Suzie Place

My experiences at Thrift stores in central NY State are similarly disappointing.

Maybe I shouldn't speculate coz these stores do a great service to their communities.

Nonetheless, I wonder whether the staff don't "skim off" some of the higher-end things that come in.

Our church has a rummage sale twice a year. Last year we had a couple of people from a neighboring parish come by as they were contemplating having a sale of their own and were interested in advice on how to set up, etc. One question was how to get volunteers to work the sale. " Oh that's easy, we allow the volunteers to shop while they sort." I haven't scored any good camera equipment yet, but my stereo gets upgraded every year.

I have an update for the first camera I bought---The Minolta Hi-Matic 9. Just got the pics back. They're the BEST photos I ever took! I had a high end SLR 25 years ago, but the pictures from this Rangefinder are better.
A camera store clerk set the shutter and diaphragm for me. The shutter did not close at all speeds, but he told me I could still do portraits.
I took full length portraits with ten 60 watt light bulbs and good northern window light. The Hi-Matic 9 had NO BATTERY! I used 800 film and set the lens barrel. For shutter and diaphragm the setting was 5.8 and 125 (I think). The focus was nine feet. I only got 15 shots developed because I had mangled the film.
The clarity is great. They look superior to the shots I've made with large lens digital compacts--which is exactly what I'd hoped for. And of course, they have that wonderful analog look!

Last weekend I went to Hayward and San Leandro in search of classic stainless steel clad Japanese cameras.
At Thrift Center in south Hayward I was delighted to buy a Yashica Minister for 99 cents. Later, I discovered the shutter button is not working. At ECO Thrift, I got an Epson PhotoPC 700 1MB Digital for two bucks. It works fine. At Thrift Town in San Leandro there was an old Sears Rangefinder, kind of ugly.

So...........fifty miles, three stores, a broken but sweet Yashica Minister purchased for a buck and a stone-age digital for two bucks. One not-so-pretty Sears Rangefinder left behind.
Bye!!!!!!!!!!

Went to Marin. Went to 12 thrift stores in south Marin County. Nothing. I bought a stone-age Olympus digital with an odd dead battery for four bucks. However, I did buy a full length fox coat for $50 in Mill Valley.

So.........sixty miles, $4 bridge fare, one primitive digital camera purchased. Unreasonable prices for junk. I hate Marin County---always have. A nice place to buy furs though!

I managed to pick up an Olympus XA2 with A11 flash for $5 at the Value Village on bloor/landsdowne. I've gone there again a few times, but I haven't been so lucky again.

Hmmmm... $50 German Range Finder?

Ya might have missed the best bargain of all. Have you priced a Zeiss Super Ikonta?

tim (sometime thrift shopper) in san jose

Portland has been a dream city for thrift store camera scores. My short list of scores!
Pentax spotmatic II
Canon Canonet QL17 GIII
Pentax ME Super, in all black
Minolta Himatic 11
Canon AF35ML (future classic if you ask me)
A pair of vivitar 283's and other assorted filters and lenses too numerous to remember. This all in only the past year!

You got an Oly 2020 for $10 - brilliant. That's a cult camera for digital infra-red imaging - there's one in my bag now and it cost me a lot more than that. Put a dark red 43mm filter on it and see (get one from China on ebay).
Sorry - wrong place - but I'm also an unrepentant collector of veteran digital cameras - y'know, like more than five years old. Oh and antique ones - more than ten years old. :-)

I check Thriftstores in my area regularly. Last week-end I got a Nikon F for $14.99 at the Value Village. Beat-up, looks like it went through the Vietnam war (perhaps it did) but still ticking. I replaced the mirror bumper and cleaned up dust from the ground glass. I've run a roll of film through it and look forward to see how it does.