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what are the biggest bargains you have found?
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just bought a Soligor-branded Kiron 105/2.8 macro and a Minolta MC 28/2.5 (supposed to be sharper than my 28/2.0, I'm gonna have to test that...) for 40€ each incl. shipping.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm quite proud of this one, in perfect condition novoflex noflexar 35mm 3.5 factory Nikon conversion lens for £5.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 1:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nikkor DC 40/4 and Nikkor HC 75/2.8 for bronica each for 70€. Still looking for a bronica but they are beautiful.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 5:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe we should rename this thread to "My lastest acquisition (at a fairly good price)"...

There's nothing wrong with that but maybe everyone could share their one biggest-ever bargain (and maybe a runner-up)...

My biggest bargain ever is this, all bought from the same seller within two days:
- Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye (Pentax K)
- Tokina SL 17mm f/3.5 (Pentax K)
- Soligor 17mm f/4 (Minolta MC)
- Kiron 24mm f/2.0 (Pentax K)
- Vivitar Series 1 28mm f/1.9 (M42)
- Revuenon/Tomoika 55mm f/1.2 (M42)
- Helios 40-2 85mm f/1.5 (M42)
- Vivitar Series 1 135mm f/2.3 (M42)
- Soligor C/D 135mm f/2.0 (M42)
- Revueflex 3000 SL (= Chinon CX, M42)

All in mint condition (very rarely - possibly never - used) with complete original packaging and all accessories, I paid 310€ altogether.
(and here's how that happened: http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/227786-i-cant-believe-my-luck.html)

My runner-up (and winner by cost/resale-value ratio) is a Minolta MC Rokkor 58mm f/1.2 (the late version with rubberized focus ring) in near-mint condition that I got for 39€.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got nearly all of my MFL for relatively cheap prices but never on a "steal" level.

My biggest bargain might have been Telemegor 180 M42 for €29 that already paid off. I also won Trioplan 100 EXA for €201 that are very nice money for such a lens nowadays. Also, I bought Tair 133 for €70 app. but I was partly cheated.

Anyway, Boris, do you need that Helios 40? Very Happy


PostPosted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


5 USD + shipping. Described as "accessories for camera", so not much interest from other bidders. The filter on the Sigma zoom would probably cover the expences if I sold it. Looks like a Helios in the middle, I'm just hoping the condition is OK...


PostPosted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In a used equipment shop I just got a Vario Sonnar 80-200 f/4 MM with the Mutar 2x, Olympus 55 f/3.5 macro, Konica 55mm f/3.5 macro and Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 for 300 euros. Not too bad ! Very Happy


PostPosted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Meet the latest additions to the family. Yashica 100mm/3.5 Macro with original caps and case, Zeiss Planar 50/1.7 with caps and leather pouch and bonus Yashica DSB 50/1.9 with original caps. Yashica 100 and Zeiss 50 were listed originally at 100 each, I talked seller down and she threw in the 50/1.9 for free.

Damage: $160




PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Roger Hesketh wrote:
Are large format bargains allowed? If so.

8 x 10 Linhof Color Karden with recessed and flat front lens panels. Compendium lens hood. 8x10 and 5x7 backs, 5x7 reducing back, 4 8x10 Fidelity holders, 8 Eastman Kodak 5x7 holders and a dark cloth. £40

Fatif Studio stand also £40

Both the above lots were on Ebay UK. I was the only bidder.


