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?

2 comments

2 Comments

lucas_price8322d 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?

williamprice22d ago

Felt that, spent a whole afternoon doing the same thing with a beat up Minolta at a thrift store.