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Stood at a garage sale for 20 minutes testing a $5 film camera before buying it
Last Saturday I was at a neighborhood garage sale in Austin and saw this beat up old Minolta X-700 sitting on a table. The guy wanted $5 for it but I spent a good 20 minutes just checking the shutter speeds, light seals, and mirror mechanism. I probably looked crazy to everyone walking by but I was determined not to get burned again after that $40 thrift store camera that had a stuck shutter. Turned out the light seals were totally dry rotted and the meter was off by two stops, but I figured I could fix both for under $15 at home. What do you guys do when you find an old camera at a random sale? Do you take the risk or walk away?
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lucas_price834mo ago
Totally feel you on that. I also spent a solid 15 minutes at a flea market testing a $10 Canon AE-1 with a dead battery by dry firing it at every shutter speed while holding it up to the light. Ended up being a total steal once I replaced the light seals myself. You made the right call checking everything first, even if people thought you were weird. Were the seals just crumbly dust or actual sticky goo?
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williamprice4mo ago
Felt that, spent a whole afternoon doing the same thing with a beat up Minolta at a thrift store.
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