Holga, Toy, Charity Shop, Car Boot and other Bargains (film only please)

Minolta A5 today for £1.50.... quite a few on the bay are jammed inc this one anyway a drop of oil and everything is working except for the shutter button as it doesn't spring up enough in that sometimes I need a pen (or long pointed finger nail) to push it further down to work.
 
I went for a wander round the big boot sale in town and noticed quite a few 120 folding cameras for about £20. Not knowing anything about them I left well enough alone, are these worth looking at?

Also what's with folk selling old slides, do people buy them? Why?
 
steveo_mcg said:
I went for a wander round the big boot sale in town and noticed quite a few 120 folding cameras for about £20. Not knowing anything about them I left well enough alone, are these worth looking at?
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They certainly can be worth buying but from experience the biggest problem is usually with the bellows which are quite hard to check at a car booty.

steveo_mcg said:
Also what's with folk selling old slides, do people buy them? Why?
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I think it's a general interest in 'the way we were', I love it when I pick up an old camera and there's still a film inside. I get them processed when I can, it's great to see what folk were taking pics of and I'm just being nosey I suppose.
 
Amazing sight today at bootie..... box of P&S cameras (any make/model with case) going for 50p each. Now the funny bit:- I said to seller "I'm interested in proper cameras" and she replied "we have some more cameras in the car"......erm well it was another 50 P&S cameras :)
 
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Decent day at Car Boot City today :)

First I found an Halina 35-600 in a box. Gave the fella a quid for it. Few tables down I picked up a red button Polaroid 1000 for two quid :D The test 'roll' is going to cost me a bloody fortune!
 
Took some stuff to the charity shop today and noticed a shiny brown leather case in a familiar, invitingly irresistible, eye catching shape on the shelf.

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Halina_6-4

It turned out to be a Halina 6 4 all metal 120 roll film camera which. as the brochure says, "Is really 2 cameras in one!".

No dates anywhere but I'm guessing late 50's early 60's - but that really is a stab in the dark

In standard format it is 6x6 but by clipping in a mask it turns into a 4 x4.

The f8 lens made by "world famous Achromat Pilkington Optical Glass"

Exposure is 1/50th and f8 / f11 / f16 are available.

Guidance is Bright sun - f16 / Hazy sun - f11 / Cloudy and bright - f8

Zone focusing - Portraits at (5-10 feet) Groups at (10-25 feet) and Scenes at (25 feet to infinity)

It has 2 speed settings "I" and "B". I for instantaneous and B for Bulb.

It also has 2 rear viewfinders one for each film size.

In the bottom of the lens mount is a little foot which swings down to offer vibration free table top photography or long exposures.

The leather case, camera and instruction manual - all in vgc and appear to be in full working order - although not sure about the shutter speed - which sounds sluggish - and only to be expected of course, that's not a complaint.

Icing on the cake is the place of manufacture - "Empire Made" proudly stamped on the base of the camera.

The leather case is embossed "Made in Germany" - as I don't think they were ever part of the "Empire" ;) - I'm pretty sure the camera is out of Hong Kong - but again no real information on this either.

Couldn't resist this little gem at less than 2 pints in the local pub.
 
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Good find by the sounds of it. I popped in to one shop with a kodak colorsnap in the window, turned out they wanted £35 quid for it. More than a little optimistic given they go on ebay for tuppence, shops round this seem to think all old cameras are money spinners.
 
I've bought some vintage camera's over the last year or so, can I post them in this thread or should I create a new one? :)
 
Lozkeeley said:
I've bought some vintage camera's over the last year or so, can I post them in this thread or should I create a new one? :)
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You would be most welcome to post them in here - the more the merrier and it keeps up awareness and interest in these super old cameras.
 
steveo_mcg said:
Good find by the sounds of it. I popped in to one shop with a kodak colorsnap in the window, turned out they wanted £35 quid for it. More than a little optimistic given they go on ebay for tuppence, shops round this seem to think all old cameras are money spinners.
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Some are pitched at very high prices agreed - I prefer to "discover" the lost, unwanted and unloved ones.
 
