What is going on with antique stores?

In my opinion, Lee above is right about the supply of cameras aging and diminishing in number. This is old stuff, and stuff gets thrown out or water-damaged or lost. And he is right, all of these cameras with a very few exceptions and 20-40+ years old. Ergo, they need maintenance. I think a lot of people on film forums and even here are in a romantic world where cameras will be super cheap and work perfectly. I see 4 paths for buying film cameras:

1. Buy cheap, use it, and put up with various issues (shutter speeds, fungus, whatever). But if it fails totally, you may not be able to replace it cheaply.
2. Buy cheap and send it off for maintenance and service. Be willing to pay the price because the specialists need many hours of work. Do this soon while experienced camera technicians are still practicing and they can get parts. For example, Hasselblad in USA still takes in V-system cameras. You better take advantage of their service regardless of the cost.
3. Buy mid-high-price from a vendor who claims to have had the equipment overhauled. Were they honest? Remember, in almost unused condition, such as a deceased collector's Leica, does not mean it is really working up to specification.
4. Expensive: buy one of the few brand new film cameras, like the Nikon, Leica M, Alpa, or Linhof (probably a few more that take film backs).

5. Learn to tinker and fix things, or to build parts from scratch.

This is part of why I like my fully mechanical cameras: Less stuff gets routed around in weird ways, and I don't have to go tracing paths on circuits or anything, or wondering which order a broken cable was actually supposed to be wired in.

New springs are a bit of a pain, but I can hand file and fit gears and the like if I really need to.

Luckless said:

New springs are a bit of a pain

Click to expand...

It can be worth the effort. I have had new coil springs made at a specialised company to increase the governor’s and thus the mechanism speed of a GIC 16mm movie camera. A client had wished to be able to shoot at 24 frames per second with it. I have a number of springs now for the conversion. With an other camera I make fresh leaf springs for a certain purpose. It’s some work but the result is fine.

Theo Sulphate said:

Garage or estate sales any better for even finding cameras?

Click to expand...

My step-daughter gave birth to a baby girl the day after my wife had our daughter. When the girls were little I was out every Saturday morning perusing the garage sales. I'd run across estate sales too. I'd buy clothes that looked like new (some with the sales tags still on them) and toys for next to nothing. Of course I always kept my eyes out for camera gear. At garage sales I'd run across those plastic 35mm cameras that Life magazine gave out, 110 and 126 cameras and an occasional Polaroid here and there but not much else. I saw a couple 35mm SLR's but they wanted too much. I did run across a handful of Speed/Crown Graphics and a Rolleiflex once at estate sales. The cameras were not in the best shape and they still wanted crazy money for them.

The girls are 25 now and I haven't been going to garage sales in years. With eBay and Craigslist there are far less garage sales going on now.

Nothing is going on with antique stores. I have been in and out of antique stores for going on 50 years. The cameras you find ithere are usually junk and always overpriced.

I stopped going to antique stores a million years ago. Somewhere along the line old went from meaning "junk" to meaning "priceless". I blame all the tv programs like Antique Roadshow for it.

Patrick Robert James said:

I stopped going to antique stores a million years ago. Somewhere along the line old went from meaning "junk" to meaning "priceless". I blame all the tv programs like Antique Roadshow for it.

Click to expand...

Sir, I resent that. I'm old, by some definitions antique. I just checked, decided that I'm not junk yet.

Dan Fromm said:

Sir, I resent that. I'm old, by some definitions antique. I just checked, decided that I'm not junk yet.

Click to expand...

I keep trying to tell my wife the same thing about myself. She’s not buying it.

Patrick Robert James said:

... Somewhere along the line old went from meaning "junk" to meaning "priceless". I blame all the tv programs like Antique Roadshow for it.

Click to expand...

Maybe even long before that there arose small communities whose sole business consisted of antique shops. The community consists of only a few streets and the only other businesses besides antiques are coffee & pastry shops also catering to these same people.

From what I heard, if they buy camera's at all, they purchase them at too high prices. Further, many of them here in the Netherlands sell in consignment.

Patrick Robert James said:

I stopped going to antique stores a million years ago. Somewhere along the line old went from meaning "junk" to meaning "priceless". I blame all the tv programs like Antique Roadshow for it.

Click to expand...

yes that's right, and then people bring their priceless stuff to vegas to the silver and gold, their "expert" says " yes this is priceless" and the bald guy offers 20bucks for it. and says " thats my final offer"

With instagram, every joe-baloney and jane-salami think they’re so special and unique.

Same with all these tv shows, people started to believe that their old junk has become invaluable.

My late in-laws were antique collectors until the mid-1970's. Then, the generally accepted minimum age for an "antique" was around 75 years old. It was in the 1980's, before antiques really got exposed on TV, that the age started to creep downward. For instance, Depression Glass, which had been produced cheaply in the 1930's and later, suddenly gained cachet, and became "antiques", stretching the lower age limit. I went on hunts with them, and could easily find furniture that was Revolutionary War period, for very little. Today, our bedroom suite came from a home in Kentucky, and verified as being built in 1790. We love it, but I doubt that our children will care anything about it.

I still like to hit garage sales, and I've found some decent cameras. The first was a Nikon FE (shutter wind was jammed) for the princely sum of $20. Last month I found a very nice Nikon FG with a 50mm f1.8 for $50, in the original box with warranty card. It's a great performer. Later, on Craig's List, I found a great Nikon F100, w/a Nikkor 28-105 AF-D lens for $200. The kicker was the Canon AE-1 Program with a 50mm f/1.8 lens that the guy let go for $50.

Estate sales are good. I also have a collection of fountain pens. Most came from estate sales, the best of which was a Parker "Big Red", ca 1928, for $25. However, most of those buys are long gone, and newer "estate sales" usually have nothing but a few Bics.

I look at most any film camera now, as a throw-away, as others have mentioned, because the repair parts are not there, or defective prisms, light meters, fungus, etc., has made them worthless.

The line between "Antique" and "Vintage" can get rather fuzzy in some circles.

Things get really 'fun' when someone pulls out the term 'artifact', especially when they're trying to sell you something.

All of the "vintage" cameras I've seen recently at yard and estate sales, antique stores, flea markets and "recycle" shops have all been covered in mold. The last nice camera I found in the wild was at a flea market several years ago. A mint Kodak Retina lllC that I bought for $17 from a guy who told me they no longer make film.

I also talked to a lady at an antiques mall who had an overpriced Calumet 4x5. She wouldn't budge on the price and she insisted, over my objections, that film was no longer being made.

I have had some modicum of succes at estate sales, but it is a one in ten chance at best. I have to race to beat others there, and oftentimes the stuff is overpriced.