That's awesome, really!
The Fatif stand (if it's a copycat of the big Linhof one, like mine) is worth at least 150!
And the Color kardan 8x10, with two reducing backs... much, much more! Smile
But my best large format bargain probably beats yours... but not by much:
100 euros for a perfectly working Kodak Master View 4x5, a Symmar 150mm (stuck shutter, had it repaired for free), a few holders and lens boards, a big italian-made diaphragm lens holder (very sought after nowadays, and... drum roll, a Cooke Portrait IIE 10 1/2" (the last of the "knucklers", and the only coated Cooke Portrait!).
Only the Cooke should go for more than 1000 these days...
Sold the Kodak, the Symmar, recouping more than what i spent, and of course kept the Brandani iris lens holder and of course the Cooke Smile

cheers

Paolo


Last edited by cyberjunkie on Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:44 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I lived in Japan, I rolled the dice quite a few times with some online auctions. Older fixed lens cameras from the 60's - 80's are often sold "as-is" and work just fine. Others, work but with some asterisks attached. Had a Yashica Eletrco CC that took great pictures, but the over/under LED didn't work, so you never knew if the batteries were alive or not. So yeah, that sucked.

Once on Ebay I got like 30-35 rolls of Kodachrome EPR (120) for $50 bucks. It expired in the 90's but was very well kept. Slight magenta shift but very livable. I've seen worse in film that's expired only a couple of years.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 5:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What with all the moving we've been doing lately, I almost forgot to mention here what I consider to have been a really good deal. I found a Tamron 17mm f/3.5 on sale on eBay, at auction, not BIN, and the opening price was quite low. It had a lot of bidding activity, but I was determined to get that lens, so I put in a fairly high maximum bid. Well, I beat everybody else out, but they were only half-hearted bidders, as it turned out. I won the lens for $154 and change. Condition-wise, it is exceptionally clean and mechanically excellent. See it here:

Click here to see on Ebay

This is the later model, that does not have the built in filters. I kind of would have liked to have those, but I don't use filters very often in my b&w photography anyway. Now, what I really do like about it, however, is it came with the hood! There were about a half dozen of these 17mm Tamrons on eBay when I won mine, but none of them had the hood. It did not come with the front cap, but I tell you what, if I had to choose between the two, I'd much rather have that hood than the front cap.

Now, I know that a lot of folks here will claim the Tokina 17mm is better than the Tamron, and I'm not going to argue -- although I do have a Tokina-made Vivitar 17mm in Canon FD mount. And now that I have a NEX, I can directly compare the two. That should be interesting. But anyway, the reason why I prefer the Tamron over the Tokina is a simple one -- I currently have four MF 35mm SLR systems -- five, actually, including EOS -- and I can't afford four Tokina 17's, but one Tamron 17 I can afford. So I'm willing to give away a bit of sharpness for the sake of flexibility.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 2:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cooltouch wrote:
What with all the moving we've been doing lately, I almost forgot to mention here what I consider to have been a really good deal. I found a Tamron 17mm f/3.5 on sale on eBay, at auction, not BIN, and the opening price was quite low. It had a lot of bidding activity, but I was determined to get that lens, so I put in a fairly high maximum bid. Well, I beat everybody else out, but they were only half-hearted bidders, as it turned out. I won the lens for $154 and change. Condition-wise, it is exceptionally clean and mechanically excellent. See it here:

Click here to see on Ebay

This is the later model, that does not have the built in filters. I kind of would have liked to have those, but I don't use filters very often in my b&w photography anyway. Now, what I really do like about it, however, is it came with the hood! There were about a half dozen of these 17mm Tamrons on eBay when I won mine, but none of them had the hood. It did not come with the front cap, but I tell you what, if I had to choose between the two, I'd much rather have that hood than the front cap.

Now, I know that a lot of folks here will claim the Tokina 17mm is better than the Tamron, and I'm not going to argue -- although I do have a Tokina-made Vivitar 17mm in Canon FD mount. And now that I have a NEX, I can directly compare the two. That should be interesting. But anyway, the reason why I prefer the Tamron over the Tokina is a simple one -- I currently have four MF 35mm SLR systems -- five, actually, including EOS -- and I can't afford four Tokina 17's, but one Tamron 17 I can afford. So I'm willing to give away a bit of sharpness for the sake of flexibility.


