What's Your Best Bargain Find?

A near mint 180 f/2.8 Nikkor (non-AI) that is currently off being AI'd by John White.

I have gotten several good deals on recent purchases of non-AI Nikkors to be used with my Df.
 
The very best:

Two band new Domke bags (F2 and F803)I bought at auction from SFO for $40, I then sold one for $40 leaving me with F803 for free.

Runner up

Kearner Auction: 25 cases of movie bulbs, 10 c-stands, misc lighting barns for $150. I traded 5 cases of bulbs and barns for a full set of (altered) Nikon AIS primes. Down side, I took me a year to sell off the 20 cases of various lighting bulbs on ebay.
 
I haven't been around for awhile in range finders but I got a Voigtlander Vitessa N for $10 at a antique store that had some scuffs on it, didn't think it would work. Use a cloth and buffed it with easy into a shiny camera and all the mechanics work just fine. Only problem I have had is that the blades stick a little if you are shooting slower than 1/30. Nice pictures though.
 
Thrift store. Labeled “brass lens” for $40. Looked at it and it was an ultra rare 50mm 1.4 Zeiss Biotar cinema lens from 1926. It had a machined L39 adapter also. Couldn’t find any info on it to establish value, so a collector in HK purchased it for $5,000. Still have no idea if it was worth more, but if it was...I couldn’t find anyone to pay more. Good score!
 
SMC Pentax (K) 85mm f/1.8 lens with scratched front element for $40.

Before purchase I confirmed Pentax parts in Colorado still had the part in stock.
Cost of repair by Eric Hendrickson was about $50, parts included.

Chris
 
This week I am donating one of my cameras to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's a beat-up Rollei 35 I purchased in about 2010 for $5.

The camera is inscribed 'R A Eagleson, Toronto, Canada'

The only Eagleson I knew of was (now) disgraced hockey agent Alan Eagleson. In 2012 I pulled the camera out of my junk drawer and did some research. He was born Robert Alan Eagleson and I read that he took a camera with him everywhere in Moscow during the iconic 1972 Canada/Russia Summit Series.

Then I found this photo on Getty: https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/n...nd-dale-tallon-of-canada-news-photo/136277293

Eagleson actually has the camera around his wrist in Moscow.

In 2012 I tried to return the camera to Eagleson though a third party. He confirmed the camera was stolen long ago and did not seem interested in getting it back.

Last week I sent the info I had to the curator of the Hall. They will research and confirm if it's the same camera and if so I have agreed to donate it.
 
Ccoppola82 said:
Thrift store. Labeled “brass lens” for $40. Looked at it and it was an ultra rare 50mm 1.4 Zeiss Biotar cinema lens from 1926. It had a machined L39 adapter also. Couldn’t find any info on it to establish value, so a collector in HK purchased it for $5,000. Still have no idea if it was worth more, but if it was...I couldn’t find anyone to pay more. Good score!
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End the thread now! 😱

My best score was an almost new Rolleiflex MX-EVS type 2 for $80. The shutter and film advance needed service, so I took it to Harry Fleenor for an another $300.
 
I have been a collector of the Teraoka Seikosho Auto Terra series of cameras for quite some time. I think it all started after buying a Robot and then finding there was a Japanese camera somewhat like it with a built in spring drive. I had seen an advertisement of a variant of the Auto Terra called a Optika Auto 35 with 45mm/F1.8 Zunow lens in a Pop Photo Magazine around 1960. I finally saw one on eBay after looking for quite some time and purchased it for $500. I was elated to have found such a rare beast and lo and behold another appeared in a listing a week later. This one was in the original box with instruction manual, leather case, and original front cap.
I somehow won it for $54.77 as no one apparently had any interest. Needless to say, the $500 model went back as there were some mechanical issues not listed. This was in 2010 and I have never seen another for sale.
 
zane0777 said:
Recent thrift store find: lightly used Leica Minilux w/ 40mm Summarit for $5. No E02 error, yet...
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Awesome and if does fail, it's worth it to get the MS-Optics conversion done if you got it for that price!
 
I found at our local photography shop - Foto Fransen - a shade that fits my Taylor Taylor Hobson Amotal 2" f/2 lens and many others.

This thing is produced by B+W, designed by a maniac and made in Germany in the 1940's from heavily chromed stainless steel. It fits all lenses with diameters from 27 to 37mm. The leaves of the tulip are spring loaded. It looks super cool on the Amotal. I only have tot test it on vignetting.

The name of the device is: TULIPAN.

Erik.

48523930031_e9e5ba8d00_z.jpg
 
Last year I bought a lot of lenses. It included 9" f/4 gundlach diffusion lens, 3 1/2" exwa wollensak f/12.5, 75/1.5 oscillo raptar, 50/1.8 canon ltm and 50/2 nikkor hc ltm. A cherry on this sundae was 2” f/1.5 Kino Plasmat. Got it for $80.
Kino Plasmat got sold to a collector in Japan for a undisclosed amount. 🙂 I still have the rest of the lenses.

This purchase definitely trumps my purchase of Bessa II with 105/3.5 for $24.95. Definitely!!
 
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