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

excalibur2 said:
To get the thread moving again and off topic:- At the bootie today, I was looking at bags of non photography stuff when the seller seemed cheesed off and said everything in the bags is free.....lucky my hands were in there first and got 10 dvds of films (some still sealed), egg timer, nice small radio, nice 8X30 binoculars, new spray lens cleaner and new address book..oh and a gold lined cup and saucer with printing in gold "a present from fort William" wherever that is :)
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Wow, brilliant! A present from/for William eh?

Could you convert the bins to stereoscopic lenses? :clap:

Today I bought some chocolate from a market trader - good value, see yer!
 
Well if no one else chips into the thread then that bar of chocolate could be the last thing posted :)
 
Well, at the "Craft and Vintage Fair" in Nicolson St today, a stall had a Yashica Minster which looked very nice, except I've already tried a rangefinder with focusing via under-lens lever and didn't like it. Also a Lubitel 2 with a lovely clear viewfinder, but no sign that it was focusing, plus 2 box Brownies, and a mysterious box. It was about 50% larger than the Brownies, and had a brass plate on it with an Edinburgh name and address! Close scrutiny suggested a much earlier box Kodak that said "Load 116 film". No focus or aperture controls, but also sadly no lens on the front. So the only thing that qualified as real bargain was the Minster I didn't want!
 
Well apparently the Yashica to look for with an excellent lens is the Electro GSN.
 
excalibur2 said:
Well apparently the Yashica to look for with an excellent lens is the Electro GSN.
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Any of the GT GTN GSN will do, the lenses are excellent.
 
I picked up this yesterday from a used market, didn't get it for peanuts but the condition was so amazing I had to have it., £15 looks like new , checked serial number and dates to about 1980, comes with origonal lens cap and case which I had to throw away as was vinyl and had all broken down to sticky goo, did its job tho and camera is mint.

not my picture, film in and clicking away
 
Mr Bump said:
I picked up this yesterday from a used market, didn't get it for peanuts but the condition was so amazing I had to have it., £15 looks like new , checked serial number and dates to about 1980, comes with origonal lens cap and case which I had to throw away as was vinyl and had all broken down to sticky goo, did its job tho and camera is mint.

not my picture, film in and clicking away
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I see them quite often, but keep forgetting how to checked the camera\meter......something about seeing the red flag (or whatever) in the viewfinder :shrug:
 
excalibur2 said:
I see them quite often, but keep forgetting how to checked the camera\meter......something about seeing the red flag (or whatever) in the viewfinder :shrug:
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Yes, when it is dark the red flag should come up in the viewfinder - it's literally a large red object that comes up to obscure the viewfinder.
 
freecom2 said:
Yes, when it is dark the red flag should come up in the viewfinder - it's literally a large red object that comes up to obscure the viewfinder.
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Ah! the one I saw Saturday wasn't working properly then.
 
freecom2 said:
Yes, when it is dark the red flag should come up in the viewfinder - it's literally a large red object that comes up to obscure the viewfinder.
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Thats right and it should lock the shutter release.

however if you then move the apature ring to one of the settings not A then it will fire every time.

seemples :love:
 
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Mr Bump said:
I picked up this yesterday from a used market, didn't get it for peanuts but the condition was so amazing I had to have it., £15 looks like new , checked serial number and dates to about 1980, comes with origonal lens cap and case which I had to throw away as was vinyl and had all broken down to sticky goo, did its job tho and camera is mint.

not my picture, film in and clicking away
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I think £15 is okay for a working camera. But "not my picture"? What are you playing at? We need to see your latest acquisition please:clap::clap:
 
Came across a Franka Solida 1 at this morning's car boot. Cost me £3. It even had a film in it. Case needed re-sewing but otherwise in good condition.


20130922_0257 by David M Bloor, on Flickr

There were a few frames left on the film in it so dashed off a few shots (guessing at film speed) and unloaded it. It was a 'NEW' Prinzcolor (Dixon's Brand) - looking round the web suggests it was supplied to Dixon's by Gratispool and was actually a Dynachrome film from around 1963 to 1965. That was a print film using similar processing to early Kodachrome. Dev'd in my usual homebrew Parodinol at 1:50 for 12 mins and got images. One problem, the remjet backiing was still there. Finally removed it by soaking in washing soda solution and using a nail brush on back - I know, I know :wacky:.

