Biggest "steal" you ever made...

[Tony Karnezis]

A QuickSet Hercules tripod and head for free.

[Ed Kelsey]

A Les Paul Gold Top in great condition for $65 in a pawn shop but it was in the 70's.

[lenser]

Stopped at an estate sale last weekend only to find a near mint 1950's Canon IV-S2 interchangeable lens rangefinder for $15.00. This Leica clone is working perfectly except for the slow speeds being slightly off.

[jp]

I went to a photographer today to buy a kodak process thermometer 3 he advertised on c-list and paid him his asking price without haggling. He then offered me some other stuff for good deals which I couldn't refuse.

Good as new Peak enlarger focuser III for $5 today. New 8x10 speed ezle for $4. Got some other stuff too and I'm thrilled. I won't be flipping it on Ebay, it's nicer stuff than I presently use.

[Corran]

Randomly looking at auctions that were about to end with the term "Nikon." I saw an auction for some cheap no-name lights and almost skipped it but it said Nikon and I thought I saw something in the photo...

Turned out to be a Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D prime lens. Got the lot for $25! Sold it for $200 after getting a 17-35mm.

Almost all of my gear was purchased used at 20-30% lower than the average price. I always watch and wait and get good deals.

[scm]

Percentage-wise: Olympus XA w/flash for $0.85 at a local thrift store, sold it for $125.00 the next day.

Dollar-wise: Mint A12 back with matching insert at another thrift store for $100, it went for close to $500 on auction later that week.

Both of these were back in the Nineties, neither would sell for anything like that now, of course.

[thedevilyourneighbor]

These threads are always fun. And since my biggest 'steal' actually led me to finding this site, I may as well post it.

At a flea market I stopped and looked in an ugly orange bag that stood out among some electronic seller's stuff. Inside was a Nikon FM2 (not FM2n), 5 lenses (3 Nikkors and 2 Series E), macro bellows, flash, focusing screen and finder for Nikon F, and to top it all off, 4 LF lenses. I asked the guy what he wanted and he told me $60. I offered him $50 and he accepted. I paid him and took off before he realized what he sold me.

I wasn't into LF at the time, so I sold one of the lenses for $650, 2 together for $300, and traded the last for a Canon VT rangefinder with a collapsible Summicron. I traded the Canon for my Speed Graphic, thus getting into LF.

[Steve Smith]

A Les Paul Gold Top in great condition for $65 in a pawn shop but it was in the 70's.

I will give you $67 for it!


I think my two best bargain purchases were an Olympus XA4 for £0.50 and a Rolleicord V for £34.


Steve.

[DrTang]

well, just this weekend I bought a whole trunkload of stereo 3d equipment for a hundy


two projectors, three cameras, 5 viewers, two mounting kits, glasses, 2 cases full of slides, two card viewers, etc

[jnantz]

40" square larson "soffbox"
larson "starfish"
20$ ( includs shipping )

couple of beautiful daguerreotype ( 5x? )
for 20$ each

jammed rolleicord for the cost of a 100$ cla

cyclone 3 falling plate camera, and 30+ articles from a 1890s studio for 40$