I found a Fuji Instax 100 at a market for £3 the other day. Thought I'd give it a go. Turns out a 2 pack of film (20 shots) costs me £16.
Not such a bargain after all...
 
The Matt said:
I found a Fuji Instax 100 at a market for £3 the other day. Thought I'd give it a go. Turns out a 2 pack of film (20 shots) costs me £16.
Not such a bargain after all...
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I know how you feel on this one :crying:
 
The Matt said:
I've still bought it and am gonna give it a try!
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You will come to love the lighten / darken exposure feature :)

I have an Instax too - proudly proclaiming its wide angle view - it is a lot of fun - the only negative is the film cost (so to speak)
 
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Uncommon Rikenon 28mm f2.8 PK mount exc condition for £3.50
 
TheBigYin said:
I think that possibly the cheapest camera I've bought was my Fed3b. Was from fleabay, and mis-listed (I think it was in womens footwear - the seller was a house clearance merchant, and must have been selling off some old duck's belongings - said old duck probably being imelda marcos!).

Anyway - nobody else seemed to spot it, and I put in a cheeky £3.97 snipe, but amazingly, won it for £0.01 and £2.50 postage... well - anyone who's handled a Fed 3b knows that postage is going to be WAY more than £2.50 purely from the weight (including the never ready leather case!) so the poor old seller took a bath on that sale. Looked rather tidy to be honest...


Fed 3 type B by The Big Yin, on Flickr

After the first roll of film however, I noticed some black powder fall out of the bottom of the camera. This turned out to be the rubberised coating from the shutter curtain :(


Film Side by The Big Yin, on Flickr

this as you may imagine put something of a crimp in the image quality...


Fed3 - Test reel - frame 30 by The Big Yin, on Flickr

But - I wasn't to be stopped - after all, it had only cost me £0.01 after all, so I lashd out another £1.99 on some black latex fabric paint, and re-coated the curtain. 3 very thin coats of the fabric paint with 24 hours between coats to allow everything to dry fully, and the shutter was light-tight again - not a pin-hole anywhere.

and the proof of the pudding...


HP5_2010-03-24_005_800px by The Big Yin, on Flickr


HP5_2010-03-24_020_800px by The Big Yin, on Flickr


HP5_2010-03-24_030_800px by The Big Yin, on Flickr

So - there we have it, one working rangefinder, tough as old boots, for £4.50...
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Cool what a find and a nice repair

Richie
 
I took some stuff to the charity shop today on the orders of SWMBO in an effort to "declutter" and came away with yet another paperweight as my wife calls them.

This paperweight is an all black Yashica Electro 35GTN Rangefinder with a Yashinon Color 45mm f1.7 lens and a Copal electronic leaf shutter. (Unlike the focal plane shutters of Leica and Nikon rangefinders)

The black leather ERC is in pretty good condition and inside this little black beauty is a black Duracell TR164 5.4v mercury battery - dead as a dodo of course and banned from production for many years.

I don't know when these were last made but thankfully it hasn't leaked inside the body since it was last used - goodness knows when.

Off to do some research now and see if with a little bit of TLC I can fire her up.

Here she is with some old Kodachrome 64 - some unexposed and one roll undeveloped (sadly)

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/7646349@N04/7991512406/] Yashica Kodachrome Moment by rhody247, on Flickr[/URL]
 
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rhody said:
I took some stuff to the charity shop today on the orders of SWMBO in an effort to "declutter" and came away with yet another paperweight as my wife calls them.

This paperweight is an all black Yashica Electro 35GTN Rangefinder with a Yashinon Color 45mm f1.7 lens and a Copal electronic leaf shutter. (Unlike the focal plane shutters of Leica and Nikon rangefinders)

The black leather ERC is in pretty good condition and inside this little black beauty is a black Duracell TR164 5.4v mercury battery - dead as a dodo of course and banned from production for many years.

