Biggest "steal" you ever made...

[walter23]

Speaking of steals, I was watching this one carefully but because I won that pacemaker I didn't bid on it (running low on spare funds).

Whoever bought this got themselves several hundred bucks worth of stuff for only $100 (the yashica mat 124G alone is worth more than the auction, even if it's broken). Then there's the 9x12 kodak plate holders which look mint (worth about $100), and the 9x12 Ihagee plate camera ($100)...

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

[walter23]

The lenses alone are worth at least $150.

Yeah, the angulon alone would be worth over that if the shutter works well.

[ypres.bass]

my biggest steal is Atkinson Liverpool 7-1/4" for 0.99EUR+Free Shipping from Denmark

[Wayne]

Spotless 14 inch Goerz Trigor for $20. Actually it might have been free, I remember insisting and I remember him declining, don't remember who won that battle. But I win the thread. :-)

[Eric Woodbury]

Best deal was right here at LF. I got a 180mm enlarging lens for $35 and that included overnight shipping. I used it for a paper weight for a few years, but now it is working hard. Thanks.

[walter23]

There is no question that the ad was misleading. I did probe abit before deciding to put in the bid. This was my exchange with him:

[...]

his response "at the moment I am not aware of any defects" also causes one to be abit wary. His response seems to have alot of qualifiers. But I figured for $200 dollars it was worth a shot. The lenses alone are worth at least $150.

Well, just an update, I got the camera and it ended up being a pretty good deal. Couple of minor things wrong (more cosmetic than anything) but function overall is good with good focal plane shutter, good lenses, and external shutters sound accurate. I swapped the stupid graflex back for a graflok one, and the only hangup was a brass screw whose head twisted off. The back still fits tightly with the one busted screw still in the hole (bottom middle, so the corners are all still tightly attached) but I may try to remove it and replace it sometime.

So that's 2x graflex grafmatics, graflex back, 90 angulon, 127 ektar, 2x flashes, pacemaker body, filters and some silly accessories for $200. Not a bad deal at all!

[Frank_E]

Well, just an update, I got the camera and it ended up being a pretty good deal. Couple of minor things wrong (more cosmetic than anything) but function overall is good with good focal plane shutter, good lenses, and external shutters sound accurate. I swapped the stupid graflex back for a graflok one, and the only hangup was a brass screw whose head twisted off. The back still fits tightly with the one busted screw still in the hole (bottom middle, so the corners are all still tightly attached) but I may try to remove it and replace it sometime.

So that's 2x graflex grafmatics, graflex back, 90 angulon, 127 ektar, 2x flashes, pacemaker body, filters and some silly accessories for $200. Not a bad deal at all!

you are making me regret not bidding higher....

congratulations

[Liam:]

I like to think my crown graphic is a steal, it got it off ebay.com for $63 in the summer and got it shipped to the uk. The shipping almost cost more than the camera, the listing was very vague but it was in amazing condition. I restored it anyway so it now looks like this...

[E. von Hoegh]

Early 1970's, I was 12 or 13. I brought home from a garage sale an old camera, a Premo or something like that; 5x7 or 6.5x8.5.Probably paid about $2. The camera literally fell apart in my hands, bellows so dry that they ripped apart. I saved the lens and in the mid 1980s discovered it was a stunningly sharp Dagor type in a Goerz Sector shutter, 8 1/4 inches but won't quite cover 8x10.

Late 1980s; A Linhof ST IV 3 lens outfit with cams, optical finder, sports finder, focussing bellows, a bunch of filmholders, a Polaroid back with film, Super Rollex 56x72 back, all pristine with the boxes for $1500.

Two years ago; a Nikkormat Ftn with the 50mm F:2 , two clip in Nikon hoods - one for the 50 and one for the 105/2.5 that I already had. The meter works and is accurate - free.

[jan labij]

Wow, compared to some of these deals I've been a spend-thrift. I always thought I had made out real well when I bought, from a camera store in Mass., a 5X7 ansco commercial view, with an agfa-ansco wooden tripod and three sfh plus a Gundlach triple conv. lens for 75.00 bucks. Er--that was a while ago, by the way!