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...