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Leica R with Lens for $20 at Goodwill

RetroCameraReview said:
I don't feel bad about getting a good deal, the camera was extremely rough and I doubt anyone else in the area would have restored it.
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Funny, in your 2nd post you said and I quote: "the exterior was practically perfect". Since you are restoring (are you, I thought it was perfect) it it really does look like you went to the charity shop, haggled them out of some money then plan to sell the goods for profit. Just be careful not to sprain a shoulder trying to pat yourself on the back.
 

Very well said! If he would have went to a camera show or a photo dealer and haggled them don't I would be patting him on the back, but not a charity. In my former life I was a camera show dealer and he'd haggle me just so far, but that's what those shows were all about. They certainly weren't charities. John W
 
why are leicas so damn expensive! I look on ebay for a leica m2 and it goes for like 1 grand!
 
pdeeh said:
But it must feel so good to talk a charity shop out of so much money
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Goodwill is NOT a charity shop, that is a misconception. Goodwill is a private FOR PROFIT corporation. They get funding from the government for hiring "challenged" people(at minimum wage), and get all their merchandise free as donated. Make NO mistake, everything that company does is for profit.
 
Executive compensation in not-for-profit orgs is generally cpntriversial but that doesn't mean that they are a for-profit org and doesn't diminish the good works the do. It does show that execs of large scale operations work hard and get paid a lot while others work hard and don't.
 

That's why I like shopping Salvation Army better...............their top CEO's make peanuts compared to Goodwill. You can make any business "non-profit" if you suck the life out of it. I also find less at Goodwill since they now have an auction site and put all their goodies on there. All that's left in the store is trinket junk. At least in my area anyway. I would like to add to this that I would not haggle them down to $20.00 dollars on said Leica, but if it was marked $20.00 I wouldn't haggle them up to $300.00 either or even $25.00. John W
 
MartinCrabtree said:
According to the images in the video the camera was not purchased at Goodwill. Unless the video is a fabrication.
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He says "antique store" in the video but here the video creator says he got it at Goodwill. Slippery....
 
rbultman said:
Good Will is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
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At charity shops when discussing a labeled price, I sometime hear "It is for a good project". But then they could ask for a donation directly.

But actually all these shops compete with fleamarkets, garage-sales and thrift shops, and maybe even camera shops.

Some of these have higher prices due to higher basic costs (location, premises with shelves and assistants versus selling out of a rummage crate). I maý appreciate these better circumstances.
But at the end I decide of whether there is a likely chance to get the item at other places cheaper. If not and the price still seems reasonable to me I might buy.

But I do not put another buying standard on charity shops than on a commercial thrift store aiming at profit.


A non-financial issue though is having fun at any of those places. Fun I hardly would get at a internet sale. It's a matter of people interacting.
 
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Man...you guys really had your way with the OP. Yikes. Ultimately, who gives
a rats behind. Lighten up fellas.
 
Ultimately, all of us who give a rat's behind give a rat's behind.
If the issue was that people were moaning because he'd bought a Leica and not a Nikon I'd agree it was pointless and grotesque thread.
But there seemed to be a "moral" issue here that some us (from the way the OP presented the whole thing) found unpleasant, and I'm one of them.
I don't think anyone has been disproportionate in the way they have been expressing disapprobation, but they have presented their feelings clearly and unambiguously.

if you don't give a rat's behind, well that's fine.
 
mehguy said:
why are leicas so damn expensive! I look on ebay for a leica m2 and it goes for like 1 grand!
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Simple economics of supply and demand. The early Leica M series is perceived as a high quality precision instrument from the Golden Age of rangefinders, designed and built by the best German engineers and craftsmen.

The M2 may cost a bit more than an M3 because it has framelines for the 35mm lenses.

As for that R4 at Goodwill, it was obviously worth more than $20, just in parts, even if a .50BMG round had been fired through it.
 

A direct hit, dead lens center, with the .50BMG would leave about .50 cents worth of scrap metal. If that? Send me your R4 with lens and I'll show you. John W
 
JW PHOTO said:
A direct hit, dead lens center, with the .50BMG would leave about .50 cents worth of scrap metal. If that? Send me your R4 with lens and I'll show you. John W
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Thanks, but I've got a .50BMG rifle and about 25 years experience shooting them.

I figured the shutter speed dial and red dot would easily bring twenty bucks.
 
Oh I dunno ... It sent me scurrying off to wiki to find out what on earth 0.5BMG meant. So I now now know something I didn't know before. Albeit useless to me but you can't have everything ...
 
I wouldn't have taken advantage like that. It's true Goodwill isn't the best charity organization but keep in mind at least some of that money goes to good causes. This reminds me of the "Fred A. Fotoman dies. His widow, Exa, is selling his Leica M3 at a yard sale for $20" thread. I think these scenarios are nearly the same. Those who take advantage like that won't be well respected by anyone with any moral backbone and should expect some backlash.
 
Theo Sulphate said:
Thanks, but I've got a .50BMG rifle and about 25 years experience shooting them.

I figured the shutter speed dial and red dot would easily bring twenty bucks.
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Maybe, but R3 and R4 cameras are not sought after like SL2's and older Leica cameras, which makes their parts not as valued. Besides, you have to find the shutter speed dial after the hit and you can probably forget finding the red dot at all. Oh, I have some experience in that field also. Vietnam tower shooting at night and the Barrett on the home range. Don't have the Barrett anymore since I sold it to a friend, but I can use it anytime I want to. If I had a spare R3 or R4 we'd find out just how much would be salvageable. Of course I will admit that there are smaller rounds that have more explosive power than to .50bmg, but I still see the .50bmg as pretty well taking care of and R4. Well, I have three rolls of film to develop so off to the darkroom. John W
 
The satin chrome Leicaflexes seem like mechanical jewels, though I've never owned one. It's been said people didn't like the made-in-Portugal R3 or the electronics problems of the R4, but I'd guess that if you find a working one today, it'll continue to work. I've always thought the R5, R7, and up, with their unique program mode, was the most interesting.

I'd imagine the R lenses are top quality, though I remember that turning the aperture ring on one of them was like dragging a board over a stone walkway.

Yeah, Barrett - I've had mine since 1990.
 
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