents ?
A reasonable £60 price for an unexpectedly near mint KNeB II ?
Both of which are more than useable .
Even recreating my own dream Contax II by the guys in Arsenal at an ' affordable ' cost ?
£15 for a 35mm f 1.8 Rokkor , or a pair of new md Vivitars 24 / 28 at £ 25 each ?
Or £5.00 each for a few Mju 1 and Trip 35s which will probably never be used again ?
 
gian said:
Yesderday, some lucky guy picked up a like new Summilux-M ASPH 35mm with all the package and hood for 1295.00 Euro BIN of EBAY.DE...

I would have take it if local pickup were possible (too far away)... payment only through wire transfer, which finally was to "hot" for me!
Click to expand...

"Bargain hunting" can turn out beeing veery expensive.

And sometimes you end with things you don't need

Life is too short for hunting for bargains. I prefer to take pictures, read a good book or spend time with my family.
 
Last December I got a Fed 5B + Jupiter 8 (leather case + Russian user manual) for EUR 0,90: it was a mint sample, but the seller set the speed before cocking the shutter. With a 2 hours work (and thanks to the repair manual by Wolves) I repaired it, and now it works perfectly. I still cannot believe...
 
Minolta XG-1 with MD 50mm f/2 from a charity shop for £5.60. Included working batteries and a never ready case (though not the case for the XG-1 it looks like it would fit an SRTXXX).

Ronnie
 
M2 (new) for 175. Needed repairing and my repair guy felt sorry for me so totally took it apart took out a ding, realigned everything and made it like new (it was a NOS that got dropped in the store) for 75 dollars. It was a few years ago but I still have the camera.
 
At the local thrift store I managed to find a Contax IIIA with a 50mm f1.5 Opton. After a little more searching there was the Biogon 35mm f2.8 with it's finder.

The 50mm lens' glass is absolutely perfect but the barrel has a tiny dent. The Opton is flawless and has the 35mm finder.
The camera itself is pretty good for something almost 60 years old. Two "Zeiss" bumps on the back and the finder needs alignment. The meter reads a little high (!) and the slow escapement was easy to repair myself. Speeds are quite good, now.

Then later I found a very, very nice Black Spotmatic II c/w a 50mm 1.4 Takumar. The lens has the famous orange discoloration, but I think I can fix with UV light or leave in the sun for a while.

Not sure about the Spotmatic but I'll not be selling the Contax.
 
Never, ever tell us what you paid for that Contax kit 🙂

I just got an "as-is" grade Pentax ME Super SE from KEH for $1.49 (yes, one dot 49). Described as advance not working, untested. It arrived with the advance in perfect order. I guess the ride in the FedEx truck repaired it. With a fresh set of batteries, it seems to be working flawlessly. Foam is going, though, so I'm prepared for light leaks on my first roll.

Let's hear it for KEH As-Is. In the same shipment, I also got a Hexanon AR 40/1.8 pancake lens for $7. It's missing the inspection sticker and has some specks of internal dust, that's all.
 
Perfect condition canon 50mm 1.8 LTM (all silver) with caps for $9.00. I might actually sell the DR summicron if the pics hold up from the test roll.
 
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