"Worst trade ever"

I think trading the Nikon F5 for a Dell laptop in 2004 was the dumbest thing i've done.
it was when F5s were still bringing in about $900-$1000

God did i ever hate that camera though..

Jeff Kubach said:

I know what you mean, even though that Toyota and Datsun/Nissan are excellant cars, still I love those Detroit iron form the 1960's!

Jeff

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Had a cherry 73, Ford F250 long bed,360cu,and junked it for a 95 Izizu PU.Gas and parts were eating me up with the ford,but man what a pickup she was.
Mike

Deniz said:

I think trading the Nikon F5 for a Dell laptop in 2004 was the dumbest thing i've done.
it was when F5s were still bringing in about $900-$1000

God did i ever hate that camera though..

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OUch....

John Jarosz said:

Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio

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Indeed, as someone who remembers Mr. Broglio, that was a baddie.

I'm gonna put in Tom Seaver for Pat Zachry and Doug Flynn and Steve Henderson, but that rates highly because of my Met fandom, not because it was worse than your candidate. Yours was worse.

I haven't had any flat out bad deals yet - I'm only buy when I'm confident I can resell the gear and break even worst case - but I have made some bad guesses about what I'd like. As for deals that didn't work out in my favor, the best I can do:

- 70$ for a Moskva-5. Looked good but has a slightly bent strut and a rear element with... what looks like either uneven glass or a glob of coating on the inside of the rear element. Between the issues, the images are way too soft and uneven to be useful.
- A $35 FED 2 in need of repair that turned out to need parts, not just repair. And that had a recessed accessory shoe incompatible with the finders I have. I still have the camera in parts as I haven't had the will to put back together a non-functioning camera.
- A Minolta 7sII for $55 that had dead electronics and a touch of fungus in the rear element. I'm holding on to it for now, hoping to I can get it repaired myself. Unfortunately I'm having a heck of a time getting into the guts of the camera.
- A bunch of rangefinders I picked up with the intent of repairing and selling. I already broke even and enjoy the education and work but I know its taking away from shooting time. I'm probably making $3 an hour doing it and anything I make is going towards professional repair on cameras from that batch I'm keeping. Opps.

All things considered, I've done okay as I've been focusing on interesting items I can buy cheaply. I don't have the fortitude to spend more than $300 or so at a time.

No really catastrophic deals, but too many items bought with great enthusiasm and plans, then not enough time in the real world to do everything I want to!

Biggest was a Minox 8x11 outfit a few years ago, 3 cameras plus almost every accessory....I've had one film thru it, and just can't get find the time (a lot will be needed!) to master it successfully. Deep down I know, that, in the end, it will have to be advertised...along with a lot of other bits-and-pieces.