Best regards,
Mark

Just found this podcast after reading your review of Tom Ang’s book “The Fundementals of Photography” -your review makes the book very appealing to the photographer – I am interested in winnning/reading this book – could you put me on your list of hopeful winners please – many thx !!

Your blog is compelling listening – I shall keep tuned

I have noticed here in the London UK more and more camera shops doing part-exch and also having a used equipment department – in some cases these exist as an ebay site

The benefit of buying used equipment from a store is that it is check by the experts and there is a warrantiy (in most cases) if anything goes wrong

Don’t think you get the bargains at a store that you guys (as in comments above) get though – well done !!
Dot
x

And I’d like that book. It sounds good.

Congrats Martin! Any names yet?

As for buying cameras on ebay…Brian touched on it, but I’d suggest researching heavily about the camera you want to buy. There are loads of websites out there that offer camera manual downloads for free – use the manual to look for possible nuancies of a camera that a seller might overlook. I got a camera cheap because I asked questions casually but with hidden intent about the camera’s operation. The seller thought it didn’t work but I established that it did and scored a bargain.

As for the most I’ve spent on secondhand gear: $500AUS at this stage. For that I picked up a Horseman 45FA, 90/8, 150/5.6, 210/5.6, 5 double dark slides…which brings me to my next point. Universities are starting to sell off their film gear as the digital world takes hold. While the University knew the true value of the Horseman, because policy stated that equipment must be disposed of through a silent auction with no reserve I was able to score it insanely cheap.

Antique stores can be good too, but often over priced. Again, know what you’re looking for. I recently picked up an Zeiss Ikoflex for substantially less than the marked price because the dealer thought it didn’t work. Turns out it has some issues, but nothing I can’t handle.

One last point. Make friends with your local family run photo store. Often customers give their old gear in to them (I guess mainly film related, but lenses could also be given in?) and the store may not be interested in reselling for high profits, but if they know someone who’s interested…well let’s just say that I got a Pentax 6×7 for free. It needed a small repair, but hey, a freebie’s a freebie! I’ve also recieved “gifts” of expired film and other cameras. Needless to say I return the favours by buying what I can of them instead of cheaper on ebay – filters etc.

Great Podcast, as usual!

If you’re in the UK, local car boot sales are a great resource for cheap old film gear – I’ve found two Minolta SLRs, a Konica SLR and a Beirette Viewfinder, all in perfect condition, with cases and flashes. I didn’t pay more than a tenner for any of them. I just check that the shutter works, the film winder works, the focus and aperture work, the lens is clean, and the camera looks like it has been looked after (or at least just been pulled out of someones loft!) I always ask where the person got the camera and why they’re selling it – most of the time it was their parents and they’re clearing out their loft!

The tricky part could be light meters on old cameras, but I’ve been lucky enough to get models where the batteries still had power, so it was easily checked.

Another point about eBay is that when browsing items, always check Amazon or price comparison sites too. Many new, or nearly new, items listed on eBay actually turn out to be cheaper if you go to a proper online retailer!

Remember that brick and mortar shops have signs that they don’t match internet prices – however most Salespeople, or their Managers, can be persuaded to be flexible about this if they see a wad of cash…

Thanks again, Rob.

Glad you liked them. Still don’t know if this is something that we’ll keep adding to the end. Let’s see the feedback from the listeners.

Love the out takes at the end of this version of the podcast!