Biggest "steal" you ever made...

[lenser]

Not nearly so good as my score of an entire Zone VI darkroom in mint condition a year ago, but very satisfying none the less.

A local estate sale for a multi discipline artist this weekend yielded the following Durst 601 enlarger in excellent shape including two El Nikkor lenses and a new in the box set of Durst VC filters, Graflarger in perfect working condition including the 4x5 carrier, Heavy duty Gitzo side arm in mint condition, Luna Pro enlarging attachment, three Weston style darkroom thermometers, two safe lights, three Yankee 4x5 dip tanks with lids and 12 film hangers,11x14 Omega borderless easel, 14x17 Omega adjustable easel (NIB), 11x14 contact print frame (NIB), two Solenoids for press cameras, a very nice Capro ring light kit, heavy duty paralellogram copy stand, and a Yankee adjustable sheet film tank. $45.00 for the lot.

[Bill Burk]

Thought I posted this story here, but the post seems incomplete. Maybe I just don't know how to research older threads . . .

anyway: A few years ago I bought a LowePro sling type pack from the bargan bin at a Houston photography shop. One of the pockets had a broken zipper—the slider was off of one side of the teeth. It was worn and had missing deviders too.

Dang, I was reading along and thought that in the end you were going to say you finally opened the pocket and found a Red Dot Artar inside.

[jnantz]

Dang, I was reading along and thought that in the end you were going to say you finally opened the pocket and found a Red Dot Artar inside.

i was reading on to see if there was a metal box that was inside one of the pouches,
and michigan j. frog popped out (wearing a top hat and tails) singing "the michigan rag" ...

[MrFujicaman]

Let's see...

Back in the late 1980's...the legs for a early model Majestic tripod for $5 at a flea market. All steel and very heavy-took 2 hours with light oil and steel wool and then chrome polish to get the surface rust off the tubing. I had an adapter made about 10 years ago so I can use regular 3/8 thread tripod head on it-that was $50.

A Graphic View with a 203 Ektar for $90 and the trade in of several pieces of equipment that had been given to me. Later swapped the Graphic View even up for a Calumet 401 and kept the 203 Ektar.

A QuikSet Husky tripod for $5

A 90mm f6.8 Angulon in a shutter for $25

Two Yashica T4's for $3.29 each

A Ricoh GR1s for $8.29

[dsphotog]

My wife came home with a book she bought for $1 at the local library sale of donated books.
She thought I liked that photographer named Weston....
Brett Weston Master Photographer, oh it's signed too.

[Bill Kumpf]

A set of Novatron M500 studio strobes, stands, umbrellas, and flash meter still in the original packing in the hard case - local antique auction for $20.

[ImSoNegative]

3 speedotron heads and power pack (brown line) a couple of umbrellas, and case 45.00

[Kirks518]

Most of this is not LF, but they were my steals;

Craigslist (which is usually not a good place for steals) -
1) This girl cleans repossessed houses, and she found some camera stuff. I got a Mamiya Sekor 60mm Macro (35mm) - $40; sold it for $350

2) A guy listed 'Darkroom Stuff - $50'. Call him, and he says 'you have to take it all, no picking through it.' In the photos I saw a couple of cameras and lenses, so I drove the hour to his house. Along with a ton of darkroom accessories (changing bags, trays, print dryer, dev tanks, etc.) was a Tamron 90mm Macro in Canon EF mount (sold for $325), a Nikon F (sold for $175) Nikon N80 NIB (sold for $80), and a bunch of other odds and ends.

Walking through a Salvation Army store, came across a Graphic 35 Electric with the Iloca Heligon 50mm 1.9 - $10. Sold just the lens for $550

I have a friend who resells chairs (of all things), and he always comes across photo stuff, and calls me to see if I want any of it. He goes out to this couple's house (barn actually), and starts reading stuff off to me. There were tons of lenses, and after he read off 3 50mm 1.4's, I told him I'd give him $100 for the whole lot (I could hear the old man in the background saying 'that's a good lens, $5'). He brings me three boxes filled with lenses. In the box, along with what I knew was in there, was a Minolta 58mm f/1.2, a Nikon 50 f/1.2, and a Canon FD 85mm f/1.2. Lots of junk was in there as well, but I scored.

Got a call (recently) from my local last remaining real film lab. They sold the building and the business (luckily I'll still have local film developing for color and e-6), they want to give me stuff, and so e other stuff to sell. They gave me a box of old mostly junky cameras, but also a Calumet 45 (CC401) for me to have. Welcome to LF!

Same lab calls me up last year, they have an employee that wants to sell an old camera. Turns out it was an RB67 Pro-SD with almost every available accessory, and 3 lenses (original receipt was for just over $8000). Her daughter was a pro photographer in the late 80's. Bought the set new, and broke her wrist 3 weeks later. Couldn't hold the camera anymore. It sat in a closet since. My cost was <$300.

I've been scavanging [sic] for about 4 yrs. These weren't all of the good ones, but some of the most memorable.

[dbendo]

Four digit Leica 1a 1926 I Don't Like to think it was stealing. The Guy new what he Had, Ask me to put it on Evil Bay. I told him he would have to sell it for what the high bid was because it would be in my name.
He Balked. Came back a year later and said he was offered $500 from a big Leica Dealer in NYC and offered it to me for $400. It ate the test roll of Tri X I ran thru it and he said ok $300

I sent it in for CLA and have run a few rolls of film thru it smooth as silk, very nice negs and it smells nice too.

[Maris Rusis]

About 40 years ago I bought an absolutely pristine looking Zeiss Super Ikonta for $10 from a pawn shop. I tested it with a roll of 120 film and focus, exposure, and film advance were perfect BUT then I discovered Zeiss has designed the thing to deliver only 11 negatives per roll not 12. No way was I going to tolerate a camera that robbed me of one frame per roll. I went back to the pawn shop and demanded my money back. I got the $10. Years later when I knew more about the virtues of Super Ikontas I saw the camera at a "shaky table" photo market with $200 on it but couldn't afford it; a great "steal" undone by ignorance!