Your Great Garage Sale 35mm Find?

[naugastyle]

Haven't had much luck with yard sales. Once I picked up a Yashica EZ-matic because I thought it was "cute" (a problem I have) not realizing it was a 126 camera. Only $10 but I'll likely never use it. A guy on Craigslist (pretty similar to the yard sale, in a way) was selling an Olympus XA, XA2 and XA3 for a good price. Knowing I didn't need them ALL I was going to try to buy just the XA for less, but someone else thought of that first. He was selling the other two for $20 total but I had only wanted the XA so I passed.

Had better luck with thrift shops/flea markets. My best deal so far was an Olympus Trip 35 for $20. Not as dirt cheap as some of the finds posted in this thread, but in perfect condition and I use it all the time...thus making it a good deal .

 

[bvy]

At the local thrift store...

A Tower 10A rangefinder - $10
OT: An Argus Super Seventy-Five - $8

Either worth it?

 

[Cliffy13]

It must be me that the God's dont look kindly on I go to Car Boot Sales Charity shops etc etc but never find any bargains like this

 

[Excalibur2]

It must be me that the God's dont look kindly on I go to Car Boot Sales Charity shops etc etc but never find any bargains like this

Boot sales:-Two weeks ago picked up a mint Yashica T5d with case (European ver of US T4 but better), he wanted £2 but excepted my offer of £1.50...if you are lucky they can reach up to £160 on ebay.
Another:- OM20 with Olympus 75-150 zoom, worked perfectly wanted £15 but wouldn't accept my offer of £12 so I passed (well I already have a OM20).
Helios and Meyer lenses £1-£3, boxed reverse adapter for FD lens 10p, developing tanks 50p-£1, hoods and polarisers 50p, I could go on................................

 

[djacobox372]

My best garage sale find was a near mint nikon F3HP with motor-drive for $100.

I thought that alone was a great deal, but then the seller offered me, for an extra $20, the choice of any lens tout of a box of lenses he had. It was hard to hide my excitement when I found a like-new 50mm f1.2 in that box. :-0

Kinda made me feel bad for the guy, he did not know the value of what he had.

 

[Mtnvue]

Not quite the same as garage sales, but I have gotten some deals at thrift stores. I picked up an Olympus XA with flash for $2.59 and a Ricoh KR-5 Super II for $9.99.

 

[Pompiere]

$3 for a Yashica TL Electro X with a 50mm 1.7 Yashinon and a good battery. The battery is worth $3. It had a broken wire inside so that only the default 1/1000 speed worked. I finally got the shutter working, but not the light meter. Mostly, I wanted it because of the screw-mount body so I could try all the different lenses.

 

[brian d]

Just got a nice Yashica 635 TLR with the 35MM adapter. Does that count for this thread?

 

[Steve Smith]

At a car boot sale this evening, a 300mm Optomax Auto in M42 mount.

I have never heard of Optomax but for £2, I thought it was worth a try.


Steve.

 

[Andrew Moxom]

My best find was a Yashica T4 point and shoot 35mm camera with Carl Zeiss lens....I got it for $20 at the Cabelas bargain basement. The reason it was there was that back in the day, deer trail cameras had 35mm compact cameras in them. Not sure of the brand of deer cam it was, but this was in one of them and it had a modified case that had a small 3 pin plug that slotted in. Obviously from the IR detector telling the camera to shoot a frame. Works like a champ though as a regular camera.

 

[Pumal]

Just yesterday in a small Antiques Shop, inside a large box in the back a Minolta Himatic 7 perfectly fine; US$5

 

[benjiboy]

At a car boot sale this evening, a 300mm Optomax Auto in M42 mount.

I have never heard of Optomax but for £2, I thought it was worth a try.


Steve.

For £2 I think I would risk being robbed too Steve.

 

[Steve Smith]

For £2 I think I would risk being robbed too Steve.

Well, it seems to work after a fashion. Infinity focus is actually at the 30' mark so something isn't right! It is useable though and the auto iris works.


Steve.

 

[John Koehrer]

Well, it seems to work after a fashion. Infinity focus is actually at the 30' mark so something isn't right! It is useable though and the auto iris works.
Steve.

The barrel or the infinity stop has probably slipped. It should have some set screws around the focusing ring. Set the focus at the furthest distance the lens will go, loosen the screws a turn or so and move the focus ring so that distance lines up with the index mark. Snug up the screws &n check the focus. You may have to repeat this a time or two, when you get focus tighten up the screws.

If it's the infinity stop,the adjustment is usually under the barrel. In many inexpensive lenses the barrel is held on by set screws or a ring, either at front or back that simply unscrews allowing the barrel to slide off. It's kinda like opening a pickle jar.

 

[Ken22485]

After a long, bleak period of not finding any worthwhile cameras in thrift shops, I found 2 deals the same day!

The first is an Olympus OM-1 with a Vivitar 35-80 zoom for $25. Everything was a bit dirty and dusty, but the glass was clean (luckily it had a lens cap on it) and the camera seems to function perfectly. I need to redo the light seals on the camera before trying it out, but it seems it should work well.

