Post by PeterW on Nov 13, 2005 11:38:03 GMT -5
Hi everyone.
Not Ebay, but I had an enjoyable, though rather chilly, early morning at a car boot sale today. Not all that many cameras there except for the usual crop of point and shoots and a Roniflex (ugh!). Then I spotted a couple of Nikon F2s on the same stall, nice but well used, and at £240 and £260 I declined with thanks. Too expensive, and anyway I don’t take that sort of money to a car boot sale.
A couple of tables further on was a black 1982 Zenit 11 (mechanically the same as a Zenit EM with cosmetic changes to make it look a little more modern) with a Helios 44-M-4. This was in its ever-ready case and looked hardly used. Everything worked nicely. With it was a Lumax f/2.8 135mm lens, also in its case. Judging by the reflections it’s a triplet, but 135mm prime lenses are reckoned the easiest to get right, and even the cheap ones are usually quite good if they’re stopped down a little. It was clean and clear, and the automatic iris worked smartly. The asking price was £20 for the two, so I put the camera down with a reluctant “Umm. OK, thanks”. This brought the usual “Make me an offer”. I considered for a moment and offered £8. We settled for £10.
From the same seller my son John bought a metal-cutting bandsaw which also looked as if it was hardly used except for a few spots of wood sawdust under the table. John got it for £25 (starting price £40).
We thought that was about it, and went for a coffee, but just as we were coming away I spotted hiding under one of the tables a box full of cameras and bits and pieces. I could see a couple of 126 Instamatics, a Kodak Duaflex II 620 wannabe TLR, a small flash, two lenses with end caps, a couple of lens hoods, a few filters, a nice wide woven camera strap and three more cameras in cases which I didn’t have time to examine as the stallholder was packing up and wanted to get away. I made a ‘silly offer’ of £5 for the lot. We settled for £8.
Back home I examined the contents of the box more closely. The Instamatics work, but I don’t really want them so I’ll give them to a charity shop. The Duaflex shutter didn’t work, until I opened up the side and fixed a spring that had become unhooked. It’s a nice clean example of a cheap ‘popular post-war camera’ from the 1950s, with the better Kodar f/8 lens, so it’s a US model not a UK one. I think I’ll probably keep it. The two lenses are a Panagor f/2.8 135mm prime (I’m getting quite a lot of 135s) and a Sirius f/3.9 80 to 200mm zoom. Both are nice and clear and clean but the auto irises are lazy (more work!). The flash is a handy little Helios 228 (no relation to Russian Helioses) which works fine now I’ve put some batteries in it. I haven’t sorted out the lens hoods and filters (all push-on) yet.
Lastly, the three cameras in their cases. One, actually in a purse, not a case, is a clean Olympus Trip 35 which, for once, hasn’t got a sticky aperture iris and seems to work nicely. The second is an Ilford Sportsman with f/3.5 Dacora Dignar lens, not top of the range but clean and working. The third is a Kodak Autographic 127 trellis-type VPK with an f/8 Rapid Rectilinear lens and Kodak Ball Bearing shutter. Kodak made more than one and a half million of them with various lenses and shutters from about 1915 to the mid 1920s but you don’t see very many of them about these days. The paintwork’s got a few chips, but the shutter, 1/25, 1/50, B & T, works fine. All in all an interesting box-full.
I’m pleased with what I got, and John’s delighted with his bandsaw - and no postage to pay on anything – so, as I said, an enjoyable morning.
Peter
Not Ebay, but I had an enjoyable, though rather chilly, early morning at a car boot sale today. Not all that many cameras there except for the usual crop of point and shoots and a Roniflex (ugh!). Then I spotted a couple of Nikon F2s on the same stall, nice but well used, and at £240 and £260 I declined with thanks. Too expensive, and anyway I don’t take that sort of money to a car boot sale.
A couple of tables further on was a black 1982 Zenit 11 (mechanically the same as a Zenit EM with cosmetic changes to make it look a little more modern) with a Helios 44-M-4. This was in its ever-ready case and looked hardly used. Everything worked nicely. With it was a Lumax f/2.8 135mm lens, also in its case. Judging by the reflections it’s a triplet, but 135mm prime lenses are reckoned the easiest to get right, and even the cheap ones are usually quite good if they’re stopped down a little. It was clean and clear, and the automatic iris worked smartly. The asking price was £20 for the two, so I put the camera down with a reluctant “Umm. OK, thanks”. This brought the usual “Make me an offer”. I considered for a moment and offered £8. We settled for £10.
From the same seller my son John bought a metal-cutting bandsaw which also looked as if it was hardly used except for a few spots of wood sawdust under the table. John got it for £25 (starting price £40).
We thought that was about it, and went for a coffee, but just as we were coming away I spotted hiding under one of the tables a box full of cameras and bits and pieces. I could see a couple of 126 Instamatics, a Kodak Duaflex II 620 wannabe TLR, a small flash, two lenses with end caps, a couple of lens hoods, a few filters, a nice wide woven camera strap and three more cameras in cases which I didn’t have time to examine as the stallholder was packing up and wanted to get away. I made a ‘silly offer’ of £5 for the lot. We settled for £8.
Back home I examined the contents of the box more closely. The Instamatics work, but I don’t really want them so I’ll give them to a charity shop. The Duaflex shutter didn’t work, until I opened up the side and fixed a spring that had become unhooked. It’s a nice clean example of a cheap ‘popular post-war camera’ from the 1950s, with the better Kodar f/8 lens, so it’s a US model not a UK one. I think I’ll probably keep it. The two lenses are a Panagor f/2.8 135mm prime (I’m getting quite a lot of 135s) and a Sirius f/3.9 80 to 200mm zoom. Both are nice and clear and clean but the auto irises are lazy (more work!). The flash is a handy little Helios 228 (no relation to Russian Helioses) which works fine now I’ve put some batteries in it. I haven’t sorted out the lens hoods and filters (all push-on) yet.
Lastly, the three cameras in their cases. One, actually in a purse, not a case, is a clean Olympus Trip 35 which, for once, hasn’t got a sticky aperture iris and seems to work nicely. The second is an Ilford Sportsman with f/3.5 Dacora Dignar lens, not top of the range but clean and working. The third is a Kodak Autographic 127 trellis-type VPK with an f/8 Rapid Rectilinear lens and Kodak Ball Bearing shutter. Kodak made more than one and a half million of them with various lenses and shutters from about 1915 to the mid 1920s but you don’t see very many of them about these days. The paintwork’s got a few chips, but the shutter, 1/25, 1/50, B & T, works fine. All in all an interesting box-full.
I’m pleased with what I got, and John’s delighted with his bandsaw - and no postage to pay on anything – so, as I said, an enjoyable morning.
Peter
