Biggest "steal" you ever made...

[Dan Fromm]

Bill, garage sales are an urban legend. I've never found anything I wanted at one, and that includes non-photo stuff, so have written them off. Guy across the street is in dire straits, has had a garage sale every weekend for the last month or so (not legal, I think we're allowed one a year). Huge TV, not HD; spiffy gas grill; crappy furniture. Do you want that sort of stuff? I don't and I'm tired of seeing it all in his driveway.

Seriously and all kidding aside, the majority of my good snags have been at camera shows (but not lately), from vendors' sites (likewise, but after staring at a lens on a site in Italy for a year I just anted up for it), from eBay (US and foreign) and from foreign Craigslist equivalents. I'm dithering about a "Craigslist" lens in France; I have one of it, the second would be for resale (risky), and I'm not sure how much postage will be. Asking is cheap, I should ask.

Recent eBay snags include a 90/6.8 Boyer Beryl (another way to spell Dagor); a Copal Press #0; and a Prontor Press #00 bundled with some Riteway holders, a Polaroid 545, and what I think is a 4x5 Graflok focusing panel. We'll see when that box arrives. I'm going to try to turn the holders and focusing panel, if that's what it is, around quickly, they should pay for the shutter.

Last year I got a bundle from another French Craigslist equivalent. 270/9 G-Claron, 250/6.8 Beryl (do you see a pattern?), really crappy 210/5.6 Rodagon. The G-Claron and Rodagon paid for the Dagor, sorry, Beryl.

All fine for me, but I'm not sure that you want anything I've bought. I read about other peoples' good snags, feel good for them and wonder how on earth I'd ever use most of the things that have made them so happy.

[benrains]

Never had any luck with garage sales either... although perhaps if you're good with your sleuthing and can track down estate sales or auctions for deceased photographers and photo enthusiasts, you might find some deal there. Me, I don't have the time or desire to do that.

I've had a little luck with antique shops. Whenever I'm visiting other cities I always try to visit a few local antique stores if I've any spare time. Once I found an Aero-Ektar 178/2.5 still attached to part of an old aerial photography camera. I got that for $50, removed the lens, cleaned it up, and sold it on eBay to someone in Japan for five times as much. Most of the deals I've had, and continue to have, are found with casual browsing of eBay, Craigslist, or in the For Sale listings here.

I often also look for slightly broken stuff that I'm fairly confident I can repair. I scored a beautiful late model Deardorff 8x10 with front swings this way at very good price because its rack and pinion focus gearing was misaligned. It took me about 15 minutes to fix with nothing more than a screwdriver. One of the great pleasures of working with big old wooden cameras is how easy they are to repair. With maybe 90% of the repairs I make, they can be done with a few $ in hand and a quick trip to a local hardware store.

[domaz]

I've made a few finds at estate sales but never garage sales it's true. The best one was the estate of a photographer/collector who frequented estate sales. More cameras and lenses than you can imagine- most junk but I found some good stuff in there. I think the key to finding good deals is to just keep looking as much as you can. For instance, I found a Jobo CPE2+ in perfectly clean condition with tanks just the other day at the Salvation Army of all places. You know what the chances of that are? Pretty much like winning the lottery- so it pays to "get out there".

[goamules]

Well believe it or not after perusing the same Tucson antique shops for years to no avail, this weekend I found, hidden in a lower cabinet, an incomplete wooden 8x10 field camera, 2 mint lensboards, two Ilexpro shutters, a couple wooden plate holders, and a box of magic lantern slides and glass dryplates. Got em all for a "parts" price.

However, antique shops and garage sales in the southwest generally are poor on the antiques. Not enough people lived out here, for not enough time. When NYC had something like 50 photography studios in 1860, Arizona was not even a state until 1912!

[SAShruby]

10 more posts and finally I'm in the 100 no picture post club.

[Jim Jones]

The sale bill for a small Missouri town estate auction few months ago listed "Leica accessories". At the auction these weren't displayed. The auctioneer located them with some difficulty. My winning bid was $30. Since all the proceeds were going to the local college, I told the auctioneer to mark it up to $100. They were a beautiful fitted case from the early '30s with an early 35mm f3.5 Elmar, 7.3cm f1.9 Hector, 135mm f4.5 Elmar, a rangefinder, and a few small items, all in fine condition.

As for garage sales, a model 1858 Remington rebvolver, made in 1864, and in good condition. The seller had done enough research to determine that it was an original Remington, but hadn't researched typical values. I didn't haggle over the $40 price.

[David Karp]

Not as good as many of the others, but I got a nice 180mm Fujinon W (single coated) for $100 a few years ago. Makes a very nice shorter focal length for my WP camera.

[BennehBoy]

Not LF but I picked up a Leica M4-P with 70th Anniversary 50mm Summicron for 395GBP a couple months back.

[jeroldharter]

Not sure if this is a "steal" given that I spent $480, but I got:

1 Jobo 3010
2 Jobo 3005's
2 Jobo 4x5 reels (for use in other tanks)
2 Jobo 4x5 reel loaders

[John Whitley]

People trying to sell there usually have inflated ideas of how much their treasures are worth.

I generally agree with Dan on this point. There are a lot of starry-eyed optimists on Craigslist. On the other hand, I've found some good, fair prices for photography-related items on CL and it's nice to be able to inspect items in-person. Now for my obligatory "steals":

Seal Masterpiece 500 dry mount press ($50)
LPL 7700 6x7 enlarger, glass maksing carrier, and other darkroom accessories ($75)
A pristine Nuarc Flip-top plate burner (priceless... er, free)

Enlarger deals have to be pretty exotic these days to warrant "steal" status, IMO.