LA/SoCal Members...Ever go to Pasadena or Anaheim camera shows?

[CropDusterMan]

Just wanted to get an opinion from any members who've frequented either the Pasadena or Anaheim
camera shows which happen monthly...

I went to Pasadena last week for the first time and was disappointed...mind you, I was going there
for a few very specific items, most importantly to trade some nice Hassie 500CM gear for a nice
Leica Elmarit 28mm...sadly, nobody had one. Is the Anaheim show better for Leica gear? Personally, I
found the Pasadena show had quite a lot of junky stuff I had no use for.

Any feedback would be appreciated...

J

 

[Thorpelyon]

I've been to the Pasadena show a few times this year, and I've always been disappointed. Old junk, dust-covered cameras, plastic bins full of fossilised lenses, expired film... I've decided it's not worth the effort. I have better luck rolling the dice on eBay.

 

[Jim Noel]

Good equipment rarely shows up at the shows for one simple reason, it doesn't sell. Not too many years ago you could find almost anything at one or both of these shows and patrons came with lots of money ready to buy. Sadly that is no longer the case. Most people who come to these shows seem to just want to look, not buy. a huge percentage have no idea of what they are looking at if it doesn't have a very familiar name.

 

[nosmok]

Pasadena is good for buying crap items like expired film, junky cases, tripods, maybe filters. There are one or two knowledgable sellers and a whole lot of scammers-- guys selling Paxette lenses as "for Leica" and at leica prices. You can go for a lark and hope you get lucky but I wouldn't go out of my way.

 

[CropDusterMan]

They bill Anaheim as a good "Leica" show, but it seems to me that it'll likely be the same old vendors and
tire kickers.

 

[Fixcinater]

I went to the Anaheim show late last year and there was a bunch of the same old as described above but a couple solid vendor stalls.

If you are looking for something specific I wouldn't waste the time.

I did find a nice Canon F1 New and lots of little stuff for other systems. The shows have been successful in that way, for me.

 

[Bill Burk]

I used to frequent the Pasadena shows over 30 years ago when I lived a few blocks away... Back then it was a treasure trove of "user" cameras that invariably had something quirky wrong with them.