What's Your Best Bargain Find?

DanOnRoute66 said:
I've often wondered how that guy stays in business. I've watched literally dozens of his listings (mostly stuff related to Olympus Pen SLRs and classic RFs) over the past few years and never has even a single item sold. I've never even bid because typically the opening bids are ridiculously expensive. Even when nothing sells, you still have to pay the listing fees.
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Kevin Camera's actually has quite brisk sales - at least a few thousand dollars per week - just look at his completed listings on eBay, and that does not include his off-eBay sales. Listing on eBay is not expensive, they take most of their cut with final value fees (which are outrageous).
 
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pjroo33 said:
I posted this elsewhere a few days ago. It is my best yard sale find of all time. I've had some good ones, but nothing compared to this.

I have always wanted to try a Leica but never had the money. Well...
I went to a yard sale 2 weekends ago and was lucky enough to be the first person to arrive. A lady was selling her "old" cameras and didn't want them anymore. It was 2 Leica cameras. An R4s and a classic M6. She also had 4 Leica lenses to go along with the cameras.

Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (with hood)
Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8,
Summicron-R 50mm f/2 (with e55 p-cir polarizing filter)
Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8.


The two bags came along as well. I paid $200 for everything. I am holding onto the M6 and the two M lenses. I will be selling the R4s and 2 lenses and black Leica leather bag in the next couple of weeks.

The 28mm Elmarit-M is missing the focusing tab, so the focusing ring is loose. I will be sending it off to either DAG or Sherry. It seems like that is who most people recommend.

This will be my first experience with a rangefinder.
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Are you serious?! I had to save my money for months before I could buy an M6. You're very lucky! Congrats dude. It's a beautiful camera. 🙂
 
Minolta Hi-Matic 9 on ebay for $2.50

Yashica FX-D with ML 50mm 1.9, Vivitar 2300 flash, and Tamron 80-210 zoom for $2.00 at a garage sale.

Another perfect FX-D on ebay for $8.00. It was listed as "broken, film advance jammed". I will buy "jammed" FX-D's all day, FX-D cameras won't work without a battery. 😉

And just today, the mailman delivered a Ricoh Singlex TLS that I won for $4.94. The camera is a very usable "user condition" camera with lots of character. But the Super Takumar 50mm 1.4 that was attached to the front of it is perfect. :-D

The mailman also brought a very rare and excellent Yashinon Tomioka DX 50mm 1:2 screwmount (or as the seller described it, a "really cool Deco-style lens"), that I won for $9.00. 🙂

I missed out on a black Zenit-S (or as the seller described it, a "Zehum C") that eventually sold for $34 the other day when I had bid $30. I really wanted that one, I have never seen a black Zenit-S before, and it is so, so, pretty. And I also was outbid an an "old Yoghunder camera" (which was actually a very nice Voigtländer Vitessa).

I realize that none of the above are really valuable in dollars-and-cents terms (no $50 Leicas for me yet), but as a neophyte collector with a limited budget, they are all treasures to me.
 
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Leica M6 for 500 euro. Hasselblad 500CM with 80/2.8 Carl Zeiss planar and a12 back for 500 euro. Nikon FE2 with 35-105 macrolens, md15 winder and three marco rings for 150 euro. Leica CL with summicron 40 and elmar 90 for 400 euro. Leitz elmarit M 90/2.8 for 175 euro.
 
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Just bought a Contax 139Q off ebay, declared as broken, with no description of the lens, and paid 12 Euros. The lens turned out to be a Planar 1.4 / 50 mm, and the camera only needed new batteries.
 
i consider myself quite lucky. I usually am patient and spend fixed amount of time a day to scan for things that i want but only at the price that i want to buy. This has resulted in more hits than misses.

Hits:
Pristine Black SL with 50mm Summicron for 400
Pristine IIIF for 230
500CM with Planar, around 700
Canon 50 1.5f for 100
M3 with slow speed off, and hazy VF, 400 + 120 for CLA
Making friends with Brian, and he fixed my J8 and I50R

Misses:
Leica CM with a faulty battery drain, returned and refunded
Scratchy Summicron Collapsible from KEH, returned and changed for a DR
Summicron 40 + CL, found out the CL was completely frozen but 40 Cron in good condition -- paid 400 which is the going price for the lens
Most Russian lens though inexpensive, are not well maintained, really infuriating at times.
Sun Sola lens bought cheap with a bad chip, causing no end to flare.
 
Just found a Beseler 23CII enlarger with 50mm Nikkor lens for $38. They still sell them new for $800 or so, without the lens. I don't need this, since I already have a couple of enlargers for 35mm and 2 1/4, but one of my students will buy it, I'm sure!
 
zniv said:
Just bought a Contax 139Q off ebay, declared as broken, with no description of the lens, and paid 12 Euros. The lens turned out to be a Planar 1.4 / 50 mm, and the camera only needed new batteries.
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Since the Contax 139 and the Yashica FX-D are similar in many respects (including complete dependence on batteries, even for advancing the film), I have also been looking for those "broken" 139s, buy haven't been as lucky as you yet. I would love one of those T* lenses. Great find.
 
I've had several great finds but I think the best was a Minox B for $200 it came with an unused Rollei 3.5f in new case, etc. If I sell the Minox for $100 it gets better.

The Rollei probably never had a roll through it. It was taken in as collateral on a loan years before. The bad news is the guy sold "an old Leica" the day before. My Dad bought a 10.3 Mountain Elmar for $3 years ago.
 
i picked up my Zorki M3 for £35 at an antique camera shop, a pretty good price as i knew the people there, but the bargain came the next day at my workplace (another camera shop) a woman came in with a Zorki 4K and a host of acsessorys, i bought the lot for £25, so my total spend was £60.

the acsessorys included a Leningrad meter, the Zorki turret finder, and a Jupiter 8 1:2/50mm and i managed to sell the Zorki 4K and a couple of the bits (mainly stuff i already had) for £25

so i was £35 out of pocket, and had the Zorki M3, J-8 lens with a Hoya hood and the turret finder, i was pretty chuffed
 
Need to run a few test rolls through the black M5 2lug *InOP meter* that I bought earlier this week for $499.00 to see if I got a good deal or not, but so far everything seems to be working well and physically its in much better shape then I expected.
 
Best bargain find?

Best bargain find?

Car boot sale in Huntingdon got me a mint condition Konica 35AF for the princly sum of £1 as it didnt work. cleaned the battery contacts and it works! came with an ER case and lens cover.

for those of you unfamiliar with this Konica...

http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Konica_C35_AF

to date I have only put one roll of film through it, came out just fine. Hexanon lens is nice and sharp f2.8 38mm.

Rated No. 9 in the top cameras of all time by shutterbug. apparently.
 
A car boot sale? Is that anything like "It fell off a truck" here stateside? ;)[/quote said:
Car Boot Sale = Flea Market


My latest ebay score was a 1935 Leitz Summar for £42 (idelivered), after a gentle clean inside and out it now works fine on my Lumix G1 (not yet tested on my LTMs)
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My newest 'best bargain' has to be the CZJ S 135mm f/3.5, Zebra single coated version in M42 I got from a charity shop for £3 because the iris was stuck wide open. The rest of the lens is in excellent condition. I've now managed to clean up the iris and it's all working fine.

Ronnie
 
My last "bargain" finds:

Bessa R in nearly perfect condition, for 200€ shipped.
Leitz Summitar 35mm 1/2.8 in ltm, traded for my Summitar (bought it myself for 140€) and 200€ cash.

Makes a nice kit for 540€
 
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