I recently got a Metz 45CL-1 flash. When I met up with the seller it wasn't working. He took my $10 offer because he was moving in a week. When I got home, you guessed it, I cleaned the battery contacts and it works fine.
I recently got a Metz 45CL-1 flash. When I met up with the seller it wasn't working. He took my $10 offer because he was moving in a week. When I got home, you guessed it, I cleaned the battery contacts and it works fine.
People give me stuff all the time. I've had three 120mm F8 Super Angulons given to me in the last few years. One came with a Sinar F with bag bellows and a 90mm SW Nikon and 210mm Nikon lens as well. I got a tub full of stuff given from an estate last year. It was all Canon rangefinders including many lenses with TWO F.08 50mm Canon lenses. I hadn't ever seen one of those. I bought an 8X10 Deardorff on ebay a couple years back, the guy offered to send down a Polaroid processor, holder and some old boxes of film if I would pay the shipping. I did, of course, and the six boxes of film (expired) 8X10 Polaroid went for more than I paid for the whole shebang. Other gift items? An 8X10 Elwood dinosaur. Tons of old bakelite cameras. Speed graphics are always looking for a home. Old seal mounting press. Two of those fancy flip-open focusing scopes with the mirrored reflectors. People give you stuff all the time. You don't have to steal!
Gosh, thinking about what else has come through in the last few years...two old Hasselblad Fs with lenses, two Fuji monorail view cameras in cases with lenses and all the stuff, Leica stuff, old cases, a zillion bits and pieces. I keep a constant flow onto ebay and use paypal bucks to get what I REALLY need. I always say yes to an offer of ANY old camera and promise to use it or find it a good home.
Wow, aren't you lucky?! Some would argue that telling the people what they have and that it's worth money is the right thing to do. But then again, ignorance is bliss.
Reminds me of another story. A few years ago I found an eBay seller selling off a huge lot of equipment and film. I ended up winning about half a dozen auctions for the film, totaling around 400 sheets of 4x5 film if I remember, for about $1-2 a piece. He hadn't set up a combined shipping rule so I sent him an invoice request for combined shipping, since eBay was trying to charge me several hundred dollars for shipping. He didn't respond to several requests and emails. The next week I found a huge box of film on my porch, all the film I had bought on eBay! He had requested my address and sent it without payment! I kept emailing him to no avail so I just gave up...about $500 worth of film for free!
I have had many great deals but nothing like the deals here. I would consider many deals of mine a bargain but I finally got one last weekend that fits here. I saw an add on Craigslist for a free 4x5 Omega D2 enlarger with accessories located 5 miles from my dad's place. I emailed the person asking for pictures and they simply responded saying it's all in boxes but the whole darkroom is there.
I had my dad pick it up and it included the following major items:
8x10 Contact Printing Frame (needed one)
Microsight Grain Focuser (way better than mine)
Omega D2 Aristo Cold Head
Omega E-99 Timer with foot pedal controls
Omega D2 Enlarger (condensor included)
Aristo Contactor (not sure what this is)
Omega Variable Current Balancer
8x Loupe
11x14 4 blade easel
2 sets of darkroom filters
4x5, 6x6, 35mm holders for enlarger
+ 20 some odd items that all seem to be accessories for the enlarger and darkroom printing tools.
It took me 30 minutes for a deep clean but everything is in perfect working order.
Even though I have a Beseler 45mxt, this omega will be my primary choice. The thing is built like a tank.
Pali
Dude, you scored.Originally Posted by Pali K
Well I'm a network engineer, I'll be 52 next month, and I got into the field in 1998. So...ugh I guess that does make me "an old network engineer!"
Hmm. I'm only an economist, got a CSU/DSU in '93 so I could have my own T-1. For the volumes of data I was moving FedExNet delivery of square tapes by truck, plane and truck was much faster. That's when I had the great insight, never acted on, that a T-1 was physically two twisted pairs and that it ought to be possible to make a device that would treat any two twisted pairs that ran between one such device and another as a T-1.
Getting back to steals, I think I've mentioned this earlier but I once lucked into ten (10) 38/4.5 Biogons for $580 delivered.
Getting back to steals, I'm not looking as hard as I used to but I have the very strong impression that buried treasure is getting harder and harder to find. Opinions, please.
Yep - was very happy and shocked to see what was given to me for free. Based on ebay's completed sales, I would value the lot at $500-700.
Pali
I am not fond of 'stealing' or buying from thieves. Chicago is a bar town and often thieves drop in to sell. My Local throws them out and tells them don't come back. Ever.
Sure I have found bargains, as I prefer to call good deals. I have found them right here in our nearly extinct FS listings. The seller often knows what it once was worth and is glad to sell at a loss to a user.
I think we all consider eBay sellers fair game. So be it.
I am not saint, but there is a limit to 'stealing'.
I have found a few people selling for way under value on Craigslist or through my 'grapevine'.
I will advise value and pay MORE than asked to the proverbial little old lady selling her dead husband's junk, when I see gross under assessment of value.
Not every person is aware of market value, and some really need the money.
Don't steal and don't buy from thieves.
Tin Can
Yeah, I sleep better at night knowing I paid market value for something rather than having gotten a "steal" because someone was ignorant of the value of what they were selling.
Luckily, places like the Bay have made it possible to ascertain the market value of just about anything. Everyone wants market value when they sell.
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