Where do you find your old cameras?

[rob_murray]

I have had the best luck at antique shops or antique malls.

Antique hunting yesterday turned up a Gossen Pilot 2 meter

like new in the box for $10,a working Olympus 35RC for $8,and

a working Polaroid 101 with instructions and case for $8.

These were at 3 different antique malls. I have found several

Yashica GSN's cheap at antique places or you can

still find them in pawn shops.

Thrift shops have yielded a Diana Camera for $2, Polaroid sx-70

for $3, several collectible radios I have gotten from thrift

stores too. Early in the week is the best time to go to the

thrift stores when they display all the stuff they got over the

weekend. Got a nice Beseler 67 enlarger complete with Nikkor

lens for $12 at Goodwill, it was stuck in with the weedeaters!

Pawn shops have been the place to find stuff for my Canon EOS

stuff. If you can find the old style (metal mount) EOS 50mm lens

like I have for $20 apiece, they sell for $125-$150 on Ebay...

Oh yeah I have a great flea market with outdoor tables you can

rent for $5 each that covers about 5 acres that has yielded some

really nice stuff too.

[gene m]

Tag sales. Everyone has an old camera or two.

[silent1]

Hmm. Obviously I'm one middle-man too far along the chain -- I've been buying everything on eBay. Of course, the advantage is that I get to browse a flea market the size of Rhode Island, from the comfort of my computer chair; the disadvantage is that most things aren't on "buy it now" and too many other people who know what these old cameras are, are willing to pay more than I can afford for the good stuff...

[jonathan_stark]

Sometimes they find me - people hear I like old cameras, and bring me things. An Exakta VX was the most interesting "orphan" - that one needed considerable investment in repairs to get running. Most recent was a Mamiya Sekor 500 DTL. The shutter and half of the dual metering system work: not bad for free.

[furcafe]

eBay. I've yet to have any luck seeing anything @ a flea market, pawnshop, or antique/thrift shops.

[Andrew in Austin]

That's a definite steal on the Beseler enlarger. Most of my folders I have to admit are from the large internet auction site. I've seen some folders at antique stores, but they were overpriced and were from the bottom tier of cameras. I too have noticed a varied selection of Polaroid cameras in thrift stores.

 

On a fortuitous Saturday, I did stumble on a couple of Rolleis at a garage sale, $50 for working Rollei 35SE and $40 for a Rolleicord. The Rolleicord needed a shutter cleaning. These were inherited and the young techno geek had little use for them. My large professional tripod is from a garage sale.

 

Finally there is the Praktica B200 that I pulled out of a prof's trash can. It had a problematic lens. So I bought a CZJ 135mm lens for it and still like using it for portraitures.

[david_blackett]

I got a couple of folders off of ebay - I paid too much but they work well. My 8x10 view camera was the best deal, my father found it in a closet in an old building he had purchased. The camera was in its leather case and in excellent condition. The building it was in was part of an old New England Rope factory which played a large role in the whaling industry. Because of this there are folders upon folders of records from this company that are archived in Boston and Mystic Seaport museum in Connecticut. After some exhaustive research we determined that the camera was bought new directly from the Manufacturer (Gundlach Manhattan Optical co.)in 1905. It was used primarily for photographing the different products the company manufactured for advertising. I would say by the condition of the camera that it probably spent most of its life in the studio and wasn't banged around on field trips too often. I take it out on short safe trips in good weather, still makes great photos. A great find, a great camera, a great Bargain!

[dan_fromm2]

Um, for the most part I don't buy old cameras. My only good flea market find in that line was a new in box R8 (Nikon cine camera, not the much younger Leica SLR) for surprisingly little. It went to eBay. There's a fellow who turns up regularly at our local flea market with old camera gear, mostly somewhat sorry and priced at or above market.

 

I buy good old lenses where I can find them. Internet vendors, eBay, camera shows, junk shops. Once got a 210 Busch Nicola Perscheid in a junk shop for $39. I haven't found another yet, alas. Have found occasional steals at camera shows, when the lenses were little known and not in their vendors' usual range. These days the camera shows I can get to have few vendors whose wares are exciting. I think they now send the good stuff to eBay. They didn't used to do that.

 

Don't often go to garage/yard sales, and what I've seen there that was photographic has been pretty sorry. Bottom end and in poor condition. With one exception, one of my neighbors (moved a few years ago) was a photographer who had an annual garage sale to clear out household junk. He always had some ok photo items of no interest to me, always priced at par with similar things in Shutterbug.

[jonathan_bundick]

Ebay, and Photo.net classifieds.

[jonathan_stark]

I should put in a plug for camera shows. I've seen many more interesting old cameras at the Philadelphia area Photorama shows than I've had funds (particularly with that "marital" budget limit for hobbies!)

[mike_elek]

I'd love to find something at a flea market. Too cold here currently. So for now, eBay.