None of the earlier images had survived and lots of print through from backing paper, so someone had opened back at some time but did get some very grainy shots of my garden. (No critique required :LOL:)


Scan-130922-0001cs by David M Bloor, on Flickr
 
Well in my quest for a little delve into cheap MF photography or film photography at all I got this bad boy last week. :)

AGFA Isolette II with Solinar Lens and Prontor-SV

I really should buy some film now as it would be just silly not to. From reading up maybe some new bellows too. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a bargain but looking at the prices the Solinar versions can go for it was that to me :nuts:

w5yn.jpg
 
Regarding Poundland Agfa Vista. My local branch (Sutton in Surrey) has just restocked with 36 exposure rolls of Agfa Vista 200. The last two restocks had only been 24 exposure rolls. I am glad that the 36's are back.
 
DNH said:
Regarding Poundland Agfa Vista. My local branch (Sutton in Surrey) has just restocked with 36 exposure rolls of Agfa Vista 200. The last two restocks had only been 24 exposure rolls. I am glad that the 36's are back.
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Good to know, thanks David.
 
I've finally managed to find a bargain on ebay. This is a companion for my Electro 35 GT



Mine for the princely sum of 99p (plus £7.50 postage). Now that I've changed the rotten light seals and knocked out the dent in the filter ring it's in pretty good shape. Test shots were correctly exposed but maybe not quite as sharp as the Electro. I like it anyway.
 
CZJ Flektogon 35mm f/2.8 for £5. Bit of a result I think. Front and rear elements are bright (despite missing the rear cap), no fungus and only minimal dust. Aperture stops down in manual and auto (with the pin), focus is smooth.

I can't understand why (occasionally decent, often mediocre) m42 lenses crop up so sporadically locally in charity shops, but never the body that was used with them. And never in the same place.
 
Alastair said:
CZJ Flektogon 35mm f/2.8 for £5. Bit of a result I think. Front and rear elements are bright (despite missing the rear cap), no fungus and only minimal dust. Aperture stops down in manual and auto (with the pin), focus is smooth.

I can't understand why (occasionally decent, often mediocre) m42 lenses crop up so sporadically locally in charity shops, but never the body that was used with them. And never in the same place.
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A bargain, if it gives the same results as the f2.4 ver, you are going to very pleased.
 
excalibur2 said:
A bargain, if it gives the same results as the f2.4 ver, you are going to very pleased.
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Oops, that was a typo, it is the CZG Flektogon 35mm f/2.4

:cool:
 
Alastair said:
Oops, that was a typo, it is the CZG Flektogon 35mm f/2.4

:cool:
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Great as it's excellent for close ups and scenery, the downside is that it's mechanically carp and the usual fault is a sticky iris, but easy to take apart and apply a bit of lighter fuel and use a cotton bud and that sometimes works.
 
Alastair said:
I can't understand why (occasionally decent, often mediocre) m42 lenses crop up so sporadically locally in charity shops, but never the body that was used with them. And never in the same place.
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Probably because the 35mm, as well as other lenses that pop up, tend to never be the standard kit lens (50/55mm). They tend to be the "other" focal lengths, so they were likely to be stored separately and not attached to the camera, and as a result in ensuing sells/giveaways/donations, end up split from the camera + standard lens.

If you do see a lens attached to a body, it's almost always a 55mm f/1.8 (just look at any Pentax M42 body and it's always that 55mm!).

Who knows, we may get the same thing in a few decades - lots of DSLRs with 18-55mm kit lenses attached, but the other focal lengths never attached to the bodies...!
 
I'll have to keep holding out for that elusive m42 body when it appears. Thinking about it, all I ever see body wise is YABZ. Yet another bloody Zenit.

The other possibility is that the local shops think the cameras are valuable and are being sent to a central store for Ebaying. And the lenses are just assumed locally to be valueless (admittedly most are) and so the gems are being greatly undervalued.
 