I don't know when these were last made but thankfully it hasn't leaked inside the body since it was last used - goodness knows when.

Off to do some research now and see if with a little bit of TLC I can fire her up.
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Great cameras, I've got a couple. I use this guy for battery adapters and they work a treat http://www.yashica-guy.com/document/battery.html

You can get cracking results from the 1.7 lens the only thing that goes against it is its size, they are a bit chunky.
 
The other, DIY alternative, is 4x LR/SR44 batteries taped together with some foil/spring to make up the additional length. That's what I currently use in my GSN and it seems to function fine - metering seems to be okay.
 
@RaglanSurf and freecom2 - absolutely brilliant tips and advice - thank you both so much.
 
freecom2 said:
The other, DIY alternative, is 4x LR/SR44 batteries taped together with some foil/spring to make up the additional length.
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Wouldn't 1 x 4LR44 battery do the same job but be less fiddly than 4 smaller batteries? It's 6v so the same voltage as the stack of 4 and I think it's the same diameter as an LR44.
 
Strappy said:
Wouldn't 1 x 4LR44 battery do the same job but be less fiddly than 4 smaller batteries? It's 6v so the same voltage as the stack of 4 and I think it's the same diameter as an LR44.
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Probably - it's just I buy large blister packs of the standard SR/LR44 because all my other cameras use them, and they probably work out cheaper for 4 than one 4LR44?
 
Fair point, I mentioned them because I saw them yesterday when I was buying some 675 hearing aid batteries as a replacement for the mercury cells that a couple of my cameras use :)
 
Strappy said:
Wouldn't 1 x 4LR44 battery do the same job but be less fiddly than 4 smaller batteries? It's 6v so the same voltage as the stack of 4 and I think it's the same diameter as an LR44.
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Thanks for yet another tip Strappy - much appreciated
 
get a Zenit 11 with Helios 44m!

about £15 max on eBay.

If you want light leaks, just open the back slightly on the last frame (it's what I've done accidentally on my first ever roll of film).

result:
185459_1930147815204_1906284_n.jpg

yes, I focused poorly and yes, do excuse the poor scan :)
 
Back in the 70's all film apart from Kodachrome looked like this :LOL:
 
got more where that came from, my very first roll was terrible apart from one shot:
293600_1930140895031_2146878_n.jpg

probably my 17th shot of film.
 
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EDIT
 
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Just picked up a Kodak ag retinette 1b today in a junk market for £6 inc the original leather case. Look in mint condition, well apart from the cocking lever on the bottom that must have snapped/broken. But who ever owned it has made a new one, not pretty but it works. Now just to stick a roll in it and try it out !
 
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fidsey79 said:
I've just been given a Fed 4. He is a beauty!
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Harumph! (clearing throat) Order! Order!

Hate to be pedantic Sarah - but cameras are of the female persuasion. She is a lovely camera, boat, car etc etc :LOL:

(Runs for cover)
 
I think that most of the Russian cameras are definitely and completely masculine......

Everything else however is female (except for my Nikon F100 which for some reason I refer to as he)

Andy
 
Staff edit: please don't try and sell things outside of classified.
 
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excalibur2 said:
Staff edit: please don't try and sell things outside of classified.
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Huh!!!!!!!!!!! It's not my gear but information for the forum..by editing this post you might have deprived someone from getting a bargain :thumbsdown: also you might as well edit every tip off on prices mentioned here from shops etc .....outrageous "jobs worth" attitude from you :razz:
 
The way you posted it made it look like it was your gear
 
robhooley167 said:
The way you posted it made it look like it was your gear
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Exactly why it was reported by someone!

At no point did you say "I've found a bargain on eBay that someone might be interested in". You copied the text which actually said "my beloved t70 is up for sale........"

If I was being a jobs worth I'd have given you an infraction for questioning a moderating decision in public. If you'd sent me a pm explaining then I would have reversed it and you could have added the line saying its not yours but something you had found.
 
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