Where to get bargain cameras…
With the prices of some analogue cameras rising, there are still places to get a bargain. I don’t like to pay much for my cameras so hunt loads of different sites and sales for those great buys. Here are some of them…
Car Boot Sales.
I do love browsing a good boot sale, you never know what you might find. I’ve had some cracking cameras over the years like a Kodak Retina 1 for £5 and Ihagee Exa for £8. Most recently (and currently fixing) a Canon EOS 1N for £20! These were well over a thousand pounds when new in 1994!
If 5am on a Sunday morning is your thing then they can be great fun.
Kodak Retina 1
Charity Shops.
The good old days of proper bargains from charity shops are long gone with them now selling the good stuff online. Fair enough they want to make as much as possible, but for the bargain hunter it has ruined the fun. Over the years I have managed to find a Ricoh R1 for £2.50 and the amazing Toyo 4x5 rail camera for £20 and even an Olympus mju II for £1! I still use the mju now.
Ricoh R1
eBay.
You can never fault eBay for throwing out a bargain, although you have to have perseverance to bag a real bargain with so many other buyer competing. It all depends what you are looking for though obviously - if you just want a working camera the options are endless, but if it is a popular model, you may struggle more so. My EOS 5 only cost £15 for the body only, well under the going rate and is a cracking camera.
Canon EOS 5
Buyee.
For those that don’t know who Buyee are, it is a proxy buying site allowing you to buy direct from Japan. Sellers will not sell to you directly in the UK, so Buyee bids on your behalf on auction lots. There is a lot to bear in mind when choosing your maximum bid, such as Buyee fees and international shipping, but there are cameras on there that you simply cannot find in this country. You have to be savvy with what you buy and use options like consolidating items at the Buyee warehouse to reduce shipping costs. It is all exciting when you win an item for 100yen, but when you add 500yen fees and 2000yen shipping it doesn’t seem as good a buy, but if the camera is unusual and what you are looking for, and you look at the price as a whole it can be really good.
For example this Fujica DL20 was won for 900yen (£4.50) + 500yen (£2.50) fee and shipping consolidated with a few other cameras (making it about £5 per camera), it still works out as a bargain if you ask me.
Another example is my Chinon 21street which was part of a job lot, that worked out at £8 per camera all in!
Fujica DL20
Chinon 21street
With all these ways of buying there is always risk of the camera having faults, but on the flip side they could work! All of the cameras above just needed a clean and were ready to go shooting. I am not totally against paying good money if it is something I really want, and know it is fully tested, but it is good fun finding a new toy for next to nothing.