I would be interested in seeing your comparison of the Vivitar and Tokina. I have both, unfortunately I butchered the Tokina a long time ago trying to do a mount conversion. I feel like the Tokina Rmc model was a better lens and one of the best mf wide angles I have ever seen. Congratulations on your purchase! As mentioned I screwed mine up and I paid 200 for it. Someday I will try to get the parts together to repair it, I can still use it, but I had to unscrew the helicoid to get infinity back and the aperture only turns if I squeeze the ring. You got a good deal!


PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cooltouch wrote:
What with all the moving we've been doing lately, I almost forgot to mention here what I consider to have been a really good deal. I found a Tamron 17mm f/3.5 on sale on eBay, at auction, not BIN, and the opening price was quite low. It had a lot of bidding activity, but I was determined to get that lens, so I put in a fairly high maximum bid. Well, I beat everybody else out, but they were only half-hearted bidders, as it turned out. I won the lens for $154 and change. Condition-wise, it is exceptionally clean and mechanically excellent. See it here:

Click here to see on Ebay

This is the later model, that does not have the built in filters. I kind of would have liked to have those, but I don't use filters very often in my b&w photography anyway. Now, what I really do like about it, however, is it came with the hood! There were about a half dozen of these 17mm Tamrons on eBay when I won mine, but none of them had the hood. It did not come with the front cap, but I tell you what, if I had to choose between the two, I'd much rather have that hood than the front cap.

Now, I know that a lot of folks here will claim the Tokina 17mm is better than the Tamron, and I'm not going to argue -- although I do have a Tokina-made Vivitar 17mm in Canon FD mount. And now that I have a NEX, I can directly compare the two. That should be interesting. But anyway, the reason why I prefer the Tamron over the Tokina is a simple one -- I currently have four MF 35mm SLR systems -- five, actually, including EOS -- and I can't afford four Tokina 17's, but one Tamron 17 I can afford. So I'm willing to give away a bit of sharpness for the sake of flexibility.



I just missed one - same as yours, later model with hood - that was being sold on a local ad for €10 (it had a tiny spot of fungus, though). I rushed to call the seller just to discover he had sold the lens to someone else 10 minutes earlier. He said he had other tamrons, and in the end I got an SP 2.5/90 macro (52bb) for 50 euros from him - always with original hood and a set of extension tubes.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aanything, too bad you missed out, but that was a great price for the Macro, especially considering you got a hood and rings with it.

Kenetik, I'll wager that if you dismantle and carefully "remantle" your Tokina, you'll probably find out where you went wrong. The aperture rings usually have a small, spring-loaded ball that is used to produce the clicks. I would check to see if it had fallen out and maybe jammed up against the ring, causing this condition.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mir-24h (m42) mint - 10$, is that OK price?


PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not the bargain of the century, but... A Nikkormat camera with a 35/2.8 Ais and a 105/2.5 Ais for 100 euros. 50 each one, and even a bit less when I will sell the camera. Not too bad.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last Sunday on flea-market - Soligor 250mm f4,5 for $5.- and Vivitar Ser.1 70-210 for $24.-
From Goodwill store recently: Nikkor AF 35-70 for $5.99; Spiraton 300mm for $11.99 ; Kiron 35-135 plus filter for $5.99.
In the past:
Kilar-Kilfitt 40mm in m42 for $10.-
Caltar 150mm in Copall for 4x5 - $10.0 on flea-market.
Not mentioned "centipede" stile Japanese Tsuba as a plumbing junk part for $3.- on the same flea-market:))).



Last edited by Paulius on Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:57 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Praktica ee2 - sonnar 135mm 3,5 - pancolar 50mm 1,8 - flektogon 35mm 2,4 - tubes - teleconverter - couple of flashes and bags : 50€

Praktica mtl5 - pentacon 50mm 1,8 - telemar 22A : 12€


PostPosted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 7:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very impressive!


PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My recent "good buy" was a Kiron 105 2.8 macro. It was unlabeled in a lot of 2 Yashica FX 3 with a vivitar ring flash on it. I recognized it in the photo though. The Yashicas (a super and a super 2000) were both in really good condition and the flash works but I have to figure out what type of connector to use on it. I had been watching the Kirons and lester dine and vivitar 100's for a while and the lowest auction I had seen was 260 USD. I got this whole lot for 130 including shipping. I have already sold one of the Yashica for 30. So I am happy.


PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tamron BBAR SP 2x lens converter #01F for $10....a very nice addition to the 70-210/3.8-4 (46A) lens...
With my new Nikon D610's ability to get high IQ @ ISO 3200 I can use the combination stopped down a bit and still have a fast enough shutter speed....(-4EV = 1/400 @ F11...)


PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2014 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ever since the very first time I saw a Pentax 6x7 over 30 years ago, I've wanted one. But I was always put off by the price. And even after the plummeting prices of used medium format film gear, it seems that the venerable old 6x7 has maintained a higher price than many of its contemporaries. I mean, a few years ago, I bought a Bronica ETRSi with normal lens, prism finder, 120 and 220 backs for about $130 at auction on eBay. You can't even touch a properly functioning, stripped down 6x7 body for that much. But still, all in all, they're a lot cheaper than they used to be.

Well, the other day, I got an email from KEH, telling me that they were offering 10% off all their Pentax gear for one day only. So I was interested. I've done business often with KEH. Typically their "BGN" items are priced as low as or lower than most anything you'll find on eBay, so I went over there and had a look at what they had to offer. I found some very good prices, especially with the extra 10% discount tossed it. So, anyway, I ended up putting together a decent "starter" package -- a 6x7 mirror-lock-up body with a 135mm f/4 macro SMCT lens and a TTL metered finder for $368 to my door. Now, to me, that is one helluva Bargain! It arrived a few days ago, and everything is in nice shape and works as it should. I'll post pics once I've had the chance to give this baby a whirl.

You know, all too often I completely forget about KEH and I really shouldn't. They have some of the best prices around on used gear and their BGN-rated stuff is often so clean, it would pass as EXC or even EXC+ at other places with their ratings. So, just a reminder -- when you're looking for a a particular piece of gear and maybe you're not finding it on eBay or not finding it for a price you like, don't forget about KEH.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2014 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, Omega View 450 in pristine condition on flea-market for $40.-


PostPosted: Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Today a guy had 2 Hexanons advertised for $20, the 52/1.8 and 35/2.8. Both were in excellent shape. He had a box of other stuff, long story short I walked out with more than 30 lenses for 50 bucks. The bad thing is, looks like someone with no skill tried to open several of them and messed them up.

Here's some of the stuff:

2 Hexanons above
Makinon 28/2.8 (ding in filter ring, otherwise fine)
Kiron 28-105 - shroud was loose and aperture is declicked, I think it was opened. Fixed shroud, glass is good and took a few test shots, am going to test tomorrow.
Vivitar 75-205 (Kiron) very good
Vivitar 85-205 (Kiron) very good
Vivitar 200/3.5 (Komine) very good
Super Lentar 28/2.8 (nice version, looks good)
Tele Lentar 135/2.8 (looks new)
Tamron 80-210/3.8 (very good)
Super Yashinon Auto 75-230/4.5 - Cosmetic fair/glass very good, I laughed when I read Luis' comments about this monster
polaris 80-210/3.5 - lens good, interchangeable mount holding on by a thread

The biggest heartbreaker was a Pentax Smc 50/1.4 M. Glass looks great takes nice shots, the front ring was scratched up and removed for some reason and it totally removed the value of this lovely lens. There's more, Access, Cpc Phase 2, Fujinar, Sigma etc. After cleaning off all the dust and determining what was good and not good, I wondered if there wasn't a better way I could have spent my Friday. I just wanted 2 cheap hexanons. My LBA revolted for a moment. Still, it was a bargain if you don't figure my time... Smile


PostPosted: Sat Nov 29, 2014 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This morning at the local fleamarket I got:

Zenit T3c-2 nightvision lens, 100mm f/2 in M42 mount: 10 euros
Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 Ais: 60 euros
Minolta 35-70 f/3.5 Macro for 15 euros.

Cool