Alastair said:
I'll have to keep holding out for that elusive m42 body when it appears. Thinking about it, all I ever see body wise is YABZ. Yet another bloody Zenit.

The other possibility is that the local shops think the cameras are valuable and are being sent to a central store for Ebaying. And the lenses are just assumed locally to be valueless (admittedly most are) and so the gems are being greatly undervalued.
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Well I've never seen a decent lens in a charity shop, but I don't go to them once or twice a week so could be the reason why :shrug:
 
I've been going into every charity shop I see since I saw this thread. Today was the first time I ever saw something - a Cosina SLR. The £30 price-tag was a little ambitious though, and I walked away.
 
Alastair said:
Well, if I've done this right each of these should link through to a Flickrset with the results from each of my junk/charity shop bargains..


Ensign 420, c.£15 from Ebay


Retina 1a, c.£25 from local junk shop


Yashica D, £50 from local charity shop - expensive for a charity shop, but a bargain at that price (currently awaiting service to release sticking shutter)
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Love the Yashica, would like to find something similar in a charity shop, the nearest one to me pocket the money and charge stupid prices (They know whats worth money and whats not, keep the valuables and sell on somewhere) Its bloody awful.

Although I picked up a trip 35 and a prinz jupiter 372 flash for £4 from Red cross. I love it, though yet to have the film developed.
 
Both of these were freebies, given me by work colleagues. The EM came with the E series 50mm f1.8. The FA was body only. I paid £90 for the 105mm f4 micro. Not a bargain, but ok.
The FA works perfectly, and I'm half way through a roll on the EM.

DSC_4550 by simon ess, on Flickr
 
Daughters studying art A level and likes old cameras and wants to try film, so Dad and his mates are on the look out.
Got a nice OM10 with motor wind ( cracked case but working) 50mm 28mm and 35 -120ish zoom all in a bag £10, new batterys and it works!
Just put film in and thinking of taking a few snaps my self LOL
Oh paid £10 for the lot in a nice bag
 
Proper bargain (y)
 
Just picked up a Weston master ii for a fiver and from a comparison with my old light meter, my galaxy s2, it's pretty well spot on, just need to work out how Weston speeds compare to ISO. My tests were ISO 100 to Weston 80.
 
steveo_mcg said:
Just picked up a Weston master ii for a fiver and from a comparison with my old light meter, my galaxy s2, it's pretty well spot on, just need to work out how Weston speeds compare to ISO. My tests were ISO 100 to Weston 80.
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Reminds me of a question on some forum about storing a weston in darkness, well my III and IV came with a case so 99.99 % of it's life is in darkness and they still work perfectly. ;)
 
i'm getting quite chilled about the giveaways section Nick... no worries about pimping it up a bit ;)
 
Yesterday's bargain... 1948-50 vintage Meopta Flexaret IIIa for only £10 from a local charity shop!

Have run a roll of Kodak Porta 160 through it today and will post results in due course.
 
ChristofLP said:
Yesterday's bargain... 1948-50 vintage Meopta Flexaret IIIa for only £10 from a local charity shop.
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My first TLR was a Flexaret. I had to repair the shutter using half of an Agfa Isolette shutter then I lent it to a friend at work. He gave it back to me last week after a loan of six years.

I really like the focusing mechanism.


Steve.
 
Not sure about the state of the lens but it's cheap.

Actually £3 for a laser cut Pinhole isn't bad, that it comes with card to save me printing a template is a bonus.
 
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Our local Oxfam has got a load of film cameras in (apparently they collect them up for ages, then someone takes a batch away to value them, then brings them all back). There's a couple of auto Pentaxen, perhaps a Minolta, can't remember the rest. At the back is a Tamron Adaptall-2 135mm f/2.5 which looks very sweet indeed. Bad news one: £49.99. Bad news 2: Pentax M42 mount. I've aleady got the Pentax-M 135mm f/3.5, but it would be kind of nice to have an extra stop. But it seems quite a lot, specially if I have to buy a PK mount. Advice? Anyome tried this lens?
 
Hi Chris. I think I've got an Adaptall-P/K adaptor that came with a lens I got a while back. I'll have a look for it later today and you can have it for postage cost if you like.

Cheers
Steve
 
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