eBay silliness of the day

<p>http://cgi.ebay.com/ARGUS-C-FORTY-FOUR-35MM-SLR-EXCELLENT-CONDITION-/250811056738?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item3a65810262 And not a rebadged Cosina!</p>

<p>Compared to what I see on the local craigslist, that's almost reasonable. I mean a mid-80's <a href="http://spacecoast.craigslist.org/pho/2347321395.html">"Manolta"</a> SLR has got to be still worth a couple hundred right? Particularly if it has "lots" (i.e. one) of "long lenses" (i.e., a 80-200 zoom.)</p>

<p>I remember one listing for a Minolta SRT + 50mm lens. First it was posted with an asking price of $300. This was repeated every week for a few weeks. Then it was $250 for a couple of weeks. Then $200. When it finally hit $50, someone ether bought it or the seller gave up. </p>

 

<p>But it comes with a "reall" hard leather case...</p>

<p>and the other listing which that seller has up:<br>

"I CAN,T CHECK<br>

<strong>WORKING CODITION BECAUSE I DON,T/BUT IT,S LIKE NEW CAMERA"</strong><br>

<strong> </strong><br>

makes me wonder if someone's ebay account got hacked...but 20 year old SLR cameras aren't typical hack items...<br>

<br>

Dave<br>

</p>

<p><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item33666ad3cd&item=220761609165&nma=true&pt=Film_Cameras&rt=nc&si=O9XJwgD1q5Ssj12b7d%252B3JAW8thY%253D">(link)</a> This just floored me the other day, ebay silliness indeed...and yes, someone bought it according to ebay...<br /> <em>NIKON L35 AF RARE BLACK STEALTH CAMERA</em></p>

<blockquote>

<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item33666ad3cd&item=220761609165&nma=true&pt=Film_Cameras&rt=nc&si=O9XJwgD1q5Ssj12b7d%252B3JAW8thY%253D" target="_blank">(link)</a> This just floored me the other day, ebay silliness indeed...and yes, someone bought it according to ebay...<br /><em>NIKON L35 AF RARE BLACK STEALTH CAMERA</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>First of all, I love the "Rare Black Stealth" camera part. Who needs a Minox when you can buy a L35?</p>

<p>Second, $179?!!!!! I thought I'd overpaid for some of my goodies.</p>

<p>And the funny part is, the L35AF is nowhere close to a quiet camera, it has a loud buzz for the AF followed by a CLICK and a motor wind for the film. I paid $0 for mine at a camera swap meet (got it from a Free box).</p>

<p>There is an expression that a little knowledge os a dangerous thing. This is especially true of eBay sellers who are showing camera equipment. Some people know that Vivitar lenses were made by various manufacturers. They claim that Kino or Kiron made all of them. Of course this is not correct. Sellers of Minolta manual focus equipment claim that it is all MD. Many are MC or even pre-MC. Searching for Konica equipment will almost always get yiou to some Minolta equipment because the two companies merged to form Konica Minolta. The reall funny sellers claim that a certain lens will fit both Konica and Minolta cameras. I suppose that with Crazy Glue or Gorilla Tape, they will. Many sellers think that any camera which takes 35mm film is an SLR. They would laugh if they knew what the letters S L R stand for. In many cases these mistakes are humorous. I find that if an item is described incorrectly but photographed well, you can often get it for a very reasonable price. Some of my other favorites include the confusion of the lens's filter size with its focal length. A 135mm lens which takes 62mm filters will be described as a 62mm lens or a 62-135mm zoom. In most cases this is not very helpful. If the lens in question is the 135/2.8 Vivitar Close Focusing then you might get a bargain. A lens might be decsribed as a 35mm type even if it's really a 200mm lens which just happens to fit a 35mm camera. Most Nikkormat cameras described as being the FT model are really the FTN. The later Konica Autorefex T, known as the T2, is almost never described that way. Some descriptions are more difficult for the seller to make. The original Minolta SRT 101 has a black shutter speed dial. The second model has a silver shutter speed dial. The third has a silver shutter speed dial but no mirror lock-up. They are all marked SRT 101. There are probably more photo items poorly described by accident than on purpose. I find most of the mistakes humorous but I'm sure that for some buyers they can also be frustrating. </p>

<p>Am I missing something? $40 not a bad price for a nice, working C44 with a good case. Also, it's mis-listed. It's a C44R, so the price is more than fair. I would grab it if I was in the market.</p>

<p>Yeah, I don't get the OP's intent either. Despite the annoying bayonet mount, the camera is decent and the optical quality of the lenses quite good. $40 seems like a good starting point to me; I think I remember seeing a good one sell for $60 or so a couple of months ago.</p>

<p>Matthew, Jerry, you must not have had your morning coffee yet. Revisit the listing. It says <strong>SLR.</strong> The camera is a rangefinder. <em>Now</em> do you get the joke?</p>

