Thrift Store Finds

pen s said:

My "finds" come few and far between.

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OK, now I will finally be able to again sleep at night.

pen s said:

My "finds" come few and far between. And besides $15 for the older Luna Pro is not a steal, OK but not great. My last find was more than 2 years ago when I found a "jammed" Canon QL17 GIII also for $15. Really clean externally I found they had it set on 'auto' with no battery installed and naturally the shutter would not release. I took a chance that the meter was ok and when I walked the few blocks home tried it out with a #675 hearing aid battery and the meter functioned correctly. Of course I had already checked the manual control and found it within nominal limits.

So keep searching, go early after opening, check often and you'll have a better chance of a good find.

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I found a Canonet QL17 GIII not jammed for $3. It looks very nice. Shutter speed accurate. The foam is sticky but can be fixed easy.

Recently I've been reacquiring samples of the camera gear I grew up with and assembling a little diorama. It's sort of a timeline of my own path as a photographer, starting in 1968 with a borrowed Argus C3. My favorite is the little green book 'Amateur Photography' that I originally got at Radio Shack, which taught me the basics.

Cute, Mike.

Leica mini II, Leica Z2X, Olympus RC35: 10 euros each. Keeping the Leicas, RC35 goes on big auction site - probably will pay off all 3 cameras until the end of auction. So probably 2 Leicas for free !

Hey! I still use two of those! The C-3 I bought new after the holidays in 1957, and the A-1 I bought in 1981. Cool display, like the camera mounts.

DWThomas said:

Cool display, like the camera mounts.

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They are cheap security camera mounts. Only $1.30 each from Monoprice.com

I found four Folmer Graflex wood frame 4x5 sheet film holders at... $2.00 each. All very serviceable once I swabbed away the grunge.

I've had better luck at the swap meets in the area than I have any of the thrift stores, but I've found some good stuff at the thrift stores too. GIII Canonet for $10, XA for $5 or nearly that, nice Bogen tripod+head that I still use for $5, another one I sold: got it for $10 or $15, so paid for the other. Passed on an XA2 for $15 which was a mistake. Lots of wacky prices on stuff lately: beat up, non-working (film transport nor RF) Yashica RF for $85 was one recent low point.

Picked up a black paint Minolta srT-102 with MC Rokkor-PF 58mm f/1.4 lens at a local shop for $15 last week..

My new avatar is the shutter speed dial on it..

Over the course of the last 12 months I've found some amazing things at my local Goodwill;

- Omega D-2, complete and ready for 4x5 (needed some minor repairs) $25
- Vivitar slide projector, like new, in the original box (medical training slides were still in the tray, ick!) $6.99
- Olympus Stylus $2.99
- Polaroid Land model 215, in leatherette case, with flash and spare bulbs $12.99
- Patterson developing trays for 11x14, unused $1.99 (x2)
- Bogen two blade easel $3.99
- Sekonic Leader light meter, with leather case $19.99
- Time-O-Lite enlarger timer, like new $5.99
- Olympus XA with A-11 flash, pristine cosmetic condition but not working $2.99
- Two dozen filters, mostly 55mm but some 49mm as well (colored, special effects, polarizers, ND, etc.) $12.99

The pickings have been poor in the last month or so though.

-Andrew