[curt_saxton]

I haunt flea markets/yard sales/estate auctions in the summer and pawn shops/thrift stores/Ebay the rest of the time. Last week at a flea market I bought an Agfa Optima 1A for $10 Can. and a Kodak Vigilant Jr. Six Twenty for $3. At a local Cash Converters thrift store they were clearing out SLR's they said were broken. I bought a Canon AE1 Program w/1.4 50mm for $15, a Canon AE1 w/1.8 50mm for $15, a Canon AT1 for $15, and a Pentax ME for $15. Turns out both AE1's and the Pentax all had dead batteries and needed light seals, otherwise like new. The AT1 has a broken battery door hasp and needs seals also, otherwise great shape. At the Salvation Army thrift store I picked up a Canon TLb w/1.8 50mm. My best classic was a Contax II prewar RF with Summitar that I traded for an Olympus OM10 and two lenses.That one cost me $0.50 Can. at an estate sale since it needed shutter curtain ribbon replaced. At the same estate sale I also picked up 40 years worth of negatives from a retired local photographer (every size, but mostly 4x5), darkroom supplies, 23 filters, an Exa w/Meritar 50mm, books, flashes both studio and hot shoe mounted style, etc. Enough that it filled the front seat and hatch of my Mazda so I had to make two trips. Total cost was $65.00 Can. Also hit another estate sale last summer where I picked up my Speed Graphic, 46 filters in boxes, books, etc. in two large boxes for $35 Can. Deals are out there, you just need to put in the time and leg work.

[rob_murray]

I left out that yard sales have been great for slide projectors..

$10 with spare bulbs and molded case, cords, etc..Last week was

a good tripod week at a pawn shop..Gitzo 320 tripod with head

older model but perfect..$50..Nikkor 400 F3.5 with 1.4x in case

mint for $1000...Sold 2 weeks later for $2300. ok I will stop now!

You have to go to these type places often to find stuff.

Oh yeah I did find a great deal on a lens on the PHotonet

classifieds also! So look there too!

[cheryl_smith]

Wherever I happen upon them, which is part of the fun for me! Of course, I don't look for anything specific, and don't have anything really high end. A few have been from local auctions, some estate/garage sales, and one or two were 'foundlings' from family closets and such. I did get my darkroom equipment off of eBay, but haven't ever bought any cameras there.

[jorn ake]

I am a fool and so am parted from my money easily by my local camerashop, Skoda Foto-Video here in Prague, where there are no real deals, just a lot of twinkling cameras. You see below the medium format section on the right, movie cameras towards the back and the Nikon and Pentax sections to the left. Missing from the photo are about 12 more cases of things, including plate to medium format folders, Soviets, Leicas, Rolleis, large format, point and shoots, meters, flashes, TLR's, and so on and so on. I visit every other day and they always have something new. This is actually their old store now no longer in existance - the new store is across the street (Vodickova for those who travel) and is much nicer. Right now they have a Rollei SL2000 35mm set and a nice Mamiya 6 set that I would if I could but I can't. Ugh.<div></div>

[rob_murray]

Wow, neat place! We have a similar place here called KEH camera.

Used to be able to walk in to buy, but that was years ago now

just mail order..Nice to see lots of old cameras like that!

[john falkenstine]

Thrift stores...so far have yielded a Praktiflex FX, complete with leather case, lying in a pile of "Stuff" a Yashica Electro 35(unfortunately somebody over-rotated the lens and damaged the electronics permanently). I know of some treasure troves that need attention this year...In one shop I literally found a pile of cameras...

[lex_jenkins]

Pawn shops in my area used to be a good source for classic cameras but now that most shops are part of a large chain they no longer accept anything but recent stuff. All I see these days are digicams.

 

There are a tiny handful of independent pawn shops where something interesting may pop up once or twice a year.

 

I've never seen anything particularly interesting in a thrift store.

[Brian]

<P>"Thrift stores" may be what we call charity shops in the UK. These have been a good source of old cameras for me. I've had a policy of not paying more than £5 for any camera (that's $9 at current rates), and under this limit I've got Ross Ensign 6x9 folder, a Lubitel 2 TLR and an Olympus XA2 with A11 flash unit.</P><P>There is also a phenomenon in the UK called the car boot sale, where a number of cars drive into a field and disgorge the contents of their boots (that's the trunk to you) on to trestle tables. They then sell said assorted trash to all comers. I have bought several old cameras this way, the best being a Franka Super Frankarette rangefinder with Schneider Xenar lens for £1. Warranty and after-sales service are not the best, but the prices reflect this.</P>

[charles_stobbs3]

A year ago I bought a lot of 7 Olympus cameras for $17 in the "parts and repair" listing on E-Bay because I wanted one of them. I replaced the foam light seals and one front lens element on 5 of them and sold them for $58 on E-Bay. One is unsalable (so far). Another time I bought a pristine front lens element for a Retina IIc and a leather pouch with 3 Polaroid filters for a total of $.50 at a garage sale because I thought someone might need them and if I didn't save them they would probably be trashed at the end of the day. Both sold on E-Bay for a total of $14.36.