<p>Early Alpa Reflexes had rangefinders too. Argus is not spelled Alpa.</p>

<p>"SLR" is not that big of a mistake, Dan. Even I'll allow that to slip by from this seller.</p>

<p>Funny thing is, last night I caught myself mis-naming an Argus I listed... it was erroneously titled C-4 when it's actually a Model 21.... to me, that a huge no-no, even if I wrote the copy in less-than-alert state of mind.<br>

We shouldn't be giving away all the little mis-spellings and tricks to find diamonds in the rough. I'm still ticked-off about eBay automatically correcting most common mis-spellings of Voigtlander.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Matthew -- I have a C-44R with 50mm and 100mm lenses going up in ebay this week.... :) - look under argusmaniac.</p>

<p>The fact that it says SLR doesn't bother me. That sort of thing is par for the course on eBay, and I expect buyers to do their homework. In my opinion that listing is better than most because it actually includes a half-way decent photo that shows the front of the lens clearly, instead of the usual blurrycam shot.</p>

<p>Gabor, it struck me as hilarious. Senses of humor are funny ...</p>

<p>Good grief! The quality of that ad makes most of our local sellers look totally illiterate and uninformed, and lousy photographers, to boot. I have to admit that I missed the SLR blunder, on first reading....It's no wonder I end up with so much strange and unexpected stuff.</p>

<p>The improper ebay description joke is on me today. The item I received today is a 50-200/3.5-4.5 Sigma APO manual focus lens. It's supposed to be in Nikon AI mount and in like new condition. I should have known something wasn't right when the photo showed the same lens in Pentak KA mount. I have to say that I'm not too particular about mounts becaiuse I have so many different cameras. What mount is the lens actually in? Konica! The aperture ring and focusing are perfect but there is haze on an internal element. It's probably the hot car syndrome. I decided to ship the lens off to Essex Camera Service to see what they can do. While I was outting the lens back in the case I noticed that there was something behind the round piece of foam at the top. What was it? A Sigma Achromatic Macro (close-up) Lens in the 62mm thread size of the lens. The lens focuses a lot closer with it. It looks like it has two elements and I will try it on some other lenses while I wait for the 50-200 to come back. I would have paid the same $10.50 just for the close-up lens but with a little less for shipping. </p>

<p>I've scored good lenses at pawn shops because they seem to be priced by the foot :) Still, nothing beats the auctions for photo paper, displayed in a fan to show its prefect white "mintyness" ;)</p>

<p>I admit I have occasionally bid on items that I knew were mislabeled, and had no photos.... just to see what was in the box when I opened it. I mean, for $1 plus reasonable shipping, I could have had a Yashica STM. What is a Yashica STM, you might ask? No one knows, there has never been such a camera. The seller never shipped, I eventually got a refund but I was still disappointed. I wanted to see what was in the damn box that it had to be so poorly described.</p>

<p>I do have more than one lens I bought this way.</p>

<p>Anyone know if it's a 3 element or 4 element lens? </p>

<p>At the end of the day, eBay is actually a study of fine checks and balances firmly grounded in reality by comparison to craigslist or kijiji. It seems that people who are offended by the fact that their item is actually worth $X in the open market scoff at the notion that no matter what they think, the monetary value is simply what people are willing to pay, not what it ought to be, or what it was or what the seller thinks it to be. The most belligerent ads are those with "low ballers will be ignored" and "only realistic offers considered", and my favourite - "FIRM!!!"... in an ad I have been tracking and watching steadily decrease over the weeks of no interest...<br>

Or perhaps I am looking at it wrong - these people are actually really nice and eminently considerate - after all, if I was a "low baller", I should be thankful that they saved me the time by letting me know I will be ignored ahead of time lol :D<br>

And of course, the guy selling an Nikon EM with a third party zoom with a name even I don't recognize and would need the help of this forum to identify and a maximum aperture close to double digits asks $350 for this "professional SLR" but will entertain offers as long as they are "realistic"... I actually think one could make money by running a "classifiedIDIOT.com" website were people can place links to these ridiculous ads so that others can laugh at them too... Maybe I just made someone a million bucks... but probably not :D<br>

Oh and of course - filters=lenses, a camera with a lens and five filters is listed as "comes with six lenses - a big black one and smaller red, yellow, green, PL coloured, and one for UV photography made by SkyLight" :)</p>

<p>"Anyone know if it's a 3 element or 4 element lens?" The Cintagon 2.8? 4 elements.</p>

<p>@Peter G.- So very well written, and so true. :)</p>

<p>I don't see anything that says SLR in this ad? And if it did, it's not all that amusing. It's simply a case of a non camera person describing something. Sort of like calling a coupe, a sedan.</p>

<p>I love craigslist.org ads with "Selling on eBay for ...." and then a link to an eBay ad with an absurd Buy It Now price for the same item.</p>