Bargain Priced Film Cameras

With the dramatic fall in value of film cameras as users switch to
digital, there are some amazing bargains to be had on Ebay. I very
recently bought a Nikon F601 with 35-80mm lens in true mint condition
for £55 - or about $99.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?

wrote:
With the dramatic fall in value of film cameras as users switch to
digital, there are some amazing bargains to be had on Ebay. I very
recently bought a Nikon F601 with 35-80mm lens in true mint condition
for £55 - or about $99.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?

I hope to aquire an F3 in excellent condition for about $300 to $400
bucks.

Mechanical cameras are virtually timeless where as the digitals are
yesterdays news 6 months after you buy them.

"columbotrek" wrote in message
...
wrote:
With the dramatic fall in value of film cameras as users switch to
digital, there are some amazing bargains to be had on Ebay. I very
recently bought a Nikon F601 with 35-80mm lens in true mint condition
for £55 - or about $99.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?

I hope to aquire an F3 in excellent condition for about $300 to $400
bucks.

Mechanical cameras are virtually timeless where as the digitals are
yesterdays news 6 months after you buy them.

That's all marketing, though...

I got a beat to heck F3HP for $100 that functions flawlessly. Occasionally
I look at the F4s selection, but I guess I'm waiting on the F5 price to
really fall.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

columbotrek wrote:
wrote:

With the dramatic fall in value of film cameras as users switch to
digital, there are some amazing bargains to be had on Ebay. I very
recently bought a Nikon F601 with 35-80mm lens in true mint condition
for £55 - or about $99.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?

I hope to aquire an F3 in excellent condition for about $300 to $400 bucks.

Mechanical cameras are virtually timeless where as the digitals are
yesterdays news 6 months after you buy them.
For my needs, I totally agree. For other folks who shoot "gazillions"
of photos, cameras might be a disposable item. All I can say (sadly),
is that my Canon A1s will still be functioning long after my T90s have
gone to camera heaven. :-(

BTW: Here's another web site for possible purchases (USA only, I think).
http://www.shopgoodwill.com/

Dick R.

I got a pretty decent deal on a recently-serviced Leica M4. Shutter
speeds and rangefinder alignment are spot-on. I bought a new 50mm
f/2.8 Elmar to use with it, and that lens is very sharp and very
contrasty. My only fear is that Kodak will stop producing Tri-X. I am
so familiar with the film that the lack of a meter in the Leica is no
limitation whatsoever. I am trying to experiment with some eastern
European films. I have two rolls of Efke 100 in the bag to try. I'll
stick with Tri-X as long as it is available, but Kodak's decision to
stop producing traditional process photo paper has caused me to avail
myself of my other options vis-a-vis film selection.

Michael

In article , Dick R.
writes
columbotrek wrote:
wrote:

With the dramatic fall in value of film cameras as users switch to
digital, there are some amazing bargains to be had on Ebay. I very
recently bought a Nikon F601 with 35-80mm lens in true mint condition
for £55 - or about $99.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?

I hope to aquire an F3 in excellent condition for about $300 to $400 bucks.
Mechanical cameras are virtually timeless where as the digitals are
yesterdays news 6 months after you buy them.
For my needs, I totally agree. For other folks who shoot "gazillions"
of photos, cameras might be a disposable item. All I can say (sadly),
is that my Canon A1s will still be functioning long after my T90s have
gone to camera heaven. :-(

My A1 (1979) *is* still functioning perfectly (as is the AE1, 1996) long
after my T90 (about 1991) *did* go to camera heaven. It's not even a
good paperweight, it falls over.

David
--
David Littlewood

"Michael" wrote in message
oups.com...
I got a pretty decent deal on a recently-serviced Leica M4. Shutter
speeds and rangefinder alignment are spot-on. I bought a new 50mm
f/2.8 Elmar to use with it, and that lens is very sharp and very
contrasty. My only fear is that Kodak will stop producing Tri-X. I am
so familiar with the film that the lack of a meter in the Leica is no
limitation whatsoever. I am trying to experiment with some eastern
European films. I have two rolls of Efke 100 in the bag to try. I'll
stick with Tri-X as long as it is available, but Kodak's decision to
stop producing traditional process photo paper has caused me to avail
myself of my other options vis-a-vis film selection.

Michael


Have you tried Ilford? I like Delta 100 and 400, though they have a
different rendition than Tri-X. Closer to Tri-X would be FP4+ and HP5+.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

wrote:

With the dramatic fall in value of film cameras as users switch to
digital, there are some amazing bargains to be had on Ebay. I very
recently bought a Nikon F601 with 35-80mm lens in true mint condition
for £55 - or about $99.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?


I've taken advantage of it, but not from ebay. Don't trust 'em.

There's a really good company called KEH Camera nearby (regular UPS
brown to my address is 2 day service - order Wednesday, delivered on
Friday). They deal in quality used camera equipment.

No need to bid and wait to see if someone outbids you; no uncertainty if
the goods will be as advertised.

Easier than browsing through hundreds of auctions looking for stuff.
Their website is easy to search, well organized. Find it, call 'em &
give 'em the credit card number & I'll be shooting with my new
whatever-it-is on Saturday.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?

Definitively yes, and it's fun, too!!

I buyed:

Yashica Electro 35 GSN with additional lenses and finder (perfect) around
$30
Pentax Spotmatic II w/55mm around $25
Nikon N70 body only around $60
Mamiya/Sekor 1000DTL (dead meter) w/50mm around $25
Canon Aqua-Snappy AS-6 underwater camera (thought malfunctioning but not
really) around $15
Zeiss Contessa LKE (dead meter) around $15
Polaroid Land Camera 800 (trouble) around $9
Walzflex II TLR around $20

plus a mixed bag of lenses, lightmeter, and so on...

Planning to buy a Graflex Speed Graphic....

Have a good time,
Sergio

wrote:
With the dramatic fall in value of film cameras as users switch to
digital, there are some amazing bargains to be had on Ebay. I very
recently bought a Nikon F601 with 35-80mm lens in true mint condition
for £55 - or about $99.

Have other members taken advantage of this situation - or are planning
to do so and what kind of cameras have/are tempting them?

I shoot almost no film anymore but I thought about buying an used Elan 7e.
On the other hand, it crosses my mind several times that it'd be nice to
buy an old fully manual FD mount just to have one.