The other camera is a Pentax ZX-M with a Pentax-A 50mm f2 lens for $20. This camera is in pristine condition - made in the late 90s - early 2000s, it looks like the original owner ran a few rolls of file through it, and then went to digital. (Their loss - my gain!) I put some new batteries in it, and it works perfectly. It's small, light and very easy to use - it just might become one of my favorite cameras.

 

[DanielStone]

found the other day in my local thrift shop:

Yashica T4d: $2.50 after 50%(green tag day)

Nikon L35af: same as above

a pair of (look brand new, smell like they're brand new) Steve Madden leather shoes. not photo related, but the ladies seem to be commenting on them a bit

-Dan

 

[dwdmguy]

Just found a Mamiya Six folder about 4 weeks ago, getting a CLA for $115 including shipping. I hear it's a pretty neat camera.

 

[darinwc]

Thrift store1: Nikon FM3a with 45mm f2.8 pancake
Thrift store2: Canon FT with 58mm f1.2

 

[Pumal]

A Contaflex ( Zeiss Ikon Super BC) with a 50mm Tessar and an 85 mm Pro-Tessar 1:4; EX (as New) for 50 bucks

 

[C A Sugg]

Kodak Motomatic 35F. Seems to be functioning. $1 at a flea market.

 

[drkhalsa8]

I was outside photographing a local news helicopter hovering over the area, my neighbor pulled out of his driveway and over to me and said he had some old lens filters I might want and pulled a plastic crate of stuff out of the back seat. He said whatever I didn't want put the crate back on his lawn. He was going to take it to Goodwill.

I took it back to the house and it had a Pentax Spotmatic F w/ Takumar 55mm f1.8 and ME Super w/SMC 50mm f2 inside as well as the filters and some other things not interested in.

I am giddy about this. I cleaned them up, replaced the foam and batteries and am running a role of film through each.

He came for the crate the next day and was surprised I wanted the cameras, he said they didn't work.

I believe they do work and will be happy to keep them. The filters would not have fit my Nikon lenses.

 

[jvanoort]

This afternoon I had my first real Great Find at a permanent jumble sale store: a Olympus Pen EES-2 for EUR 7,50.
The aperture blades were stuck, but at home I took it apart, cleaned them up, put in some new light seams too and now it works like a dream again!
I put in a roll of HP5+ (24 frames) to test it. It is a half-frame camera and I'm really looking forward to seeing all those 48 cute little negatives!

Tomorrow more shooting and tomorrow evening developing...hopefully I didn't lose the focus while dismantling the baby!

Oh yeah: another EUR 7,50 bought me a Jupiter-21M 4/200. Not that I use it, but perhaps I can make someone happy with it sometime...

 

[rustyoldbug]

Never found any great camera deals in Seattle but have stumbled on several since moving to San Diego (maybe it is because I have more time to scavenge). The most recent find was a whole box of K1000 and K1000SE cameras from an old school program - I picked up for $40. I cleaned 'em all up, replaced seals and installed cheap chinese batteries. All worked except one which actually had a severely cracked body. Kept the nicest body and lenses out of the lot, then sold the others off to recover my cash and by some film and chemicals.

I have had a few other nice finds over the last several months. Picked up an old Pentax SP1000 with lenses (55mm, 28mm, 135mm), some filters, a flash, lens paper, a strap, blower and cleaning brush and a very ratty era correct hardshell metal case all for $15. After new seals and foam it has become my favorite camera to carry around in my bag. Sold the old case for $15 bucks on craigslist...

I responded to a Craigslist ad for a couple bulk loaders and a box of cartridges for $5 and drove up to grab them. When leaving the guy asked if I wanted a box of old film and unopened chemicals for free. I didn't pay much attention to the contents and threw it in the car. Got home and had 100' ft of Panatomic-X, 200' of Kodalith, 100' of Plus-X, some odd X-ray copy film, and several actual rolls of Tri-X - all still cold from the freezer. That box of starving artist goodness also contained many unopened bags of D-76 powder, and a small box of various smaller sized photo paper.

Responded to another ad online for a couple more bulk loaders and for $10 got two loaders, plus a very expired 100 ft roll of Ektachrome 100, just under a 100' of ektachrome 64, just under a 100' of ektachrome 64t, and a really old film changing bag (that I still need to figure out if it is light tight). Sold the Ektachrome 100 to recover the cash and fill up the gas tank

 

[C A Sugg]

K1000 with M-50 1:2 for $10 at a weekend flea market -- after noon! I thought there was a premium on that model.
(OK, meter is dead, but everything else is just fine)

 

[Steve Smith]

At an outdoor sale today:

Olympus OM10 with a Sigma 135mm f2.8 lens
Praktica LB2 with working meter
Praktica MTL5B
Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Tessar 50mm f2.8 M42 mount
Carl Zeiss Jena DDR 135mm f3.5
Super Paragon 75-200mm zoom Pentax K mount
Miranda 28mm f2.8 M42 mount
Cosinon 35mm f2.8 M42 mount
Paragon 200mm M42 mount (non auto aperture)
Fujinon 55mm f2.2 M42 mount
A small Voigtlander flash
A Canon Sureshot
Nine 35mm colour films
and a cable release.

All for £10


Steve.