Used bargains

Does anyone else keep an eye open for bargains on the local car boot sale or similar place? I've got a local "antiques and craft centre" that has a load of used stuff, and there's a bit of photographic equipment around there. As is often the case with these places, I usually feel the prices are a bit on the high side, but that might just be me.

So I was particularly pleased to spot this on the car boot sale a couple of weeks ago:


Cimg4124 by Mike Edwards, on Flickr

Pentax ME Super with soft case, 50mm f1.7 lens, Bell and Howell 135mm lens, 2x converter and a B&H 28mm lens that I gave to a mate as I've already got an old manual 28mm. The price? A fiver for the lot. That's a bit more like it.

Anyone else find any bargains?

No

thought you was going to say that you sold the 28 to your mate for a fiver now that would have been a bargin

Not for a long time. People have become wise. Last good find was a Voightlander that I paid £2.50 for. I couldn't get on with it and happened across someone looking for the exact model on eBay. Sold it for £65

Just picked up a pentax mz5n tamron 28-200 the twin to the pentax fa 28-200 and a small camera bag
for £12.50 posted on ebay the camera is broke mirror stuck up but the lens and bag are near mint

This was another one from the car boot sale, largely for the strap at a quid.


Cimg4125 by Mike Edwards, on Flickr

The battery cover for the camera is missing so I have no idea if it works or not.

The MX is a nice camera and it doesn't need batteries - they're just for the light meter. I believe that lens is supposed to be fairly good too.

The MX looks quite rusty on top though, which means it probably wasn't stored well, most likely in damp conditions which would favour rust in the camera and mould in the lens...

You may well be correct. I'm not sure whether the rust is just rusty water from whatever box the car booter kept it in, or whether it goes further back - I know it's been dry for two or three years as that's about how long ago I bought it, but no more. There is some discolouring inside the body of the camera but I haven't looked further into it.

One day, when I have nothing else to do, I will test these things. I should, really, because there's no point keeping them if they're no good.

I saw a Pentax with no lens and a broken mirror in a charity shop in Weymouth for £10 don't know what model it was

I'd imagine that was a bit pricey, unless you can fix it yourself or there's something on it that you know is good, and you know you need or want. Say it was a film SLR with a databack or something like that (I have a vague recollection of Pentax doing one, but maybe only for the LX) and you particularly wanted one, then a tenner is a bargain.

Now, I might pay a pound for a broken SLR to have the fun of taking it to bits and maybe even fixing it, but not a tenner. Maybe the shop doesn't realise it's broken, though around here I find that some charity shops do set their prices, shall we say, ambitiously.

They knew it was broken it had a sticker saying so

I keep looking but recent boot sales have been quite low on camera gear. I did see 3 tripods last time but all were flimsier than my cheapest backup. I didn't rate them as worth carrying back to the car, so never enquired on the price. A few charity shops in the area sometimes have some nice bits too, but only one has stuff regularly.

The best I've managed to date was a Practica MTL-5 camera & 3 lens kit for £10. The lenses included where a CZJ Tessar 50/2.8, CZJ MC 135/3.5 & CZJ Flektagon 35/2.4 all in good condition. e-bay sold prices suggest the last of these could be worth £200

The runner up is a Tamron model 52BB (SP90 F2.5 macro) for £1. [IIRC it even came with a PK adapter. Admittedly it is in cosmetically poor condition but the optics were reasonably clean & it takes good pictures.]

I see a lot of tripods, but by far the majority are quick-mount ones, but without the mount section. Having had to replace the mount on my own Slik tripod, I know what a pain they are to source.

The 52BB was a good buy - I don't know what the lens is like, but if that's an M42 to PK adapter, that's worth a pound any time. I've bought a few M42 lenses, but I've stopped doing now, unless I see something really special.

Yes the budget line QR plates are a real pain.
The adapter was an Adaptall2 to PK which I've never seen advertised at under £4 (e-bay currently have them from $16 to $40, or simpler third party versions around $. So yes easily worth the money, especially when the lens has a rather good reputation.

That's cool! (for those not logged in it means $8 )
Agreed about quick release tripod mounts. Seems each manufacturer to their own! I suppose if one has a broken tripod, but still have the QR mount it might be worth getting that tripod. Not much point otherwise. I wonder where all the old QR mounts go?!